Jon Cocco

ASURA - LOST EDEN 2003 REVIEW Track listing: 01. Prologue - B ...... Good. For an opening introduction it sets the mood just right for the album. Unique, intriguing. 02. Lost Eden - B+ ...... Strong and solid feeling and emotion. Uplifting. Lush, attractive sounds and harmanies. 03. From The Abyss - B ... More focused on ambient. It's nice, although less engaging...the female voice is good. 04. Raindust - B- ...... Sounds too similar to somthing off a Moby album, the womans voice. 05. Land And Freedom - B+ ... Asura is great at stronger, more layers songs like this one. 06. Fahrenheit - A- ...... Awesome work. One of the top best short trance songs ever. 07. Requiem from Nowhere - B ... Sounds a too little close to something I've heard before once beat kicks in. 08. Incoming - B- ...... It's alright. The high pitch swishy sounds toward the end always irritated me. 09. The Battle of Devas - B+ ...... Good sound, direction, voice transition, buildup, development, melodies. 10. Le Vol d'Icare - B- ...... Pretty good but not as engaging and great as an ending track could have been. Lost Eden is the second main album by Asura. Their debut, Code Eternity is one of the greatest Ambient Trance of all time. This follow-up is very different in some ways. For starters, this isn't mainly Ambient Trance alone. There are trance and ambient songs which both fuse together at times. There is also a handful of good songs, several achieve and involve greatness. The variety is wider relative to the debut; several more tracks exist here. The styles range from Ambient, Trance, New Age, World, Mid-tempo, down-tempo, classical, and maybe few more. It's really quite a mix at times although some tracks utilize genre(s) better than others. Fahrenheit is the best song or one of the best songs here. Praise goes to its strong crystal melody wave, melodies, buildup, and climax. I love it. I've heard this song so many times. Never have I not been impressed or gotten sick of it. Not once to date. It's so addictive and catchy this song. But why the short length??! There is easily enough length on this album for a longer, full version. I never understood this. Unless the song became repetitive or that much less engaging after the short 3:55 running time, a longer great song would have been fun to hear. Requiem from Nowhere is another good song here although once the beat kicks in I'm reminded of that Lobby room scene song in the first Matrix movie. I like the chilled, short intro. The world influences are good. And one song, Raindust, sounds too similar to something off a Moby album. Really, these guys have too much potential and talent to sound obviously sound like someone else. The song isn't bad but lacks originality. I hope Asura stick to further developing their great sound on future works. This is what I miss which was so great on the debut. Asura makes many tracks both in and with different styles. Some songs sound less unique than others. The first album sounded like nothing I ever heard and it was great and fresh sounding thoughout. One thing seems consistent, a nice beat which plays and keeps my attention to the rhythm. This is a great aspect that crossed over well from my favorite album by them, Code Eternity. In conclusion, this is a good album. It could involve more power, energy at times but too many aggressive or climactic songs like Fahranheit may have gone against the more chill mood and tone throughout. Regardless, giving the beat at times just a little more umph (after buildup) wouldn't hurt, long as they don't over due it like who ever finalized the poorly produced second album of the once great artist, Muses Rapt. This is much better than that. Asura can make good music without sounding cheesy, repetitive, or lackluster. They can also make stronger songs as Juno Reactor is known for doing and I believe they can make more "great" songs. On various levels I feel emotion while listening to a handful of songs here. The variaty is better than the first but the album is less epic like the first. I don't feel like I'm going through different galaxies, rather listening to a compilation of new songs by Asura. Some are decent. Most are good, very good. At least one or two is great I feel. Nice work Asura. Nice intros too. But it would be amazing if you incorporated some, if just a flavor of GOATRANCE elegance into your art somewhere in the future. Lost Eden is a good album to drive, relax and listen to. LOST EDEN, LAND AND FREEDOM, FAHRENHEIT(!), THE BATTLE OF DEVAS. B+

Great album! The first album is my favorite by Asura. It's so dreamy, outer-space-esque, good beats, rhythms, melodies, production. I love it. But I already own it. God I wish you guys would make a Code Eternity pt: 2. You guys so had something magical going on in the first album. I so visualize and fall into deeper states and moods while listening to Code Eternity. It's actually one of my most favorite downtempo/chill albums of all time. I even wrote a scene in a film to one of the songs. The second album was pretty good but too much variety and different sound made it feel more like a compilation of new Asura songs rather than one continuous epic journey, adventure.

Very cool news. It had been so many years since JR's last album before Labyrinth that I assumed another would take another four years. After writing this I realized that it's already been three. Time seems to go by so much faster as I get older. I see what you're saying. There were times, tracks on Labyrinth felt more "cinematic soundtrack" rather than classic Juno Reactor. Also, two songs were taken from the Matrix sequels soundtracks and I think some people were reminded of the movies because of this. I generally don't care to be reminded of a movie while hearing a new album by a main artist, but I really enjoyed MONO LISA OVERDRIVE and NEVRAS on Labyrinth. Some other tracks as well are great. The tribal influencs, echnic, world vocals and elements were top-notch. Labyrinth is such a mature album and it isn't anywhere near as movie-sounding as their work on the actual Matrix sequel soundtracks. For that I'm greatful. Labyrinth wasn't and didn't feel like a "score music by motion picture" per say. This is why they cut out that Don Davis intro via Mono Lisa Drive and touched it up, made it more tech-trance while adding a newer, (lose the "score" intro) version to Labyrinth. Nonetheless, smart choices like that could not entirely block Labyrinth from having some "EPIC-MOVIE" feel, energy at times. Juno Reactor is one of my favorite groups of all time. I'd love to see albums less infrequently, long as they continue their legacy of greatness. BADASS. These artists remind me of angels, yes angels... in the body of human beings, each hold such powerful elements of darkness and light. Sometimes their sound produced is on a whole new level as if their ideas are channeled from a more aware source. OMG after seeing that link above, their music is powerful. I love that. You feel it. It's really something... I want to hear more powerful songs on their next album. I hope they continue to develop that deep, climactic energy buildup tribal/trance-fusion that has been so great and engaging over the years. I hope for some real super-songs full of character and energy. Yes. Relative to the Hotaka (radio edit), it reminds me of a gentle, less effective, weaker version of track 2 on Labyrinth. I've heard stuff like this before by them and done better. It's not bad though. It's just nothing great.

Wtf.. are you people serious? This is horrible. The flute thing is humorous for some reason but I miss the punch-line.

Aren't we supposed to avoid focusing and putting energy into the bad stuff?? Seriously, you people have way too much time on your hands.

Wow. D5 - Transdimensional Re-release sounds almost too good to be true! I have TRIED to locate this goatrance album since the late 90's, early 21st century with NO success... I NEVER even heard it!! I always find and found desired Goatrance albums on Ebay, amazon.co.uk, saikosounds, psyshop, etc.. after revisiting sites over time. But this little rarity gave me a challange. Years went by. Decades. I lost my job, my house, my girlfriend dumped me. I believe you could also say I was bitch slapped. Yes bitch slapped. I had no control, accept the control of failing to secure a copy. D5's sequel Second Phaze which is good no doubt, several great songs but nothing excellent or superb IMO, became briefly available on psyshop back around 2000-2001. That's when I got a copy. I have heard excellent, superb, things about D5's first album for nearly a decade and I'm really looking forward to the Re-release of Transidimensional. I think this little cult-classic will make many people very happy.

