Blair Thaumic

I have heard it out, buuuut, nothing special to my ears or my ass. I guess I like less aggressive music. Oscillator is the one I go crazy to.

I like the Hidria Spacefolk remix on Texas Faggott's album. Can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

Try the Excursions In Ambience series. http://www.discogs.com/label/Excursions+In+Ambience

They are. Most psychedelic and melodic trance doesn't have a very trancy effect; it's a name kept for historic purposes. But it's weighed down with all these extraneous meanings in the psytrance scene. I realize the average psynews poster will have a broader idea of trance, yes. That was sloppy of me. I don't disagree that there are known ways of getting into trance. I do think that what's hypnotic to different people is going to vary somewhat, though. I always thought Noosphere - Noosleap was a very hypnotic track, and very tightly focused on inducing a trance state. It has a dramatic change in rhythm (not tempo, but rhythm) partway through, but that doesn't break my trance; if anything, it deepens it. Why I mention this is because a lot of artists and DJs are very conservative about hewing to the psy-formula, and the reason I most often hear that it's for the sake of trancing an audience. What I found most interesting about Ray's manifesto (which is very short, you should read it) it was that 'experimental' and 'pushing the envelope' were not opposed to 'hardcore' at all, but taken as one and the same. This is totally contrary to how the music is categorized and presented today. It seems like the psy party scene (again, I don't speak of the people on psytrance forums) has flipped from a neophilic to neophobic attitude. You could argue that more strictness is inevitable as musical scenes refine themselves and develop a firmer idea of their own identity. But if psytrance is operating on the premise that 'it won't be psychedelic' or 'it won't be a trance dance' unless some very strict parameters are met, then it's suffering from a kind of obsessive complex.

WUNDERBAR I checked Discogs and one half of IFB made a solo album, "DJ Examino - Turn Left At Orion". Mellow morning progressive. I'm listening to it right now and rather like it.

Nice track! I was going to say "sounds like a D5 ripoff" and then I noticed the year

I read this recently and wanted to give it a little more exposure: http://www.doofcentral.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=25 What do you think of his argument? Personally, I think Ray describes an attitude and philosophy that we could use more of today. Shpongled247's post on good vs. bad parties made me think of this. Why do we feel that music, in order to be 'psychedelic' or 'trancy', must not deviate by .0001 BPM or use more than one different bass sound? I've heard everything from 'psy needs a monotone bass' to 'repetitive rhythms are the basis of trance' to 'exact BPM stimulates brainwaves'. I once spoke to a very talented and well respected psy artist who assured me that 90s Goa could never be hypnotic because of MIDI clock drift. I've never really bought into perceptions in the psytrance scene about what is and isn't suitable for trance; I see trance as more of a journey, not a loop, and as much about repetition of tones (which is not necessarily to say melodic) as repetition of rhythm. I'm not saying that makes me more enlightened... for all I know, the psytrance scene could be right about what works and doesn't work for the majority of people. Still, I find it interesting that Ray's concept of trance dance was so different from the one I came into, where tracks having their own personality is actively discouraged, and rhythmic variation is seen as something that breaks the trance. Maybe people in the 80s and early 90s just had fewer preconceptions of what a trance party should be.

Psytrance? Oh yeah, I love Shpongle too (every American ever) (alternatively: Psytrance? No thanks, I don't like Infected Mushroom)

Total Eclipse - Waiting For A New Life Shpongle - Divine Moments Of Truth NDMA - Vitan X-dream - Psychomachine Juno Reactor - Masters Of The Universe Etnica - Trip Tonite Morphem - Hypnotone Deedrah - Lepton Head remix I love most of these artists, just not feeling it where these particular tracks are concerned.

80% of Cwithe tracks I'd describe as stunning masterpieces. Their album routinely gets slagged as boring, minimal techno, and I've never understood why. When I listen to Illegal I hear sci-fi, high tech acid trance, nothing like minimal at all. Genetic have a lot of overlooked tracks too. Drive, Floor, Gala, Meta Audio, Lexus, Oracle (which I used in my last mix -- plug plug!). Paul Jackson had a really interesting blend of electrofunk, melodic Goa trance, and house influences in his music, and it remains fairly unique today.

