Jon Cocco

Klarynxx, thats a bad link above. Soon after clicking that link I received a threat to my cpu. My anti-virus program saying virus/infection found. I'm running a full scan on my cpu. So far 6 problems have been found saying.. Trojan.ByteVerifyRisk, etc.. I suggest checking links more carefully. I only had this site open when that problem occurred and this is the first time it's happened before on this cpu. Has anyone already clicked on that link without a problem??

Ahhh where's the link to samples?? IMPRESSIONS Wow...a dark psytrance comp that doesn't suck and appears to be above average. Then again, there not supposed to suck. There supposed to be above average. Not all the songs are good here IMHO. I don't think there are any bad ones. I find pretty good/good tracks: 1, 4, 7, 8. Tracks 2, 6, and 9 are decent. I do NOT care for track 5... it's less interesting and uses sounds not catchy that are too repetitive. Sure, it's psychedelic, but this is psytrance after all, it's supposed to be psychedelic!!...and definitely more engaging than this. Just because something's "hard" and "psychedelic" does not make it good. On the positive, putting Ghreg On Earth on this was one of the best choices. I generally do not care for Para Halu but I find there song here interesting. I'd love to hear more songs like the several good/best ones here. Also, Electrypnose I generally like and his opening track (or rmx?) sounds pretty good here. It would have been cool to make an original great dark psytrance song if track 1 is a rmx. Update: SAMPLES: http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=5974

Semsis - Letting Go 2000 Want one of the best dark goatrance albums? Have Menis - Temporal Insanity? Good. And Battle of the Future Buddhas - Twin Sharkfins? Check. Just listen to Letting Go. 01. Streets Of Fear is like a darker, Streets Of Rage track with strong production. B+ 02. Generation Vexed involves screaming woman fx, shock value driven, catchy beat but shock wears off as song progresses. B- 03. Big Balls is a strong, thumping mid-tempo number. Well done! A- 04. Letting Go has those slamming doors, reversed echoed effects (catchy), but the screaming woman fx are cheesy IMO. Catchy number. B 05. Heroes And Modmen follows the uptempo, hard-edged approach and remains good; not much evolution though, still catchy! B 06. Seven is THE BEST SONG on the album arguably. The song is engaging from beginning to end, and has some deliciously engaging sounds and layering. It's edgy too, and includes gentle ambient notes among the wild darkness. I like this song so much. It's imaginative, gripping, and enjoyable. Well done Semsis! A 07. Temptress has an evocative, ambient opening notes that thankfully reprises; they're catchy! The track develops into one of the most solid and memorable songs on the album. Those ambient notes and the voice samples that later appear are great. Great track!!! A- 08. Holding On sounds between mid and uptempo. This is a strong, thumping number with numerous catchy effects, and organic drum work. Great track. A- In Conclusion, this is one of the most solid dark Goatrance albums out there. What sounds like organic drum work mixed in with the synth approach is very creative! This album would probably not make my Top 10 in dark goatrance, but it's up there, maybe Top 20. The album's arguably like getting trapped in a giant, dark castle dungeon with crazy shit going on for an hour. And that crazy shit going on is for the most part, catchy. They just don't make albums like this anymore. Kudus to Semsis for taking risks! This is one of the more unique, dark psy/goa albums out there, rare actually. There is some great (catchy) work here. Enjoy! Favorite tracks: 1, 3, 6, 7, 8. B+ Order/Buy (I got it on amazon for around $20 used in great condition) http://www.discogs.com/Semsis-Letting-Go/release/168644

Review requests? What about PENTA - PENTAFILES??? That came out in 2002 I think and is a great dark psytrance album. I thought I once saw it in the old reviews section but now I can't remember. It's disappeared somehow. There just HAD to be a review page/thread on this one. It was too popular on here around release. Can we get a review thread up for it??

It's good for what it is but after you've heard the dialogue-driven story, (which basically takes up the entire track) it loses appeal. There's less replay value IMO.

