SkeletonMan

Well, I'm only gonna make one top 5 list so it all has to fit there. But from what I've heard, yeah, I understand derango stylewise is very different from artifakt. Really looking forward to hearing it though. Seems it's found quite an audience on psynews

I have to ask: Why a debate about the relevance of a best of list? I mean, I can appreciate the point of view that the entire idea is ridicilous. Taste is individual - how ones own favourites are liked by others is irrelevant. Therefore I can understand if one doesn't want to participate and that one wants to flash the opinion that the whole idea is stupid. But from there to almost argue against other people having such a list is harder for me to understand. If people find it funny to make such a list, then ...? As for myself, sure, I'm curious to see what other people rate as best of, even if doesn't make me feel any different about what I like. On the other hand, if people persistently say this or that album is fantastic and among the best of 2005, I will be curious to find out if it's something for me. Hell, the only reason I just ordered Derango is because of the exstatic reviews I've read here About the nomination of late 2005 releases over early 2005 releases, yeah, my point was just to mention the issue. I've heard that in the danish music awards a list is made out containing all the albums that can be voted for to avoid people overlooking early releases. This had proven to be a problem in the past, and the list apparently solved this problem. At least more early releases started winning. I am not suggesting any voting procedures!! Just wanted to see if the same tendency could be traced here and thought I'd share what I found out I'll hand in my list once I've heard that so very much talked about Derango Tumult. But can it really be better than Artifakts II ... ...?!?

In the list above I have entered the release dates as discogs has them. Some of them only said release 2005 without a date. I wanted to check whether there is a tendency to nominate 2005's latest releases over the earlier releases. I mean, that's very typical. The last releases pops up the easiest in ones mind and also normally people tend to be more happy about the newest stuff. 6 months down the line ones opinion may have changed and be more fair compared to stuff released, say, 9 months ago. Or, you know ... I'm not a statician and it's necessary to do some math work in excel before you can determine for sure whether there is a significant tendency to nominate late releases (or early for that matter). Anyhow, just looking at the release dates it does seem that the most liked releases are often from the 2nd half of 2005. Of the top 10 albums, 3 are from the first half of 2005. That doesn't have to mean anything off course. Maybe the best albums were just released here. Well, just thought I'd share my idea. That's it for my 2 intellectual cents.

Label: Flying Rhino Records Catalog#: AFR CD 019 Format: CD Country: UK Released: 1999 I enter nearly all my cd's into my pc so I can hear them via Itunes and my Ipod. I know, very cheesy You are supposed to carefully select a cd from the shelves, perhaps enjoy the luxury of taking the cd-case out of a cardboard box (the splendor !), place the cd in the player, press play with held back breath and wait for the music to soothe your mind. Call me a lazy sod, if you will. I enter them in my pc so it's all available at the tip of a finger. This also enables me to categorize my cds for improved shuffling if I'm in the mood for that. All this just to say, that Darshan's "Spectra" - in line with my expectations and the categorization on discogs - was categorized as trance on my pc and, hence, in my mind. Perhaps therefore this album puzzled me for a long time. I expected trance, but this is not trance. Some sort of chill-out rather, so if you are looking for dance madness, I suggest you look further. As for me, it helped realising that I should enjoy this album as a chill-out album and not psytrance. Except for track 6 all trax are straight or border chill-out. Still, even with my mind set for atmosphere more than energy, this album doesn't do it for me. The tracks are going nowhere to the point of boredom. Surely, if I wanted chill-out, there's so much more, so much better out there. And if I wanted semi-early goa, there are so many other albums from this period that are way more interesting. Two thumbs down, I'm afraid, from SkeletonMan on this one. Would love to see other reviews of this album, though, as I understand it's considered a rarity and sought after. And I have no idea why ...