INFECTED MUSHROOM - VICIOUS DELICIOUS 2007 BNE RECORDS Track list: 01. 07'20" Becoming Insane 02. 04'28" Artillery 03. 07'25" Vicious Delicious 04. 08'41" Heavyweight 05. 06'11" Suliman 06. 03'20" Forgive Me 07. 06'53" Special Place 08. 04'29" In Front Of Me 09. 06'31" Eat It Raw 10. 07'44" Change The Formality 11. 06'57" Before Vicious Delicious is the 6th main album by Infected Mushroom. I was initially expecting to hate this but it's not a bad album. Be open-minded guys! You can't look at this for psytrance alone or you'll be disapppointed. IM is trying different things while occasionally flexing their impressive music, mixing skills. During many tracks these artists are skating on edge of what actually defines psytrance. There is more singing here than on previous albums. IM is conditioning fans and listeners to get used to the singing since each main album has more singing on it. For psytrancers fortunately, there are some gems to dig out of the rough. Don't be so quick to judge and hate. Some songs are average, disappointing. On the other hand more than a handful are good, great. IM's first three main albums are classics. I was listening to B.P.Empire the other day; I was blown away compared to this (and the last two trance albums) but whatever. They are clearly trying to appeal to EVERYONE as best they "think" they can and it is having a ripple meets snowball effect. The good news (for them) is that more people world-wide will become aware of psytrance. The bad news is many other groups will follow this singing/lyrics thing which renders those consistent awesome moods, being tranced, and having adventures of all types useless. IM is so musically talented. I know many psytrancers will be disappointed with this release, as I am. But if you want to here Classical Mushroom or B.P.Empire go listen to those albums. It will be interesting to see how Vicious Delicious compares to 2004's "IM the Supervisor", which fans and listeners will be most comparing. It's strange hearing these guys sound like Linkin Park on track 2 because they're usually the group everyone seems to be copying, not the other way around. IMO tracks 2 and 6 don't flow with the rest of the album but they do add an nice little variety. Track 2 would sound good on a Linkin Park, POD, or System of a Down album, but I don't hate it. It's fairly catchy for a rap/rock song although the style and concept is so unoriginal. We've heard stuff like this before. It's called RAP/ROCK... not psytrance, but I'm not going to hate because they pulled it off on one track. 01. Becoming Insane - B ... This will be fun for the dancefloor. Lyrics are shallow fun. 02. Artillery - B- / B ... Not bad for a Linkin Park or P.O.D. song. Those into rap/rock may like this. It's actually good for what is is, not for what it isn't. 03. Vicious Delicious - B ... Good drive, buildup, melody work, and climax! This is the first actual psytrance song here without lyrics. 04. Heavyweight - B+ ... Great first half, melodies. Good second half but I'm not in love with the last third or so. It's one of the best songs here. Probably the most original piece on the album! 05. Suliman - B- ... I like the opening skipping, melodic hymm parts. They're good! The second half is decent. Bring back those melodies and do more with them! 06. Forgive Me - C- ... This is not innovation in a good way. Thankfully it's short. Disappointing. Lackluster. Lame. 07. Special Place - C ... Get some catchier lyrics, chorus, and voice please! Example: Muse Breaks (Rmx) 08. In Front Of Me ... C+ ... One of the better non-psytrance songs with lyrics here. The actual lyrics could use alot of work however; they are depressing, forgettable. This track is already being called an inferior attempt to basically rip-off Linkin Park. The voice overs (multiple vioces singing together) give add a nice touch but far from great. It isn't a bad song per say, but is this Infected Mushroom were listening to or someone else? 09. Eat It Raw ... B ... Finally another real lyrics-FREE psytrance song that's good. Nice climax. 10. Change The Formality ... B / B+ ... Great song and melodies before and after the singing interruption which distracts from the awesome mood (listener) and structure (sound) developing. I love the thrilling, energy buildup part during the second half or final third. I seriously wish they left out the singing (in the middle) of this one. They need to either go ALL-OUT with lyrics like in the first two tracks OR NOT because tracks like these could have been awesome without them. 11. Before ... B / B+ ... Good ending. Wow. I wish they would stick to making solid songs throughout the album like this one and as they once did. In conclusion, Vicious Delicious is a hit-and-miss electronica album fused with several lyrics and lyrics-free psytrance songs. Several tracks don't qualify as psytrance and would probably sound better on another album. That would separate the fans for good however and I doubt IM is ready for that. There are some good, great new psytrance songs here. I'm generally not a fan of singing in psytrance but I don't mind the opening track for instance. Becoming Insane is just a silly, energetic, mainstream pumped-up dance song. Don't over analyze it. Heavyweight is arguably the best song on the album and I'd love to see I.M. continue their innovative music with songs like this mixed in with the lyrics free roller coaster psytrance songs as began on previous self-titled song Vicious Delicious here. Tracks like Forgive Me on the other hand almost makes me cringe. The vocals and singing on tracks like Special Place is anything but special. I wish these artists would give their ego a break because outside of having fun, not trying to sing and sound like stars they are ruining their image. These artists should get good female voices and vocals as they did on the Muse Breaks (RMX) song from their previous album. Around half of the songs don't have singing or lyrics here. For those not into lyrics you're about to ride a steep hill througout the middle-third of this album. After that fortunately it's almost sunshine for miles. Vicious Delicious is the most lyrics singing filled I.M. album to date. You decide if it's stronger or weaker than their last controversial 2004 album. I don't think most of us were expecting much after seeing the direction they were heading in 2004. In that sense I was plesently surprised by the several very well done songs here. If you're expecting Classical Mushroom or B.P. Empire part 2, you will be disappointed. Do yourself a favor and DON'T DO THAT. Listen with an open mind and hear the album several times before making a judgement and writing a review. I never said this album was great or even that good!, but there is some very well done tracks and work within this package. BEST TRACKS: 3, 4, 9, 10, 11 B- Samples: http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/yoy/yoy1cd078.html OVERALL INFECTED MUSHROOM ALBUM SCORES 2004 - IM THE SUPERVISOR ... C+ ... Several good/great songs and several VERY disappointing ones. 2003 - CONVERTING VEGETARIANS ... Trance/Other Side ... B- / B: Overall B- 2001 - B.P. EMPIRE ... A- ... Great album with some excellent and superb songs. 2000 - ClASSICAL MUSHROOM ... A ... A melodic masterpiece. 1999 - THE GATHERING ... B+ / A- ... Awesome debut.