I agree with abasio. For example, Twisted is an amazing album for it's time and will always be a classic. It's one of the best albums ever...but not every track is superb or amazing IMHO. Some may disagree of course... but when you hear few songs compared to others, towards the end, they are GOOD, (maybe GREAT for their time and still are) but not this masterpiece/spectacular song. Certain songs like L.S.D. and several others...they're on a level of their own. I believe the entire Twisted album (every song) could have been at this "other level" in theory, but not every song is IMHO. The fact that so much of it is awesome makes it seem perfect for many to this day, but I'm talking about each indivudual song. Most people don't want to focus on less cool parts when you love something so spectacular overall. When I first heard several songs on Pleiadians I.F.O.... (another example) I considered them superb (meaning 5/5) but then I heard Elektra and Asterope which made me believe something I don't believe anymore... (I once believed that these two tracks broke through my highest score scale top, making new ground, new numbers like 6 and 7 on a 1-5 scale!!) ... but later I realized other songs exist that I also find "stunning" ... so realistically, the now less stunning songs notched down from 10 to 9 or from 5 to 4 (for example) to compensate for the better tracks I later became aware of. It's a way of distinguishing to ourselves and others how "X" (good or more) something really is as opposed to giving the entire album a 10/10 even if several tracks aren't 10/10. I'm selective because I think it's important to leave room for when something better comes along with all amazing tracks. If you start at the top with something that isn't track-for-track perfect... you have no where left to go. That's how things get overrated because for example, there were other awesome albums around and when Twisted came out...it seemed to have really raised standards. That's why I do 9.1, 9.2, etc...so such things of greatness can be compared next to the best things out there. It leaves room and slack.. and if an album comes out where every song is superb and amazing, why not?, it's a 10. There will be some people who embrace anything and everything Postford has done because overall, he's insanely creative...but that doesn't mean all his work is perfect. Even Hallucinogen has it's songs that are only... good.

DOOF - IT'S ABOUT TIME 2000 FULL REVIEW 01. 08'32" Try ... B- 02. 07'46" Dawn Of A New Error ... C+ 03. 08'41" Last Half Of Forever ... C- 04. 06'06" Home Of The Strange ... B 05. 08'06" Sk 2k ... C 06. 09'29" Dark Secrets Of The Manky Fudgepocket ... B 07. 10'14" Nights In Shining Alma ... C+ 08. 12'06" (There Is Nothing So Dated As) Yesterdays Future ... C I took this out of my collection today, put it on (with excellent headphones btw) and was like wtf??! JESUS CHRIST(!!!) IN A SHINEY PINK PANTYTHIS ALBUM'S AN AQUIRED TASTE!!! The first song starts out interesting, yes... but it doesn't really go anywhere captivating. At around 5:59 the sounds fade and a harder beat kicks in...some melodies around 6:30 are nice. Soon after the song ends at 8:33. Again, track 2 starts out interesting... with a nice skipping melody. The beat is harder and I really think this thing is going to take off...this isn't really a downtempo song, is it? Anyway, something is lacking here. He could have done so much with it, added some great melodies... At 3:05 the beat seems louder or more accentuated, but the song doesn't ever open up with lush sounds to compliment the beat. I suppose it's nice in its own way, but it's pretty flat, repetitive, and predictable throughout. Track 3 is boring IMHO. BORING. Nothing different happens throughout pretty much the entire song. It's very flat and repetitive. Track 4, Home On The Strange has better pick up and pace. It's more danceable, engaging, and fun to listen to than virtually all the others IMHO. Track 5 sounds like dub/chill to me. I suppose if you're into that thing you may enjoy this but I find it extremely repetitive and just not interesting. Is that a bassline that repeats thoughout the entire song. 1, 2, 3, ..da, da, da... it goes. It starts getting slightly more interesting around 5:35 but not much follows once the cool echoed "clink" sounds take place. Oh, a skipping melody.. few melodic bits on top of those for such a short time. This could have been much better. Although very slow, track 6, Dark Secrets Of The Manky Fudgepocket is one of the few songs that really stands out. It's a pretty good downtempo song even if it doesn't impress me. I think the peaceful opening ambience/feel is great. How I wish there were more parts on this album with "feeling" like this chill tune here. I really like the ambience and piano in track 6, along with a sustained melody on and off throughout. For what it is, it's pretty good. Track 7 starts out ghostly, eerie ambience, slow. So slow. Damn this is so slow I could take a nap and it would still be playing when I wake up. It's okay...some may consider this more dreamy/sad and I have songs on Silent Hill soundtraks more dreamy and sad than this. This is what ambience is. If you were never certain of ambient sound...this IS AMBIENT, but it's more "sounds" than an enjoyable song to me. The song actually develops a beat and few sounds around 4:40. It's definitely a unique song. You either love or hate it. I think it's okay. It's like...you have to be in a certain mood to enjoy some of these songs I feel. I like the short melody around 6:53 that comes and goes. It's fairly catchy and I wish he added other melodies like this to compliment it. Track 8 drags for too long. It's too slow and drawn out. This isn't good ambient IMHO. It's just not that interesting. Something's missing. It's okay I suppose. I don't care for it. I don't understand why other songs are no where near these two tracks. Other tracks lack character, feeling, energy... something to spice them up and make them interesting! Just LISTEN to LET'S TURN ON compared to this! It's filled with LIGHT!!! I know they're totally different albums and styles but the first one was full of character and life. It was cute, fun, uplifting, creative, and truly great!! Why not stick to that style?? People LOVED IT!!! The slower style in IT'S ABOUT TIME is quite the opposite. With exception to few songs, it's boring and not nearly as enjoyable overall. DOOF did much better creating goatrance than downtempo. Just put this album on again and maybe you'll see what I mean. It isn't the worst thing out there, but it's generally DULL sounding. This is so uneventful and not engaging, intriguing, or exciting compared to what he pulled off with his first debut. You'd think DOOF doing downtempo/trance would be amazing or at least great, but it's not impressive IMO. In conclusion, I suppose I bought this because I loved Doof's first album and my impression of DOOF was so high that it carried over into the follow-up before I heard it in its entirety. Why so many people accepted this with high scores on release is beyond me. I often value my albums more over the years, gaining more insight and appreciation. I feel mixed with this album. When I listen to track 4 I really like the album but when I hear things like tracks 3, 7 (amongst others) I lose interest fast. Depending on how you look at it, you may really enjoy this album or be bored to death. No doubt tracks are better, much better than others. OVERALL SCORE ... C+ or a 7.8 out of 10. I gave DOOF'S first album, LET'S TURN ON" a 9 out of 10 back in 2001. That would be an A-