Thinking back of the Samothraki Festival in Greece 2003 I think it is fair to say that the most crazy experience music - and otherwise - was when I danced for about an hour and a half with a tree at the chill out stage one night. This is why I am sometimes not quite sure whether a certain type of music should be labelled chill-out, ambient, progressive or psy-trance. I mean, you are supposed to chill at the chill-out stage, right? But play the right, quality, down-beat / chill-out at the right time, and you'll have everyone going crazy. This is what happened at the Samothraki Festival. Down beat music on chill stage with everyone going at it like crazy, things even more wicked than on main stage. Sasha wasn't at Samothraki but Airdrawndagger represents exactly the sort of music I'm thinking off. I could hear this music in the afternoon at the chill-out stage, roll a splif, relax and enjoy. Maybe dance a little. Or I could hear some of the trax here at night and go dance berserk. My favourite dance track here has to be Fundamental. The kick-in at 8:05. What is this?! Progressive chill-out ...?!? But it's not fair to single one track out. Up-beat, down-beat, they're all fantastic! And I almost never got to hear this album! Only heard it cause a friend insisted I'd give this Sasha album a chance. "I think you'll like it", he said. Well, thanks buddy! Right on - I love it! I think it's a straight 10/10 and encourage everyone to check it.

Not having been much of a Space Tribe fan, I must admit it wasn't until I saw Space Tribe on the Boom 2004 DVD that he caught my attention. Seing him perform "Twitch!!!" on this amazing DVD, on the other hand, was an eye opener. Wow!! Was Olli about to fly his crowd to Mars, or what?!? If you haven't seen this DVD yet, get it and catch some festival memorabilia from ... well, it could be this earth but it looks almost inter-planetarian. And when Olli drives a crowd balearic? Fucking aye. This guy rests up there with only a few other full-on Masters. It's not worth here going thru the trax one by one. It's done already and better than I can do, but let me just mention my favourite on the album, track 3 The Acid Test where Olli is collaborating with Electric Universe's Boris Blenn. I want these guys to marry and never make music with anyone else. Tracks like these is why anyone writing off full-on needs to think twice before doing so. Yeah, this track lives up to the formula, but tell me this doesn't make you move! The break at 5:52. If this doesn't make you rock, I don't think anything can. Anyone reading my reviews will know I am not big on full-on. But when a full-on album rocks, the force of this type of trance is impossible to ignore for anyone even only slightly open-minded. Collaborations is this type of full-on. Clever, talented, varied, interesting. And, above anything else, head on dancing from start to finish. If you are serious about writing off full-on, at least, check Olli with friends before you take the final decision. This could be the ultimate test. ;o)

I bought this album purely because of a series of great reviews everywhere I turned on the web. I can now safely conclude that critics may not always be right .. Sure, I can appreciate reviews praising this album for its courage to incorporate new sounds in psytrance. Track 1 introduces some sort of folk music, track 2 has a kind of soundtrack melody going on, track 3 goes up and down in intensity and is almost made up of voice samples, etc. Innovative, fine, but innovation alone doesn't do it and this is just going nowhere. Complex for the sake of complexity and without rewards, innovative without real depths, noisy without kick-ass moments. Funniest of all, however, is that I have seen track 8 "The Moon" everywhere being praised as a masterpeice. The biggest, most beatiful bla bla bla .. hit of 2005. Far and away I hate this track more than anything on this album. Hell, possibly in all trance I've ever heard! How any trance lover can appreciate the awful and extremely cheesy opera singing in this track is beyond my understanding. It sounds exactly like the very mainstram and very popular metal/opera hybrid you may hear on mtv these days, only here trance music is the genre that's being tortured by a female screamer. AARRGH ... But hey, I've only seen good reviews of this track so it looks like I'm the one who's off!! In all fairness, a couple of tracks works alright. Track 4 and 5 are less experimental with a psy-quality to them. Still, at a festival I know I would find these trax too noisy and in the situation possibly label them border crap! Track 9 might work festivalwise, but there really is only one track on this album I'd fancy hearing at a festival, track 6 People Are Animals. This track starts off with the coolest sample telling the story of a person trying LSD for the first time and experiencing a bad trip. Very bad, I'd say, but the story is fantastic and told in a cool male voice. After 15 listens I still enjoy this story. I'm not sure what to conclude here. Some love this album, I don't. I suggest downloading some samples before investment. And if you don't have the time for that, let me just say: People Are Animals make the album worth having. The Moon makes it worth getting rid off faster than the fat lady can hit another f... note.