V/A - TWIST DREAMS 2007 SUNTRIP RECORDS Track list 01. Cosmic Silence – Psy Spirit 02. Aerosis - Contorsion 03. Red Gravity – Momentary 29 04. Talpa – Till We Meet Again 05. Merr0w – Utopian Society 06. Khetzal - Trancefuzion 07. K.O.B. feat. Klara Steiner – Weight Of Oblivion 08. Afgin - Dimensional 09. Ra – Gates Of Triphareth 01. Cosmic Silence – Psy Spirit constantly seems to change, gradually evolve without losing direction. New melodies, sounds, and voices are introduced, always catchy, focused, and with feeling throughout. The female voices at 5:29 really top things off, however short they are. It's beautiful, positive, and uplifting in its own way and injects the song with feeling. For an opening Goa-Trance song this is good, nothing spectacular. B 02. Aerosis - Contorsion has a cool, emotive intro. The first three minutes actually don't do anything for me other than prime me for what's to come. The melodies are nice and the ambient notes compliment them. At around 3:18 a melody gradually begins to be integrated into the mix which is very catchy. The peek of this melody is most prominent at 3:44. I find the part from 3:44 to 4:22 great, the best part here. Actually it's refreshing, beautiful, uplifting, smooth. I love this part. Lowering the volume and/or temporally disabling other sounds accentuate the melody. The overall sound slows down from around 5:13 and begins to build up to some type of climax at 5:55. It hits at 6:34 and my issue is that this song could have EXPLODED when returning. Would this be more mainstream in theory? Yes. But this is Goatrance so in a sense, having such a final imaginative explostion climax really isn't mainstream and yes I'm aware that part of me is missing the point if part intent was no to be like many others but... What the song does do in the last third is alright, but I almost feel teased into thinking there was something more fun coming. Whether this track was made for when the sun comes up (after the party) or for a final song isn't relevant to the fact that it is the second track here. People will not identify it as the closing song, rather the one to launch us high before the next. The ending here is neither climax nor anti-climax. It seems to fake-out a potentially great ending because of the build up part. This hints at something more to come but ends up being little difference and song variation until the end. I missed the more juicy sound from the first half. The last third could have been superb, kind of like how Khetzal's Djaningar song towards the end; taking things to the next level as opposed to putting on the breaks. Nonetheless, this song is well above average. IMO these guys should definitely go all out and build a song on juicy melodies that become increasingly more juicy and delicious as the song progresses, with a stunning, elevating final third and/or ending. They put together melodies so well without over playing the lead(s). Overall this is a good/great track and the best (both released and unreleased) Aerosis number to date. B+ 03. Red Gravity – Momentary 29 is the first great, more climactic, energetic goatrance song on the album to me. I love how it develops, the building up and with melodies and sounds. Everything flows. It gets deeper and generally more full of whizzing sound and rhythm as it progresses. There is a good melody at 4:44 and a very cool sound utilized as a melody at around 5:55 which sounds similar to an ethereal sound from off a famous Hallucinogen song. This song is great, full of gradual, cleverly structured climax, development, and strong catchy melodies. It seems to get stronger, collecting more debree like a tornado as it progresses. This is one of my several favorite songs on the album. A- 04. Talpa – Till We Meet Again has a fancy intro. I am one of the people who found "The Art of Being Non" debut album a gem. Here tthe melodies and how they're utilized are different. It sounds playful, catchy the way they're thrown together. My only gripe is the more generic melody existent from 3:12 - 3:51. I feel like he could have found a better part to replace this one. The part from 3:39 to 3:49 I don't like, and these take away from the greatness IMO. Other than that this is a musical achievement. It's fun, catchy, creative, dynamic, and rich in sound and style. The piano work is great! B 05. Merr0w – Utopian Society reminds me of Filteria. It really seems inspired, almost adapted in that they created their own song. There is a strong, leading synth which carries the song. It's good, but after a while I can't help but feel like I've heard this application before. Sure the song has direction and creativity, but it's not original. The reason why I speak higher of Filteria's songs is because he has innovated Pleiadian's founding form. That's not to say this isn't good. I'm sure some people will find it great actually, as it is good IMO. The hypnotic effect (as if the music is skipping) is psychedelic and cool. The short voice samples is nice. Fans of Filteria, early Pleiadians, and songs dependent on climax will probably most enjoy this. I simply find it less novel in its fast-paced, climactic approach that I (generally like and) will likely remain popular for decades to come. B- 06. Khetzal - Trancefuzion is my favorite (at least out of 3) songs on the album. I love the stronger rhythm and energy. This piece showcases beauty (deeper feeling) along with great melody/sound work and direction. The opening is almost eerie, unsettling, the sounds chosen. It's interesting and dark in a sense. I really like it. The tone present in this song is somewhat dark and driving; it's very uplifting and fun at times too. I love this balance between light and dark and if that was or was not the intention, it's great hearing Khetzal explore. The melodies are excellent. Same goes for the floating voice. Khetzal has such talent and skill. This is one of my favorite Khetzal tracks. The melody part around 4:33 here is even catchier than what I heard before. The build up at 5:57 is short but effective. The song keeps my attention. And then the female appear throughout the melodies. This song is an excellent piece. It has feeling mixed with the strong kickdrum, bassline, melodies, movement, rhythm, and more. Nothing here is fluffy or emotional in a happy or cheesy way because there seems to be some deeper feelings conveyed in the music. I'm impressed. Well done! A- 07. K.O.B. feat. Klara Steiner – Weight Of Oblivion is the first released song by new artist name K.O.B. by Filteria. Imagine sounds being forced into an aluminan can or tube, literally. That's what this thing sounds like! A leading, main sound here is highly distorted, thinned out in a sense due to alterations. It's really an illusion because there isn't loss of treble or depth. I really like this sound and effect but it's so different and stand-out that I wasn't sure at first whether I enjoyed it or admired its originality. The female voices create feeling, harmany. The song has juice and energy like the last one... It goes through a different sound/style change in the middle before returning to its most catchy, produced rhythm. This sounds going down the tube (the way I describe it) "sound" mixed with the pleasent, skipping female voice work creates an addictive sound fusion. I simply feel the song isn't enough past it's stand-out selling point cork-screw sound. Add the female voice for feeling. I feel this song is very exploitive of the overall sound it has going for it and doesn't introduce that much when looking at the whole. Its strength is also its weakness so to speak because it stays on one thing, with exception to the transition which is well done, interesting. However that one thing is an innovative attention grabber. Why not work it to your advantage? Makes sense I decided. The ambience with the female sound only compliments. As the first song released by KOB I'm intrigued to hear more. This sounds different from anything I've ever heard. This is a good song, maybe great relative to its unique direction and approach with different sounds and style. Actually the style is so distinct that it deserves the attention this artist has given it. B+ 08. Afgin - Dimensional has a great old-school Goa feel and sound for the first half. The flow and melodies are beautiful, engaging. I like the two melodic notes or chime/hits in the first third the most. It's catchy and stands out amongst the general waves of sound. There is a very nice transition around 3:45-4:33. This song is one of my favorites until things progress past the 5:15 mark. A second interlude takes place. It is here that I begin to lose interest. When the beat returned at around 4:45, the song didn't have the same charismatic ocean of melodies Goa "feel" that made the first half so compelling. It stepped into some type of upbeat mainstream-inspired club and never felt the same again! Sure some melodies return at 6:40, but the song has run out of steam by then IMO. Maybe that was the intent, to calm things before the last song, or not. Regardless, the second half of this song could have been stronger. The song had such a nice old-school goa vibe in the first half. Simply put, the second half, basically the last third could have been more engaging. Maybe I just got too attached to the old-school sound early on. I just find the last act lazy and uninspired, though I'm sure some will enjoy the change up. It's not bad by any means! This is a fairly good song. B- 09. Ra – Gates Of Triphareth sounds like one of those unique Goa influenced Downtempo closings from 1997-1998. It's as if this is one of RA's old unreleased songs from the golden age of Goatrance. It has that old-school producton sound. This is like nostalgic in a sense. RA's style miraculously retains the spirit and/or unique organic sound of his older work but the style is different. This is a downbeat, more downtemop sounding piece. I'm impressed with the unique, original style and sound he's come up with here. I have difficulty attempting to explain the sound past the general "downtempo" category. The doesn't develop that much as it progresses. For some reason I think of Persia before Persia split up into Iran, Syria, etc, (obviously) when listening to this. Their seems to be a very strong ethnic infleuential sound to the melody, tune. I visualize big pyramids and crossing the dessert on camels. I very much look forward to the new RA album. Although I don't consider this song great, it's very interesting. As with the K.O.B. track here I need more time to get acclimated to this. It clearly appears to be quite artistic, inventive, and well done. You have to be in a certain mood to enjoy stuff like this because it's so different from the usual. I find shutting the eyes and putting your mind on auto-pilot works better as opposed to driving or exercising to this song. Thank you RA for returning, and returning on this compilation! I'm really looking forward to the follow-up album and hope it's Goatrance (save for the last track maybe) and that it is amazing, something on another level entirely. This is a good song with a very unique sound and style, not much more and nothing less. B In conclusion, Suntrip releases another solid compilation. Twist Dreams is like the brother or sister to Apsara. For some reason people will compare the two and someone will always prefer one far over the other. I say give it time and you'll find the tracks you most enjoy. I can't say which compilation is better but I'm happy with this release overall. Both Apsara and Twist Dreams are very connected in a sense, regardless which one you like more. Although there is some weak work on few of the tracks, there is also some impressive stuff here as well; this is one of the best Goa/Psy-Trance albums of 2007. Favorite tracks: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 B+ Samples: http://tinyurl.com/2q29bu http://tinyurl.com/36avzc Previous Suntrip Records album scores from Jon Cocco V/A - TWIST DREAMS (2007) ... B+ FILTERIA - HELIOPOLIS (2006) ... B KA-SOL - FAIRYTALE (2006) ... B- KHETZAL - COROLLE (2005) ... A- V/A - APSARA (2005) ... B+ FILTERIA - SKY INPUT (2004) ... A-