Chi-A.D. showcases some of the deepest, most spiritual and imaginative Goa ever thanks to this superior sequel to Virtual Spirit > Anno Domini is a masterpiece that resonates on deeper, more expansive, and higher levels of consciousness. This is the stuff we talk about. Legendary deepness that's authentic. Moreso than most people will ever grasp on initial repeat listens or on the surface. There is something dreamlike about the self-titled opening track ANNO DOMINI and FLAME OF ETERNAL LIFE. Tracks like PATHFINDER and SHADOW SPIRIT are powerful in different ways. I love the surreal, dreamlike, other-worldly, fantasy sound of this album. This is a superb, mature album that requires a more open/expansive mind and consciousness I feel in order to truly appreciate and lose yourself in its extra dimensional intentions, gateways, etc. Anno Domini is one of my favorite goatrance albums ever. I have to listen to this at night... in the right mood. Allow your mind to fall into a meditative place rather than focusing too hard via third dimensional energy which this album is not (entirely) not IMO. Also, I would suggest listening to this album with good headphones by yourself with the lights off. Breath through thoughts, letting them go, and let the music swirl around in your mind. This is one of the few albums that put me in the zone, total trance without any use of anything. I have had amazing dreamlike visuals as if I'm remote viewing other dimensions and/or our apparent inner Earth inside our Earth??!! (blues, greens, subterranean higher/expansive conscious areas/crystals that illuminate the dark). Beyond words It's amazing how ones perspective can change. I thought I was so sure of what I once knew. It only proves how important it is to stay open minded. Our beliefs can so easily expand or limit our consciousness, minds, experiences, and lives. Anno Domini expands beyond rudimentary third density consciousness for those ready to swallow the red pill and awaken, process, expand, and re-reawaken to the Flame of Eternal Life.

