I return again to share a 25 recommendations from the progressive side of psytrance–where the genre bleeds into cutting edge techno. “Progressive” is a word with several meanings; it describes a specific sound as well as an approach to writing music. Truly progressive music must integrate new ideas and influences to remain viable. Consequently, there is little in the way of traditional “progressive psytrance” on my list. The old style is largely exhausted of its creative potential and artistic appeal (for now, anyway). Instead we have a new progressive zeitgeist: a beautiful marriage of psychedelic trance production techniques and the more melodic and even emotional aspects of modern techno music.

Astronivo – Blast Out [Flow Vinyl]
Astronivo – Hasamba [Omnis Recordings]
Beckers & Hatfield – You’re Not Me (Fiord Remix) [Sprout Music]
Bluetech – Honey In The Heart (Fiord Remix) [Aleph Zero Records]
Brisker & Magitman – Follow The Arrow (Dark Mix) [Spintwist Records]
Corejoy – Here We Go (James Monro Remix) [Tropical Beats]
D-Nox & Beckers – Left Behind (Daniel Marques Remix) [Lo Kik Records]
Dusty Kid – Lynchesque [Boxer Recordings]
Extrawelt – Clap’s Cally [Traum Schallplatten]
Felguk – Guess What (Perfect Stranger 2.4Ghz Paranoia Remix) [Savage Media]
Fiord – Get Up Jude [eVapour8 Recordings]
Fuzzion – Closer [Boshke Beats]
KiloWatts – The Grog [Harmonious Discord]
Kino Oko – Motormouth [Soundmute Recordings]
La Baaz – Space Cut [Pure Perception Records]
Ludovic Vendi – Ending (Robert Babicz Remix) [Suruba]
Max Cooper – Harmonisch Serie [Traum Schallplatten]
Moonbeam – Night Traffic [Traum Schallplatten]
MOS – Terremoto (Gabe & Ido Ophir Remix) [Noizen]
NDSA – Papercut [Attitude Recordings]
Perfect Stranger – Free Cloud (Perfect Stranger & A. Balter Remix) [Iboga]
Prime Time – Databaaz [KumQuat Tunes]
Riktam & Bansi – Ride The Snake [Plastik Park]
Shin – Folger (Robert Babicz’s Feeling Good Mix) [Yellow Tail]
SQL – Treehouse [Echoplast]

Last chart: February 2009.

Note: if you’re coming out to Eclipse 2009 you’re likely to hear a few of these tracks in my set on Friday night starting at 9pm!

Akhentek is a dedicated producer, DJ, and studio engineer presently residing in Elphinstone, British Columbia. He has been deeply involved in the growth of tribal dance culture in the Pacific Northwest for close to a decade, disseminating knowledge through communal workshops and rocking dance floors with his hybrid live/DJ sets. Drawing upon a background in biology, his Brazilian genetics, and an innate techno-shamanistic proficiency, Akhentek seeks to activate consciousness and promote energetic experiences using state-of-the-art music technology in his productions and performances. Whether playing downtempo, progressive, or full-on psytrance, Akhentek demonstrates a rare sensitivity to high-level frequencies when orchestrating visionary journeys into the trance state of mind.

Akhentek is an Entheos co-founder and regularly performs at Shambhala, the largest outdoor festival in the Pacific Northwest. Aside from his solo production work, Akhentek is also involved in the collaborative Pharoelidae project, an exploration of cyber-organic audio architectures alongside multi-instrumentalist Margonaut.

Akhentek has been extensively documented in a variety of online locales including h+ Magazine, Michael Garfield, and Psychic Gibbons. This testimonial by Michelle Winegar sums it up:

“When I close my eyes, Akhentek’s landscape appears: three-dimensional, architectural, organic, and I become a character inside that landscape. Like Alice after an innocent drink, I open my eyes to a wonder-filled land, and my body has transformed into a ball bearing, slowly circling a large metal funnel in a meditation that moves me towards the event horizon. At the apex, I lose myself and get launched into the middle of an intelligent, orchestral machine, not unlike George Rhoad’s musical sculpture in front of the Vancouver Science World. Both are intelligent, playful organizations of sound, mental floss at its best.”

DESIDERATA
August 6-9th
Echo Lake (Afton NY)
www.desideratafestival.com
PRESALE TICKETS: 2nd Tier Tickets @ 100$ At all Stores and Website
All Responsible Ages

Excite us, inspire us, play with us, evolve with us, and expand our collective universe. Use and be used by a profusion of stimuli. Enjoy 4 days of live psytrance, jam bands, dub and more.
Check out various causes, engage in workshops and lectures, and attend indie film premieres and multimedia performances. Converse with enthusiasts, artists, activists, abductees, conspiracy theorists, all manner of humans and their friends, terrestrial and otherwise; most importantly, HAVE A GOOD TIME!

We hope to foster community in an environment which enables an amazing experience, leaving you invigorated. Both global and local in its philosophy, we want you to take something personal away from Desiderata, and to get involved as it grows in the years to come.

