Koxbox - Dragon Tales

[Guest BlueSpectralMonkey]

cerebellar and full-urbulating constant flux of ever increasing satisfaction

and i keep making sure the headphones are on tight. oh i hope they stay there.

this contains some the roots of what i know to be this style, this scientific

madness, this contentment in the backwards re-birth explosion.

my appreciation for wacky and wonderful music of this nature, this album, has

increased exponentially over the past 3 years. thanks to all and bom bom bom!

fractals.

10/10

touchsamadhi.com

[Guest hcotel.......]

perfection.....

almost an houer and a half of...unknown and welcome realty....

[DeathPosture]

I'll never - repeat NEVER - get tired of this piece of plastic... This is

simply perfection... Will this ever be beaten in production quality? I doubt

it... So crisp, so clean... Magical! 9.9/10!

[Guest Davidtolsn]

ok... good points: very unique sound, not as "full" as most psytrance, but not

minimal either... very strange. very psychedelic sound. "mesmerising" is a

good word. very artistic. tracks 3, 4, 6, and 7 especially catch my ear with

their unique, hypnotic melodies and sound. bad points: some of the "melodies"

i find rather bad (like the ones at the end of electronic brainwash). just TOO

strange. also, all of the tracks are the same style, and although it is

interesting at first it can get old quickly. there are no tracks i

specifically dislike, although 1-2 are my least favorite. all in all a good

cd. 7.5/10

[Kasper]

I'll never - repeat NEVER - get tired of this piece of plastic... This is

simply perfection... Will this ever be beaten in production quality? I doubt

it... So crisp, so clean... Magical! 9.9/10!

470632[/snapback]

Listening to this album today, roughly nine years after its initial release, makes me wonder how it's possible to conjure up an album of such vision? It was not only pushing the envelope on the psychedelic trance scene when it came out, but it's becoming increasingly evident as the years pass by that it set new standards across the entire spectrum of electronic music.

 

I just dusted off this album after a couple of years of rest on my shelves, and what a wonderful listen it is! Too bad Koxbox never regained their strength after Dragon Tales. Although they came close, I doubt anything will ever recapture the spirit of these surreal and beautiful electronic soundscapes.

 

Ahh, wonderful stuff, just wonderful...

[qa2pir]

Killa stuff

 

Very psycho, much variation, untouchable atmosphere...

 

Might get a bit "nehhh" sometimes though.

 

9/10 (just sometimes).

[Sawfly]

This was the first goa album I ever heard I have a special bond with it It sounds dated in some tracks, but there are more than few great moments to found here. Love it.

 

9/10

[D3lirious]

Along with Hux Flux-Cryptic crunch maybe the best album I know

 

10/10

[Spiritual Carnage]

Koxbox is the absolute best when it comes to use very many sounds at the same time without sounding messy. With this album Koxbox really showed that they are one of the most innovative and skilled names on the whole scene.

My favs are:

Life is

D.m. turner

Tokyo nights (listen to the "lights" turn on as the night is coming on)

Colordrops

 

9/10

[Oopie]

this is such magical album. what could I say that hasn't been said?

 

this album caught the essence of psychedelia.

they didn't compromise in their sound and that shows, they truely had vision.

 

forever hail frank'e and ian for this splendid piece.

[emmmgeee]

Good, but it pales to psychopod's headlines and the next album after this - and then, it is lunar bin that is the best moment on that one. Koxbox indeed did have their own thing going on, with their weird time signatures and ability to pile on without having clutter. I'd advise anyone to see them if they came to your town, for me they are placed above posford (except fo perhaps shpongle 1, but if these guys made a chill album tomorrow they'd probably surpass that gem).

[echo void]

okay... fine.. I am WAY late on getting this masterpiece!

 

I have had this 2 weeks now, and every listen it gets better and better!

it doesn't sound like its 9 years old!

9/10

[SkeletonMan]

Welcome to Psychedelia mayheem from Danish act Koxbox in their prime! There is no other way around it. If you are into psychedelic trance this album is an absolute must (together with Koxbox' previous album Forever After) setting a milestone of psychedelia for years to come.

 

I really should go through these tracks one by one as they all deserve a comment; D.M.Turner for its psychedelic twists, Electronic Brainwash for its melodies, Doktor Mesmer for its cool, Life is ... for its killer beat etc. Words will not justify, however. You just have to hear it to realize that Koxbox never got better than this.

 

Beware that Dragon Tales does not sound like your average nineties psychedelia, though. Both sound and qualitywise Koxbox was in league of their own. Their sound on this album is more of a laidback type of psychedelia and more for drifting away than head-on dancing.

 

So kick of your shoes, open your ears & mind and let the prime of ninety psychedelia take you in. Mothership bordering now ... ;o)

[healium]

Ditto!

 

The sound production, effects, melodies etc are fantastic - this sounds like it could have been made in 2006, production wise...

 

Album is a colorful, rich, layered journey into true sonic psychedelia... In my top-5 albums ever...

[Trance2MoveU]

Crisp, exceedingly crisp. THat is the best way to describe this release. Like others have said it is not the melodic "take me away" trance that Pleiadians or AP is. Rather, this is the type of trance that is so multi-layered in its complexity that you find something new with each listen. Never boring and as relevant today as it was back in good ol 97.

 

Wonderful.

 

Mdk

[longloststar]

An immortal classic, rich, beautiful and alive unlike any other. There is such impressive interplay between melodies that constantly fade in and out of existence, yet each track maintains coherence of a general idea, making every track unique and distinct. Anyone who as dabbled in music making understands what impressive feat it is to connect melodies in such a manner. The premiere track here for me is "Life Is...", which perfects the formula of the album.