I second that. But why did he stop producing Goa? This is wonderful! Everyone I have ever played it for says it's great, happy, wonderful, etc.

MFG's 2006 album is a cross between psy-influenced trance, psytrance, and full on with some experimental/tribal influence at times. Notice how I didn't say Goa-Trance. Sure there's old MFG here sprinkled all around. Without half as much Goa influence however, the songs sound less imaginative, elaborate, and visionary compared to their first 4 albums. Overall though, the album is supririsngly not bad and A LOT better than the full (turned attempts from) Pleiadians, Transwave, etc., that makes me shake my head, wondering what happened to such talented artists?! 1. SAVE YOURSELVES gets catchy in the last act -- with the tribal sound and voices of partying to the music. I wish the album had more fun elements like that. 2. For the Future of Mankind starts off with a SUPER catchy tune. Wow. Just stick with what's fantastic! The second act is less gripping. I hear remnants of old MFG but they're set to a world that's far less developed and interesting. The music has lost its sense of and purpose to some degree (at least in the second act). The last act brings back the accent melody from the first act. All in all, it's pretty good. I don't like the brief echoed voices at the end. Everything else works though save Act 2 (not sure why the song dipped there). 3. Shining Faces has a stronger bass line, synths, and direction. It's more consistent and engaging from start to finish. Again this isn't Goa music! The music's good though. A bit predictable maybe. The Goa influenced synth lead here without the Goa layers to support it makes the song feel less immersive. One of the better songs here. 4. Positive Energy is a mixed bag, combining good melodies (later on) with a contrived, almost more club friendly approach. Why make anything sound generic? Oh wait, Full On is not exactly a sub genre known for expanding the perimeters of electronic music. 5. In Search of Truth is very good! The song's catchy! Doing full on, I'd hope that every song is this catchy throughout. That said, it's not close to the memorable melodies associated with their Goa albums. 8. Life is a strange journey is like a big trance, psy-influenced club song. It's energetic but extremely generic sounding outside of mixing some chaotic sounds in the second act. A VERY nice melody appears towards the end. Warm that the music is by this point, the formulaic (Full On) approach feels as though we're going through the motions, a little too contrived and familiar. CONCLUSION It's MFG doing Full On Psytrance and it's not entirely bad. Some of it works. Some doesn't. In the general sense, for entertaining Full On-- they hit their target more than they miss it. But hard is it to not make something fantastic being MFG, the guys that created some of the best albums in electronic music? I'm a little lost there. Compared to their previous FOUR albums, this is disappointing. For an electronic album released by MFG doing Psytrance-influenced Full On in 2006 though, it's better than a lot of Full On thanks to some of their identity being invested in it. I won't sugar coat though. I feel that MFG sounds like a shadow of its former self. This is in essence, a Full On psytrance album and I have trouble forgetting how much I love their Goa albums. The perimeters in Full On are so limiting compared to Goa Trance (where they excel and are amazing!!!) My problem with the great older goatrance artists returning 5-10 years later with a Full On album is that their hands are tied to some degree. It's like Picaso if someone took away his paint brushes and told him to draw with crayons. It's just not the same! If one can look past that however and enjoy the album for what it is.. there's some good to be had here. As Lemmi said, some tracks have good and not so good on the same track. I suppose you gotta hear it and decide for yourself.

HOLY SHIT. This was the FIRST song that came to my mind. I can't say it's the greatest track ever but it's definitely one of the greatest goatrance songs ever made IMO. Btw there isn't one greatest track ever. That's just silly because a track generally loses luster and allure if you hear it too many times.

