Otto Matta

1. V/A - Schlabbaduerst - Vol. 7 (Purple) 2. Midimiliz - Non-Standards 3. V/A - Apsara 4. Rinkadink - Pirate Signal I didn't get to hear too much this year. I was spending most of my cash catching up on 2004. I'm sure Broken Toy would be on the list, but it's been out of stock for some time and I haven't had a chance to hear it yet.

Agree with the MFG thing. It's good stuff. And no, Ominus is not cheesy. It may not be the greatest shit ever, but it's not cheesy.

Interesting thread. I think there's a gap in understanding between artists and listeners that creates a good deal of badness. If listeners knew what artists went through to create, and the dreams they have when they think their stuff is really good and would be of good service to listeners, and the labels that are passionate about supporting these artists, only to get ripped off by pirates, I think it makes for some really bad energy. I also don't like the general need to do drugs to really appreciate electronic music. In other words, I think the connection of drugs to music has done a lot of damage to the status of our music. Then again, drugs combined with music has done some good, I guess, when done mindfully, but how often does that happen? Okay, that's it for now.

For some reason I've always found it very difficult to work during the day, no matter what medium I'm using to create. I love the nighttime; it's more quiet and peaceful and the mood is more mysterious and inspiring, and I can concentrate without distraction.

Battle of the Future Buddhas - Tigerhill One of the greatest tracks ever made, cross-genre.

Yeah, so far I think it's the best. But yeah, a lot of it can be too much like "slowed down trance", as mentioned, but it's been a nice heir to Interchill in my book.

I would tend to say that Orb is psychedelic ambient. It's not the typical tribal, druggie, wannabe Hindu, hippie, massage parlor kind of psy ambient, which I think is at least one thing it has going for it, but anyway...

Someone should travel there right now and tell D Dave that Brandon is trying to buy some music. I'll do it.

Saikosounds is currently selling the reissue of Indoor's Progressive Trance. Some other suggestions: California Sunshine Tandu Pigs in Space Oforia However, I don't think anything can compare in quality to early Astral Projection, which is some of the best stuff ever made in the genre.

Yeah, I'll say it again, I think Posford can be very good at sound manipulation and effects, especially the vocoder/slicer, but I never liked his music. Hallucinogen always sounded thin, bloopy and cheesy in that evil clown sort of way, and Shpongle always sounded like a muddy, scattered soup of awful world music. Younger Brother is better, but not by much. I honestly think that Posford worship is merely herd mentality, like so much pop music; "If so many people like it, it must be good," which is almost never true.

I also find the use of sample CDs chinsy and frustrating. It to me shows a general lack of imagination. I mean, with so many other things an artist can use to induce meaningful sound into music, why use publicly available samples that are specifically made for electronic musicians that other artists are undoubtedly using? It would be far more imaginative, for instance, to look into some old, random records and take samples from there, like some artists do. Or make them yourself.

Yeah, Fucked Up is a fantastic track.

Holy shit, dude. I haven't heard that track in ages. To me it was just about the only decent thing Aqualite ever did. Hypnotic Records was so hit or miss that way. On one side you had great shit like Colorbox, Bypass Unit and perhaps even Psygone, and on the other major crap like Solar Plexus.

What's your favorite out of all of them, DP? Trackwise. I'd have to go with Ka-SoL's Iris on the green one. Although purple's got some major contenders.

Bitch. Yeah, there was the XV track, Seitenzwack, on Goa-Head 10, I think it was. Very cool. And Linse, which I think was unreleased, or maybe on a single, but I had a friend who was good friends with Kilist, and he sent me some stuff on CD. I was HUGE into XV Kilist at the time, which is why the album was that much more depressing. I don't even remember the album very well. I think I listened to it once, put it away out of disappointment, then tried it again just in case some time later, then I think I actually threw it in the garbage, which is something I rarely do. (Skazi's Storm album earned that rite, too, along with Son Kite's first album, I forget what it was called now.)

That's been my experience, too. All positive. Keep in mind that it's a tiny business, and it might take a few days to make full contact. And yeah, get ready. What did you order?

About 26-30. Slow year for me, moneywise.

Don't get me wrong. There were a few XV Kilist tracks I really liked before he released that album, and I had lots of confidence that it would be great, but man, it was like three notes repeated over and over and over and over, ad infinitum. And don't get me started on that Son Kite crap. Jesus. That was so depressingly awful. I got into the minimal thing. I liked stuff like Noma. But there were some really horrible releases. Of course that's merely my opinion. I'm sure neither of us are alone with our views, Insejn. BTW, I always liked your avatar and sig.