[Businessman]

Although the album cover is A W E S O M E (and the fact that made me want to have a listen) and a true psychedelic one, I could hardly say the same for the album itself.

 

I'm reading people's posts saying it's "Rich and varried" and I'm questioning myself:

Where in the earht ARE those characteristics on this album??

RICH??? Damn this is one of the "lightiest" psychedelic albums i ever heard with not many (or any at all) layers that fill the atmosphere of the songs.

VARRIED??? Ok ppl, this is getting annoying, you can barely distinguish which song is which because EVERY TRACK in here is following the same formula!

You can hear the SAME bass, the same effects, the same 303 (not pattern) in every track! Is that what you call varried?

 

The thing that impressed me though, was the bass, yeah it had some fun creativity there in the first two songs.

So yeah D.M. Tuner and Electronic Brainwash kinda tried to impress my ears.

 

this gets a 4/10 from me and a 10/10 for the cover

 

P.S. This is my opinion ppl, you don't have to agree with it!

 

Peace!

[longloststar]

Although the album cover is A W E S O M E (and the fact that made me want to have a listen) and a true psychedelic one, I could hardly say the same for the album itself.

 

I'm reading people's posts saying it's "Rich and varried" and I'm questioning myself:

Where in the earht ARE those characteristics on this album??

RICH??? Damn this is one of the "lightiest" psychedelic albums i ever heard with not many (or any at all) layers that fill the atmosphere of the songs.

VARRIED??? Ok ppl, this is getting annoying, you can barely distinguish which song is which because EVERY TRACK in here is following the same formula!

You can hear the SAME bass, the same effects, the same 303 (not pattern) in every track! Is that what you call varried?

 

The thing that impressed me though, was the bass, yeah it had some fun creativity there in the first two songs.

So yeah D.M. Tuner and Electronic Brainwash kinda tried to impress my ears.

 

this gets a 4/10 from me and a 10/10 for the cover

 

P.S. This is my opinion ppl, you don't have to agree with it!

 

Peace!

 

Your opinion is wrong.

 

P.S. This is my opinion, you don't have to agree with it.

[avogadro]

Masterpiece.

With really good little/simple mélodies.

[@reyu]

I have seen Koxbox live last year at the same venue as I've seen Hallucinogen one year earlier. I was dancing on the same spot like always right before the speakers(at the left...don't ask me why). Both of them blew me away with their groovy everchangin' sound. Let's face it both these acts play in a different league. I don't think they give a damn about expectations, they clearly love what they are doing.

This music is so addictive and gives me a better understanding of what psychedelic music should be. After the Koxbox-experience I got myself Dragon Tales and, whilst listening to it, I could picture myself again dancing like hell at the gig. I'm going to cherish these memories forever.

These guys, both Hallucinogen and Koxbox, have the modern shamanic touch without any doubt.

[IronSun]

Far ahead of their time, that's what these guys were, and are.

 

The album takes you on a playful trip through sound with expertly engineered soundscapes ever evolving and a craftmanship that is matched by few others. The quintessential psychedelic album. Buy this.

[Panoptes]

meticulous work crafted into some of the finest trance i've heard. This isn't the formulaic goa that has been ruining the scene for the past years, in-fact the quite the oposite. 10/10 for breaking boundaries, thinking outside the box, and production quality. Till this day this album sound better than most modern day releases.

[Trance2MoveU]

Artist: Koxbox
Title: Dragon Tales
Label: Blue Room Released
Date: 1997

1. D.M. Turner
2. Electronic Brainwash
3. Doktor Mesmer
4. Life Is...
5. Colordrops
6. Tokyo Nights
7. Stratosfierce 2001
8. Searching For Psychoactive Herbs


Me since I started listening to psytrance in 2003:



This f*cking sucks! I thought this was supposed to be goa? Hello? Melodies?


Me tonight. After letting a high quality rip blare through the sub woofer:



Almost everyone on this forum had high praise for this work. I obviously took a decade long lunch break because there is no other explanation. Like it's amazing cover it is as psychedelic as it gets. It breathes like something alive, pulsing sinister electronica from a planet I've never heard of. This is when the project had all of its members and was at the height of...well, whatever the hell you call their brand of goa trance. A large injustice was labeling this goa trance in my opinion. And maybe that's partly why it took so long for me to accept this because I was expecting it to be something else. Sure there are elements and I guess you can call it goa trance on the darker side of things. But this is pure psychedelia and man did it make its mark on me tonight.

Doktor Mesmer? Absolutely mind blowing. Life Is...? So many turns with echoing synths that wail. Colordrops sounds like actual drops of color. Gooey sh*t that you just stepped in and you're mad because you know you don't have a change of footwear in the Yugo. This is the type of music that would take full-on out to the parking lot and lay a beating on 'em just because. This isn't the type of trance that stacks layers.

It stacks atmosphere.

So there you have it. All it took was time, the right night, and a some really good speakers. *Pulls collar* "Sounds like my wedding night!"

If I could sum it up in two words: uniquely psychedelic. Sounds extremely fresh as if it were made yesterday. It was given the re-issue business by Inpsyde Media in 2003 so there is no excuse not to have this gem in your collection. I'm getting it.

Beatspace

Mdk

[frozen dream]

if anybody wants it, i've got it for sale in a very decent condition and also life is... ep! contact me!

[JISNEGRO]

The cover art is one of the best ever made!