Otto Matta

I'm just amazed that a Finn (Towelie) knows the word "quarantine." Very impressive. Ask me the word for "I" in Finnish and you'll get a blank stare.

Just wanted to give a quick shout-out to Medicine Drum for their album, Supernature, which has been in my CD player for a couple days now. Over the past several months since I've owned it, I've listened to it once or twice and wasn't all that impressed with it. Then I listened to it again and I'm struck by how tasteful and *listenable* it is. Reminds me a lot of early, Violent Relaxation-era Total Eclipse. Lots of nice old-school grooves, build-ups, well-selected sounds, tribal vocals and samples, and some ambient/breakbeat thrown in for good measure. A very nice piece of work. I'm not surprised now that Juno Reactor picked them to open up for at least part of their US tour a couple years back (cool live show, by the way).

Me too. I'm 30 and a child of the 80s. I still listen to 80s pop from time to time: Talk Talk Thomas Dolby Duran Duran Icehouse Stranglers If you like the New Wave sound, but done with current technology, definitely take a listen to NASA's "Remembering the Future." Solid electronics and killer hooks.

Is Purple Oz still around?

Thanks again, guys. Very helpful. And good luck.

Legion of Green Men - Floating in Shallow Water. GREAT party chill-out.

Correction: It's probably safer to say that electro evolved from house rather than from ambient. Also, if you want to take the genres back a little farther, house evolved from disco and funk, and the art of deejaying has its roots in reggae. Interesting. Kristian - Here's a good overview: http://www.btinternet.com/~Huggesey/HISTOR...TRONICMUSIC.htm

I generally feel that trance is a branch in the evolution of techno, which means it's a subgenre of techno. But with that logic, I suppose techno, and therefore trance, are both branches in the evolution of Detroit/Chicago house. Ambient, as Bahamut correctly states, gained popularity in the 70s, but has evolved into all sorts of crazy subgenres like IDM, space and probably most if not all of the new age genre. Some more danceable ambient (IDM, electro, etc.) has gotten so far away from the original ambient that, I think, we needed the term "electronica" to describe it. It seems that although house and ambient have evolved separately, they have, within the past couple of decades, begun to blend with each other. Psy-ambient is a great example of this.

lysergic - My take on why Juno Reactor are highly regarded: - Accessible yet challenging music - Danceable *and* listenable - Hard to pin down to some sort of subgenre (full-on, minimal, etc.) - many would say he's hard to pin down to *any* genre - Unique ideas - Good production - Successfully experimental with sounds, samples and effects - Unusual resources like Flamenco guitar, African and Chinese drums - An entertaining live show - Diverse tones for tracks so as not to be repetetive, while still achieving an overall album tone - Great self-promotion, which allows the music to reach a wide audience as well as get guys like Stevie Stevens to play on your tracks

Agree with you, spacemonkey. That one's a real journey. Nothing compares.

My pleasure, C. Tough question. Juno Reactor - Bible of Dreams gets my vote for most solid album all around. Good production, good variety, amazing use of sounds. Koxbox - Dragon Tales is up there. Amazing in almost every respect. Shakta - Out of Sight gets best production, although not the greatest album. Shame. Classical Mushroom is up there for best all around, although not my favorite. Damn hard question.

You may want to look into the ambient work of Indidginus. It's got similar ethnic themes and samples, lots of didgeridoo, great rhythm and more.

Please!!! I'm a tech moron!!! I need help uploading a track to the contest!!! I've sent the form. When I go to the ftp site and try to open a directory, I do not get permission and end up creating an untitled folder. I've tried asking here before to no avail. I've tried several times to email Children and he doesn't return my requests for help. Please, for the love of God, could someone here give me instructions on how to upload a track? Thank you, thank you, thank you, in advance. :)

Raja should leave the GMS mania alone...Looks like a play-it-safe and boring release. TIPWorld is going down... (GMS Remix)

A decent point, Bahamut. Here's my perspective: When I got into electronic music, I became attached to various kinds including fast, complicated, aggressive 4/4 dance music like some System 7 and Empirion. I had the feeling, though, that there must be more of it, and much better, out there. So when I first heard psytrance, I thought, "I've arrived. This is exactly what I've been looking for for so long." So I listened to the stuff that was good at the time - old school stuff. But I got interested at a time when minimal stuff was just beginning to come out and I've been more or less frustrated ever since. Tech trance was a nice surprise, but I can only listen to so much of that. I want that those feelings I had with my original psytrance discoveries back. I know it's possible. Fractal Glider did it.

Hallu - It does have (or should have) Hotaka as the last track, which is pretty new and if one doesn't have the single.

Good work, basilisk. I agree. Spent much of the past week listening to some older Astral Projection and wishing there was more of that sort of thing these days. I had the exact same experience as Tripster. I was originally hooked by Astral Projection, Juno Reactor, Pleiadians and other stuff from 94-98 and have spent a few years trying to relive that initial high, but with little success. I've resorted to buying less new stuff and more old stuff (the little there is), which works to an extent, but it would still be nice to have some of that spirit in the new music.

I have the Mere Mortals album (I'm a big fan of Interchill/Dakini stuff) and like it a lot. Looks like Ultimae is my kind of label. Thanks to you, too, snoosnoo.

I also get the feeling there's a lack of interest in the site by the owners the last several months. I suppose it's a tough job to keep the place updated, but it's sad to see it wane like it has.

kakoOlalaJwal - Thanks. Perhaps I was cutting up the styles a little, but I've found that every label has a certain sound, which is what I was getting at. Ciotera - Thank you very much, my man. Exactly the info I was looking for. You've peaked my interest.

I get a good feeling about this label but don't know much about it except for some Asura. Is it primarily slower, moodier trance stuff like Asura or is it ambient, and if the latter is it psy-ambient like Entheogenic or spacy ambient like Ishq? Thanks.

Yes, Z., I sometimes have make joke in.

I'm sorry, I don't know where to find it either, but I just needed to repeat a couple of things, just because: "I'm near to die." "It worth it...no!" Thank you.

You must own Dolby's "Golden Age of Wireless." A classic masterpiece from beginning to end. And yeah, Eno's early stuff (and later stuff) is uncomparable. Also look into Tomita's work from the 70s. He recreated classical works with analog technology. Beautiful, for the electronic-minded.

Nicely done! You've officially outmastered the master. I'm humbled.