For more information:
http://www.DesiderataFestival.com
contact@desideratafestival.com
www.myspace.com/desideratafestival
www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=94296457065

Location:
The New Echo Lake Resort Campground
New York State, USA @ Bainbridge, NY

MUSICAL LINEUP

INFECTED MUSHROOM classic set
CRYSTAL METHOD
Cosmosis *live*
SPace Tribe *live*
Transdriver *live*
YAB YUM *live*
Break Science feat. Adam Deitch
Optical
Umelt
Tom Hamilton Super Jam w/ Adam Deitch
Psylab
MJ Project
Dirty Drop
Digital Frontier
Shapes of States
HoroShow
Rinse Repeat
Grapes of Wrath
Inoxia *live*
AJJA *live*
EarWorm *Live*
Jelly Headz *live*
Jimo
Luis Campos
Mexican Trance Mafia *live*
Melorix *live*
Onkle Dunkel *live*
Parus *live*
Primordial ooze *live*
Prishvin Mess *live*
Progress *live*
Solix *live*
Karmikanik *live*
Orbicles
Anya
Billy Boogie
Lauryn and EG-Bot
DEPTH *live*
DA
Phungeye
Lost Monster
The Oracle *live*
Nexus
Ghost
Sw@t
St8cyde Jump Up
the OMEN
Aligning Minds *live*
Basha
Miz-Eyesis
Potent J
Rola
Suspence
Conscious Pilot
Loki
Bones Jones
Mentally ILL
Leila
J rabbit
Space One
Hambone
Dmilitant
Silas Maximus
AnimalTek *live*
Proper Villians
Dose the Alien
Alan Sax
Ted Mayday
Soren Larue
Mike Parker
Dali
Nicky Twist
MikeyParkay
Jordan Vesteyo
Atom
the Giver
Mcnasty
Tweek
Alex Ryan
Lou Elusivo
Sean Place
Mj Duke
Mike Sims
Rekone
Egzail
Christopher Robbins *live*
Electronic Anynomous *live*
Nicky Bruise
Raj marathe
Clotho
Kemp
J-red
Arod
Looney Tunes
DUBBS
PMC
Steve Nice
Don Stone *live*
Spring Break
Scooby Carolan
BMH
Drei
Gomer
Sogma
Teddy Glow
Vogel

There are endless activities on the beautiful campground of Echo Lake:

* 3 stages with state of the art sound systems
* A designated swimming area (do not forget to bring swimming suits!)
* A flea market featuring local artists and designers
* For the fishing enthusiasts there is plenty of room for you to enjoy the sun
* Community painting to express the spirit of this event
* large central campfire next to the second stage

WORKSHOPS
INDEPENDENT MOVIE CENTER
DRUM WORKSHOP
DANIEL PINCHBECK
EVOLVER
YOGA WORKSHOP
ELECTRONIC MUSIC SYNTHESIS
MEDITATION WORKSHOP
RESONANCE PROJECT
REALITY SANDWICH
FUNTOWN LIVE INTERACTIVE ART EXPERIENCE

****This is a leave no trace event!!!!

Directions:

From New York (3 hours)
First fill your car with your closest friends then…
I-87 (NY Thruway) North exit 16
take NY-17 West and get off on exit 82
Follow signs for NY-41 North to Afton
Stay on 41 – Echo Lake entrance is on the right
about 5 miles after intersection with NY-7 (Main St.)

From Albany (2 hours), Boston (4 hours) and points East:
First fill your car with your closest friends then…
take I-90 (NY Thruway) West to exit 25A
follow I-88 West and gt off at exit 7
make a right onto NY-41 North
follow for about about 6 miles to Echo Lake entrance

From Ottawa/Montreal (5 hours), Syracuse (1.5 hours),
First fill your car with your closest friends then…
Scranton (1.5 hours), Binghamton (0.5 hours)
and points West, North and South
take I-81 North/South to I-88 East exit 7
make a right on NY-41 North and continue
for about 6 miles to Echo Lake entrance

There is a great deal of downtempo and ambient music available for free download these days. Here are a few personal picks–releases that chill and inspire.

First on the list is a great 40 minute album by KiloWatts entitled Six Silicates. KiloWatts is one of my favourite producers right now so this comes highly recommended! It doesn’t seem to matter whether he’s writing techno, mid-tempo breaks, or something else entirely–KiloWatts always manages to infuse his work with melody and groove. Although Six Silicates is only available for free download in MP3 format there is an option to donate some cash to receive a lossless version.

Bluetech is another downtempo heavyweight out with a free release this month. Check the Bluetech homepage for access to the Call Of The Wild EP, five tracks of blissful melodic and glitchy breaks.

Postunder Records has a new release from Elmooht entitled Crows Of The Trade, another foray into dark, abstract, and experimental ambient.

Sifting through the archives I ran across an older MP3-only release by (val)liam: Early Reflections. If you’re into soothing ambient this little release should fare well on your stereo.

Shinogo’s album The Pulse is a pleasant mix of broken beats, trip hop, dub, and glitch. It is available in MP3 and FLAC for free download.

If you’re into the dubstep vibe you’ll want to check out the No Ego No Problems EP, a deep and mysterious release from Croatian producer Egoless available in MP3 format.

On an old school tip, fans of Hushush will be pleased to discover that much of this Canadian label’s back catalogue has been added to archive.org. If names like Vromb or Xingu Hill ring a bell be sure to check this out.

Finally, Autonomous has a few goodies for free download including live sets by Ott, Pitch Black, and Phutureprimitive.