I'm glad to see the 2nd Younger Brother album is slowly but surely coming together. They have potential to make a masterpiece if they choose to make a masterpiece. It's not just about sounding different or good. It would be awesome to hear some most impressive, groundbreaking, powerful work yet. The music I heard on the MS page sounds good but these aren't super songs IMHO. From the samples... All I Want Taster - Sounds pretty good but nothing great. I generally don't care for the male singing but especially when he says "All I want... You're all I want..." as if he's stressing his exhale. I'd remove that and let the song develop to the other voice work and voice-overs without that part. Sometimes singing distract from the mood, the power of the music. Happy Pills Taster - Good. Very unique, but nothing superb. Psychic Gibbon - Very good, maybe great work. The lyrics/singing are cool but the altering makes me wonder if this person is singing from their diafram. Based on samples it's sounding very good and different from the debut so far. If they want to impress me they have to search deeper as both have the power to do. I agree. It would be very cool to see an excellent darker, badass track or two and/or few superb danceable songs. Based on samples it's sounding very good and different from the debut so far. If they want to impress me and many others I'd imagine they have to search deeper as both have the power to do.

PLANUM - ELABORATE 2005 REVIEW CONCLUSION FROM ABOVE 1. DEEP 2. MORE ACTION 3. ALBUM 4. INNOVATE 5. DISCO PLANUM 6. THE LOST MUSIC 7. ASPECT 8. FUTURE SOUND OF PLANUM 9. THE MORNING MURDERER 10. LONELINESS I really like this album and consider it one of the cooler, more interesting and underrated melodic psytrance album sof 2005. I really like the work with the piano and drums combined with the melodies. Sometimes the song seems to be going in a completely average direction then WHAM ... everything gets musical or climactic suddanly. There's lots of creativity on Elebobrate. I like the harmonic and symphonic sounds too and that this artist wasn't dependent on them. He does some fine work with the piano and drums.. drums, drum rolls, drum combo's, drums upside down I like his work with the more organic sounding instruments along with everything else. Naturally this works better on some tracks than others and I'd like to see the best work here capitalized on a follow-up. Strange is that not one song is really great to me, but there are moments of greatness sprinkled throughout a handful of tracks and several songs develop into greatness towards the end. I'd love to see some tracks in a follow-up start great during the first half and become superb during the second like some of IM's earlier work but that's for the artists ability. As said before, some songs start off so average like in track 4. During that same track at 4:00, when I've almost lost all hope it's impressive at how surprisingly good it gets. The song becomes infinitely more catchy, musical, apealing. The same can be said for several others. It's that damn piano man. I'm telling you! On certain songs (track 6 and 9 for example) this artist picks a catchy direction and seems to follow the path throughout as if he's confident with the direction. It works. On other tracks he seems to have too many ideas, unsure which direction to take. It's hit-or-miss but never really bad, just sometimes average until something happens. Some directions however turn out to be huge over others and work out for the best. It all varies at times but this artist is definitely talented and the overall album is one of the better psytrance releases of 2005. 1. DEEP - C+ ... The part at 2:19 (24 secs) is catchy. At 4:45 forward the song gets better. A weak song otherwise. 2. MORE ACTION - B- ... Good ambient intro and repeat notes at 2:54. Decent at 5:45 but again, not a strong track 3. ALBUM - B ... Nice opening. kickass sound mixing at 1:07 repeats at 3:47. Love it. This gets my attention. 4. INNOVATE - B ... Poor title. First half is average until 3:47 forward. Great piano work raise entire song appeal. 5. DISCO PLANUM - B- ... Follows previous with strong sound but with less effect. Cool voice bits compliment. 6. THE LOST MUSIC - B ... Deep, catchy melody at 1:20 brings singular but strong and effective direction throughout. 7. ASPECT - B .. Good sound direction until 5:31 where the song really lights up. Great progression from there. 8. FUTURE SOUND OF PLANUM - B ... 7:00 into this is VERY goodt. More strong work like this please. 9. THE MORNING MURDERER - B ... 10. LONELINESS - B- ... Nice work. Pretty good. The part from 2:15-3:32 is very well done, and after 6:56. The drums are cool for a transition of sorts. I don't care for the heavy guitars from 4:37-6:56. It's too heavy IMO for an effective chill track, like two styles colliding for a short period of time. Everything else works best and the last couple seconds sound really special. BEST SONGS: 3, 4, 8, 6, 9, 10. B- Samples: http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=5160 http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/sud/sud1cd029.html

ZEN PARADOX - ETERNAM BRAINWAVE[/b] 1993 FULL REVIEW 1. Opening - C 2. Say Goodbye to the Dark Place - B+ 3. Lysergide Induction - C 4. Lambent Interlude 1 - B 5. Thanatos Awakening - A- 6. Fornicator - C- 7. Vicious Cycle - C- 8. Biomechanical Psychosis - C- 9. Lambent Interlude 2 - B- 10. The Light at the End...? - B- 11. Emerald - B 12. Floating Without Chemistry - B+ 13. Evening Calm - B / B+ (ambient) PROS There are some really special sounding songs on this album! Track 2, Say Goodbye To The Dark Place must have been excellent when it first came out. I consider it good, beautiful melodic elements. Some may call these nice melodies cheesy but whatever man. They can be extremely pleasent, floating to listen to if you're in the right mood. Thanatos Awakening is even better. Floating without Chemistry is also one of the best songs here. These songs take time to develop and can work wonders on the consciousness when you least expect it. The feelings projected throughout some of these songs use of melodies, choice of sounds, notes, and mixing is impressive when they all come together. This is why I love lots of old-skool goatrance and I wish all of the songs followed the peaceful style when several don't, knocking me out of the state I'm in. My advice is to just upload this to your iTunes, make a playlist and delete the weak songs. And just remember, this was made in 1993. I assume this album was very underrated because I never heard of it before this thread. It's a very nice album, where some tracks are more like morning old-skool goatrance and others are more hard and relative to a better mood set at night. There is some real beauty to this album. It's definitely good, especially for it's time. However, it's hard to rate or score this because I didn't listen to it back then. CONS I don't even think they called this goa or psy back then. The inside flip mentions electronic or electronica, but it was 1993. With exception to several tracks, this is (mostly) what I consider early goa/psy trance. The problem is that two types of style genre tracks take place throughout. One is that lush, more goa sound while others basically sound like techno. I don't care for the techno ones but some of the goa morning trance work is beauitiful and very unique, catchy. Three tracks are definitely suspect. Tracks 6, 7, and 8 do not "fit into the more melodic, harmonic trance style that appears on other songs. This album would have been and flowed much better had it elminated those songs. Track 3 is dance electronica of some kind and definitely NOT goa/psy trance but it's not bad. IN CONCLUSION, tracks 6, 7, 8 are not good. I don't care for track 3 either. Almost everything else however is more or less old school, goa sounding and melody-driven trance bliss. Tracks 6, 7, and 8 could have easily been mistaken for another dated electronica techno album unfortunately. Whatever. There are three short ambient goa-esque transitions/interlude tracks, two break up the album nicely. Several songs are good, great, somewhat magical sounding. The album is generally positive and uplifting in sound too and for the number of songs there's a good amount of quality "older" ones. Being released in 1993, I can only imagine this was impressive to those who heard it back then. It's anyones guess who inspired these artist(s). Afterall, there were hardly any artists producing this music back then. One must have tried different things and been experimental with so little to compare to. That may in part rationalize the reason for the several "experimental" (techno) tracks. Fans of old-skool melodic goa, experimental and trance, check this out. BEST TRACKS: 2, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13. B+ ... (not an average)

