acid-brain

The factory equipped thing is unfortunate - I always buy my computers without OS and save $. My friend bought a laptop equipped with Vista that wasn't even fast enough to run Vista - so she asked me for help, and I suggested Linux. She's had Ubuntu installed happily and NEVER had to touch the command line or fix anything. I'd like to add that she's computer illiterate. No update problems, computer restarts or viruses like Windows and absolutely free. The popularity argument is fallacious. Zirrex - Lost In Time is a fantastic goa album and yet even a lot of the goa heads don't know it as you can see from the forums. Does that mean it's not excellent or user-friendly? No, it's more to do with marketing and hype, which Windows and Mac spend $1000000s on and Linux has almost none of. In fact, you might say it's amazing that Linux has at least 3% of the market share in computers WITHOUT marketing, and most of the market in phones with Android (although people don't mostly know it's Linux) It sounds like you are one of the unlucky few who couldn't get their hardware working with Linux... I've never had a problem with any of my computers and neither has my friend. I've also found the forums to be friendly and welcoming, with experts giving up their spare time to help complete newbies with problems. But it's your experience, and mine is different, so I guess they cancel each other out...?

Amithaba Buddha - Three Eyes Astrancer - Dzog Chen Alienapia - Dharmakaya Filteria - Wormhole Mindsphere - Ornamentation M-Run & Kapala - Kapala Ra - Transcendent Artifact303 - Tropical Sunset Anyone who broadly dismisses Neogoa is a fool. There's so much excellence that I had real trouble coming up with this list, and there's still plenty of Neogoa I have yet to listen to.

Linux

It looks like Luis has a penchant for child-fantasy films like Neverending Story and The Princess Bride Incidentally, Lost Buddha's Southern Oracle track also uses a great Neverending Story sample. Fortunately Luis didn't put too many in this album, would be easy to overdo it. I first discovered his funky, groovy style through Classic Attack on Dimensional Gateway 2 and it was defenitely the most momentous track there. You guys are right to single out the uniqueness and the excellent intros of this music. Its definitely dancefloor music, I need to play it through a big system to get the full value out of those basslines. You can tell that he puts care into every element of the sound. Great album.

http://www.discogs.com/Pandemonium-For-Funs-Sake/release/4549341 http://www.phototropicrecords.com/ 01 - Squid (In the Nautilus Mix) (7:17) 02 - Wishing Machine (7:26) 03 - Bazaar of Dreams (7:32) 04 - Hold Us, Mother Gaia (6:40) 05 - Cotton Candy (Dreaming Mix) (7:32) 06 - Hypno-Baby (6:25) 07 - Power of Celtic (Pans Labyrinth Remix) (6:55) 08 - A New Hope (Pans Ice Cream Remix) (6:55) 09 - It's a Magical Garden (6:28) 10 - Zathura (Throw the Dice!) (7:31) Arguably the most talented current goa producer Filipe Santos returns under one of his many aliases: Pandemonium. His first album stirred up some debate here on Psynews (http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php/topic/53445-pandemonium-muinomednap/) and he seems like quite a combative character in general, upsetting a few people here recently. He promised a release of a lot of his old tracks as far back as 2008 and said it would be different to his first album, and here it is! Anyway, let's forget the man and move onto the long-awaited music which is all that matters: Squid (In The Nautilus Mix) It certainly is a very fast and fun opening track. Uses the signature Pandemonium flute sounds (as the god Pan would have used) and exciting basslines. Really frenetic energy like most of Filipe's stuff. When you think the track is going to slow down but a snare kicks in again at 2:56, it makes me smile - this is what I love about this guy's music. Some lovely subtle 808 rim shot samples too. Wishing Machine For those of you complaining that the last Pan album sounded too similar, we already have a lot of variation here. This sounds more like Lost Buddha's Tabernacle track (which is outstanding). It's got a whiny Eastern melody which really reminds me of a particular oldschool track but I can't think which one. Everything builds up to a spiritual climax, with the Eastern melody asserting itself at the finish. Bazaar of Dreams That's right. A tiny intro then straight into the action. This is pure nitzho influenced joy, with the bassline going up and down, supporting the hyperactive high frequency melodies. All the work around 4.47 and beyond is just beautiful. Hold Us, Mother Gaia This one is too cheesy for my tastes and reminds me too much of Filipe's track 'Little Indian Girl' as Rama. The Rama track is better. Cotton Candy (Dreaming Mix) Great use of the 808 and chime-like sounds with subtle pads to create a mysterious atmosphere. So many elements are being juggled here that you'd have to be well... crazy to deal with it all. Nice stereo dynamics. In fact there may be so much stuff going on here, that it's difficult to keep up... Hypno-Baby A sample of a baby crying for a couple of seconds is all the intro we need and we're straight into the action. Some very nice use of delay in this track, and I feel like we're back in the realm of excellent tracks. The sounds here are much more metallic and I love the tight snare. Guaranteed to get you moving. Shidapu - Power of Celtic RMX A plaintive melody and overdriven guitar provides the body of this song, taking the original, which was one of the first tracks to try to integrate guitars and goa (I think) and updating it to the Nitzhonot genre. Could be emotional or quite annoying depending on where you sit. I like it. Agneton - A New Hope RMX We know this track from Pyramidal Trancedance and it's as great now as it was then. That melody around 4.49 ... yesss! It's the way that the bassline sounds terse, but when that melody comes, it fits so perfectly into the bassline that all tension is relieved in a danceable frenzy. It's a Magical Garden Again, starting guitar sample really reminds me of something, can't place my finger on what. Maybe all these similar goa melodies are screwing up my mind. No, wait! Skip to 2.55 in Amithaba Buddha's Myself in the Mirror track and you'll see what I mean. This whole track sounds like a friendlier version of that one. It's okay, not a stand out here. Zathura (Throw the Dice!) Again we get the Tabernacle acid hook and some lovely bassline notes with some great percussion. At a slower tempo this really gets me tapping my foot, giving those growing acid melodies time to slowly evolve and work their magic. Yes, the bassline is just sadistic. And Zathura was a terrifying film! So I have to agree with some that a lot of Filipe's output sounds very similar. But I don't care! It's great stuff and I want more. Very well structured and energetic. This is a pure shot of happiness to the brain. Favourite tracks: 1, 3, 6, 10 BUY: http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/pot/pot1cd010.html

I think that you hit the spot here. If you've seen the size of their live outfit recently, you see all kinds of vocalists, dancers and percussion experts - quite a journey away from just Simon and Raja working in a dark studio together. Plus as we know Shpongle have attained a level of mainstream recognition unparalleled for artists of this genre. It's only to be expected that their sound adapts to become more friendly to their new audience.

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I wouldn't say the track was rubbish, but I'm not a huge fan either. I would say that over time Shpongle's albums are lacking more atmosphere and detail, and are definitely becoming less introverted. This probably appeals to some, not to us who listened to Shpongle from the beginning and began to attach a certain enchanted ambient 'feeling' that you get to their name, especially with their first and second albums.

It's nice to hear that people are trying Linux. I used to use Arch too but I had too many problems setting up various hardware, and let'sbe honest, LMMS isn't anything like other DAWS. The LB302 preset is nice though. So I'm unfortunately staying with Windows, it's the only way to get my favourite software like Ableton, outside buying a mac, which I can't afford.