It is time for another round of Beatport recommendations! My purpose is to highlight noteworthy tracks not conventionally available to the CD-buying psytrance DJs out there. Although Beatport sells thousands of psytrance tracks, I seldom find very many worth purchasing—mainly due to the exorbitant price of a full CD after “wave handling fees” are considered. Every now and then I run across a really good piece of psytrance from a full CD I otherwise disliked; these I may recommend.

The progressive house genre contains a lot of material that will mix nicely with the deeper side of psytrance. Much of it is exclusive to vinyl—a medium few psytrance DJs bother with nowadays—or otherwise unavailable from the major online shops dealing in psytrance. Shops dealing in physical media are restricted by the economics of atoms in terms of what they can offer. Digital shops like Beatport can diversify their catalog at a much lower cost; their selection is already better than all but the largest shops dealing in physical media. This has interesting consequences for the music consumer. No longer is one limited by the specialization of a traditional outlet—we can surf around and get a taste of something outside our usual purchasing pattern. Electronic dance music is in a state of increasing convergence: witness the genre-spanning efforts of Minilogue (Son Kite), Extrawelt (Midi Miliz), and D-Nox & Beckers. It makes sense to hear what else is out there, but the sheer amount of music out there can be daunting. This is why I’ve been compiling lists of tracks to check out—to help channel that sea of information as best I can.

This time around, I have broken my suggestions down into two groups: progressive (including all crossover material and whatever else), and psychedelic (conventional psytrance). Keep in mind these posts are aimed at working DJs, not just general music listeners.

Progressive

D-Nox – Seven Hours (Martinez Remix)
The original is a fairly standard electro-trance hybrid, but the Martinez remix is one of the most distinctive crossover tunes of 2005, loaded with idiosyncratic glitch and stylish melodic flourishes. Despite the slow tempo of 125 BPM this has proven to be an explosive crowd pleaser, excellent for opening sets.

Dominic Plaza – Dark Side Of The East (Parham & Plaza Remix)
It is no wonder that Parham & Plaza have been featured on a number of progressive psytrance compilations; their technical sound fits right in with the deeper side of Iboga and Tribal Vision. Gritty percussion serves as a nice contrast to the glittering highs on this tight little number.

Chris Lake & Rhythm Code – Wrong Turn (Parham & Plaza Remix)
This second selection from Parham & Plaza shows the true meaning of progressive. It develops gradually, fleshing out the groovy bass line and mystic ambiance with deliberate pacing that affords every element the right amount of air time.

Eelke Kleijn – Consequences
After becoming captivated by his song Deeper Depths (which appears in my “Live at Harvest” mix) I have been exploring Kleijn’s back catalogue with great interest. Consequences is a very calm track with a subtle hook, serenely hypnotizing and elegantly polished.

Snake Sedrick & Emze Hack – The Beginning (Nick Hogendoorn & Eelke Kleijn Remix)
This calm and introspective remix from Tilth Music cannot be purchased on any physical medium; it is exclusive to the digital realm. The Beginning is finely balanced, dipping into deep bass grooves accentuated by tasteful tribal percussion and smooth atmospheres.

Antix & Rob Salmon – Tame The Beast (Absolut Remix)
The cheerful original appeared on Globalize, whereas the Absolut remix is taken from a Flow vinyl release. This is simple, sleek, and upbeat—just the thing for early evening. Note: the source file from Beatport is not mastered as well as it should be, so a bit of post-processing involving normalization and a maximizer like Waves L2 is in order.

Matt Rowan – Gold Mine
It is a wonder that a track such as this is listed as progressive house in the Beatport database! The rhythms may qualify as electro, prog-house, or something in between, but all the action takes place in the melodic layer. An enticing set of crystalline leads and blissful flourishes fill the air with positive emotions. This innocence of this little beauty really brings me back a few years.