Label: HOM-Mega Productions , Vision Quest Catalog#: HMCD32, VP-015 Format: CD Country: Israel Released: Nov 2003 Track list 1 Implosion 2 Flake (Deeply Fried Mix) 3 Modifications 4 Digger 5 Nukra 6 Homtomatic 7 Sonic Tonic 8 Toffy Slave 9 Tribal Mood Being a fan of progressive and goa it is not that often I stumble over full-on albums. I just try to stear clear knowing they rarely meet my taste. But then there are the occasional full-on albums that DOES meet my taste ... These I would never wanna be without in the collection since they rock the SkeletonMan ass as much as any classic proggy or goa album. Altöm is one of those acts. And Hujaboy's Sonic Tonic is one of those albums. Full-on afficionado or not, this is just a great album! Like Altöm's Groove Control, even if Sonic Tonic belongs to the full-on genre and as such does not offer the typical psychedelia elements, there are many times during this album I feel like almost bordering ... no, hell, I AM penetrating Psychedelia! The sheer magnitude of this music throws you into Psychedelia, if you give it a small try. Like track 4 Digger. All full-on recipe, but so well put together Psychedelia opens its doors the instant you open your mind to mayheem dance trance craze. This guy knows how to put an effective trance track together. The day an album like this doesn't do it for me, is the day trance doesn't do it for me. This is the shit and revitalizing my faith in isra-trance. A big thank you to Sir Nir for that! Summarizing, if you like full-on there's no question about it. Get it! If you're not a full-on fan, get it, and have your faith in isra-trance reborn. On a funny note, I was offered this cd on sale at the Sonica Festival 2005 in Italy. I refused to buy it partly because of the label that relased it (Hom-Mega = full-on), partly because of the artwork which I found utterly lame at the time. I should have given it a 2nd chance as I love the artwork now. It's good office humour as we say in Denmark!

I know. Have seen several reviews praising the opera singing. Just reminds me of one of those new punk-rock bands with opera in it too. Really hate that music and I'm afraid Talpa's the moon is doing the same to me. Different strokes for different folks I presume ...

Thanks a billion Trolsk !!! Installed winamp and downloaded milkdrop. I LUV IT !!!!!!!! Watched it last night for the first time after a spliff. Astral Projection Ionized (one of my all time AP favourites) - man, it was brilliant. Still I am a little puzzled as to the sync. I mean, I can see it's in sync, but I really would wish it some times made more of an effect out of breaks. Anyway, last night I found everything pretty cool so maybe it's just a question of state of mind ... Thanks and cheers to everybody!

Talpa - The Moon. HATE THE OPERA SINGING !!!!!!!!!!!! Worst track ever ...

I probably do not know one tenth of what you people in here know about trance. Anyhow, here is my review from discogs. It can be captured up this way: I love this album. What a great, interesting, and innovative release from Artifakt this is. Dark, creepy, scary, is what comes to mind. I guess sometimes I find that progressive and psy can sound too much as their genre. It's just a question of who's the better at it. Well, this album by Artifakt proves that there are still untread paths to explore without going completely experimental. And the way it's put together as a journey is excellent. The album starts off with the space sounding choir from the soundtrack to Stanley Kubricks "Space Odyssey 2001" and develops in to some sort of break-beat. From track 2 we enter tranceland, but a new, challenging tranceland. Simple basslines chasing each other and edgy lead melodies ensuring the attention. More complex than psy, but not with typical psy-elements, it's some sort of hybrid between psy and experimental. Danceable? Oh, yes. But with yourself! This sound goes upto and including track 6. Just one long dark, journey, filled with breaks. Track 7 is a 49 seconds break setting the album up for the 2nd half. And what a break! 49 seconds of breathtaking and totally mind-consuming sounds. Killer production! Wouldn't recommend listening to this when flying high if not with good friends! But if your are? The trip ...! And the tone is kept dark with track 8, even if this track incorporates a techno lead. Actually, this lead does annoy me a little, but considering how good these guys are I reckon it may just be a question of time before I love it. Track 9 goes slow again but from 2:23 in track 10 the pace for demon dancing with yourself is set again. Boy, this is dark and perfect for nighttime. Complex, noisy, repetitious and simple. Track 11 builds up to my favourite on the album, the apparently untitled track 12. This must be a contender for best track of 2005. I don't even know what to call this style. It's psytrance but without the typical psytrance elements. And the bass that kicks in at 2:46!!! The first 5 times or so I heard it, it was impossible to take in completely. And then kicks in the space choir from track 1. I've been waiting for this bass for years! And like the album as a whole, I've heard nothing like this before. Even when Artifakt offers a ballearic dance tune, they stay clear of the crowd. Track 13 enters with a sample taken from the Ridley Scott classic "Blade Runner". Rutger Hauer, who's portraying a replicant, says to his creator just before killing him: "If only you could see what I have seen with your eyes ... I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shore of Orion. I've watched seabees glittering ... all those moments will be lost in time like tears ..." I guess it would be cheesy to end: "If only you could hear what I have heard with ... hrm, my ears", but this album really is great. Innovative with a razorshorp edge, killer tracks and great production this album could be a classic in the making. Highly recommended. Favourites: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 (!), 11, 12 (!!), 13

