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Artist: Front Line Assembly Title: Echoes Label: Metropolis Date: May, 2014 01. Contagion 02. Leveled – Sonic Mayhem 03. Ghosts – Comaduster 04. Killing Grounds – Rhys Fulber 05. Echogenetic – Youth Code 06. Deadened – Liebknetch 07. Next War 08. Echogenetic – Blush Response 09. Exhale – Henrik Backstrom 10. Prototyp – HECQ 11. Leveled – Slighter 12. Heartquake – Techdiff 13. Blood – Haujobb 14. Exo – Hijacker FLA are the Jaromir Jagr of industrial music. They haven't slowed down at all (at the time of this writing Jagr just scored the overtime winner for the Panthers) and just keep plugging away even though they're a rat's whisker away from getting the senior discount at the local Burger King. In 2013 they released Echogenetic to much acclaim fusing their hard edged style with today's music trends. So a year after that they now put together a remix album with a who's who of industrial music. I don't know who any of these people are the same way I don't know if the immigrant in the kitchen of my favorite restaurant isn't giving my meal a little bit of the old special sauce. Gotta trust. And pray. Lots of prayers. And trust me when I tell you they knocked it out of the park with this one. The remixes are lush and dynamic. On the headphones it was pure aural bliss. Electricity courses through android circuits and I'm reminded of how great industrial music can be. Millions of bits and bytes flow in unison; morphing, oscillating like a sentient being. The atmosphere is robot futuristic, sometimes ruthlessly aggressive but often placid leading to a dramatic eruption that will rattle some windows. There are moments where the remixers bring back the old sound of FLA and I can smile and reflect. The programming is off the chart. The Blush Response remix threatens to start an electrical fire and I'm convinced the HECQ mix was created by some form of Artificial Intelligence. On top of awesome remixes you get two new tracks that were co-written by Ian Pickering of the Sneaker Pimps. Both are rich in sound and detail, but I was floored by the eminent danceability of Next War. When that hook drops it will forcibly eject you from your seat. There are so many standout moments it's tough to single out just a few. Even though I, uh...kinda just did that. The only gripe I have is that there is a deluxe version where you get 4 extra tracks, but it's only available with the digital album. Pickard gets it. Look thanks for the lyrics of the new tracks, bu I bought your little digipak, shouldn't the extra tunes be a reward for not being a pirate? Rrrrr you serious? That minor complaint aside, if you're a fan of industrial music or even electronic music (and I know that you are) do not hesitate to pick this up. Metropolis Bandcamp Amazon

Artist: Gaspard Title: Seems Legit Label: Sangoma Records Date: May, 2014 1. Spaced 2. Cannalize Legabis 3. Falaweeda Galacia 4. Royal With Cheese 5. Free Candy 6. DNA 7. Bamboclot 8. Little Switch 9. Riding The Rooster "There is more to reality than meets a normal eye." Covers work people, so fire up that MS Paint and take it seriously if you wanna catch eyes. That's why I gave this a few spins. Gaspard is Gaspard Besson who is half of Yab-Yum and a driving force behind Peak Records according to Psyshop's little blurb. Based solely on the cover I would have to assume this is not a Taylor Swift side project discussing how her last boyfriend is gonna regret cheating on her. And it isn't. One day you'll find the right guy Taylor. One day. Crazy thought, what if the right guy is really the right girl and you've been wasting time barking up the wrong tree? But back on topic this is music for the night. His debut is kinda in between dark psy and night time full-on. The bass line is the star of the show here with plenty of noises chirping from the darkness. Melodies? Maybe a few, but don't expect to be carried away on a cloud by gay angels. More like shoved into a dark forest by a troll wielding a 7 inch blade. At least that's what its intent sounded like. To be honest it bored the sh*t outta me. The days of making scary sounds as the monotonous bass line rambles on forever...I thought that f*cking ship sailed already. I could not differentiate track one from track...whatever. Since Sangoma is a sub-label of Timecode I expected more. A lot more. So...what this is is basically an eye catching cover with a sleeping pill inside. Night night. Psyshop

