DeathPosture Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 V/A – Psionic Storm Artist: Various Title: Psionic Storm Format: CD (jewel case) Label: Digital Psionics (Australia) Cat. #: DPSICD 10 Distribution: Wirikuta (Europe), Cisco (Japan) Date: 21 September 2004 Track listing: 01. 07’33” Safi Connection - Mars 02. 08’10” Rastaliens – System Shock 03. 08’09” Tube - Fantazy 04. 07’51” Phyx – Sonic Sorcerer 05. 07’39” Space Tribe And Psywalker – Gathering of the Tribes 06. 06’54” Bon – Brainstorm 07. 08’00” Scorb – Scorby Snacks 08. 08’15” Xatrik And Phyx – Rodeo Boogie 09. 07’49” Dark Nebula And Scatterbrain – Dream State 10. 08’24” Shift – 8th Blade Review: Mental arithmetic’s: Psytrancer’s Digest! Any release bearing the Digital Psionics name, has fast become a strong indication of high-quality psytrance… I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last 4 releases out of Byron Bay, and a look at the track list of this 10th instalment evokes high hopes for another successful listening experience. Let me take you thru the tracks… #01: First up is good old prince of paranoia -Mishel Bitton aka Safi Connection. This is a fast-paced opener indeed – packed with raging, spiralling acid-twirls, hints of tribal mayhem and strange pitched-up voice samples… It’s crazy full on… It’s unmistakable Safi – though a tad too hectic for my taste… #02: “…This is one hell of a trip…” Next up are the German duo Rastaliens (Knobloch & Kassel) with their ‘System Shock’… This is an interesting piece of music… It’s riddled with flaring acid-riffs and psychedelic FX… Constantly building, driving and evolving, this acid-driven tune is guaranteed to get your ass wiggling and your synapses trembling with every climax it produces… I’m no full-on buff, but when it’s done as good as this is, I have to surrender! This track is watertight! =D #03: Tube is a new artist from Israel – well, at least this is my first encounter with Mr. Eichenbaum’s work… The track itself opens with the kinda predictable sample “fantasies” (repeated a bunch of times)… And then a weird, kinda stiff bassline accompanied by a digital kick drum and assorted percussion and bleeps… The first part of the track is actually kinda predictable, but it gets better as the pace quickens as the tune progresses… The build-up/climax parts are also pretty nice – full on power… But overall, I get a feeling of ‘good, but not great – old wine on new bottles…’… Not bad for an upcoming artist though… #04: South African Phyx (Ian Summs) has been very productive on various compilations this year… I was particularly impressed with his brilliant acid track on the Ketuh compilation ‘Sonic Pantomime’… This continues in the same vein, though with a fucked up annoying sound that you’ll either love or hate… It’s a high-pitched cut-through-bone bizarre sound, which is present throughout the track… It doesn’t steal all the focus though – we also get some trademark Phyx-acid lines, contrasting naïve melodies and steady bassline… Again, this is just a little too hectic for me… It has more than a few joyous moments though… Ok track… #05: Ahh – good old Olli ‘Space Tribe’ Wisdom in collaboration with DP label boss Luke Psywalker… Space Tribe is Space Tribe – and after 8 albums we’re all pretty familiar with his style… Happy, fluffy melodic full on packed with voice-samples… Personally I like his style – especially the older stuff… On this track Luke contributes with darker, more wicked input which helps shape a no less than super-nice tune… The production is flawless, and the harmonies are just right… Smashing track! #06: Bon was also featured on one of the early Digital Psionics compilations called “Psionic Tonic” from 2001 – but since then I’ve not heard anything from this Italian duo… But what a comeback! Pretty fucking awesome tune here… It has epic-like qualities ~ floating joyous melodies, driving groove and crunchy ripping acid-lines… It’s a beaut! Go Bon! #07: Andy Connor from the UK brings a very intense track… Oil drums, digital drops and electronic farts, synth-action and well-developed percussion… It’s hectic, and on the verge of becoming too hectic at times, but luckily it never crosses that line… Reminds me of some of the tracks of the Schizm compilation released on Gi’iwa earlier this year… I liked that compilation a lot, and I really dig this track