Khetzal - Corolle

Suntrip Records: 2005

This is a big one, maybe THE big one, cementing Suntrip Records as that label you went to for your goa trance fix in the modern era. How big was this record? Corolle was so big, it even got covered at TranceCritic! Okay, we were covering sporadic psy already, but I do remember quite the hullabaloo over this release when it came out. It let the scene know that classic goa was alive, even if barely by a thread, and that it could still offer material of high quality.

I can't stress enough just how shocking that was in ye' olde year of 2005. Israeli full-on was completely dominate, while dark psy was gaining ground, with prog-psy establishing itself as a trendy alternative. As with most electronic music of the early '00s, the general mentality remained things had to keep evolving, growing, trying new things. Even the '80s revival was more a reinterpretation than a complete retro return. And the rest? Forget it, not even acid house having a comeback yet, much less any other genre of electronic music, to say nothing of got'dang goa trance! Heck, I'm sure you'll find early criticisms of Corolle for being too on-the-nose with its vintage vibes. Given how fondly the album's regarded now, it just goes to show how time and distance can change even the most stubborn holdouts. I mean, technically this album's closer to goa's glory years than whatever is getting released on Suntrip now. Holy cow, it old!

But yes, Corolle does hold up, if for no other reason than it isn't a complete throwback of an album. In fact, the first couple tracks are basically prog-psy in that wide-screen way you'd hear out of Ultimae or Sunline/Altar Records of the day. Which makes sense since the second cut, Anamatha, is actually a DJ Zen track with Khetzal on the rub. Yet even there, you'd suspect something a little different from the contemporary norm was afoot, the track rather brisk so early on.

Then with Bells Of Sarnath, Khetzal is done playing coy, going full gonzo goa for a four-track run. Squiggly acid lines! Indian tonal scales! South Asian chants! Tabla beating! Bansuri tooting! Elephants trumpeting! And holy cow, that high BPM! Every cliche you can think of classic goa trance having, it's here, and somehow sounding not one bit tired or rote. All that was old is new again, so gloriously resurrected as though the scene had never experienced a creative crash.

As if to drive the point home, the final run of uptempo tunes sound more of the time than the strict goa exercises preceding them, including those rather plastic synths commonly heard in full-on. They're still solid tunes, indeed would have been stand-outs in their own right, but coming off the ultra-melodic material earlier, are somewhat of a let-down. All's well that ends well though, with a requisite downbeat closer with Avasari.

Surely nothing but great things from Khetzal following this smashing debut, right, Ani? ...Right, Anikan...?

George Issakidis & Speedy J - Collabs 400 & 401

NovaMute: 2005

Th'ar be the acid! Just took a French touch to get there. TB-303 action aside, I have to say these Collabs with George Issakidis are the most interesting of the lot, and not just because they stray far from the regular techno workouts as already heard from Jochem's pairing with Adam and Chris. Okay, it's almost entirely because of that too, because in accommodating Monsieur Issakidis' aesthetic into his own, it resulted in some of most unique sounds out of Jochem's discography ever. Which shouldn't come as too much of a surprise considering the former Micronaut was also responsible for the Superior Version of Block Rockin' Beats.

As for how this pairing came about, I assume George was itching to get involved in the 'proper techno' scene after splitting off on his own – anything to escape the big-beat stigma. Some chance meeting with Jochem resulted in the two discovering shared mojo in working on music together, and here we are.

The first cut out of this, Looks Something Like You, is a ten-plus minute outing of steady, noisy bedlam. Really, it sounds like an extended jam session, the two playing all manner of filter and effects over the bare-bones acid house lurking underneath. While of a much lower BPM than the other tracks thus featured in the Collabs series, the intensity is no less gratifying. Hell, some of the percussion could very well be industrial, rattling off like machine gun fire and all. That may just be something for the 'old heads' though, as what was truly blowing up at the time in Francophone lands was sleazy, filthy, abrasive acid, so here's that in the form of Understand What I'm Saying on the flip of Collabs 400. Holy shit, how can this thing go for nearly eleven minutes, and never grow weary or repetitive? The warped vocals are fun enough as it is, but throw in all the distorted, clanking percussion along the way, and you have the closest thing to Speedy J going Ed Banger you'll ever hear!