Artist: Various Title: The Call of Goa Vol. 2 Label: Timewarp Records Date: May, 2014 CD1 01. Sky Technology - Life or Coma Dream 02. Fractal Geometry & Bionic Delay - Dancing Shiva II 03. Celestial Intelligence - Evolution of the Atmospheres 04. Javi & SkoOma - Flubber 05. 01-N - Re:Glitch 06. Siam - Transparent Feelings 07. Doruk - End of the Beginning 08. Trinodia - Re-Mote 09. Asterope & Analogic Culture - Melodias Ancestrais 10. Laboratory X & RDM - Kenaz CD2 01. Psilocybernetics - In servitude to Cephalopods 02. Jayex - Instant Enlightenment 03. Persistent Aura - Century 04. CoaGoa - Sequoia Valley 05. Ephedra & Imba - Mystical morning in Vielsalm 06. Anumana - Lunar Dreams 07. Alienoma -The Invasion 08. Timofey & JBC Arkadii - This are the Asteroids 09. Nostromosis - The Road Home 10. Lunar Dawn - Ananke When I hear great goa trance it's like a good meal. The smells, the presentation, and of course the taste. All the senses are satisfied and you just sit back, undo the belt, and fart your way into a blissful slumber. Over here we call it da itis. And that's how things were shaping up when I ordered the second installment of the Call of Goa series. Celestial Intelligence, Sky Technology, and Javi and Sk00ma began the meal nicely and it smelled great. The next six tracks however were like trying to swallow a pine cone. Six. In a row. It wasn't just subpar goa that sounded raw and amateurish, but some were hardly goa at all. Not that I have anything against psytrance (Lord knows how many thousands I've spent on it), but if I'm eating at a the goa restaurant save the avant-garde sh*t for those California daisy huggers. It was either too fluffy or lacked the depth I'm used to from Timewarp. And Trinodia...what it the name of refried beans was going on there? I'm convinced that this was the first track he ever produced. On a Casio. That may or may not have been plugged in. Luckily disc one came to an end and the second began. Light fare from Psilocybernetics (interesting downtempo) and Jayex to be sure, but things became more palatable with a very un-nitzhonot funky track by Persistent Aura. It's not until the pairing of Imba and Ephedra that you get the first storming goa track. The rest are decent, but certainly nothing amazing. It ends on a real good effort from Lunar Dawn (check out his debut on Neogoa). Man that pine cone is gonna hurt coming out. I love Timewarp and usually I send nothing but glowing praise their way, but I came away from this disappointed. How could I not based on their previous output? This was like going to a fancy restaurant and expecting a well prepared meal only to catch a peek behind the kitchen door and see your dinner come out of the microwave. Putting together a double CD sounds difficult and I think this would've been better as a single disc. Too much filler and very few gems. Of course the ones that are great are really great and as a collector I bought it. Will probably buy the third one if they decide to make it, but do me a favor...spend some more time in the kitchen. Psyshop Beatspace

Artist: Elgiva Title: Mysticism Label: Ovnimoon Records Date: May, 2014 1. Izolan (Elgiva Rmx) - Ovnimoon & Middle Mode 2. Unrevealed Secrets 3. Source of Power 4. The Prophet 5. Mysticism 6. Strange Thoughts 7. Forest of Fairies 8. Morning Sun 9. Adrenaline Rush How does Hector do it? Is he an international drug kingpin? A massively successful pimp with hoes in different area codes? Perhaps a lawyer who has made a small fortune defending kingpins and pimps? However it comes to be his label has released about 50 kilos of albums. Like the tides of the ocean they just keep coming. And it's not like he just throws some sh*t against the wall to see what sticks. Most everything I've heard has been of pretty good quality. And this without much publicity. Which goes to show you how important word of mouth is. Elgiva is Bojan Stojiljkovic (Ascent) and Milan Rakic from Serbia. Of course why wouldn't they be? This duo has assembled a brilliant album. Like Hector himself they combine progressive trance with hard hitting psy and then add some goa flavor. Basically a trifecta of awesome. Melodic and powerful they also don't forget to pay attention to the details. Timely and descriptive breaks really allow the tracks to flourish. It strikes a good balance between being aggressive and dreamy. Serbians man, it looks like they actually read the manual for their software. Your move Israel. When you're purchasing Ovnimoon's Trancemutation of the Mind make sure you slide this into your basket for a potent one two punch. I think whatever Hector actually does to make so many good albums happen he's probably gonna need bail money. Psyshop Beatspace Mdk

Artist: Various I guess? Title: Unexpected EP Label: 3D Vision Date: May, 2014 1. My Name Is Joe 2. Fuel On (Transwave Live Mix) Oh this was unexpected all right. Ok. Let's look at the facts. Awesome label in 3D Vision and the master(s) of psychedelia in Koxbox. Everything should be great. Got my pads on for safety and the helmet is cinched extra tight. Yet somehow this was a total clusterf*ck. Let's start with the Fuel On Remix. Transwave already tried this on the Frontfire album of 2009. Not content to leave well enough alone they Frontfired it again. Taken a classic track with zero flaws and full-on-ed it to the bone. It's too shiny and polished. I hate to bring up Astral and the album which shall not be named, but this lesson should've been learned a decade ago. My Name is Joe is a lot of pounding without any substance. Thumping beat and a lot of harsh, angry sounds. It's not often that I bash 3D Vision, but this one earned that treatment fairly. Beatport Mdk