A mixed bag. If he peeked with Refractions, which wasn't great as a whole either (lots of potential though!), then that's disappointing. Hitched is pretty good, more psy-influenced trance. Driven is okay. Terra Tronics is pretty good too. But what is up with the generic, cheesy club-esque melodies?? Protoculture did not have this. Similar stuff (here) used to be popular in the pop-influenced United States club scene. It's a trend, a fad. It doesn't last. Halo sounds like a 1980's love song you hear at the roller skating rink. I look up and see the disco ball reflecting on the skaters under dim lights. The song improves at least. CONCLUSION - Circadians does not sound like a continuation or an improvement as a whole from Refractions. There is some pretty good work on it that's different than the debut. Too much however sounds similar to other generic Full On artists. So much of this "sound" is common that DJ's practically hand it out for free (sometimes literally). After three years, one imagined something more refreshing, especially since this is from the guy who made Refractions. This album seems made to appeal to the general clubber who's never heard Refractions. I feel like the debut was used as a marketing tool to entice the fans into buying this album. It sounds like it's trying to appeal to the clubs, whereas Refractions felt more present with the artist's passion, imagination. The debut was unique and while I wasn't a fan of every song, the debut stood out among the ocean of talent cashing in on a formula. See my review on Refractions in the 2003 section. I own that album, not this one.

Will your next album be old/new-skool goatrance like Anima Mundi?? ... (which I own, which is great) Who are your favorite goatrance artists and why?

Thanks TranceChick!!

Herey, Herey...we have a potential contender for one of the best albums of the year. Actions speak louder than words. It must be a great, I mean a SUPERB album because I haven't heard one superb album all year....just seveal good ones with some great and superb songs. His "Robot-o-Chan" album was NO masterpiece or anything superb IMHO....but tracks like Ok Computer U.R.Beautiful Universe Samothraki Snakes And Ladders ...got my attention. I bought his album because of the good/great songs. Other songs on that album were boring, repetitive I felt. Either way I'm looking forward to this. Okay...so whatever happened to that free song he let us download in earlier 2006 called "Prometheus Peek??" Is that on this album in a different title or it didn't make the cut??

Naturally. I was inspired to do a thread on this.

Most of you do something like this I presume 10 ... Amazing, groundbreaking, classic, perfect 9 ... Excellent 8 ... Great 7 ... Good 6 ... Above average 5 ... Average 4 ... Below average 3 ... Pretty bad but I've heard worse 2 ... Bad 1 ... OMG this is one of the worst pieces of shit...how can anyone like this??! 0 ... Where is the gun so I can kill myself!! (hopefully it never gets to this) Sure we've all seen stuff like this before. I used to rate albums similar to this growing up. The 1-10 scale. I notice many people who don't like an album often give it around a 6 (rarely do they go far below) ... which to me says you find it "above average" but we don't know how everyone uses their rating system on here. If many people like or love an album, they often casually drop a 9 or 10. You can say we're all bias (and we are) and you can say it's subjective Vs. objective (and everyone is different...no point opening that topic up if possible) but focusing on the rating thing... I'm probably the only one here that starts his scale at 10 and ends it at 6. How do I have 5 numbers you ask? I don't, I have 50 thanks to decimals. It gets tough when you're scoring the best of the best. You'll likely find yourself looking for less superb tracks and any imperfections. So if you've noticed my recent INFECTED MUSHROOM reviews (2005, 2004, 2003) I rate every song and take the average (or close to) at the end. My rating system works in GRADES to compensate for the 10 numbers that can CONFUSE people with whether my 6/10 means "just above average" or "bad". I do this so my scores STAND OUT from all the numbers thing on here. It gets confusing sometimes when people see 6.5, 7.6, etc... so I stick to A-F with the round outs (estimates) below. MY SCORING SYSTEM (all decimals in between are self-explanatory. 10 - A+: Groundbreaking and/or a masterpiece, all tracks cannot be anything less than great, often times superb. 9.9 ... A ... (virtually groundbreaking, a masterpiece or a classic, maybe one track isn't superb) 9.5 ... A ... (Superb) 9.0 ... A- ... (the beginning of excellence...There are different levels of excellence for an album overall) 8.9 ... B+ ... (Great) 8.5 ... B .... (Good) 8.0 ... B- ... (Fairly/pretty good...just not as solid as it could have been, still good) 7.9 ... C+ ... (Above average) 7.5 ... C ... (Average) 7.0 ... C- ... (Fairly or barely average) 6.9 6.5 ... (D - F ... At this point I won't have and therefore won't review) 6.0 If you do NOT use the scale above (which MOST people seem to use, or if you have any comments) than WHAT DO YOUR SCORES MEAN TO US??? PS: Check Infected Mushroom 2003, 2004, 2005 review threads (I just posted fresh reviews in all three) for examples. And Pleiadians - F.O.L.

