Otto Matta

Ka-Sol - Pricken Ka-Sol - Iris Ka-Sol - Fucked up Battle of the Future Buddhas - Completely Operational The Delta - Def by Delta, Part 2 The Delta - Pop The Delta - Travelling at the Speed of Thought The Delta - Supercell The Delta - As a Child I Could Walk on the Ceiling Pigs in Space - The Visitors, Part 1 Etnica - Detonator Etnica - History Colorbox - CYANid Colorbox - Kinky Pinky Pleiadians - Headspin

I haven't heard the Misted Muppet album. I found Talpa's album to be similar in many ways to the Derango album. Highly textural and layered, with an extreme psychedelic factor. Talpa, however, has more structure, in my opinion. Have you tried the Finnish sound (PelinPala, et al.) and the Demon Tea label? Can't agree with the Fractal Glider suggestion, although his first album was pretty good. It's in your face, but not nearly as psychedelic as Talpa.

I really like the Pigs in Space album, and especially The Visitors, Part 1, like you. I agree entirely with the Ka-Sol recommendations. He's been my favorite for a while, and he has yet to release a CD (which is criminal, but hopefully the rumors are true that he'll release some stuff this year). So check out his stuff and the Schlab stuff in general, which includes Battle of the Future Buddhas (Twin Sharkfins on BooM! is also a good suggestion). The last compilation (Purple, #7) is fantastic, as well as Green, #5. The Scorb recommendation is also a good one. Maybe Freq is another one to throw in the mix. Okay, so would you be interested in the South Africa sound at all? I find there's some really good stuff there. Have you heard the Broken Toy album? Lastly, there was a thread here in that last month or so about some new stuff coming out of Japan that was pretty hardcore, innovative stuff. I haven't heard it, but it sounded very intriguing.

Can't say I ever understood the fuss around Spritual Healing, but Enlightened Ape is a fantastic disk.

To me a trance state with music is a synergistic effect between the drums, percussion and melodies, where neither overwhelms the other. Speed doesn't matter, although I seem to prefer the faster stuff, around 140-150, because when it's faster it allows for an easier blurring effect, although not too fast so that I don't comprehend everything that's going on. I know the trance is working when the elements themselves start to disappear and/or blend, and the music becomes a unity of general linear motion. I know when I've been in a trance when all of a sudden I come back down from where I've been and hear the kick drum and think, "I don't remember that being there this whole time. Cool. I want to go back."

GMS - Jaws Been a long time. Sounds great.

Thanks Stalker. I actually decided to get another sound card, the M-Audio Delta 1010 LT, since it appears the Echo products are not as incorporated into the music world and may have some glitches. Also, I've done a LOT of research into the music software I want to get, and it seems Reason is at least the best start, after which I can always upgrade to Cubase if I feel it's necessary and still use the great sounds on Reason.

Okay, so I'm finally making the leap to a digital studio, which means I'm going to plop down a bunch of money on some equipment, which includes a new computer, Reason 3.0, and a good soundcard. The computer issue is relatively easy, and I think Reason is a good place to start (I've used FL5 and liked it, but I want something more professional and powerful but still with a relatively simple interface). But I'm not an expert on sound cards, and after some research it looks like the Echo Gina 3G is the way to go. However, if you think that there's something better for cheaper (than US$279), please inform me. Here are my needs from a sound card: - obviously to get the best sound out of a very good desktop - to attach my controller (Korg 01/W) with MIDI - to attach my mic for vocoded stuff - to use exclusively with monitor headphones - to potentially connect (via RCA) to my receiver Any advice is most appreciated.

Agree with the Ubar Tmar thing, too. Also Colorbox's album, Train to Chroma City never really got the respect I feel it deserved.

I would've voted if there was a track called... AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Yeah, GMS gave birth do Astrix.

Wait, before I go away... AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!! [Goes away.]

Does anyone else remember when "full-on" meant something totally different to what it means today? Back in the day it meant, essentially, a really good, really layered, really powerful track. Alcyone was considered "full-on", for example, as was stuff like UX. Filteria, for instance, is all about the old definition of full-on. Will the definition change again to mean something else in five years? Curious. As far as today's definition is concerned, I'd definitely have to say GMS was the father of that one.

Truly original? Ubar Tmar Schlab early LOTS of stuff (Astral, Pleiadians, Juno, Infected, GMS, Sandman, Koxbox, etc.) The Delta (and the X-Dream/Spirallianz/Midimiliz crew)

Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase Wow, I was totally skeptical of this album because I thought they'd been going downhill, but this is some awesome music.

Great point. And I like the new "eggshell" design, reger. Seriously, it seems an inordinate amount of music-makers put too little thought into their samples. Yeah, I can empathize that to fit certain samples into a track is really tricky work, but the samples themselves very often need more thought. In other words, there is far too much dependence on cheap, mass-marketed samples to fill out a track. Music should ideally be original from start to finish. The best music is, anyway. I say chuck all the stupid, store-bought sample disks and innovate!

EED 2005 EED is a netlabel. It's their first release. Very interesting experimental/IDM/electronica music.

Ubar Tmar - Makrometasomakosmos Whoa.

Made a purchase last night (first one of '06): Lemon Jelly - Lost Horizons (Expanded, Import): One of my top-ten all-time faves. My first copy got lost and I've been hurting to hear it again. Susumu Yakota - Sakura: This is an experimentation that is likely to be good. The Leaf label puts out great stuff. Murcof is a good example of completely groundbreaking music. Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase: I've sort of fallen out with BoC, but I thought I'd give them another chance. Pan Sonic - Aaltopiiri: An album I've been meaning to get for a long time. Masterful Finnish analog sculpture. We'll see how they all sound when they get here.

Nice one, Charlie.

Hehe. Kristian never really had a knack for arguing. But he sure loves to argue!

Agree completely.

A very thorough list. I haven't heard Anoebis' suggestions, but I'm sure they're accurate.

The Quacken was my creation, actually, with some help from Mike Indidginus who doesn't post here anymore. One day we'd been kidding around, and Mike mentioned something about the Kraken from the movie, Clash of the Titans. As a joke I turned it into the Quacken. It caught on, and the Quacken took on evil characteristics, essentially becoming the official Psynews nemesis, an all-powerful being who could destroy all Psynewsers and the Earth itself. A team was assembled to compete against the Quacken, namely Oprah (me), Martha Stewart (Mike) and a host of others at the time. We had fun describing all the challenging adventures of taking on the Quacken in various international locales. It's great to come back here after a few years and see that the Quacken has become a mysterious, folkloric and legendary figure in the Psynews mythology. Mars edit : Some Quacken resource here : http://www.captainquack.com/

Not too long ago I watched the entire Twin Peaks series with my girlfriend at the time and it was interesting to hear pretty much all the samples from Biosphere's Substrata album. It was actually kind of disappointing to tell you the truth, because I'd always thought of that album as totally original. I still like it, though.