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Artist: Various Title: The Jury Label: Nexus Media Date: August, 2016 1. Technicolor - Plastik 2. Orca - Unleashed 3. Mad Science - War is Law 4. CoRupt Vs. Shift - Voice of Reason 5. Shift - Kapitol (Deliriant vs Iliuchina Remix) 6. Aptitude - The Aliens 7. Dissy - Never Give Up 8. Xatrik - Space Invaders 9. Iliuchina - After Infinity V2.0 (Rabdom L Remix) 10. Demosys - Shameless 11. Abomination - Fallen (Brain Attack Remix) 12. Alienn - Gaming Time 13. The Commercial Hippies - The Belly Of The Beast" (Shift Remix) 14. Stereopanic Vs. Shameless - Mayhem 15. Zion Linguist - Prisoner 16. Cybernetix - The Grid 17. Dyce - Neverland You are not alone. What was once a titan in the South African psytrance scene with releases like the Midnight Storm series and numerous other stellar compilations and albums has been reduced to a minute Facebook/Beatport presence. As my country's bloated, verbally challenged, orange dictator would say...sad. And it is sad, because at one time this label was the end all and be all of hard rockin, minor key melodic bombastic psytrance. Now just because the label doesn't have a dominating web presence doesn't mean they cannot deliver the psychedelic goods. And with that spirit I wanted to check out this release. Reality slapped me in the face pretty quickly. First off it's digital only and that's fine. Save the planet and sh*t. Second there are seventeen tracks so it's a large one. Back in their prime I would've bet the mortgage that the lion's share of them would be brain melting blasters. Alas times change and it is simply not the case. None of the tracks have the storytelling gravitas of the old days. Most are masquerading as "night time" full-on complete with stops, starts, build ups, and annoying melodies. This is a watered down neutering of what was once a dominant label, but we'll always have Midnight Storm. $16.99 for this digital disappointment? GTFOH

Artist: Various (It's Filipe) Title: Emotions From A Beija Flor Label: Good Dance Recordings Date: August, 2016 1.Jonni Dongju - Lion Savannah 07:07 2.Mana Source - Samurai 06:28 3.Tanzaku - Tanabata 06:56 4.Gankyil - Dhyani 06:25 5.Mana Source - Weevils Fly 06:22 6.Chynacid - Zen Dimensions 07:07 7.Medusis - Profound 07:40 8.Amithaba Buddha - Psyramid 07:53 9.Mana Source - Bonsai 07:13 10.Athenaia - Secret 06:38 11.Rainbow Islands - Seventh Heaven 06:08 Now this type of deja vu I don't mind. The Filipe Santos recycled greatest hits tour continues with his latest digital release. As I mentioned before in other reviews of his work I believe him to be more machine than man, churning out so many quality goa trance tracks that it defies imagination. The music is pure uptempo, melodic, layered goa and normally he intersperses some new tracks amidst the older stuff. Not today Gertrude. All have been released before, but from top to bottom this album is a blistering affair. Not a single dull moment to be found and one of the best collections of his music to date in my opinion. He should comment less on forums and get back to doing this type of stellar work, we'd all be better for it I'll tell you. I'm especially thankful for the Psyramid track as I had forgotten how utterly bad ass it was! My other favorite is Weevils Fly, a full-throated screamer of a track. Aside from the horrible cover (and let's be honest it's been a run of those) this thing is damn near flawless. Highly recommended. Good Dance Recordings

Artist: Various (It's Filipe) Title: Zamaneh Sanguine Label: Good Dance Recordings Date: August, 2016 1. Washi - Shodo 2. Amithaba Buddha - Regain Control 3. Athenaia - Orphic Mysteries 4. Gankyil - Le Labyrinthe De La Grisaia 5. Pandemonium! - Sequoia 6. Ba'al - Profane 7. Pandemonium! - Clown In A Bag 8. Lost Buddha - Spiral Rotation 9. Pandemonium! - Wishing Machine 10. Amithaba Buddha - Uncharted Planet 11. Sphere of Consciousness - Sphere of Consciousness Bipolar disorder is no joke. Mood swings that can be severe, lasting months and is oftentimes hard to diagnose. Panic attacks. Real ones, not the ones we suffer when we go someplace without wi-fi. This is apparently what Filipe was struggling with and would definitely explain his behavior over the years. Hopefully that's in the past and with his medication here's to wishing him good health and progress. We know the type of music Filipe makes and the fact that he's been this productive is a testament to his talent. With one of his latest Zamaneh Sanguine combines Chinese and Arabic to mean "Time to be Optimistic." And if you've struggled with depression or bipolar disorder then any bit of optimism you can find is cherished like water in the desert. Although that cover doesn't look very optimistic. Perhaps he's closing the door on his demons and not looking back. The trend with Filipe's music as of late has been to make compilations where most of the tracks have been released before. Before you characterize that as a cash grab, I offer you this. He has been making music for over a decade and perhaps some of the tracks didn't measure up to today's production standards. Possibly due to his condition, he would often create a label and release some music and then just as quickly it would disappear. So for those who didn't purchase or have access to the treasure trove I see this as a positive. Also some of them you can't even find. The older tracks have been re-rendered (clearing up some vocal samples) and remastered with him adding some things where he thought necessary. He chose some of his favorites to put on this album along with one track that to my knowledge only showed up on the digital Cosmic Disorder compilation from 2007. Yep, Clown In A Bag. The new tracks are exactly what you'd expect from Filipe. Brutish power and layers of melody packaged in a seamless bundle. Shodo is a blistering opener while Orphic Mysteries races with abandon. Really blissful. New Gankyil always brings a smile and this plows straight ahead with some snap and pop. Profane delivers more of the same with a playful lead. I'll be honest with you. I can't tell an Amithaba Buddha from a Lost Buddha; and I wouldn't know a the difference between a Pandemon ium! and a Chynacid. The music is super and perfect if you want to build your Filipe Santos collection. Great taste of a bunch of his projects. Good luck with further releases and also with your recovery. Good Dance Recordings (Digital only)