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):
Ektoplazm is the world’s #1 source for free and legal psychedelic trance downloads. Founded in 2001 by DJ Basilisk, Ektoplazm has become a highly successful free music portal and netlabel family. Initially chartered to spread awareness of psytrance culture throughout Canada and the United States, Ektoplazm now has a global presence with fans and allies distributed all around the world.
Following the immense growth of the Ektoplazm distribution platform, DJ Basilisk established the Ektoplazm netlabel in 2008, aiming to promote unconventional talent with a professional approach to releasing free music in MP3, FLAC, and WAV format. The label has no defining sound; instead, it is dedicated to showcasing the range and diversity of the global psychedelic trance movement, always with an ear for quality.
Be sure to check out Ektoplazm’s techno and downtempo spin-offs, Drumlore and Omnitropic.
The term progressive refers to a number of different aspects of electronic dance music. In a technical sense, the word progressive suggests deep rhythms, slow-burning arrangements, hazy atmospheres, and a subtle approach to composition. Progressive can also mean cutting edge, fashionable, or “forward thinking.” It is a slippery concept, always changing. I tend to fall back on the more technical definition of the word progressive–a consequence, perhaps, of paying little attention to passing dance floor fashions. The whole DJ world is so concerned with immediacy, gaining access to unreleased music, and caning the hell out of hot tracks before anyone else does–but this is not a game I play. I prefer to enjoy quality music and share my findings with others who might be interested. On that note, I have compiled a list of twenty progressive tunes that have been in heavy rotation here at Ektoplazm. These selections range from the deeper end of psytrance to progressive house and minimal techno territory, or whatever you want to call it. To me, this is progressive music–and it is much more fun to blend it all together rather than separate the strains. Without further ado, here are my recommendations for October (with links to release information on Discogs):
Journal|October 18, 2008 | Updated: March 2, 2009| Posted by Basilisk
I designed this flyer back in July to promote Ektoplazm at the Eclipse festival in Quebec. I had 500 copies printed and ended up distributing them all, mainly to exhausted revellers waiting for the shuttle bus out of the Bonnet Rouge campsite. Although I have not traditionally enjoyed the whole process of promoting stuff in person, handing out those flyers was a lot of fun. I was fortunate enough to meet a lot of people that already use the site regularly and heard a good deal of feedback from people about what they liked about the site and the whole concept of what Ektoplazm is about. That sort of information is extremely valuable as it helps to shape the direction the site takes in the future.
I am now posting up the source files for these flyers just in case anyone out there would like to print up a few, either for your own use or to promote the site wherever you are. Here are the full-size images for high-quality printing, although you might need to convert to CMYK first: front (PSD/JPG) and back (PSD/JPG). I have also cut a few smaller images for use on the web: front and back. Lastly, if you like the image on the front, I have a version that is only 300 pixels wide available here.
If you need any other promotional materials, visit this page.
P.S. “flyer” is the Canadian spelling of “flier” in case you were wondering. Firefox lies!
Last week I implemented Flash-based previews for most of the releases in the free music section. Now visitors can get a feel for a release before downloading the entire thing! I thank Davey Boom for the idea and tip my hat to members of the BOMelakiesie forum for reminding me that broadband access is by no means ubiquitous.
On another note, I have been forced to tighten up server security and cut down on “hotlinking” and other forms of bandwidth theft while addressing the recent abuse chronicled here and here. Outside links to free music hosted by Ektoplazm will now redirect to the associated post for a given release. This is unlikely to affect most visitors; nothing will have changed if you download music direct from the Ektoplazm web site. For those of you that like to share music from Ektoplazm, please remember to post links to the actual release page–not the files themselves. Thanks!
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