Okay, maybe that was all a bit much for the techno purists out there, so on Collabs 401, the pair slow things way down on Overblaak, a quite minimalist piece where the TB-303 gets the most shine. Even here though, just the little things, like a mint, crunchy skippity-shuffle on the beat, has you hanging on every minute of its near-fourteen worth. Kaalbrevo, meanwhile, decides to get dubby on the distorted acid vibes, the duo providing a track that would fit snugly in a vintage Swayzak set. This, too, breaches a dozen minutes in length, but somehow holds your attention with every flange and filter effect thrown in. Not that I'd expect anything less ol' Issakidis.

Which is what I should say, if I'd actually heard more of his work outside this and early Micronauts. Time to do some more diggin' and he's got a rather skint discography after all. Mm, well, at least it won't take as long to sift through as Gerd's.

Various - Apsara

Suntrip Records: 2005

It's remarkable how one's impression on a CD can have such a turnaround the deeper you dig into it. Right off the bat, I figured Apsara would provide something a little off the norm from Suntrip Records' music. Aes Dana is on here, opening the compilation with an exclusive track titled Digitalys. Wait, Vincent appearing on a label who's musical manifesto is nothing but retro-nu goa and psy trance? How did that happen?

Unsure, but Aes Dana really does feel like the odd-man out on Apsara. If you know your ol' school Ultimae prog-psy (oh God, it really is an 'old school' era now, isn't it?), you'll know this track, a solid, pulsing rhythmic rudder with widescreen pads and multi-tap synths and voices. Really makes me want to throw on Season 5 again. If I'm getting such vintage vibes off this one Aes Dana track though, then this compilation must be from way early in Suntrip's catalogue, right?

Right, Apsara in fact their second release ever. Ah, that would explain why, following that One (1) example of (then) current prog-psy, the rest of the compilation features a pile of goa trance very much on that retro tip. In an instant, the BPMs jump by twenty points, and Yesod's On The Edge Of Time goes hard on the squiggly acid sounds with slightly Indian tonal scales. Same with Avigmati's Babylone Beach, and Filteria's Tiny Universe, though also bringing the the spaced-out atmosphere to the party. And through it all, that unmistakable Suntrip adherence to the classic goa sound, maybe even a bit too much so. Like, compared to the Aes Dana track, these sound a bit flat and unpolished, but hey, it is early in the Suntrip story, before the folks making these 'return to the roots' tunes realized it was perfectly fine beefing things up to modern production standards.

Aside from the Ka-Sol cut Scraqp getting wickedly twisted, the rest of Apsara was good enough for what it set out to do. I didn't have much else to say about it until noticing something odd about my digital copy of the compilation: there was a track missing. I double-checked my CD copy, and sure enough, a ninth track, Lost Buddha's Metamorphosis, wasn't available on the Bandcamp page. Weird, but not uncommon, original artists sometimes retaining rights to their works for their own distribution.

I didn't think much else of it until spotting a recent comment left on Apsara's Discogs page. Well, not so much a comment, but a snarky screed, from a Filipe Santos. That's when I noticed the production credits to the Lost Buddha track went to a chap of the same name. Ooh, juicy, what's the deal with this guy, then? His Discogs stats are rather cluttered, and could only tell me so much. If I wanted more, there was only one place I knew would have details, the website with ties to Suntrip since day one: the psynews.org forums!

And, my friends, the rabbit-hole went deep there indeed.

