Otto Matta

Sounds like "Chav-Trance". Strange.

Truly a great album, and V.T.O.L. (among my top 5 all-time favorite tracks) puts it into the classic domain for me. I was able to find a copy of the CD a couple of years back for pretty cheap, and it's gotten a lot of use since then. In fact, it's in the stack of about 10 recently played albums next to my stereo as we speak. Nice grab, DP.

So have you listened to Access Denied yet? Thoughts?

I was making an assumption based on many years of buying from used CD stores. There were stores I bought regularly from that had their own style of barcode marking, like a heated needle that ran all the way through the case and the barcode so they didn't have to take the case apart. I just did some online research and the correct answer appears to be both. In the case of promos, the hole is made to note that the CD is not to be sold. But clearly people do it all the time anyway. I have several promo copies of used CDs that I bought from resellers in stores and online. Another reason for a hole in a barcode is that a seller or reseller is marking it as a "cutout" CD, meaning a CD that has been discontinued and can only sell or resell for a certain max price.

Which artist's snare, bass drum, high-hat, etc., sound do you like best? I'm listening to Steptime's album and have to say I really enjoy their open high-hat. It sounds like a cymbal, but it also has a high, acidic sort of tone to it, with strange harmonics, that gives it a lot of depth. I really like the snare drum sound in XV-Kilist's Seitenzwack and Shakta's Of the Essence. Both have the sound of a ping-pong ball, or maybe a racquetball, being hit with some force. I like Haldolium's old bass drum sound, which was sort of fat and metallic sounding. I also really like a very synthetic pulse sound like Logic Bomb and others have used.

Yeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaahhhhh, no.

First of all, in my experience resellers will shrinkwrap CDs just to be able to say that the CD is shrinkwrapped, even if it's used, because it increases interest. Second, I hope you enjoy that CD more than I did. To this day I don't know what they were thinking.

It means that a retailer has sold the album once already. After that, the person who bought it got rid of it, usually by selling it back to a used CD store. The used CD store will punch a hole in the bar code and resell it. I get the feeling that resellers must be required by law to do this, so that they don't rip anybody off by trying to sell a used CD as new.

Yeah, I wouldn't mind some more upbeat chill stuff, like Infected's "Other Side" or Legion of Green Men, or Bluetech, or Hab, or even Downhill, with solid, non-4x4 beats, something you can dance to, but still psychedelic. EDIT: Disregard this post. I'm getting some new equipment in a week or so, and that's exactly what I intend to do with it, so leave everything to me.

When you get a hole in the barcode it means the CD is being resold.

Shoot me now.

Ka-Sol - Pricken

A genuinely funny thread. Nice. Keep up the wicked tunes, NJHO!

I just remembered why I never actually bought Stereopark: Because I have most of it on vinyl in the Silver Edition series. So yeah, lots of great tracks, especially Battlejuice. But I think I should have the album anyway.

I chose X-Dream, simply for the originality factor which had me listening to it over and over again. That sort of stuff - vocoder-heavy electro - tends to up my alley. Filteria comes in second. Juno Reactor comes in dead last for that steaming pile of donkey doo.

I bought Antistat when it came out too, and loved it, although I was getting into the Spirallianz album a bit more. Whether or not you consider it techno, and I'll admit that it has some techno elements, or, rather, that it walks that interesting line between trance and techno, I've rarely heard a similar knack for ingenuity in this genre than with the Midimiliz/Spirallianz guys. The only thing I don't have is Stereopark. How does it compare?

Schlabbaduerst ReKkords Do it now, but I warn you, you'll be spoiled. They recently released their 7th compilation, and it's having a tough time getting out of my CD player(s). Killer music. Also take a look at the Stone Age and Timecode labels, which both have good sampler compiliations. You may also enjoy the huge, innovative, slightly techno-ish sound of the X-Dream/Delta/Spirallianz/Midimiliz guys. Pick any album from the last five years and you'll be impressed. There's a lot more than that, as the dark, driving sound tends to stay in demand. I'd recommend consulting the 2004/2005/2006 reviews. (P.S. "Progressive" means something different here. It tends to mean a more simplified, happier, bouncier, dancier sort of sound, as opposed to tracks that actually progress to big climaxes.)

Awww! I love DeathPosture's reviews. He and I have similar taste and I can pretty much tell if I'm going to like an album or not just by his great reviews alone. That said, I ordered this album yesterday, and am very anxious to hear it. Thanks again, DP, for another fantastic review.

I'm exploring it too. I like bark, moss, elves and trolls in my music. I can't get enough of the Schlab sound, and that comes too seldomly. Derango is too foresty for me, but Stone Age in general is a good bet (the Steptime album is really good, but not *great*). I'm in the process of checking out stuff like Miraculix, Para Halu, Kemic-Al, Twisted System and Psyfactor. If any of those fit the bill I'll report back. Good luck.

Always Saikosounds for me. I really like the feel of the place. The older stuff is going to be hard to find anywhere, so the best bet is to trade or pay big at eBay.

The best Schlab so far. Please, please, please, Dave, don't stop making albums! Your label is one of the only redeeming features of this genre.

I have found it baffling why this genre is so white-bred, heterosexual, and male-dominated. But it is true that psytrance is not very funky. Even the funky stuff is not very funky compared to real funk music. One thing I've found is that girls especially want booty-shaking music to dance to, and hip-hop lets them do that. And gay men generally find the music abrasive and would prefer house or regular trance. And there also seems to be a correlation between psytrance and the spiritual, and booty-shaking music and the religious. Odd. Does this all mean that we're all, with very few exceptions, just a bunch of unfunky white guys? Appears so.

Thanks for the info Anoebis. I'll just wrap myself up in a cocoon until April then.

Well, then that just gives me a giant hard-on. Thanks for the good news, Anoebis. Any chance you could give out some additional information? Tracklist? Are there any released tracks, or are they all unreleased? Are they recent tracks? Release date? Any chance, since I'm his biggest fan, and have been so for several years now, and DJ his stuff when I get the chance, that I could get a promo? You've got quite a power label going there, Anoebis. Keep up the great work!!!