Cassino & Laben – Unsound (Snake Sedrick Remix)
This is a gorgeous piece of deep progressive house with sublime, beautiful, luxurious qualities. A warm flood of bass envelops the listener in a soft and seductive shell, while ornate high-end melodies flow like liquid sunshine. I was not surprised to read that Hungarian artist Snake Sedrick grew up listening to Vangelis, as the influence is abundantly evident. This is a lovely tune!

Roman Rai – Sweets
Sweets is another selection harvested from this Czech producer’s back catalog, most of which is sold exclusively on Beatport for digital download. It might be dated, but I find myself playing this out any time there is a need for that lazy Sunday afternoon feeling. The pretty xylophone-like melody is incredibly soothing, and the carefree beats are nice and groovy.

Psychedelic

Bubble Dragon – Hentai
Hentai is easily the best song from Flow’s Overview compilation. As I stated in my original review, “Steve Good is one of the most brilliant producers in the psytrance scene, and Hentai is proof.” If dark, heavy, and genuinely psychedelic trance with incredible production value is your thing, be sure to investigate this enduring gem!

Color Drops – Jazz Is Dead
This track was originally released way back in 2001, on the debut compilation from Neurobiotic Records: Experience. It was not interesting enough for me to purchase, but I have always liked this nasty piece of psychedelic trance. The style is distinctly reminiscent of early work from Droidsect, with dirty bass lines and demented atmospheres. The clincher is a humorous sample courtesy of Frank Zappa: “Jazz isn’t dead—it just smells funny.”

Walhalla – Purple Shrimp
I never knew what the deal was with this track—it contains a noise ripped straight out of Bitmonx & Fabio’s Erdbeer-Kiwi, a classic progressive track released on Iboga. The rest is completely different; this is a fast and aggressive piece of pumping psytrance loaded with groove and style. I was not a fan of the full album this is sourced from, so I am pleased to recommend it as a candidate for paid download.

Logic Bomb – Shadow of the Beast (Psypilot Remix)
The original opens Logic Bomb’s classic Y2K debut Headware, while the Psypilot remix gives it a proper updates for today’s dance floor demands. The shimmering psychedelic qualities that made this famous have not been lost in the translation. Magnificent!

Shift – Dune
Dune is a mind-blowing dance floor killer that takes the theme from the movie and twists it into the razor-sharp hook of a massive psytrance anthem. From my original review of the source compilation, Utopia 2: “All of the rhythms are fat as hell, the melodies are large, and the drops are as sick as one might expect.” The rest of the CD is bland, so this is a great chance to pick up this excellent song for less.

Talamasca – Ghost In Goa
Released on yet another disposable Planet B.E.N. Records compilation, Ghost In Goa is the most exceptional single from DJ Lestat since Overload. As I mentioned in my original review, “the bass lines are sick, the builds are tight, and the lead melodies are very strong. This is a powerful dance floor epic!” This one always turns heads and elicits cries of excitement when I drop it into a full-on set.

Comments, suggestions and tips are welcome. You may wish to check out the first edition of this column if you find this entry useful. Until next time, enjoy some guilt-free downloading!

Vibrasphere are now selling their music in uncompressed wave format through their own online shop. The prices are very reasonable, with older material discounted significantly. No “wave handling fee” is charged, as on Beatport and most of the other digital music shops, so a full album in wave format actually costs less than the physical CD. Vibrasphere are selling nearly every song from their discography as well as remastered rarities and unreleased material. This development is ground-breaking in several respects, from the fact that this is an independent artist initiative to the price and range of the content offered.