Exactly where on this page do I go to download this?? I can't find the thing to click on anywhere, including the name of track, artist, filesize at the botten left. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YGIOCYQ6 Cape Quetzal sounds great when I click on that sample on your music page. I love those juicy melodies in the opening 20 seconds or so via the sample. Developing that juicy sound into something ozzing, literally bursting with juicey melodies (think Dimension 5 at it's top best and modernizing it is a concept for instance) and emotion would be awesome. Just an idea. I want to download that Cape Quetzal song. It's the best I've heard from Aerosis yet.

Yes. And I don't think I was initially clear what leading melody I was being critical with on my review so I've UPDATED IT. The leading melody, the song that stands out the most to me IS Mayana. It's a very well done song and the leading melody which reminds me of old Pleiadians tops it off. I'd love to see deeper, more dynamic and catchy songs like that. I also like the leading melodies in tracks 6 and 7. The last song is pretty good too but the melodies I find less memorable compared to tracks 5, 6, and 7. Track 2 is softer but develops later on and I find it pretty good, nothing great but interesting and different in a good way. The track and overall melody or leading melody that I do not like is track 3. I don't enjoy that melody, the general sounds, and the entire song. It sounds unintersting, repetitive, and drawn-out on a not-catchy-enough rhythm and structure. Track 4 is OKAY and I find the opening song lacking, uneventful, plain, and boring. Lastly, some other less stacota sounds like chimes, bells, ambient notes, atmosphere and other melodies creating deeper, more mind expanding and developed soundscapes would be cool in the future. When I hear track 5 , I know this artist has potential to come up with something special.

It's about TIME. http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=6380 http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/twi/twi1cd031.html

Unstoppable is the third main album by SynSUN, a double album for very little more than the price of one. I imagine the melodic Full On style on the first disc will attract some. The experimental, more chill, downtempo-esque second disc will attract others. It sounds like a great idea in theory. If I ever buy this it will be because of the "other" [chill, downbeat, downtempo, world, experimental] second disc. DISC 1 An album filled with new full on psytrance songs. On The Tron is a great psytrance song but it's been released on a previous main SynSUN album! Disc 1m the psytrance/dance side in the double album lacks new, exclusive, excellent tracks, in my opinion. DISC 2 The most stand-out, impressive work on disc 2 to me is Neo, a beautiful, dreamy, floating ambient trance piece. It is wonderful, musical track. I'd love to see more songs like that! In my opinion both of discs here should have been sold separately, two different albums releasing the same time for a total of $9.95 a piece. That's a great price for less and appeals to the two different genre's of fans it's marketed for. What SYNSUN should do is make a Down/Mid-Tempo chill album with all new, top (I mean awesome) tracks in the style [at the level and beyond] of Zak, Neo, and previous hit Tataria! This could be an awesome, amazing album for all those fans and listeners in the mid and downtempo genre and potentially break new ground! 4:00 Samples: http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=6362

No samples at Saiko Sounds??! Not cool. I can't even sample the second disc songs on psyshop. http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=6362 SunSYN's work on tracks like Zygote, Ceremony, Tataria, Prelude, Phoenix, Mami were very well done and I'd hope to see more great songs. Quality and super songs over average-good ones. The first disc on SynSUN's double album sounds more Full On to me than any CD this artist has released to date. The opening song seems a little too inspired off Talpa's My Kingdom to me with that main leading, somewhat aggressive, stacotto melody. Embryo is the first song that reminds me of SynSUN, the melodies. I'm more interested in the second CD on the double album here. The first disc generally sounds too Full On for individual private listening to me. I imagine dancing but there isn't a whole lot more left there to explore from what I've heard so far. Vampiria Night seems to have more character, stronger theme present. It stands out. On the Tron sounds like something I heard before, pretty good. I want to hear second CD samples. Cool cover btw.

