Otto Matta

Sweet. Thanks for the news. EA

AC - Okay - "hypnotic" then. I agree - very unique. EA

Gotta agree with EP - Across the Universe is my favorite Beatles song too. EA

Congratulations to those who have quit! (AP and AE.) I smoked Marlboro Mediums for several years, then tried to quit; since then I smoke Marlboro Ultra Light 100s - very light but long-lasting! Heard about a study published the other day that claims the FDA (at least in America) has very lax regulations on tar that the cigarette companies take advantage of, meaning there's no real benefit to smoking "lighter" cigarettes (except perhaps the size of the smurfs one coughs up the next morning). Good luck with this one. EA

Also see if you can find Dropz of Obscure Eclipses by Bypass Unit. They've also got that super-crinkly, acid sound (but again, not as repetetive.) EA

Yeah, I'd say Pleiadians, too, except their music isn't nearly as unabashedly repetetive and loopy as Toi Doi. EA

Are you positive that's a guitar in Delta's As a Child...? I always thought that was a synth-generated sound. S.U.N. Project - Dance of the Witches EA

Alcyone and Meter . EA

Funny, sometimes I hear the remix first, which means I'll inevitably prefer that version to the original (and almost always vice versa, like Moo[ndancer] says). A great example is the Triptonite remix. EA

I completely disagree. EA

Well, they say that Dopamine is released during moments of pleasure, and must surely be released when a good musical experience takes place. So, seems to me, whether you're tripping or not, the music you like releases some serious feel-good drugs. I hate to reduce this momentous feeling to chemical reactions in the brain, but it's these reactions that must give us our extreme spiritual and blissful perceptions - our feelings of "oneness" or being in "the belly of God," or what have you. EA

I know exactly what you're saying. In fact, I'd be willing to say that the obsession many of us have with this music, the urge that makes us spend so much money and time on it, is the hunt for that rare "moment." I've had it quite a few times, but it's always unexpected. For me it's usually a certain passage in a song, sometimes an entire song, that I need to rewind over and over again because it's hitting me in the certain place that feels oh so good. And it's that feeling that's so damn addictive. If these CDs were drugs or gambling, we'd all have to check into a 12-step program or perhaps our families and friends would all insist on frequent *interventions* with sudden rides to the hospital for detox. EA

I still can't get into either Noosphere or Solar Plexus, though I liked the latter quite a bit at one point, before I had heard much else. I'll give Noosphere another try. Haldolium is pretty damn cool. They've got the sexiest and most original bass drum around. Protek's definitely my favorite from them. I'm surprised Deviant Species isn't talked about more. Quest for Balojax is pretty original. EA

I'll wait until the new X-Dream comes out, but they've got some stiff competition - The Delta has made major strides with the new one. And I'm guessing that the new Delta is more Spirallianz-ish because they wouldn't want it to compete with the sound that X-Dream will have on the new one. Either way, I'm psyched. And yeah, a new COP project would be effin' cool as well. EA

Yeah, Children - what's up with you and Transmissions these days? Has it overtaken Robert Miles yet? He he. EA

Mine wasn't psychedelic. It was Empirion's Advanced Technology. I don't know exactly what you'd call it, but it's some kind of trance, and it led me to Goa. EA

Oops. Sorry, Connor. Yeah, I guess we'll have to wait and see. EA

Agree with Bomble - Semsis, definitely. Also both Delta albums, Cydonia's Fear of a Red Planet, and I've said it before but I think Kopfuss Resonator's first album (I haven't heard Slotmachine) is very scary, perhaps the scariest I've heard, because it's not going for that typical horror sound like most, but creeps up on you in a a subtle and scary way. EA

Psyshop calls it "clubtrance."

Dragonfly Matsuri D.Drum Spirit Zone

Pleiadians X-Dream Total Eclipse Cydonia Color Box XV Kilist (he's much better than that last album) Haldolium Sandman Fortunately a few of these are on their way. EA

Wow, speaking of relaxing a little. . .Dido, seriously, you need to chill out and respect other people's choices about how to spend their time. If we were all moderate about our time interests, or interests in general, we'd all certainly be hanging out at the Martha Stewart live chat forum, talking about the new trends of Christmas decor. I am personally honored by the presence here of the creators of the music I love so much. It shows that we're a community, and that it's a two-sided conversation, rather than a bunch of chix hangin' at the N' Sync clubhouse getting moist because they'll never *ever* have a real conversation with their idols. I vote to remove this topic - it's disrespectful. EA

So Jupiter 8000 dropped off, huh? Good. EA

Funny - I was very tempted to ask the same question a couple days ago. That UX album is incredible. EA

I agree with Anoebis, somewhat, that there needs to be power if there's not going to be a catchy tune. That's why I like what some of the "minimal" style is evolving into, which I, at least, call "tech-trance": Midimilitz/Spirallianz, The Delta, X-Dream, Wizzy Noise, etc. Extremely powerful, and makes up for a lot of the monotony in minimal music (though I still do like a lot of minimal stuff - it has it's place - just not on a regular basis in my listening). Good luck, everybody, finding music that you like so that you'll have less time to spend complaining about music you don't. EA