Aside from the albums Echo, Lime Structure, and Archipelago, all of which come with the highest recommendation, I have a few single tracks to point out as being exceptionally good. Vibrasphere have several fresh compilation appearances up for sale such as Thermal Twist (from Hom-Mega’s New Order) and Capsize (from Think Different). For those wishing to dig a little deeper, be sure to snag Elephant (released on Widescreen), Funk The Trunk (from Therapy), and Broad Bandits (an excellent track from an otherwise dull compilation entitled Lighten). If you enjoy Vibrasphere’s downtempo productions, don’t miss Ice Flow, San Pedro (2004 Low Sky Mix), and The Big Sleep. One last note: when you download the wave files, you will need to rename the file extension to play the track. Time for some guilt-free burning!

Although it is not necessarily related, I would also suggest checking out the music video for Tierra Azul, the opening track from their latest album. Enjoy!

The global psytrance community has yet to embrace the blogging medium, but there are a handful of worthwhile publications out there. Here are a few of the finds I have made in my virtual travels:

di.onys.us

di.onys.us is succinctly described as:

…the ongoing chronicle of psychedelic trance society in New York, the U.S., and the beyond. Moments, places, people.

Without question, di.onys.us is the most serious psytrance blog on the net. The entries are well-written, timely, informative and filled with relevant photos, quotes, and links. The entities behind this blog often engage in genuine underground journalism, covering political issues such as the recent police actions at Alex Grey’s Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. This is psytrance blogging done properly! Be sure to visit.

Megalopsy Travel Blog

Filter & z1P^ are known as Megalopsy, hailing from Argentina, form one of my favourite dark psytrance groups. They have recently opened a blog to document their travels around Europe as they perform live sets and DJ, attend festivals, and experience life on the other side of the pond. The writing is solid, and they post lots of photos to make their entries visually appealing. Check out their extensive review of Boom Festival 2006, for example. What a trip!

SunriseSupplies

Danish DJ and reviewer pr0fane aka Jannick Andersen finds his home on SunriseSupplies, regularly posting quality mixes and top tens. I highly recommend his comprehensive archive of reviews and plentiful mixes—we tend to have a similar taste in this kind of psytrance, and I certainly respect his efforts!

talk progressive

Phacelift aka Kostas Alekoglou is behind this infrequently updated blog. He makes personal recommendations of artists, events, and releases which suit his taste, crossing the progressive divide between house, techno, trance, and psychedelic sub-variants. His entries are concise, lucid, and informed.

Psytrance Music @ Blogspot

Quick reviews, festival news, and rapid-fire commentary that will suit those with short attention spans. This is a standard aggregator service with a small measure of personal opinion injected every now and then. For the big picture, check this blog out.

This coming Saturday I will be playing a special Y2K retrospective set at the Darkrave 7 Year Anniversary. Expect to hear old tunes from The Delta, Infected Mushroom, Tim Schuldt, Cydonia, Logic Bomb, and other big names from the turn of the millennium.

In hindsight, it can be said that the regular Darkrave and R351570R events helped to shape the nature of psychedelic nightlife in Toronto in the early part of this decade. An unlikely fusion of high-tech industrial and mind-altering trance resulted in a rare hybrid: the cybergoth aesthetic. This countercultural crossbreed, still thriving in cities like London and San Francisco, has never been very widespread. Toronto is one of the few places in the world where you could find fluorodelic hippies stomping alongside cyborgs decked out in gas masks and big furry boots.

Although such observations are usually beneath notice, I have long held an appreciation for the diverse qualities of my hometown dance floors. As the one who channels the music, it is always a thrill to see everyone stomping to the same beat. I have been working hard selecting the right mix of classic material to share this Saturday, and hope many will be in attendance to celebrate seven long years of Darkrave.

Welcome to a new column featuring recommendations from the digital music service Beatport. I am writing this to augment my regular reviews, where I focus on music bundled into albums, compilations, and singles. Now that digital downloads have really begun to catch on, music is increasingly sold by the most basic unit—the song. Considering the size of Beatport’s catalogue and the dubious quality of their sample clips, it seems as if it may be useful to share the best of my findings every now and then.