ASTRAL PROJECTION - THE ASTRAL FILES 1996 Track list: 1. 7'24" IONISED ... B 2. 5'56" ZERO ... B+ 3. 7'20" ENLIGHTENED EVOLUTION (RMX) ... B+ 4. 7'40" FREE TIBET ... B+ 5. 7'03" MAIAN DREAM ... A- 6. 9'04" KABALAH (NEW AGE MIX) ... B 7. 7'23" TIME BEGAN WITH THE UNIVERSE (THE END OF TIME MIX) ... B+ 8. 7'48" UTOPIA (CONCEPT RMX) ... B+ 9. 9'04" ELECTRONIC ... A- 10. 7'41" AMBIENCE ... C The Astral Files is a great album including several of AP's finest (pre-1996) songs remixed and a handful of exclusive greats and classics as too. Ionized starts off the album with a strong melody. The multi-layered style sounds excellent. This is a fairly simple song with one braid of melodies carrying throughout until the band is taken out somewhere around 3:30. And at 4:10, the musical band continues with no surprise other than fresh alterations of the same sounds. Many people seem to favor this and place it as one of the best. It's a classic AP style sounding track, even if they've done better. 2. Zero kicks ass. The opening voice sample introduces the outer space communication theme generally present throughout AP's albums. I find this more catchy than Ionized. More takes place with the melodies and direction which I find more engaging. I like how some of the melodies are introduced... arriving and going into a less submissive state or waiting for a voice sample to before letting loose and bursting into all other sound. 5:20 has some interesting notes mixed in. Overall the outer space and astranout theme help develop the songs character and make the song even more memorable. 3. Enlightened Evolution ... Another great song. God can it ever end? AP is too good!! Haha. I love that stuff they do around 6:00 Zwwaaa-weeeeee! Climax. 4. Free Tibet has these skipping voices followed by skipping melodies (I.E. Aes Dana skipping technique I think, the concept) and I really like it. It adds to the rhythm. I don't think song's as good/great as the previous one but it's not far behind. The elevation of sounds and melodies around 3:00 is very catchy. I like when AP plays around with sounds. It sounds as if they love distorting sounds as if they're tangible, bendable. The chopped up voice bits and ethnic-influenced melody make this song generally different from many AP's songs. I most enjoy the skipping melody around 5:45. That's good. And I can see how others can find certain voice bits and higher pitched sounds (up and down?, the one the song ends on) less attractive. 5. Maian Dream is, if not one of the top highlight here. The song starts good before developing into an addictive rhythm and pace introducing some of the most elegant sounds and melodies. The sound is dreamy, upbeat, and beautiful. 6. Kabalah (New Age Mix) was a hit-and-miss for many people but that's because the original was perfect. AP added, echoed, altered, and changed so much, but none of it sounds better or average. Those melodies are still awesome and I've enjoyed the remix over the years. However it's just not magical like the first it that makes sense. I don't think the intent was to ever top something so flawless but many people seemed to compare right away and for such a superb song like Kabalah, why wouldn't they? For a remake it would be disappointing but for a remix it's pretty cool, no more or less. I'm glad at least AP remixed it and no one else. 7. Time Began With the Universe continues the more energetic, aggressive, climactic style. It's great. 8. Utopia (concept mix) is another highlight which is placed between two great songs. At 4:20 and again aroun 5:55 appears one of my most favorite leading melodies on the album. It's excellent. 9. Electronic is one of the best, most unique songs every by AP. The slower, more downtempo, funky PSY trance sound mixed with an (Arabian-esque?) melody/sound is very floating, catchy. This sounds nothing like they've ever done before. It's comprised of multiple great melodies, ambience, ambient notes, drums all swirling together in this fine rhythm and rhythms. And then a goa melody mixes in around 5:00 in. Wow. And it continues with a transition followed by another fresh melody. The drums roll and the previous rhythm returns over the new sound. I've listened to the song while writing this. Electronic is a real gem. 10. Ambience is decent but it isn't that good. Maybe they should have ended the album with Electronic. It's another slower song but it's not ambient. Basically this is a slow PSY trance (dance?) song. The melodies aren't nearly as catchy or captivating as the previous song. Loud, echoed, incoherent voice bits drown most of the sounds out for a small time. The songs filled with melodies on top of each other but it's rather repetitive and boring. I have difficulty getting into and enjoying this because of the overall sound, style. The voices return more distracting than ever. The song improves a bit, becomes fairly groovy around 5:55 but those blurry, incoherent, loud voices appear again and distract the you know what out of me. Overall a decent (meaning okay) at best song. Overall I don't like it and I appreciate AP's attempt to do somethinig different. Sometimes it succeeds greatly with Electronic. Other times it fails.. miserably. Sorry guys. It's not a good track. In conclusion, this is a great remix album. Although they improved their sound/style with the follow-up now known as Dancing Galaxy, there are some super songs here. Many people consider this one of the best goatrance albums. Sure it isn't as classic as AP's Trust In Trance but that's mainly because the the remixes here wouldn't exist if not for the originals on it. This may not make many peoples Top 10 Goatrance Albums list but that doesn't mean there are some superb classics here. The only song I really don't care for is track 10 and in all fairness, it's not bad. The Astral Files is a very special album. Favorites: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9. B+

I've been wondering about the third one for some time now. I almost posted a thread asking what's up with Asura's third album not too long ago. I listened to the debut again. I REALLY enjoy the debut. It's strong chill, atmospheric/melodic style somewhere between downtempo and a unique, new agey trance/downbeat style with ambient flavor I suppose. It's very cool. The tracks have character, their catchy and create good beats, melodic rhythms. The consistent style makes it feel epic, almost cinematic at times. The second album was pretty good. The track variety seemed to improve greatly but not their were styles I did and didn't find good. Several tracks I thought were good/great, but it was very different in style and sound from the debut. I suppose the shorter track durations made it more mainstream. There was some strong feeling to several songs, atleast one sounded too simlilar to Moby, and few were lackluster or not good IMO. But I appreciate both albums very much. The first feels more mature and unique to anything else as opposed to the pretty good follow up. I hope the third album is a real gem. Really. I'm looking forward to hearing samples whenever it's time.

JAIA - BLUE ENERGY / BLUE SYNERGY 1998 REVIEW TRACKLIST : CD1 1. 6:46" SOMMEIL PARADOXAL ... A- 2. 9:26" ANAWA'S PARADISE ... B / B+ 3. 7:25" BREATHING OCEAN ... B+ 4. 8:13" BRAINSTORM ... A 5. 9:44" NASTY ANGEL ... B+ 6. 9:21" MAI MAI ... A 7. 8:59" SPIRITUAL DROPS AND ETERNAL ICES ... B / B+ 8. 9:25" AFTER THE RAIN ... A- CD2 1. SENTENCES TO HEAVEN ... B / B+ 2. SILLENIUM ... B / B+ 3. TIME MACHINE ... B / B+ 4. KANNIBAL ... B 5. FACTORY OF MIND ... B 6. MEDITATION ... B Blue Energyis one of the best Goatrance albums. To date it still sounds superb. The album starts and ends wonderful. There is even more beauty throughout the middle. Blue Energy is one of those magical, organic sounding goatrance albums with an accentuation on nature, spirit, body, and mind. The sound is often complex, full of harmony and emotion. This is thanks to an awesome focus and on combining and developing lush melodies and supporting ambient notes to build strong soundscapes, both GOA and other. Add floating voices, particle and atmosphere affects, tribal and ethnic influence and more, and you have one of the best albums. The artists' work on certain songs and the overall sound/style becomes a seemingly blissful sound of ethereal sound and effect to the danceable rhythm, beat, and to the ears and mind of the listener. Blue Energy is even more rewarding for simply listening to IMO. It's a beautiful, unique, innovative, and deeply catchy piece of musical art. Some would call this a masterpiece and I wouldn't argue with them. However I do find the first album far more enjoyable than the second. Not every song I consider superb but the majority of the album is. No song is near average. Several are some of the most beautiful goatrance songs of all time. The double CD album (BLUE ENERGY/BLUE SYNERGY) has been re-released through Saiko Sounds (for starters) along with CD 2, the ambient, experimental, and trance album. CD 2 has some interesting songs but the first CD or the original, BLUE ENERGY is the real centerpiece. This is a classic and should be in everyones Goatrance collection. FAVORITE SONGS CD1: 1, 3, 4, 6, 8. A- On the other hand I find CD2 no where near CD1. There are several good songs. However the best work is on Blue Energy. I don't have much to say about Blue Synergy right now. It's pretty good I suppose but nothing great or superb. It's just not all that eventful and engaging to me but some tracks are definitely better than others. I'd probably give Blue Synergy a B at best. JAIA - "BLUE ENERGY / BLUE SYNERGY" (Double album) Samples / Order: http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ease.asp?id=924

I noticed it too. Track 7 - FLAMICOGYRE There is a short technical blip, ERROR or problem at 7:47 - 7:50 into the track. It seems to get all scratchy and caught up making a terrible, improper, harsh sound. Yikes! What is that??! Didn't someone listen to each individual track on this album before it was copied, packaged, and released?? (??) At least it's short and happens only once but still.. this was unnecessary. I wonder if they re-issued it. I mean, these things are supposed to be handled and corrected behind-the-scenes, obviously. *sigh* I've added this to my song review but it hasn't changed the score of course, just an observation.