as well… Nice track! #08: South African Xatrik released his debut album ‘Project A’ on D.P. 3 months ago, and I dubbed the style on that album ‘multi-layered, crazy-ass, in-yer-face, twisted, highly psychedelic trance…’ in my review and we get more of that in this track where Xatrik collaborates with the above mentioned Phyx … As usual we get a lot of compression, filtering and sonic sound manipulation… I really dig the acid belches and overall craziness of this track… Sweet! #09: “If you close your eyes you go into a sort of dream state…” As on Psionic Earth we’re treated to another collaboration between two of Australia’s psy-heavyweights… Scatterbrain’s album Infernal Angel is still among my fav’e albums released in 2003… Anyway, this track has a very cool voice sample and some very cool, twisted moments… I mean, just listen to the bit from 1’55 to 2’10 – I’ll be damned if that’s not the most hardcore shit I’ve heard in a long time… Full power, psychedelic mayhem… Nuff said - brand spanking amazing! #10: Last track is by South African Chris Hoy aka Shift… Supposedly this is the chill-out track, though chilling out is done Shift-style which means crispy digital kicks, acid melodies, subtle psy-breaks and moody floating background pads… So I guess it’s not really chilling, but more experimental, well-produced psy-trance… Tasty! When was the last time Digital Psionics let you down? I rest my case! Once again they deliver a kick-ass compilation, packed to the rim with hard-hitting, fast-paced, twisted and highly psychedelic tunes… A couple of the tracks are beyond my comprehension – they’re simply too hectic for my taste, but they are easily outnumbered by the vast pool of high-quality psytrance featured here… If you liked their previous releases, this one will not let you down… It’s pure dance-floor fuel and the quality is above average… I will not hesitate to give this a big fat triple fums up in my coolbook! Recommended! Favourites: 2, 5(!), 6(!), 7, 8, 9(!!), DeathPosture External links: Digital Psionics: http://www.digitalpsionics.com Wirikuta: http://www.wirikuta.at/web66/product_detai...howDetail=60012 Psyshop: http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/dps/dps1cd010.html (Audio samples available!) Saiko Sounds: http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=4281 Juno Records: http://www.juno.co.uk/IP/IF157415-01.htm Trance Shop: http://www.trance-shop.com/de/catalog/prod...roducts_id=4138 Chaos Unlimited: http://www.chaosunlimited.co.uk/cgi-bin/pr....asp?LR=DPSCD10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nefarious Posted October 6, 2004 Share Posted October 6, 2004 Right on baby!! "When was the last time Digital Psionics let you down? I rest my case!" Thats fukin classic. Definite 10 from 10 for ol' Digi Psi. Lovely comp. The Bon and Scorb trax score most highly for me though. The DN/ Scatterbrain trak slams as well. Lets hope for another 10 killer releases from this supreme label. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alek Posted October 7, 2004 Share Posted October 7, 2004 Well I didn't really like the previous one... but this one is great! Been listening to it lots these past few days... especially the Bon track! The more you listen to it the better it gets... hooray for that. Also nice tunes by the SA team... and Scorb... and Rastaliens... man this compilation is good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trance2MoveU Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 Not the strongest release in the Psionic series, but some good stuff that holds up. Love me some Scorby Snacks! And that groovy bass line from Xatrik is too filthy. I'm still waiting for Dark Nebula to make a great track all the way through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawfly Posted September 2, 2022 Share Posted September 2, 2022 On 6/15/2020 at 5:24 PM, Trance2MoveU said: Not the strongest release in the Psionic series, but some good stuff that holds up. Love me some Scorby Snacks! And that groovy bass line from Xatrik is too filthy. I'm still waiting for Dark Nebula to make a great track all the way through. Yep, I found this to be a pretty weak compilation too. It sure does have it's moments but it's nothing special imo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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