Although I am a psytrance DJ by trade, I am usually scouring Beatport for their more progressive offerings. The economics of purchasing psytrance on CD still prevails over digital downloads in most cases, whereas progressive house, electro, and trance songs are often released on vinyl, which I no longer collect nor use. Purchasing individual songs online is not only cheaper than buying wax in such cases, but also makes the actual acquisition of the music feasible. This is perhaps the greatest thing digital music services have to offer: the overthrow of genre-segregated delivery channels, and the democratization of tastemaking, which was previously the sole domain of the labels. Now the individual is free to choose from a wide range of sounds that cross the fading boundaries of modern dance music; the future is wide open.

I would imagine that the material I enjoy may have an appeal to other psytrance listeners with progressive tastes, but such matters are notoriously subjective. Check the samples for anything that may intrigue you, and ideally a few of my suggestions may bring you musical satisfaction. Let’s begin!

Vision & Canedy – Check The Sound
The tumultuous upheaval of Cosmophilia left this track off the radar of many progressive psytrance DJs, but it will not go quietly into obscurity. In characteristic fashion, the two German producers have put together another pumping tribal house gem spiced with dark and mystic atmospheres. The production has all the punch you need, and the flow is silky smooth, making it a worthy candidate for the midnight power hour.

Martin H – Tromb (Alex Joon Remix)
Dirty, glitchy, groovy, and sick as hell, Alex Joon’s remix of Tromb is a serious piece of crossover material, drawing upon electro, house, and progressive trance for inspiration. The beat programming is impressive, featuring detailed drops and an intricate flow. With such a synthetic feel, it is sure to appeal to progressive psytrance DJs.

Roman Rai – Opportunity
This is possibly the moodiest piece I’ve heard from Rai, who usually releases progressive house with upbeat qualities. The chunky tribal rhythms are perfectly complimented by rich atmospheric work, which does grow to be charmingly melodic at times. Like most of Rai’s material on Beatport, this is not released anywhere else as of yet, so be sure to check it out.

Madoka – Thursday Night Hero (Eelke Kleijn Remix)
I have only known of Eelke Kleijn for a short while but I am already impressed with the wide range of styles this young Dutch artist produces. His remix of Thursday Night Hero features a massive groove line that expands into an all-encompassing wall of bass after the key breakdown. Funky as hell, quirky, and charming all at once—this is certainly one to check out!

Space Safari – Machines Music
Released last year on a vinyl with Flow Records, this song from Frank Beckers is a light and funky piece of trance with great production value. The melodic flow is so classy, and the vocal usage remains tasteful, letting the talents of this acclaimed artist shine.

Thomas Penton – Deeper Vowels (André Absolut Remix)
André Absolut is well known for his frequent appearances on progressive psytrance compilations, but many of his remixes have been confined to vinyl singles in the “regular” progressive scene. His take on Thomas Penton’s Deeper Vowels is exactly what you might expect, featuring a deep pounding groove and vivid floating atmospheres, all enlivened with considerable production value. This is worthwhile padding for any progressive trance collection.

Llopis – Lobster Tan
I have already reviewed the vinyl this track was sourced from, so I won’t say much more. Lobster Tan may be a couple years old already, but this dark tribal groover slides between current material with disarming ease.

Furry Nipples – Slackers (Martin H A Side Remix)
This one may be straying too far into electro house territory, but the grinding bass line mows down all my resistance. The sheer power of the dirty groove on this piece should adeptly shake the dust off your speaker stack. There isn’t much to it, and the later moments really could have used a new hook, but this will make a fantastic DJ tool in the right hands.

That’s it for this first round, but I imagine there is more to come! If you have any suggestions in turn, feel free to leave me a comment.

Harvest Festival is consistently one of the finest gatherings of the year. It is not just an excellent electronic music event; the organizers and volunteers go to great lengths to make the experience uncommonly special.

