COSMIC DEBRIS Saturday May 27th 2006

After a long hibernation the BLA is back, ready to shake the earth
with floor filling frequences. For this event we are bringing back one of
the world’s finest techno masters….

KOXBOX -Solstice Music Denmark **** All New Live Material !!!

Ever since his last massive performance in Toronto we have been
anticipating the return of this man’s sonic symphonic assault. Do not
miss the pioneering sound and fury of the Koxbox!

DJs
Frank E (Koxbox)
Yeb
Sketi
Jarek
Quivering Virgin

Ambient Audio Visual Space by SumKidz
dj’s
Marz
Siren
Zumba
+more to be added

Deco

Neil Gibson – Cosmic Debris
Jeremy Zuch
Moody Mammal

Live Installation
Mike Parsons

Venue 99 Sudbury

Tickets
$20
available (soon) at
Shanti Baba 546 Queen W
Metropolis 162 Spadina
2 The Beat 161 Spadina
Seekers Books 509 Bloor

Doors 10pm – ??
ROAR

Info
www.blacklightactivists.com (note the new web address)
blacklightactivists@hotmail.com

WELCOME TO DREAMTIME

The second episode of the Soundescape radio show profiles the Canada’s most forward-thinking trance act: Nuclear Ramjet. Max and Felix have just released their third album, an epic masterpiece entitled Mission to Sedna. Hear what these “electro-tech heroes” have to say about their initiation into trance, their creative process, the story of their new label Spaceport Records, and the future of the band. Soundescape host Emil features an old favourite of mine – La Chevauchée Fantastique – originally released on Nuclear Ramjet’s debut album Age of Aquarius. Before I got into DJing on CD I actually had a dubplate of this track cut for my Sunday morning set at the Om Festival in 2001 (at great expense). You will also hear two new songs from the freshly released album. Do not miss hearing a future classic of electronic music – Folding Time! This 13 minute long epic is sure to be one of the most massive tracks of 2006. If you’re seeking more from Nuclear Ramjet, they are generous enough to share many mp3s of their past productions.

Download the show direct or subscribe to the feed to receive timely updates as a podcast.

Greetings once again! I’ve been real busy in recent weeks, working hard with the Metamystix team on planning and preparations for our very first event. The amount of thought and creativity going into this is like nothing I’ve ever seen; hopefully anyone close to Toronto can make it out on June 10th! While the information has been out for a little while, I have only now just finished the flyer design. Visit metamystix.com to check it out, and be sure to leave a comment here at Ektoplazm if you’re up for it!

There is one other upcoming event in Toronto that I must highly recommend. BLA is bringing Koxbox back for a show at Sudbury 99 on the 27th–do not miss this! Although the group split a couple of years ago, Frank’E is continuing on with the name, and his new productions remain as vibrant and highly advanced as ever.

Speaking of highly advanced, the new album from Nuclear Ramjet is a gem. Mission to Sedna has recently been released on Spaceport Records, and I would highly recommend that all readers go out and give it a listen. It has been a little while since an album has really floored me the way this one has. I get the feeling that this may be the sleeper hit of 2006.

I’ve been working on expanding the profiles section of the site. Since the last update I have added information on DJs Rook and Dam, both of whom are playing at Magikal Intentions. If there are any local Toronto DJs or acts who would like a space here on Ektoplazm, reach out and make contact.

In a move to honour a long-standing psytrance reviewing tradition, I have implemented a simple system to draw attention to the releases which receive the best ratings. TRiP and Psynews both employed a red highlight for what the site owners considered to be essential, and now the same marking is in place here on Ektoplazm.

On the reviewing front, I gave myself the challenge of covering a few old classics in the last couple of weeks. CD reviews have become quite streamlined since about 2003; few releases escape the grasp of a thorough reviewer. What about the classics? So many remain overlooked and ignored – especially by anyone new to trance. Hopefully I might inspire some interest in a few of the classics that I will be examining in detail. Expect quotes from vintage review sites and discussions of the historic merits of some of these releases. As I discovered, reviewing oldies is tough. Luckily, writing about them is a blast!

I have four oldies to recommend in this update. The first classic I opened up was Astral Projection – Another World, one of the infamous group’s better efforts. It doesn’t do much of anything that they weren’t already doing three years earlier, but still–it is done well. After that it was time to examine an extremely important (and frequently overlooked) Australian compilation from ’96: Hacking the Reality Myth. If you enjoy the abstract sounds of Finland, the underground style of Uppsala, or even the modern movement of darkpsy, perhaps it will be of interest. I also dug up a pair of late 90s classics from Atomic Records: Kiss the Future and Electrosect. I remember when they were the freshest thing on the scene, yet few seem to remember them nowadays. If you like a dose of industrial with your trance, both will be up your alley.

Late April of 2006 marks a full decade since my first experience of trance. Ten years ago I attended my first electronic music event: a party thrown by Syrous, one of Toronto’s big-scale rave production organizations. The party was held in a huge warehouse complex in the industrial wastelands of the west end. Three rooms featured jungle, house, techno, and other forms of electronic dance music. I had never experienced anything like it; here were thousands of people dancing, shouting, jumping around, and going completely mad to the sound of the omnipresent drums. While the various styles of music played in the big rooms failed to intrigue my interest at the time, I made a deep and lasting connection with a few of the sounds I heard in the smaller third room. “Mr. Nivok” (more properly known as Nivoc) from Montreal was there playing an old school Goa trance set.

After this first taste of Goa trance, it took me about a year to reconnect to the psychedelic underground. Few events in Toronto seemed to feature the style, or perhaps I was simply unable to uncover the information. I attended gatherings organized by Moonshadow and Resonance in 1998, checked out the first BLA parties when they started up, and later on, became a regular at R351570R and Deep Sea Fish. I must direct some appreciation to all these crews for many excellent nights.

To mark the occasion I have gained permission from Nivoc to post a mix from the very year I first heard trance. It is entitled Infinity. I recommend checking it out to gain a perspective on just how much the sound of psytrance has changed over the course of a decade. What a long strange trip it has been. Thank you, everyone!

The following text has been lifted from Rook’s own site.

Rook, aka Rick, has been a fan of Psytrance since first hearing it in the late 90’s. Listening to everything he could find, he formulated a musical preference that spans the psytrance realm. He only started spinning in 2004, but his musical background and mathematical mind made him a natural.

Spinning around the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Rook can be seen and heard spinning a variety of Psy from Full-On in the main room to less thumping, but still mind-bending down-tempo in the chill space.