TRANSWAVE - BACKFIRE 2007 FULL REVIEW TRACKLIST: - Red = Never publically released. - Black / Bold = Releases on rare comps and/or singles from 94-96. Most people never heard of these. 1. Adoration To The Aum 2. Hypersphere 3. Anahata 4. Arsonik 5. Cycles Of Life 6. Code S9 7. Flamicogyre 8. Bombay Night 9. Ulysse Voyage 2 Astral Projection Cosmosis Hallucinogen Man With No Name Transwave Pleiadians ...and several more. These are just some of the greatest musically talented artists to enter the universe of goatrance. I've often wondered what an album would sound like released by by an old classic goatrance artist today. The answer is often disappointing because when an old goatrance artist returns, they're often producing something completely different from the reason we loved their music to begin with. Often times, it isn't goatrance. It's something more mainstream friendly to the point it loses it's allure and dreamlike creation. With Backfire, a release that's sure to be one of the greatest album returns by a classic goatrance artist, Transwave releases 9 tracks made from 1994-1996. Several haven't been released until now and others are taken from rare comps most people haven't heard or know of anyway. Two song on this comp are from their first main album which sold least because the record label seems to have gone out of business before many fans could even secure a copy. For most people who loved the earlier days of Goatrance, Transwave and all their fans, this is like a new album, with tracks many of you including myself had never heard before. In some ways it's like a dream come true. There's something very special about hearing such great songs by Transwave I never heard before. It's awesome. No further words. I'm greatful they didn't put such hit songs as Land of Freedom, Malaka Dance, Trashish (amongst others) on this disc because most Transwave fans and people own and have heard them before. They're on the main albums which were available the longest before going out-of-print so it's reassuring to see they gave us something totally new and yet old, the classic sound, combined. 1. Adoration To The Aum ... Taken from Hypnorhythm EP, their first main album. I can understand why Transwave began Backfire with this. It's an intro, which is the most rare intro track they made I imagine. Okay, I love the beautiful melody notes and sound in the first 1:30 here. I love it. This is classic Transwave and it's awesome. They don't make music like this anymore! The hard, stomping beat kicks in and the melodies develop, faster. Half way into the song it gets a nice groove going. This is arguably the oldest sounding song here. It's also one of their first songs to my knowledge. At least they put this as the opening song. Many people into Transwave have heard this and the following track I presume. Placing it here on the album works. It brings the connection back to where it all began, what many of us missed even if we heard this song before. A- 2. HYPERSPHERE ... This is the second and final song taken from a main Transwave album, that being Hypnorhythm EP as well, their rarest and known album. I have it as a download and this is the first real great dance song (for its time especially) Transwave released to my knowledge. It's one of the, if not THE best song on their debut album. I understand why it's here considering they probably didn't have more great unreleased and rare tracks. Full of climax and one strong, catchy topping leading melody which rises above, capuring all sound and attention. This is the beginning of the big dance floor goatrance greatness that Transwave would later develop into some of their greatest songs ever. I may feel it's very good for our time now. Nonetheless, this must have been quite a song back then, especially to dance to. A 3. ANAHATA is the first new (of old I never heard before) songs on Backfire. This is mainly why I bought this album. It has an interesting opening with a voice sample: "What you're about to hear..." before their sound and style begins. The melodies are good. As it progresses more is introduced as you'd imagine. I honestly didn't find this song great compared to what I'm about to hear but it's good to say the least. Once again, I have to remember this was made around 1994-1995 so compared to the stuff out then... This is almost the least positive and crtitical I can say about such an accomplished, talented group who made a song I don't consider great for myself today. B+ 4. ARSONIK is the first song I hadn't heard before that is great. No, it's superb. Just raise the volume and listen to this piece. It's loaded with this powerful current of energy and rhythm. Sure the song seems to capitalize on this one direction but it's an excellent direction. This is one of the best songs on the album. Oh, and there's more. A 5. CYCLES OF LIFE is awesome. WOW!!!! Around 3:40 into this is one of the most beautiful building transitions I’ve ever heard. Yes, I love this emotion transition, build, lift-off. It’s richly rewarding full of positive emotion and energy, The melodies return and more layers pile on top of those. Echoed voice sounds, skipping, zipping along and within everything else. It’s great. No, it’s superb. Don’t confuse the two. This is a classic. A 6. CODE S9 is less emotionally capturing to me than the previous song. It gets stronger as it progresses. There is a great transition, build up, and climax around 4:40. The song hits greatness but ends shortly after. Clocking in around 6:39, the number feels cut or shortened to some degree. It goes so high and ends so soon. Still a great ride. B+ 7. FLAMICOGYRE is the first and last song on Backfire which sounds less original. 1:32 into the song is a melody that I swear has been used or so similar to Astral Projection from their earlier days. I don't know who did it first but AP relied heavily on such exact melodies. They later became associated to AP regardless of where they first began. Anyway, the song is most noted for having interesting, mysterious and peaceful transition at 3:55. It's very well done. Transwave is excellent with building and developing the foundation, interesting transitions, and returning the music to places further than it's ever traveled before. After the solid transition, the music returns at 4:55 bigger, better, more powerful than ever before. This includes fresh melodies, tempo, rhythm(s), build ups, and key changes! All are catchy and the sound fusion is different, more complex, involved, and catchy than the first act, before the transition. There is an exciting final climax before the number comes to a close. B+ / A- 8. BOMBAY NIGHT is to my knowledge, the one or main song that was never released on any rare comp or single. I was most intrigued by this song initially from reading about it on here. I have also not been really impressed yet. Don't get me wrong. To each their own. This is ineresting and different. I'll leave it open to potentially appreciate more on further listens of course. This song reminds me of a strong, yet somewhat different reoccuring visual I'd get while listening to the opening in Sandmans Witchcraft album. The visual is fairly dark and mysterious, like entering a magical castle before or close to a time of war. Yes, war. I'm not sure what the goal was behind this but it definitely seems visual based on the atmosphere or strong introduction created. The strange thing is that the introduction doesn't have atmosphere sounds (wind, rain, water drops, battle field, etc) of any kind I noticed, but much emphasis has been put into this unique developing build and tone throughout. Not much momentum or energy seems to take place in the first half. It's slow, collective, curious. The song maintains this comfortable rhythm for quite some time before a gentle transition. At around 5:47 into the song it lifts off. Not that this isn't a climax filled dance floor song IMO. It is interesting to say the least, different from what I'm used to from Transwave. I believe there is more to this song than I currently perceive or know. A- 9. ULYSSE VOYAGE 2 would be the closest song that could have been an intro like the first. There are nice melodies. Some strength is injected 4:00 in. I found the voice hymms unique. They add a unique touch and several new sounds and melodies accentuate them. The slower speed is nice too. The songs short, at around 5:29. Clearly the best or at least most energetic songs have passed and this is a gentle soft closing. A- IN CONCLUSION Is this better than Helium or Phototropic I have no idea. Maybe. Maybe not. Who cares. That's a debate I have no interest debating. Backfire will go down in history as one of the best releases of 2007, period. Try one of the best Goatrance albums for multiple reasons and easily the greatest album I've ever had the pleasure listening to from an old Goatrance artists return, regardless that these songs were made in the mid 90's. Goatrance fans have a new gem in that old, nostalgic sound that can never be completely truly recreated ever because of the time. The time was [as if] preserved in this capsule to the year of its 2007 release. After the first two tracks (which I heard before) the following songs are like goatrance classics held in a vault for over 10 years! Sure music can be perceived as timeless. And of course the production, digital software, hardware and other various forms of equipment existent to creating such work have improved drastically since 1994-1996. However, this was then. The more dated (at times) production in a sense compliments the authenticity, the fact that this is a non-replaceable gem. After all, it isn't the equipment but how you use it. Transwave built buildings out of sand, metaphorically speaking. As with other great goatrance artists back then, they created so much with so little. It was as if they had no choice but to travel deeper into the mind to obtain more creative, imaginative, and unique ideas that will later see the light. The light, result here is Backfire. It includes the best Transwave songs ever released to rare comps, singles, and never released too. Expect the old-school classic sound of goatrance. Expect the whole reason why people once loved this music and still do, in a time when GOA seemed as if it would never be replaced by a more mainstream, generally infinitely less deep and aware sound. Transwave's Backfire is worth owning. Let it savor over time in your body, mind, heart, and soul. Add it to your collection of awesome classics. Thank you Dado and Chris. Thank you Transwave! A- Samples / Order here http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=6304

