Rotwang

Am I missing some kind of backstory/gay subtext here?

"Upsyde Downe" was a passable pun on the psy theme, but "psydeburns"? That's terrible!

Somebody already mentioned this, and I second that.

Sadly, yes.

I just listened to Dragon Tales for the first time, and it was fantastic.

Glad you like it, it's good to hear positive feedback on recommendations.

I'm listening now, I quite like your music, though it's a bit too self-consciously weird for my taste. Antic is quite right that this doesn't belong in the general section though, nor would it even if it were psytrance.

This is nice... ...but I really hope it was made by the same person as this:

He didn't say he deserved a free CD. He said (emphasis added): Seems pretty clear to me that he's simply saying he shouldn't have to pay for them to correct his order and send him what he asked for. Which he shouldn't - expecting to receive a CD you've already paid for without paying for it again hardly constitutes "entitlement issues". Really, you should work on your reading comprehension before you go around calling people tossers.

It would be good to hear what you think - I love MP3 too, though the samples from the other two never really grabbed me.

I'm open to almost everything, but in practice there's a much, much higher proportion of psytrance that I like than there is of any other genre. That's why I follow it - it has nothing to do with loyalty, it's just something that gives me a considerably better return on the time I invest, say, reading psynews, than I would get from listening to BBC Radio 1 or reading a general music forum.

I haven't heard the Bodhisattva 13:20 album yet (at the time of writing my copy is in the mail), but based on the samples I can't hear much similarity between that and the Kraft album. If you like the jangly, mechanical timbres of Equations then you should check out Kindzadza's Waves from Inner Space for something similar, in the unlikely event you haven't heard it already. On the other hand, if you're after more "psy-funk" then maybe you should give Mubali's Shenanigans a try.

Maybe Enichkin - Beyond the Shadow of Doubt?

That's marvellous.

I almost put this in my own list but decided that 6 was enough. I'm glad someone else mentioned it.

Dunno how to categorise these, so I'll just go ahead and toss them out there: Kindzadza - Waves from Outer Space Kindzadza - Waves from Inner Space Dark Nebula - The 8th Sphere The Nommos - Primal Meltdown Overdream - Wonderwise And I'm tempted to also say Kraft - The Mysteries of the Sacred Universe, except that nobody other than me seems to think it's all that good. e: Apparently some people do after all. That's nice to know.

Kraft - The Mysteries of the Sacred Universe (my review) Elea - Stellar Connection (my review) Delirious Noon - Launch for Lanctus Atriohm & Encephalopaticys - Ukalen Enichkin - In Memory of Love

Thanks for the suggestions, I will check them out.

Love the Seroxat cover. Also:

I've bought loads of good artist albums this year, but only one VA, and it's not darkpsy. And that's a shame, because some of the best albums I bought over the last few years were VA's. So I'm hoping people can recommend some darkpsy compilations from 2009. What I'm looking for is something along the lines of Multiple Personalities 3 or Acid Transmission, not necessarily in terms of sounding like those albums, but in terms of 1) having a theme which makes the album sound like a coherent work, rather than just a collection of any old tracks that were lying about waiting to be released, and 2) having a certain level of originality, rather than sounding like a thousand other comps that have been released within the last three years. Suggestions?

This somehow completely passed my by until just now. That's a mighty impressive roster you've got there.

Hover your mouse over the coloured bar. It should bring up a text box which tells you what the colour means. Alternatively, right click on the bar and select "properties" (or something similar, depending on your browser). Look at what it says next to "title".