I haven't been to the parties you're describing, but it sounds like part of the problem is that there are full on, prog, dark, and hi tech rooms in the first place. The difference between full on and most prog, or dark and hi tech, is miniscule to begin with. A one room party with DJs playing different styles for different hours of the night would be closer to the original party spirit. That's my answer: don't book several DJs with the same style of music, book DJs with complementary styles and let them play off of each other.

If you want stuff from his acid-goa days, Vacant Vacation, Jelly, Colourblind Shellfish, and Day Of The Dead Night are all pretty good. Also be sure to check out the EPs he did as Three State Logic. His best work IMHO.

I like this one too. Simple, insistent music with a lot of warmth and emotion.

A tribute to the late 80s morning sound, "Infinity System" drifts along at 100-130 BPM. Definitely a mix out of left field, this isn't goa trance, but maybe something in its galactic neighborhood. I'd enjoy hearing what impressions people got from it. Length: 2:25:20 Mixed on: Traktor, Pioneer DJM-600 Styles: Various http://bringthatbeachback.com/2013/09/17/infinity-system/

Innominato - Clear Air Turbulence So many of the best tracks were done by artists who released 1 phenomenal 12'' and disappeared. Not one hit wonders, more like one or two records period. Someday I'd like to see a compilation with 'other' tracks done by these artists, as many as we can track down

Tellus Salvation, bloody hell. I like his Mirrorbox and Fonkhead (I think it's called?) too.

I kept looking for the Spirit Zone or Blue Room Released label. That's how good it was. If you miss the deeper end of old school goa, then this will be the best thing you've heard in many moons. My only criticism is some of the samples; McKenna and his ilk are overused in psytrance. But that too takes me back to 1999. Fewer/more original vox samples and Stereofeld might become my favorite new psytrance artist.

Anything with Nervasystem on it is an insta-buy.

It's actually two people, a guy and a girl. They made one of my favorite 'dark' tracks, Know Tomorrow. Also one of my favorite melodic goa tracks, Welcome To The World. I like their remixes and compilation tracks better than the albums which are a bit too proggy for my taste. But an amazing act to be sure.

MFG, both members Psykovsky Ian Ion

Now let's have a US party with him, Polyploid, and Nervasystem

Old Space Tribe had a very distinctive sound. He got into a rut starting with 2000 O.D.; his next three albums were OK but didn't deviate much from the formula he laid down. Everything after Heart Beat has been generic full on, best avoided. Sonic Mandala is a masterpiece. I didn't appreciate it at all when I first heard it, but now I realize how far from convention it was. Organic, squelchy, grinding and spiralling, with a noisy and typically Australian analog sound. Loads of samples (which wasn't as common back then), and an ever present hint of darkness, in the sounds used, the samples and the way they're employed, and the way that the arrangements kind of... fall in on themselves. It's not AS dark as say, Psyko Disko but definitely on the more alien side of things. His oldest tracks are quite organic as well, and have a psy-rock vibe without resorting to guitars to do it. You Can Be Shiva, Cacophonix, LSD (unreleased and nothing to do with the Posford tune). There's probably a gold mine of DATs waiting to be unearthed. There's a home made quality to the early music and artwork that I find quite comfy; again this was lost as the production got better and Olli became more assured as an artist. Ultraviolet Catastrophe and The Future's Right Now are still a bit unconventional but hew closer to uplifting goa/party psytrance; less 'lost it' feeling on those albums. By 2000 O.D. he was paying lip service to psychedelics while writing very safe sounding psytrance. My suggestion: start with The Future's Right Now, as that's his most accessible and rocking album. Then work back through his catalog. Sonic Mandala is tough stuff, and will take time to assimilate.

In the US you mean? Sure. PM me with a list of what you want and I'll see what I can do

Love this! It's a side of goa trance that we don't hear enough of.

I would sell some of my own but the shipping from US to overseas (where most of the buyers are) is HORRIBLE... last time I sent a CD to Europe it cost me $13.