PROTOCULTURE - REFRACTIONS 2003 01. Homeworld ... B 02. Silicon Sunrise ... B- 03. Magnetik ... B 04. Refractions ... B- 05. Hallusignorita ... C+ 06. More Directions ... B- 07. Avalon ... B 08. High Orbit ... C+ 09. Melody Machine ... B- There is something very pleasent about good progressive / Full On. This is less progressive I think which always confused me because progressive in actuality seems to progress far less than psytrance...so why call it progressive? Why not just call it trance or full on trance here? Protoculture to me sounds like good club trance without pop influences. Like Antix for example, it's not that psychedelic. The music is generally peacefully and uplifting. The album is fairly predictable, which is why I am not a huge fan of Full On. The downside is that a few songs are don't stand out so much; they're generic, such as Halusignorita. None are bad though. Several introduce nice melodies that soon leave, never developing their full potential. Few times the song appears to build up, only to continue the same sound from before; this gives me the impression that the artist(s) cared more about speeding up the BPM as opposed to doing more with the music. Even AVALON would be somewhat average, standard Full On if not for the sexy female voice bits, followed by the short singing segment that saves it. In conclusion, this album has some very nice melodies, and there could have been more. Rarely am I held by a melody here for long. I often feel it's nice sounding and that's it. The more organic sounding instruments (Magnetik) and the short, occasional vocal effects (Avalon) are catchy. If the artist(s) added more of these colorful characteristics and melodies, and developed them more, this album could have been more engaging. The second half of AVALON is my favorite part here; it's catchy and unexpected; the sexy skipping vocals, etc. More unexpected catchy parts on the overall album would have been great. The sound after all is friendly throughout. The artist(s) have a good thing going. Why make less creative (generic) songs with it? Overall, Refractions is a pretty good album. You may find yourself coming back to it one day, forgetting about its smooth style that is quite enjoyable at times. Potential exists for a stronger more imaginative and infectious release yet. FAVE SONGS: 1, 3, 7, 9. B-

I'm not surprised it's been almost a year since anyone's posted on this. I showed it off to several friends (when they asked to hear some recent darkpsy) who ended up deleting the entire thing. The concensus was that it's too repetitive and boring. There are some decent parts but it's not worth going through the entire song to get to these "parts." I presume they meant intros/outros because to me those stood out the most on this album between the tracks. Anyway, I felt this was one of the better dark psytrance albums of 2005, and that year sucked for dark psytrance! In order for me to make a top 5 best darkpsy 2005 list I'd have to list 5 albums that never achieved above a 7-8 score with me. I bought this album because I was desperate to hear some new pretty good dark psy, but I found little to like on it and threw it away for months. Someone hear on this thread made me realize that you shouldn't jump to conclusions so soon. I took it out of my collection, put it in my disk man, and found it far more likeable than first listen. Throughout the week I heard the album several more times. Now it's been almost a year or so. Truth is, I think the label and artists here initially thought this was much better in the beginning. Maybe I'm wrong. I mean, it's OKAY, but so are thousands of other albums out there. For something to stand out....TALPA is great. This is OKAY. There are some good parts but overall it's not good IMHO. There's just too much better stuff out there. Also, there's stuff much worse than this too so I'll keep it fair. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone anymore. It has it's moments. Several songs are decent and it's generally repetitive and uninteresting to me.