Filteria - Ultimator! Filteria is God. At the moment ...

I wasn't commenting on any ones prices. For all I know TJM could have the most reasonable prices on the whole wide web. From what is written he probably has. Cudos to him for that! All I was saying was that I disliked a person gets pissed on just because he points out he finds a price to be on the high side. That was all Antic did and it made Khillarg go ballistic. Which is uncalled for. Yes, off course buyer is responsible for his own purchases. And I don't expect sellers to say, hey, listen this is actually too expensive. But if a trade is done on a public forum and some one politely flags a warning flag I don't see any need to attack that person, less the warning was totally out of line. Most often I wouldn't butt in myself, but I respect if some one does in a polite manner. And I was just offended the way Antic got attacked. Is all.

Just for sake of good order; I mean a programme like Itunes where it's possible to upload music from my cd's in wave format. And then with a kick-ass visualizer. It'd be awesome!

Another neo-liberal. See my reply elsewhere on this thread.

Wauw! I don't know which is the most stupid. Your attitude or your opinion. Possibly they're equally far out Most rare cd's are sold for 45 euro+??? It reminds me of a funny story, though. The other day I went to a 2nd hand record store, and at the counter a very impatient guy (probably someone like you) asked the clerk how much he paid for used records. There's no average price, the clerk said. But the guy went on. There has to be an average price, he said angrily. The clerk finally replied, no there isn't, it's like asking how much a horse costs. That shut the guy up. Average price my foot! Besides, you missed my point entirely. What I was bitching about was the fact that people get pissed because someone points out that he thinks (right or wrong) someone is charging too much for a cd. Listen, if you wanna screw people over, don't do in front of other people. They might have the dignity and sense of honesty you lack!!! Yeah, that's right. Just because you are an arse doesn't mean everyone else is too. And just answer me one question. The day YOU are the one who's saved from an ass car seller, tell me you won't thank the person that saved you! And at who's cost? A seller that tried to screw you over! Fuck him, right? Yeah, it's nice to be the winning arsehole, but not very nice on the other side of the table. In the long run however what you give is what you get. If we always go about trying to screw each other, that's what we will be in the end ourselves. Call it karma or whatever. It's a fact of life and that's why I say: Grow up! And what's with the language anyway? It's FUCK this and FUCK that whenever you disagree with someone. Jesus Christ, I thought trance & chill was about getting along with each other. Now, it's been a long time since I realised, that is not the case, but it really is sadening when this is so painfully pointed out from someone with your attitude. I have nothing more to add. And you can now say FUCK U as many times you want. I stand by my approach & trading ethics.

I use Itunes a lot for listening at home and really like using their Visual effects screen. There are two major problems with it, though. First of all, I am getting tired of it. It's not good enough, too repetitious, to many effects I don't like, seemingly in sync with the music, but not in sync the right way etc. Secondly, when using Itunes I have to hear my music in mp3 quality which sux BIG TIME!!! So, I'm thinking there has to be someone who's made a programme that works like the Itunes visualizer. Only better. Much better! And where it's possible to download music in wave-format so the quality is the best possible (well, the best possible from a pc, anyway ) If there exists such a programme I'd buy it right away!! No questions asked. That would just be awesome. So does anyone know if such a programme exist. And if not, could you pleeeeeeease tell some high school computer wizard to get of his lazy butt and start working for the community. WE NEED THIS PROGRAMME

Journey Man, you're a wanker! And so are the rest of you who's siding with him. If you try to screw some one over, and some one points it out, who's the arse? I pity anyone who gets offended for having his bluff called. Grow up & move on! Jesus, what happened to honesty & decency?