Otto Matta

LOL. So how does one get spammed here? Maybe he was tripping and thought reger's posts were his email? Guess that would scare me, too.

Yeah, but I'm not sure it has the goods to be a classic. My own opinion is that it definitely does not.

Perhaps I'm not hippie enough, and perhaps I haven't been stoned enough while listening, but man, I don't get it. I will say, however, that I like their presence - very peaceful, their album art is wonderful, and they have a very positive vibe about them that attracts positive people, and for that I give them big thumbs up.

Yeah, man, this album just keeps getting better and better. My current favorite is No Return.

V/A - Output (Headphone, 2001) http://www.discogs.com/release/107242 Hadn't listened to this one in a while. Great stuff all around.

I'm pretty much on the same page with this one. It definitely has its moments, for sure - some very powerful, stomping, twisted moments. But the problem with it for me is that there are too many moments. It's too playful, too brainy, it never really settles into a groove that you can wrap your mind and body around. One thing is for damn sure, that Xatrik knows how to manipulate sound. Holy christ. This stuff is all over the place, and it's advantages are also its disadvantages. If you're looking for some really solid, serious, nose-to-the-grindstone psychedelia, I say go for it. If you, like me, enjoy your stuff more stylized and hypnotic (quality over quantity), then I'd pass. Cheese factor - 0 Dancability - 6 Listenablility - 7 Technical ability - 10 Overall - 7.5

Good for you, man. That's a leap of faith and courage that few are able to take. I wish you luck. As far as inspiration is concerned, I find distracting yourself away from focusing on the music, instead of putting all your focus on why the music isn't coming, is perhaps the way to go. If you can get your mind off of it, your mind will gain back the air and space it needs to recharge for the next battle.

Elysium, you speak as if the music world owes you something, that your music somehow deserves a higher position in the hierarchy. Are you going to whine your way into a gig? Is that how you want to compete in the music jungle? Okay, so you were around at the beginning, and some people like your work. That doesn't mean that everybody does - I, for one, never did, frankly; I found it boorish, awkward and tiresome, and don't get me started on your ambient work - or that because you were lucky enough to be among the initiators that you somehow deserve a cut of today's pie. I think you should step back, maybe step out altogether like you suggest, get a grip, re-evaluate yourself as well as your music, then come back with something to say. Then, maybe you'll get a gig. But it's a goddamn jungle, Kristian - dude - and I refuse to sit back and watch you whine your way in when your music should be doing the talking instead. Since Day 1 here at Psynews you've been hanging out, trashing other artists when it's been very clear, to me at least, that you're doing it out of an inferiority complex. I recommend getting in touch with those personal issues you refuse to confront, to work through your own failings in a productive fashion, instead of lashing out on the industry and everyone involved (but yourself), in a meek attempt to claw your way into some action without the goods to back it up. Grow up.

Just do it. V-T-O-L.

Very cool, underrated album.

I'm serious! Listen to it! Twice!

Okay, then, what I recommend is giving up Posford altogether because his music's crap, honestly. If you want some good old school, check out blah blah blah. It's all there. Technossomy. If you're downloading, which clearly you are, listen to V.T.O.L. Maybe that will put some beef on your girls' bones and shave their mustaches.

If you like the Nuns, try Cosmosis.

Here's my take: To me there's a separation between one's artistic intentions and how one wants to earn one's living. One can have very grandiose intentions for one's art, yet still be a waiter for money. Moni may or may not have slipped with the term "hobby", but a hobby is for craftspeople, those who have no artistic thrust, those who aren't trying to adjust the world socio-politically with their work, according to their beliefs. Art is a state of mind as well as action, is a turbulent forward motion, no matter what one does for a living.

I think the reference is to Cyclotron, which is in fact tech trance.

Well, it's still a good album, no matter how good Silicon Trip is.

Very nicely stated. I totally agree. Yes, great artists deserve to be recognized, but there's a big gap between deserving something and actually getting it. And that gap is filled will all sorts of ugly shit. (To Moni) I'm not so much a fan of the idea that if a person is a part-time artist that it makes them a hobbyist. In the end it is about what is created, not about the amount of time one spends on it or how one earns one's money. If Dali painted a painting after his shift at McDonald's, it would still be great art, and Dali a great artist.

Great track. Great album. Been listening to it a lot lately myself. Great track! But I like the comp version just a bit more because the sample about the horses is fun to listen to.

Ahhhh, nice one. Haven't listened to it in years. Gotta dig it out.

Seems there's a spectrum of how a psy artist wants to exist in the psy world. The bottom would be making music in the bedroom, and maybe letting some people hear it; nothing gets sold, no gigs, maybe a release on a free netlabel here and there, but there's still a satisfaction in writing and sharing music. Then there's the top, with people like Watkins and Oakenfold, with enough talent and/or force of ambition to sell out. And then there's everything in between. I've heard a lot of horror stories about the psy scene's labels and promoters, with the artists getting the shaft. But you can't blame the immorality of these people if the artist himself or herself has chosen to pursue a greater presence in the scene. Every artist must know, unless one is idealistic or has been living under a rock, the hazards of wanting to climb to heights in the psy world, and can't really be too upset when things go awry. One either has the energy, talent, enthusiasm, ambition, luck and the force of will to pull it off, to survive in the jungle, or one doesn't. To blame others for being eaten by animals whose instinct it is to eat you makes no sense to me, especially when it's invited. That said, the jungle structure is not isolated to the psy scene. That's just how the art world in general works. It's full of predators who will eat artist hearts for breakfast if their shit comes out made of gold. The key, seems to me, is how to moderate one's need for power and success with one's love for one's work. Some will be happy making music in their bedrooms. Some will only be happy when they've reached the top (but are they really happy even then?). It's a very unfortunate reality, but at the beginning, middle and end of the day, society does not owe the artist anything, despite the fact that artists enrich every single person's life to an enormous extent. At every moment an artist must ask him or herself what the real purpose of one's art is, and then be willing to accept the consequences.

Hey, if Jikkenteki can de-ARRRGH a pirate, it's gotta be good.

Sure looks like whiney old drama queen Elysium to me.

Nicely put.

Ozric Tentacles? No way, man! That's cheese space rock! I've heard some stuff, not so much from Roach, but from Robert Rich and Vidna Obmana that might apply. Never thought of it that way, though.

I hear ya. But I HIGHLY doubt even "cheesy morning" stuff from Schlab is going to be very light and happy. Still, I'd like to hear their take on it, for sure.