Otto Matta

I'm up for another Spirallianz interview.

I'll third that one. I so wish I could've been there. Sounds like it was an incredible time, made by incredible people. From the pictures and comments it looks like a lot of people went through a lot of effort for 20.5+ hours of partying. That's the psy spirit in full bloom. My hat is off to all of you and my bow has my nose touching the ground. I'll make damn sure to be at the next one!

Apparently he went club. I have a hard time believing that.

Shit, I had three albums when I was 11: The soundtrack to Black Hole, the Bee Gees' Spirits Having Flown and Abba's The Visitors. I started buying music for real when I was something like 15 or 16. 11 is especially young to get into a particularly obscure style, but there's nothing wrong with that. Instead, I think it's cool as hell. You go, trancer!

3500 albums / 1.5 albums a week = 2333 weeks = 45 years 2002 - 1985 = 17 17 - number of years it would take to get interested in electronica = 12 12 + enough money to start buying CDs = 15 45 years + 15 = 60 60 - bad spelling = 25 25 + apology for bad spelling = 30 30 - bragging about size of collection = 20 20 + willing to give away a CD of someone's choice = 25 25 + having to guess the amount of months = 27-1/2 27-1/2 +/- "Bom Shanker" = 32-1/2 or 22-1/2 "My mates...spend £50-100 every week on pubs and clubs e.t.c." = approx. 25 - 30 y.o. Average of 32.5, 22.5, 25 and 30 = 27.5 That's my guess - *27 years, 6 months*

Green House Effect's Global Warming may be slightly clubbish in nature, but it's still a very good album. That's coming from someone who prefers their psy fat and/or full-on.

Does "Tron" have actual Tron samples? Anyone know of any tracks with samples from the movie? Love that damn movie. Always will.

This one was asked a few months ago. I thought it was Tarsis - Deadly Deep Kickin', but apparently there's another track with the sample that people like better.

The Delta - Def by Delta (Part II) Cydonia - Columbian Necktie Parasense - Mobile Love Spirallianz - One Way Ltd.

And when I say "underrated," I mean I don't hear this one talked about much at all, and am surprised by that.

Just dug this one out, dusted it off and gave it a good listen. Amazing stuff. Some of the tracks sound like they could've been on Ultimate Experience. Edgy, twisted and intense with a very satisfying abundance of transitions.

Oh, I see the other question - why not psy-ambient? Well, my opinion is that the sound is much more of an acquired and exclusive taste. To me the sound is based on dub which appears to be at least loosely based on reggae, and as we all know, reggae is not the most popular of styles out there. Orb, however, is a good example of one of these types of bands that has broken through into the mainstream. FSOL is another, although they've managed to have very broad and catchy stylings over the years which has probably kept them in the game. Ooze, for example, is not the most accessible music in the world and will probably never be mainstream. Ishq, maybe, but not Ooze. Boards of Canada, on the other hand, has a very accessible sound (and stylishness) and with it they've created a niche in the market. If there's another reason, it's because the ambient scene in general is so diverse and disparate that it's difficult for one act in particular to break through. In this context, I think Shpongle has probably done very well, especially compared to many of the *other* Warp Records acts you never hear about but have a leg up by just being on the label.

Yeah, Hels got it right. I listen to both. I listen to psy when I want a straightforward and energetic release. I listen to IDM when I want something more unpredictable, creative and moody. Popular IDM like Boards of Canada is good, but there's a whole world of the great stuff out there that doesn't get as much attention, and there's a lot more room in the genre for musicians to create unique art. It's the same reason why Posford prefers to work as Shpongle than Hallucinogen - it frees his creativity.

Hey helium. I've heard a couple Ishq tracks and the one on Interchill's Flotation comp is one of the most beautiful tracks I've ever heard - and that's saying a lot, I think. (The comp itself is amazing as well, which is no surprise given the music I've heard from the label so far.) I wouldn't hesitate looking into the Ishq album.

I'm not too sad to see Audiogalaxy go since I never used it, but I'm unnerved by the new regulations requiring even online radio to pay royalties to artists. This has caused my favorite online radio to go down - SomaFM. They had the best ambient and IDM selection, not to mention a lot of other great stations. They claim they would've had to pay $500 a day in royalties alone, which no indie radio station is going to be able to afford. Which means that only giants with lots of money but with questionable tastes aimed at the more mainstream listener are going to be able to stay on the air. Either that or we're going to have to pay fees to listen to the damn radio. I understand that artists deserve a cut, but the music industry is very quickly undermining what would be a fruitful expansion and broadening of the industry itself. Sounds a little fascist in my opinion. Your thoughts?

Ubik - If you're getting into downtempo/IDM, why are you getting rid of such a beautiful album as Atol Scrap? I can understand many of the others, but I'm at a loss with this one. Highly recommended to anyone who wants it.

I was watching a show on PBS last night about the first pop songwriter in the US, back in the 1800s. He wrote some songs and they became popular and spread all over the country. Many of the songs were recognizable, at least to an American's ears. Of course they were in musical notation on paper, but that didn't stop many people from pirating the sheet music. Point is, pirating goes way back to the beginning - it's not a new phenomenon caused by computers or even recordable media - and it will be around until the end of music itself. The death of Audiogalaxy is merely the birth of a new pirating software. Be patient.

How about "Anything you want. Anything at all. I'm your guardian angel"? Juno Reactor - Guardian Angel from "Beyond the Infinite."

Well the Silver Me/Colorbox/Bypass Unit thing is new to me. Inu or anyone else - Do you know of any Silver Me releases? Or just tracks on comps? Love that stuff. Thanks.

The way I figure it, Linux, you alone have stolen US$3,000 from artists and US$9,000 from the labels and stores singlehandedly. 8,000 tracks / 10 = 800 albums 800 x US$15 = US$12,000 US$12,000 / 25% = US$3,000 (artists' royalties) US$12,000 / 75% = US$9,000 (label and store cuts) 100 people like you have cost the industry US$120,000. 1000 people like you have cost the industry US$1,200,000. Not cool, man.

I sometimes have make @!#$ IN YOUR MOTHERS EAR. Hehe. Jar, if you call Soem a tit again I'm gonna come over to Finland and bitchslap you!

I wouldn't be surprised if scientists found that this sort of music makes one more intelligent, at least temporarily. Instrumental music generally makes a person concentrate harder on the sounds and patterns in an active way, which is a sort of brain exercise, whereas music without so many patterns and/or with predictable lyrics tends to be listened to more passively. Could also be - and this is a stretch - that dancing at the same time as actively listening would get the blood circulating in the brain more efficiently, creating even faster and more intelligent thinking, but again only temporarily (but there just might be prolonged effects). I certainly don't believe that psytrance is nearly as complicated or intelligent as most "classical" music, for instance, but it could have a similar effect on the brain.

Awesome.

Seems we share strong artistic opinions. I think that's a good sign. See you in Off-Topic!

I think your cover is solid, theorem. It honestly looks like it took a lot of time and effort. If it (or the pink one) wins it will be a nice continuation of the first cover, which is important. I'm a born elitist when it comes to this stuff - I can't help it. It's my best and worst trait simultaneously. I'll apologize this one last time, then I have to get on with my pig-headedness. Say, why don't you ever join us in Off-Topic? It's less heated and critical in there. I wish you luck in the contest.