Rotwang

Here are the results from the Psynews "Best of 2007" poll: Link to results and discussion thread page 1; Link to updated list Link to "voting thread" (closed) (thanks to travbrad1001 for counting votes). The best 10 of each category are copied below (for the complete ranking, check the links above): TOP UPBEAT/TRANCE ALBUMS OF 2007 1: Solar Fields - Earthshine (Ultimae) 2: Goasia - From Other Spaces (Suntrip) 3: VA - Twist Dreams (Suntrip) 4: Logic Bomb - Sonic Algebra (Solstice) 5: Eat Static - De-Classified (Solstice) 6: Vibrasphere - Exploring The Tributaries (Tribal Vision) 7: Prometheus - Corridor of Mirrors (Twisted) 8: Transwave - Backfire (3D Vision) 9: Dimension 5 - Transdimensional [Reissue] (Suntrip) 10: Tea Chairz - Tea Chairs (Demon Tea) TOP DOWNBEAT/CHILL ALBUMS OF 2007 1: Younger Brother - The Last Days of Gravity (Twisted) 2: Asura - Life squared (Ultimae) 3: Sync24 - Source (Ultimae) 4: VA - Oxycanta Winter Blooms (Ultimae) 5: Flooting Grooves - Upsyde Downe (Peak) 6: Outolintu - Odd Man Out (Faerie Dragon) 7: Shulman - Engless Rhythms of the Beatless Heart (Aleph Zero) 8: Organika - The Peaking Goddess Collective (Peak) 9: Krusseldorf - Smokers Lounge (Sofa Beats) 10: Chronos - Steps to the Great Knowledge (Sunline)

Here are the results from the Psynews "Best of 2008" poll: Link to results and discussion thread Link to "voting thread" (closed) (thanks to travbrad1001 for counting up votes them and producing the above page). The best 10 of each category are copied below (for the complete ranking and more, check the link above): BEST TRANCE/UPBEAT of 2008 1: Ra - 9th (Suntrip) 2: Crop Circles - Tetrahedron (DAT) 3: VA - Opus Iridium (Suntrip) 4: Jikkenteki - Flights of Infinity (PAR-2 Productions) 5: Talpa - When the Somberness Becomes a Game (Sundance) 6: Procs - The Lonely Land of Tada (Manic Dragon) 7: Artifakt - The Magus (Timecode) 8: Kino Oko - Alphabetically Divided Highway (Tribal Vision) 9: Electrypnose - Funked Up (Digital Psionics) 10: M.E.E.O. - Highlight Me Please (Demon Tea) BEST AMBIENT/DOWNBEAT of 2008 1: Distant System - Spiral Empire (Celestial Dragon) 2: Hol Baumann - Human (Ultimae) 3: VA - Opus Iridium (Suntrip) 4: Ott - Skylon (Twisted) 5: Entheogenic - Flight of the Urubus (Universal Symbiosis) 6=: Eat Static - Back To Earth (Interchill) 6=: James Murray - Where Edges Meet (Ultimae) 8: I Awake - The Core (Ultimae) 9=: Bluetech - Phoenix Rising (Somnia) 9=: Ishq - Timelapse In Mercury (Virtual World)