VOX - INNERPOLARITY 2007 METAPSYCHIC RECORDS Full Review Tracklist 1. Analogue heaven 2. Atmosfear 3. Behind the wheel 4. Over the clouds 5. Mayana 6. Euphoria 7. City of black lights 8. Inner polarity I wasn't aware of this album until it first appeared in a thread here on psynews. No buzz or hype really. It was released for free, or free to download curtesy of this artist Vox and Metapsychic Records who recently released Pyramedial Trancendence at the end of 2006, also free to download. I enjoy that more and consider it, Pyramedial Trancedence one of the best releases of 2006. Focusing on the Vox - Innerpolarity album I found little or few tracks that really stood out to me at first. Throughout my second full listen I liked it more than my initial concensus. PROS: - The older goatrance-esque flavor is apparent (on certain tracks more than others) and compliments the album. - The inspirations are clearly goatrance. There are several good songs here flavored with a pinch of the older sound. Generally speaking, every artist is different how he or she integrates such art from the golden days into todays music. There are times it works very well here. - Some tracks (2, 5, 8) sound very different and characteristic. The sounds combined in each one make them appear to have very different styles, directions. This also takes place with one or two others as well. Track 2 is more thoughtful and changes several times along its path until hitting a very relaxing fusion of sound just over half way through. Track 5 sounds influenced by old-style Pleiadians in it's intense or climactic leading melody. It sounds pretty crisp and compliments the song and album entirely. Track 8 starts different, darker, and engaging. I like how it builds and ends the album on a stronger note than the opening song. - It's free! CONS: - Some tracks (1, 3, 4) sound less interesting, engaging, and imaginative to me. Maybe that lower pitched bag popping-ish echoed sound mixed over the kickdrum in these three tracks contribute to distracting me from enjoying them more. It's not the most catchy sound. Less is better with certain things. At times there's isn't enough details and supporting sounds (juicy melodies!) to create more of a texture of sounds) around the main one. More tracks like 5 would be great. Give it that Pleiadians-esque depth (or more catchy swimming sounds) around those wicked, psychedelic melodies without compromising the leading sound. - Album lacks WOW moments, key changes, excitement, and climaxes. I'm not pulled into it's world. There isn't enough taking place to capture and trance my mind. It seems as if a limited or fairly [preferred] amount of sounds were used to create the melodies and other sounds on here. Some tracks have sounds too similar to others which makes these songs stand out less as individual tracks. - Certain songs carry a clear melody or two but supporting melodies and sounds are generally less strong to me. It would have been nice if more focus was put into the supporting melodies and sounds because I never hear or perceive the "swimming in melodies" flow that much great goatrance does. More work could have gone into some tracks here, making them more involved with sounds, rhythm, psychedelic, and powerful. In conclusion, there are several songs that stand out as being good and I enjoy those most. Part of me feels mixed towards this album because it seems to touch greatess in such small doses and yet never does it crash or have a bad track. I don't like the opening track but I like the closing one. Why? Because the melody 1:00 into track 1 sounds as basic as something I've done on my casio piano growing up. It's too easy and ordinary sounding. No offense. And that same song improves as it progresses but it never goes anywhere exciting or really good. On the other hand, tracks 5 and 8 both start off and evolve very well. I wish there were more strong songs here. Track 5 followed by 8 most stand out to me as more congruent in the artists ability to combine melody, sound, build up, and rhythm in an appealing, energetic, psychedelic way. I like the strong leading melody in tracks 5 but not certain sounds in track 3 and how they're used. The volume on a melody seems intentionally raised to make them sound closer to my ears but this makes the track unbalalanced sound-wise rather than more psychedelic. Tracks on this album generally aren't that atmospheric. This is definitely a melody driven goatrance album at it's core. I simply wish there was more memorable (and a stronger variaty of) songs, sounds, juicy melodies, emotion, atmosphere, etc. It's obvious this artist can make good songs and has the ability to do great work. 1. Analogue Heaven ... C 2. Atmosfear ... B- 3. Behind The Wheel ... C 4. Over The Clouds ... C+ 5. Mayana ... B 6. Euphoria ... B- 7. City of Black Lights ... B- 8. Inner Polarity ... B- Favorites: 2, 5, 6, 7. C+ DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM FREE HERE. http://metapsychicrecords.gajos.co.uk/Vox_...ty-2007-MPR.rar http://www.sendspace.com/file/tse334 http://www.filehosting.cc/?d=5F9B9009

I agree with you on the $9.95 price tag I just saw at saikosounds while listening to samples. http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=5872 What I don't understand (or hadn't understood before) is why so few reviews on an album appearing in so many peoples top 5 lists in the "2006 Top 5 best albums" thread. I listened to the samples months apart and initially I couldn't see what was so special or good about it.. You have to be in a certain mood to appreciate this, and I'm not trying to be general here. This is an album that seems better and deeper than on first impression. It's mind-candy so to speak lies underneath the coating in a sense. The second or third time I returned to hear samples my attention was held stronger, and how certain songs made me feel. CD 1 - Tracks 2 and 5 for starters, both sound very well done, unique. CD 2 - Tracks 2, 3, 8. (oh yeah... for starters ) That last track really sounds special. Fuck me if that's not good downtempo goatrance!! I really like that!! This is thoughtful, almost what new-age/ambient may sound like if it was psychedelia/psy and fairly downtempo influenced at times. Sure I don't find every song that good or great based on samples but based on samples I can see why this is unique and worth exploring, checking out, and considering buying. PS: More albums should be priced like this IMO. They'd sell so many more copies if they'd make the prices just that much more reasonable to so many people who agree that 18-20 dollars for one album is over-priced. This is a double album selling for 9.99 DOLLARS (!!!) last time I checked. That price for a good or great album, especially double album is IMO great, maybe too nice. Obviously they most care about GETTING THE MUSIC OUT THERE!!! This shows me that people will come, praise an artists work, and more time and money will be shared. Word of mouth has the power to do amazing things, especially in todays technology internet time. I am even more drawn to the album based on these positive things with exception that it's GOOD and I LIKE IT. I'll buy this and add it to my top 10 of 2006 probably even though it'll be too late.

I've been curious... why all this talk on the first. I mean, is this debut by Dimension 5 better than the follow up titled, Second Faze?? Honestly. I had no problem finding Second Faze NEW for a reasonable price back in 2002 on psyshop. Why won't the label or distributer re-release this to psyshop, saikosounds, etc?? Obviously there's some demand for such great old-skool releases. Maybe someone should drop the label an e-mail? They've (labels) re-issued TOTAL ECLIPSE - VIOLENT RELAXATION, JAIA - BLUE ENERGY ... and several other classics over the years. Someone could be making out pretty well if they sold this thing for a reasonable price to all those who want it.

Sounds good. On saikosounds it's a double album however. There's many more tracks than the tracklist above. Why is this? http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=5354