Ahhh...so I see you're doing trance/other side thing with the third album. It can be a good way to package the product by keeping the chill/downtempo/experimental seperate from the psytrance. I look forward to hearing samples. I hope you go insane and make one of the greatest, most layered, beautiful, imaginative, occasionally climactic, intricate, melody-filled (leading melodies that are catchy and awesome) and elaborate psychedelic trance albums for our time. It would be cool to see how elaborate and deeply layered and catchy a song can be full of TOP melodies (a super leading melody) and tons of energy... but a track by SynSUN loaded with a plethora of awesome melodies blending and flowing together, streaming sounds, an amazing climax...(beyond what IM did on their "Horus the Chorus" song on the Im the Supervisor album) That would be amazing if that happened. I own the first album Symphonic Adventures and find the best songs tracks 1, 2!!, 5, 7, 8!!. I really like those songs and gave Symphonic Adventures a B- or an 8/10 overall. I found the second album Phoenix generally less engaging than the debut. I didn't like the Full On (non-stop, repetitive kickdrum/beat) sound as much. And the last track on Phoenix sounded too 70's or 80's rock and roll, which I didn't care for. The positive is I really like Tron ... Prelude ... Phoenix!! and Mami. Those are very well done. It would deff be cool if the psytrance side on the third (double) album is comprised of songs as great as the best ones from the first two albums. Awesome tracks back-to-back is something few artists rarely put the time and energy into doing anymore. But it's possible to go nuts and make something superb. It depends on the artist I suppose. I love "TATARIA" on 2006's Peace Therapy 2 comp. Songs like that are gorgeous, awesome! That is one of the coolest chill tracks to come around in years.

Electrypnose: Subliminal Melancholies 2006 01. 06’19” Submarine ... B+ 02. 06’15” Neverending Story ... A 03. 06’20” Cordial Family ... B+ 04. 06’14” Mountain Landscape ... B- 05. 06’17” Entre Palmeras ... B+ 06. 06’25” Tripad ... A 07. 07’41” Rozococie ... B 08. 06’38” Bozom ... B 09. 04’47” New Wave ... B+ 10. 06’00” This Is The Beginning ... B+ 11. 05’00” 00-16 ... B Very good album! Great melodies, beats, emotion, ambience/atmosphere. Some of these tracks are mentally provoking. It's interesting. I really like his work on this album. It's very different from what I'm generally used in the downtempo genre. Lots of feeling and thought seems to have gone into this one. I really like the variety of songs here. From ambient/chill, to downtempo, new agey/chill, breakbeat/downbeat. He even ends the album with a sad (almost tragic sounding) yet beautiful downbeat/ambient piece to conclude the ambient-influenced moody opening. I'm generally not a big fan of breaks, and although glad he didn't overdue it, both tracks involving breaks are interesting and enjoyable. The breaks are complimented by what the artist placed around them. Having these two (tracks 9, 10) tracks makes a nice variety too. Both are good, maybe one or both is great. In Conclusion, Electrypnose: Subliminal Melancholies is my favorite downbeat/tempo album by a main artist in 2006. It has a handful of good and great songs on it. This is moody, at times sad (opening song) or surreal like stepping into a fairytale or dream (track 2, 6) story that is also beautiful. Some tracks are more driven (3, 8, 9, 10). There are no average tracks, though tracks 4 and especially 7 are slower, less engaging and catchy compared to others to me. Overall Subliminal Melancholies isn't a masterpiece as a whole, but a follow-up to this style has that potential. This album is like a breath of fresh air. A good amount of the work here is great, excellent. There's at least one or two songs I consider superb. To the artist: Please produce more tracks like Neverending Story and Tripad. This is easily one of the best albums of 2006, downbeat/tempo or otherwise. Favorite songs: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. B+

Awesome album! A 9/10 for sure, no lower.

Good album. The first three songs are great. Third is evil and angry as hell. Wow. I really like their zippy, psychedelic, melodic, bone-crunching style and texture. Finally a good dark psytrance album with an emphasis on catchy/badass melodies.

Wow. So I take it this isn't going in your TOP 10 albums of the year list.