I was a little late to the scene, around '98/'99. Ten years ago I was finishing up my undergrad degree and getting ready for the hop into graduate school, so I was focused on other things. When grad school didn't work out, I moved back to Chicago and got a job and my own apartment. I quickly realized I'd spent so much time in school that I never really had a chance to explore myself and my lighter, more playful interests. Although I'd been writing music with synthesizers since 1988, I didn't actually hear real electronic music until 1997. It started with IDM: Higher Intelligence Agency, Autechre, stuff like that, and it revolutionized my life. Meanwhile, as I was getting off on that, I felt I needed something more upbeat and driving. The next revolution came with Empirion's Advanced Technology, which was, although not proper Goa, my first experience with fast-ish, acidic, aggressive yet melodic four-on-the-floor trance music. I became obsessed and started buying everything that even resembled that style. Before too long I'd found the popular stuff like Juno Reactor, Hallucinogen and Pleiadians, and labels like Blue Room, Flying Rhino and Hypnotic, and compilations like Goa-Head, and I just flat-out immersed myself. I loved how the music made me feel, and the escape it allowed. I felt like I was born to listen to it, like it just meshed with the electric make-up of my brain. I remember thinking to myself, "I can definitely see why they call this 'psychedelic,'" because with my eyes closed I would literally start to hallucinate. And this was all without drugs. I actually have yet to try LSD or mushrooms. I have to admit, though, that I've smoked my share of pot, and it always made the music - any electronic music, for that matter - ten times more intense. And I've never experienced an outdoor party. I've always dreamed of being at a party in the woods in Sweden where the trolls and elves live, dancing all night long and into the morning. So as soon as I had access to the Internet I found this place, which was, of course, goatrance.free.fr when I came here. It was amazing to me to meet so many other people who shared my own taste, and although I was coming fairly late and was somewhat underinformed, I was still welcomed with open arms, and that spirit continues today. What is great about our community is that it is truly international, yet we share a common outlook on the world, and although we may live on the other side of the world from another member, we would still be immediately invited and accepted into that person's home if it were requested, and treated practically like family. I've been good friends with many psynews members, have met several of them, have stayed in several of their homes, and have learned many great lessons from each of them. I had no idea what I was really getting into when the music first entered my brain with such happy results. And maybe it's the view of a relative latecomer, but I don't think the people or the scene has changed all that much in the seven or eight years I've been involved. People are still obsessed with drugs and inward excursions, are still complaining about the current trends, are still arguing about what music is the best, are still saying silly phrases like bom shankar (although "P.L.U.R." did drift away some years ago), and are still basically a bunch of loveable, fluo, psycho, sci-fi, hindu-buddhist hippie freaks, a group to which I feel I've always really belonged. Anyway, that's my story.

Someone was apparently being a super sit prason. Shame.

Tatsu - Did more than, like, three people actually like that XV Kilist album? It was so horrible, even for minimal standards.

Oh, and DEFINITELY take out Juno Reactor's Labyrinth. This is not so much a taste thing. That album is useless, and makes no progress from earlier albums. I would, however, add Transmissions (1993) to the list.

I would definitely take out Double Dragon's Continuum (not only did this album pretty much suck, I don't recall there being much of a big deal with it beyond the initial hype that got it highlighted in the reviews), as well as Spirallianz's Stereopark, and replace it with Blast Food.

If you're looking for "real" ambient, Biosphere is a great place to start (Substrata is possibly the best ambient album ever made). Also check out Brian Eno's seminal Ambient 4: On Land. Otherwise, Shaft's recommendations are very good for psy-ambient. Ultimae is a fantastic label.

Hey Alien. I've got it. It's really good. Very magical, with some moody, cinematic, atmospheric tracks, and some up-tempo stuff. It's supposed to be a journey of sorts. The other two albums on Sending Orbs are good too, especially the Kettel album. We're definitely more in the IDM vein, though, but that's my favorite style so I may be biased. (It's definitely NOT drum 'n' bass.) If you like this sort of thing, you may want to make the jump to Toytronic Records. They've been releasing some very high quality, melodic IDM. Lots of samples at their site. Their compilations might be a good place to start, but I can HIGHLY recommend Ochre's album, A Midsummer Nice Dream.