Here are the results from the Psynews "Best of 2009" poll: Link to results and discussion thread Automated voting system used (managed by mars) (thanks to Mars for compiling them and producing the above page). The best 10 of each category are copied below (for the complete ranking, check the link above): Best Psy/Uptempo Albums 1: Filteria - Daze of Our Lives (Suntrip) 2: E-Mantra - Arcana (Suntrip) 3: Blue Planet Corporation - A Blueprint for Survival (DAT) 4: Afgin - Astral Experience (Suntrip) 5: Fragletrollet - Playground of Spirit (Shaman Films) 6: Merr0w - Born Underwater (Suntrip) 7: Psykovsky - Da Budet (Tantrum) 8: Principles of Flight - Chaos Opera (Timecode) 9: Radical Distortion - Psychedelic Dreams (Suntrip) 10: Atriohm and Encephalopaticys - Ukalen (Parvati) Best Psy/Uptempo Compils 1: VA - People Walk Funny (Cronomi) 2: VA - Nitz-Ho-Goa (Sita) 3: VA - Yggdrasounds II (Yggdrasil) 4: VA - Temple of One (Glowing Flame) 5: VA - Forest Frequencies (Lost Theory) 6: VA - Permutations Vol.2 - Compiled by Sensient (Zenon) 7: VA - Alternative Colours (Ezel-Ebed) 8: VA - Suncokreti (Ultiva) 9: VA - Gungfly (Sanaton) 10: VA - Small Talk - Compiled by Sensient (Zenon) Best Ambient/Downtempo Albums 1: Solar Fields - Movements (Ultimae) 2: Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries from Shpongleland (Twisted) 3: Aes Dana - Leylines (Ultimae) 4: Cell - Hanging Masses (Ultimae) 5: H.U.V.A.Network - Ephemeris (Ultimae) 6: Yagya - Rigning (Sending Orbs) 7: Yggdrasil - Prose Edda (Digital Psionics) 8: Bluetech - The Divine Invasion (Aleph Zero) 9: Ocelot - One (Avatar) 10: Ambientium - Fractal Philosophy (Kahvi) Best Ambient/Downtempo Compils 1: VA - Imaginary Friends (Ultimae) 2: VA - Air - Compiled by DJ Zen (Altar) 3: VA - Water - Compiled by DJ Zen (Altar) 4: VA - Hope (Fluid Audio) 5: VA - Fire - Compiled by DJ Zen (Altar) 6: VA - Vampire Sunrise (Celestial Dragon) 7: VA - Natural Born Chillers 2 (Aleph Zero) 8: VA - Tribal Matrix 2 (Dakini) 9: VA - EA Games Soundtrack - Mirror's Edge Original Videogame Score (E.A.R.S) 10: VA - Chilling Cuts Vol.4 - Compiled by Sundial Aeon (Flow)

+1

I've never seen GG live, but if you listen to his mix albums like Karmagedon and Kosmokrator they're actually very well mixed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_6kfcOD-TQ

Very nice!

Psytrance is not dead.

ITYM Skylon.

Dunno about "most" but there's plenty of classical music that is in no way "super-square sounding" (e.g. ).

Amazon seem to sell them, I may order a load sometime if I can be bothered.

Nope. Discogs doesn't allow hotlinking. In other good cover news, Shame about the text, the background is really nice.

I have the same problem.

This is an excellent question.

And music is also so much more than EDM. But the artists who start out making stuff that's very psychedelic and get less psychedelic over time almost always continue to make EDM, even staying within the confines of trance for the most part. Why do so few artists stop making EMD altogether, if they want to evolve? Saying "artists evolve" over and over again like a mantra doesn't answer the question. The question is why they evolve in a particular direction, namely in the direction of mainstream trance.

Why? It's possible to evolve without getting less psychedelic.

You're right, when it comes to the harm they cause it's ridiculous to compare beer to acid: (from here) Actually you can. No, it seems that you missed my point, which was this: just because too much of X is a bad thing, that doesn't mean that X itself is a bad thing. The fact that X may not be necessary for living doesn't change that.

Right. It's the same with food. Sure, you can say that people made great music because they ate food which kept them alive long enough to become artists, but what about the ones who got fat? Are you going to tell them that they got fat just because they ate too much food? The problem is food, not fat people. Eating food just isn't worth it.

I haven't heard it. The samples didn't grab me.

How about now?

In my book, the following posts are all damn rude and several of them are pretty narrow-minded to boot: The fact that about half the posts you make in General involve you insulting one or more artists or pn regulars by itself would be pretty annoying. The fact that the other half involve complaining about how insulting we all are is kind of ridiculous.

They may have started like that, but if they'd stayed like that then we wouldn't still be listening to them 40 years later.

That may just be because they're in your browser's cache. If you're using FireFox, try pressing Ctrl-F5 and see if they're still visible.

Here