Kraft - The Mysteries of the Sacred Universe (Insomnia) Press Release: Most people probably haven't paid too much attention to this, and they can't be blamed for that; listening to short samples, it would be easy to imagine that The Mysteries of the Sacred Universe is just another bog-standard darkpsy album. All the ingredients are there: the rolling bassline, the atonal hissing and the almost complete absence of melody. But in truth it would be a mistake to stick this on the pile with Shantikillargh 4 from Psylocaust records, because in my opinion Kraft's album belongs to a long line of works which manage to be psychedelic trance in the most literal sense, and should be listened to accordingly: free from prejudice about the relative merits of darkpsy versus fullon versus Goa, without expectations and preferably without any context whatsoever. Note: although the sleeve and Saiko Sounds only list 9 tracks, there are actually 10 on the album. Because of this, the sample of Kriya below is from Wirikuta. Tracks (click titles for Saiko Sounds sample): 1) Entropy (ver. 1) 6:30 A solid opener. There isn't much by way of peaks or build-up here but it nonetheless stands head and shoulders above most darkpsy, simply because it's packed with great sounds - lots of them. This will be something of a recurring theme: Kraft's idea/track ratio is remarkably large, and consequently almost every track on the album contains an impressive array of different timbres and themes. This will mostly pass without comment from now on. 2) Lunaris 7:33 This is largely more of the same, though that doesn't mean a lack of variety. On the contrary, there's plenty of variety within each individual piece, and Lunaris is no exception. Among other things there's a couple of nice melodies, which somehow don't sound out of place. 3) Vibe Tribe 10:30 There's not much I can say about this. It's not bad, far from it, but not particularly memorable compared to many of the other tunes on the CD. 4) Far from Earth (Hyperspace Remix) 9:02 Something about this album that really sticks out for me is the level of thought that's gone into the way tracks progress, and Far from Earth is probably the best example. Whereas many artists would be happy to find a hook and flog it to death for nine minutes, what we have here is the musical equivalent of a journey along a vast, winding road, constantly taking unexpected turns and ending up in a completely different place to where it started. I expect it's difficult to include so many key changes in a single tune without it becoming tiresome, but Kraft pulls it off; the end result manages to constantly surprise without sacrificing coherence. Epic. 5) Innerverse 6:57 Compared to the previous track, this one is something of a filler. It's a competently made, better than average bit of darkpsy, but nothing about it really stands out. 6) Rondamn 8:15 The noises used in Rondamn bring to mind an enormous room full of old supercomputers, covered in flashing LEDs and whirring reels of tape. Like Far from Earth this is a track with a story to tell, but relies less on key changes or gaping, chasm-like breakdowns and instead mutates smoothly between different sections, and as such is one of the more danceable parts of the CD. 7) Marsbeing 6:57 Along with track six, this one sounds more aggressive and focussed than most, and as such I find it difficult to listen to without a certain amount of head-banging. This is especially true of the deranged finale, which features some of the best use of echo and stereo I've heard, before giving way to a simple but devastatingly effective sustained note as an entire dancefloor collectively falls to the ground with exhaustion. 8) Syncopath 7:34 Another fantastic one up next. Syncopath builds slowly to start off with, before experimenting with an ominous melody and a confusing (in a good way) bassline that periodically becomes louder in the middle of a bar. Then it finally builds into a terrific spiky climax. This is the kind of music that just makes you want to stand next to a huge rig and forget what universe you're in. 9) Dark Star 6:53 Although this track, like most of them, contains many good ideas, it is dominated by some rather scary alien shouty noises. As such it kind of reminds me of Kiriyama vs. Hishiryo's Yuuutsu Mori, so if you like that you'll probably like this. 10) Kriya 7:52 Listening to Kriya, I can't help thinking that the artist was taking the piss when he wrote it. Partly it's the fact that the intelligent progression displayed by the rest of the album has been replaced with 32 or 48 bar phrases separated by lazy, artless breaks, and partly it's the way the track just stops dead, as if to say "there that's 8 minutes I'm going for a pint". Even if it's a joke, this is still really, really good. Loads of nice noises to get your head banging and effects to screw with your ears. Overall: Excellent. While the style will not be everyone's cup of tea, listen closely and you'll find that this music has everything that makes trance psychedelic: complexity, variety, attention to detail and a continual element of surprise. 9/10 Favourite Tracks: 1, 2, 4(!), 6, 7(!), 8(!), 10(!)

I noticed at least one (Lisa Lashes).