The floodgates have opened: free music is bigger than ever before. Of course, not every netlabel release makes it to prime time, but for those of you seeking more than what you will find in our free music section, here are a few turkey leftovers: Demoniac Insomniac – Underground Resistance EP, Klopfgeister – Early Ambient Tunes 2003-2005, V/A – Dead Of Night Vol. 1, Horrible Brain Vol. 1, V/A – Mental Sauce, V/A – Sahasrara (Flash interface; you’ll have to root around), and V/A – Super Nova. Rough and raw promos are also available from Terranoise, Wizack Twizack, and True Anomaly. Finally, Nano Records is offering a few MP3 freebies on their web site that might be worth a look.

Erik Davis is perhaps the most important writer covering psychedelic trance culture today. This year he went to Boom and recounted the experience in an article for Arthur magazine entitled “Trance Planet.” An excerpt:

“Given its origins in psychedelic culture, whose neoshamanic biophilia and apocalyptic tenor inevitably conjure up our hurting earth, Boom’s possible world is very much a green and sustainable one. As the ‘greening’ of Burning Man and other large gatherings shows, the festival actually presents a wonderful challenge: design and build a temporary architecture of community that allows thousands of people to have meaningful experiences, to encounter new friends and lovers, and to dance their asses off, while at the same time respecting the ethical demand that all of now face to live more lightly and intelligently on the earth. This work is both practical and utopian. Its practical because festivals are very much part of the world of money and media and technology, and greening them allows small sustainable businesses to establish themselves, not only by selling their wares to organizers, vendors, and participants, but by having a supportive environment to show off their visionary innovations to people predisposed to new nature ways. And the work is utopian because it is an expression of desire and fantasy that takes advantage of the nonordinary nature of festival space-time.”

Read the full article here or check out the PDF version of Arthur #31 and flip to page 30.