Three distinct stages sprouted from the grounds of Wholearth Farms, just outside of Hastings, Ontario. The striking yellow pyramid—resting on a gentle grassy slope beyond the fire pit, its interior layered with carpets and mattresses, eclectic downbeat emanating from its gaping trapezoidal maw—has become one of several iconic features at Harvest. Across from the bonfire pit lay the techno stage. Down a short trail leading the parking lot, the trance tent. Both were lined by sound-dampening bales of hay, ornamentally adorned with geometric designs and psychedelic artwork, alive with the captivating trajectories of limbs and bodies in motion to the pulsating rhythms.

Continue reading the rest of this post »

The Canadian summer is nearly over, local festival season is drawing to a close, and the annual ebb and flow of psytrance releases has reached a low point. I have been finding more and more time to put into the site, so it is time for another update of all the miscellaneous things going on around here.

Harvest Festival, the last major outdoor event of the season, is coming up this weekend. A couple of updates have been appended to the post; read up if you are planning to attend. BLA is hosting the psytrance stage in the hay bales this year – not the barn, thankfully! I’ll be opening things up around 9:00pm, so it’s a great excuse to dig into deep proggy “psyhouse” or something like it. I am thinking of sneaking something eminently familiar into the start of my set, so keep an ear out for that ;)

I have implemented several new features to improve the site. You have probably noticed the changes to the top menu bar and side navigation; hopefully everything is much easier to access now. I have done a fair amount of work on the reviews section, which now features little icons of CDs and vinyl to clearly indicate the format of a release. A new option on near the top of the screen links to a list of the newest reviews, in descending order. Reviews now have their own RSS feed, which opens up the possibility of having my work syndicated on other web sites. Interested site owners are welcome to contact me. Aside from that, check out the gallery, which features over 1,500 images, including plenty of event photos, covers, and flyers.

August was a particularly busy month for me. It began with the Eclipse Festival in Quebec, which was all right, but not quite as good as last year. Musically I enjoyed Nuclear Ramjet’s Mission to Sedna live set on Saturday night, and Jaïa put on an excellent show Sunday morning. After that it was off to B.C. for two weeks, which was absolutely wonderful. There were even more adventures when I returned, finishing up with the Samadhi Festival on the Labour day long weekend. Catching Jaïa a second time was just as good as the first time around.

Spündar shot a short video clip during my Saturday morning set at Samadhi (the tune in the background is Koxbox – Geomancer 2004). On the subject of video, another search turned up a brief video from Magikal Intentions back in June. What a flashback!

One week after Samadhi, the Shakti crew put on a great event at a two-room venue on St. Clair West in Toronto. Birthday boy Prosect/Sonify and NASA ripped it up for hours! That night was definitely some of the best music I’ve heard all summer.

That is all I have for you this time around… stay tuned for more to come as I really dig into the wordsmithing this fall!

The biggest shop in the U.K. is shutting down at the end of the month! From their mail-out:

Chaos Unlimited, the original Psy Trance webstore, will close on 31st August 2006 after 10 years in the Psy Trance scene.

This is due to personal health issues combined with the continued decline in Psy Trance CD sales.

When I began to collect back in the late 90s, CU was an essential stop-over for buying fresh material. I must have ordered over a hundred vinyls from them as the years went by. One has to appreciate their dedication to a business which promises little more than hard work and getting by. It will be sad to see them go, but it’s been a good run!

The mail-out suggests that customers seeking music in the future should check out psymp3.com, which says a great deal about the way the psytrance industry is shifting gears to adapt to the changing times. After a quick look, my first thoughts are that £1.25 for a 320k MP3 seems a bit steep, and the selection isn’t great. They are sure to regret their choice of domain name in the years to come, as MP3s are gradually phased out, but it must be remembered that this is only the beginning for digital download shops. Just as the emerging online shops of the late 90s went through frequent upheavals as the technology of the web advanced, so too will the digital music emporiums adjust to new developments and buyer preferences. I wish them luck in the years to come!