I would like to present a new project I have been working on; a vast archive of (mostly psytrance) releases that I personally recommend: DJ Basilisk’s Essential Selections. Please read the introduction; it explains a lot about my intentions. In a nutshell, this little project provides a “big picture” overview of psytrance history as told by the releases themselves and according to my personal taste. It isn’t meant to be an authoritative guide… but given the scope, it should provide some insight into how the music has changed over time, among other things. Drop in and have a look!

Tyler “Quasga” Smith first came to my attention years ago, as a member of the pioneering American psytrance group Prahbamandala. I never really got into what he was doing back then but the moment Tyler switched gears and went deeper with his Androcell project, I was hooked. Androcell was primarily a psychedelic dub project–imagine Ott with less polish and a bit more plastic. After two solid albums–Emotivision and Efflorescence–Tyler seemed about ready to call it quits in 2006. Rather than disappear entirely, he quietly shifted his focus to a new project: Distant System. Taking a cue from Ultimae Records, Tyler began to produce what I would call deep cosmic trance. Spiral Empire, released earlier this year, is pure science fiction music–just the sort of thing to send you drifting off into the void. To get a feel for the album, here is a video for the song Equidistant produced in collaboration with Jason Major, Tyler’s old partner in crime from the Prahbamandala days (Flash required for viewing):