Artist: Various Title: 71 Degrees North Label: DVSM Records Date: May, 2014 1. Phobium - Calyx 2. Bloomen - Echodroplets 3. Time For Slime - Apparater 4. Zoon - Dreamer 5. Scope - ElecTroll 6. Silent Horror - Itami 7. Terratech - Crystal Cascade 8. Paranoiac - Peace From Other Space (Part II) 9. Sundance Kid - Tesla 10. Yggdrasil - Ratatosk 11. Phobium - Bulb "Today we talked about turning your daydreams into reality. Tonight I want each one of you to go home and do just that!" c'mon, c'mon, c'mon.... 71 degrees north? The parallel? Like the Arctic and sh*t? Sounds desolate. I can already hear the f bombs an alien would drop if that's where he crash landed. "Mother...f*cker! Why the f*ck did you drop us here? There's nothing! Zero! F*cking nobody! I swear if you weren't my sister's kid I would've vaporized you!" If aliens were so advanced they'd stop landing in the middle of nowhere and start prepping for splashdown in Bermuda. Let's see what countries inhabit that area...Norway, Canada, USA (Alaska of course why wouldn't is be?) Greenland (ain't no green there) and Russia. What could these countries possibly have in common? That's once you get into the parking garage. I mean really? This is a place where hard on's go to die and shrinkage is a perpetual state. A place that is denied the sun for 3 months straight, cut off from the outside world due to storms like arctic hurricanes. I mean what the f*ck those two words aren't even supposed to go together! But just when you'd think that all is lost and the vampires would rule the eternal darkness, the sun comes back and the people celebrate with hot chocolate. DVSM is back with their latest compilation and what a varied effort it is. You've got everything in here. Darkpsy, forest, ambient...and the artwork is a perfect partner to the music inside. Calyx- Cold and vast the tundra sprawls before me. I force myself to move a little faster as the sun slowly attempts to reach the horizon. Superbly descriptive opener. As I begin to hunker down for the night I notice a penguin remains close. Echodroplets- This track sounds like the artists name. Cool slow downs and synths that are in kind of goa motion. Apparater- Time for slime? Don't mind if I do. Over 13 minutes of delicious forest psychedelia. Not in a dark way either. Outstandingly done with sounds that tumble over each other as if they where water molecules in slow motion. Dreamer- Very BOTFB hallucinogenic goa trance. Scando-goa if you will. And that's all right by me. Pretty intense and dripping like a Salvador Dali painting. Dali-goa I guess. Electroll- This is what happens when you don't make it back to base camp before sundown. Stuck in a thick forest with only the northern lights for illumination. Every sound makes me jump as the sound of tortured souls break the silence. Well layered bubbly stuff of horror movies. I can't find my penguin friend at all. Itami- I just need a window in, something to make the darkpsy more accessible and the lush detail here provides it. Echoing tones and eerie melodies make this my absolute favorite track from Mr. Shah. It's otherworldly and bursting at the seams with effects. Crystal Cascade- Another rapid and pummeling darkpsy track where tones sound like tumbling crystals as the bass rumbles and hammers away at your sanity. This is darkness incarnate. The wind is still blowing and you begin to question your decision to outlast the arctic hurricane. Those two words together are still frightening. Peace From Other Space (Part II)- After the last track has flayed the sinew from your body the aliens with a poor sense of direction arrive and well, I guess it's time for the probing. This is not as mind numbing with a little more melody work. Harsh sounds of machinery screech above the deep bass and yeah that big pointy thing is about to enter your business end. But it's definitely on the lighter side. Tesla- We are in the much softer portion of the album with glacial pads. I survived the hurricane and looking forward to the hot chocolate. Light and airy, but ultimately not that interesting to me. Tatatosk- Dubby beats to let you drift away. Staring at the horizon sipping my hot chocolate I can't help but wonder if my penguin friend made it out ok. Bulb- A wary closing bit of ambient reminding you to not underestimate nature's power and the 71st parallel. I'm not a darkpsy guy, but I appreciate the talent and skill it takes to put the mass of sounds and detail together into a cohesive structure. And this was some of the most enjoyable dark stuff I've listened to. The Phobium tracks are also some of his best work for me; as lush and moving as I've heard from him. The flow of the album really stands out and it's very fluid. Even though I may not have liked every track,without being partially mixed this was smooth. As I mentioned you get a little bit of everything and it's the closest you can come to being in this fascinating ecosystem without strapping on the cold weather gear and snowshoes. Well done guys, it's not perfect, but I believe this to be your best release yet. Hey what's that? *sees penguin with one wing tucked into Kate Upton's bikini bottom* You sonofa... DVSM Bandcamp Mdk