IM: CONVERTING VEGATARIANS 2003 FULL REVIEW CV: THE TRANCE SIDE (CD1) 1. ALBIBENO ... B- .............................. (NICE OPENING AND MELODIES) 2. HUSH MAIN ... C+ ........................... (NOT AS GOOD AS OPENING BUT DECENT) 3. APOGIFFA NIGHT ... B+ ................... (GREAT DARKER ONE...MY FAVE SONG ON THE TRANCE SIDE) 4. SONG PONG ... B ............................. (CLEVER, FUN, UPBEAT, MELODIC...ONE OF THE BEST HERE) 5. CHAPLIN ... C .................................. (WEAK SONG...TOO SILLY/TINNY SOUNDING AND UNEVENTFUL) 6. ECHONOMIX ... B ............................ (MUCH BETTER THAN PREVIOUS...GOOD MELODIES/FEEL) 7. SCORPION FROG ... B ...................... (GOOD MELODIES, SONG, AND FOLLOW-UP TO PREVIOUS SONG) 8. DEEPLY DISTURBED ... B- ................ (MUSICALLY GOOD (VOICE IS OKAY) UNTIL THE SCREAMING/WHINING!!) 9. SEMI NICE ... C+ ............................. (STARTS WEAK...PICKS UP AND GETS BETTER...IT'S NEVER GREAT) 10. YANKO PITCH ... B ......................... (NOT SUPERB BUT A GOOD ENOUGH SONG TO END CD1) CV: THE OTHER SIDE (CD 2) 1. CONVERTING VEGETARIANS (Self-titled) ... B+ 2. ELATION STATION ... C 3. DROP OUT ... C+ 4. AVRATZ ... B- 5. BLINK ... B- 6. SHAKAWKAW ... B 7. PLETZTURRA ... B 8. I WISH ... C 9. BALLERIUM ... B+ 10. SELECT'A ... B+ 11. ILLUMINANAUGHTY ... C+ 12. JENGE ... B- 13. ELEVATION ... C+ Good album overall. There are some VERY STRONG AND WEAK songs on both the TRANCE and OTHER SIDE. Many fit somewhere in the middle. Not great or superb, and definitely not bad or average. When you think about it, the Trance Side is disappointing as a whole because it's not superb like every main "psytrance" album by them before this one. THE OTHER SIDE is better IMHO. It's far more original, novel, creative, interesting, and at times going through different strong emotions. There's a good variety of songs ranging from multiple genre, sub genres and experimental. The bottem line is there's a handful of well done and composed good and great songs even if not all of them are great or that good. THE TRANCE SIDE would unquestionably be the weakest album released by them had it stood on its own, without the Disk 2 that brings such innovation to the table, it's almost necessary in comparison. Having the second disk is no bonus. It's an entirely second side and aspect to Im with songs ranging from OKAY to good, great, and EXCELLENT! Few songs I didn't care for. It's fun listening to what works more and less. It's also great that they generally separated the songs with lyrics, vocals, and voices to two different disks. I'm glad they released a double here. It appeals towards both groups of people and introduces us to an entirely different musical aspect of IM....even if they took half their energy out of the TRANCE CD 1 (Psytrance) and put it into the OTHER SIDE. After releasing three superb albums before CV, I think it was really cool and appreciative that they did somethinig different. I find the songs with vocals, voices, and even lyrics and singing... generally work MUCH better as done on "THE OTHER SIDE" album of Converting Vegeterians as OPPOSED to doing it to (would have been otherwise great) psytrance songs like DEEPLY DISTURBED in THE TRANCE SIDE here and tracks 1 and 5 on 2004's most mixed reviewed "Im the Supervisor" album. Did tracks 1 and 5 from their 2004 follow-up to CV even make a big splash with people and clubs around the world?? To me, the overall singing, lyrics, and voices on disk 2 of CV are superior to everything that has followed to date with exception of Muse Breaks [Rmx] maybe. CV was a learning experience for them to see what works and doesn't amongst listeners. IMHO they have much more learning to do after cheesy lyric-ridden psy/club songs like Im the Supervisor and Cities of the Future. BEST TRACKS ON (CD1) CV - THE TRANCE SIDE: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10. I'd score THE TRANCE SIDE a B- or an 8 out of 10. There are few great songs on the Trance side and few average and below average ones. There are some really catchy melodies and a song or two (track 3) is great. Deeply Disturbed, track 8 would have been great and one of their best psytrance songs without the voices. BEST TRACKS ON (CD2) CV - THE OTHER SIDE: 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12. I'd score THE OTHER SIDE a B or an 8.5 out of 10. If they made an entire follow-up to the OTHER SIDE with all great and superb songs, that would be worth buying. SCORES OF THEIR OTHER ALBUMS IM THE SUPERVISOR .. C+ CONVERTING VEGETARIANS (overall) ... B- B.P. EMPIRE ... B+ CLASSICAL MUSHROOM ... A THE GATHERING ... B+