May 2006 Update

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.