Procs - Stuck In The Oven With Me

Trishula Records: 2005

I'd only heard one (1) Procs tune, but hot dang, was it ever a humdinger of a tune! His contribution to the Trishula Records compilation Mechanophobia was quite literally unlike anything I'd heard before – and to be frank, ever since. For sure many forms of weird and warped psy trance have passed my ears over the years, but Big Large Snoring Lamas was on a whole different level of psychedelic twisting. It's like, like... Anyone remember the opening credits sequence of the Beetlejuice cartoon? It was like that, a roller-coaster of fucked-up shit filtered through a Tim Burton / Danny Elfman lense. If his album from the year before had more of that, oh Hell yeah I'd be down to hear more!

For whatever reason though, I skipped on it when I was going through my dark psy phase way back when, and never bothered to keep tabs on any further developments from Mr. Stegman. I assumed it lost to the winds, eventually out-of-print when Trishula folded, the Procs story going with it. That wasn't the case, of course, Mickael sporadically shopping about his alias on a couple other labels, and even recently re-emerging with all his material available on Bandcamp (yay Bandcamp!). That's beside the point though, because on a random whim, I was perusing the old Psyshop shop (just before they shuttered, if you can believe the odds), and discovered they did indeed have Procs' debut album available! Wow, all this time, the original Trishula pressing? Bully on me, then.

I will admit though, a little hesitation in getting Stuck In The Oven With Me, for a rather stupid but understandable reason: I wasn't sure it would deliver what I wanted. One of the factors in my fall-out of mid-'00s psy trance was the annoying pattern of being lured in by really dope tunes as heard on a compilation, and a subsequent album from said producer of such dope tunes never delivering on those expectations. Dark psy was particularly annoying about it, but maybe I simply didn't do enough digging to find out if my batting average was just rather low.

Anyhow, I needn't worry as Procs' debut is fairly solid, even if there's only a few tracks that really gets into that 'Beetlejuice Roller-Coaster' vibe I was looking for (Mr. Baengrot Rides Again, Overtures From The Oven, Buforsk Normal). There's still a delightfully warped sense of sound being employed in most of these tracks, they're just presented in a headier, minimalist way that Trishula Records often showcased. I do like the ones with crunchier rhythms going for them (Gliffsing The Pop, Pogo Pedagog), and Samsonited even gets more melodic than a bunch of weird, twisted sounds and effects flying about.

Still, I was kinda' hoping for more than 'good enough', given how dope Snoring Lamas turned out, but I shouldn't go expecting older tunes to be on par with newer ones, right? Right. So then, about those Bandcamp uploads of later albums...

Lucette Bourdin - Soaring Above The Thunder

Fantasy Enhancing: 2005/2021

I was afraid this would happen. Really, it's my fault, what with my arbitrary alphabetical queuing of albums. If I approached things normally, in chronological order, I'd hear Ms. Bourdin's natural progression as a musician over time. Instead, I've jumped all over the place, and as such have heard her muse in various states of evolution. I'll admit her general tone and style seemed to be mostly formed early on, material on Oceanic Spaces and Raven's Dream sounding almost as good as pieces from Breath Of Grace and her Nordic Waves series. And hey, maybe that would also be the case when I finally got around to her actual first album, Soaring Above The Thunder. There was always this niggling suspicion, however, that it would be more typical of a 'first album' from an artist. A little amateurish and rough around the edges, said artist still in their feeling-out process despite confident enough to release something out into the wider world.

And, well, that's basically what I hear with Soaring Above The Thunder. It's not bad or anything, indeed still competently performed ambient music. It just doesn't sound like Lucette had really explored her synths yet, relying on whatever was already available in their sound libraries, then playing them in a functional manner. It's the sort of music I'd probably perform if I was just starting out too.

What stands out most to me is how punctual her synths sound, particularly on pieces like Prelude, Cloud Drones, Metallic Skies and Return. If there's any definitive style I could place upon Ms. Bourdin, it's her subtle layering of pads and drones, such that her music has a graceful flow among its harmonic elements. Obviously this wasn't always the case, but whenever she was at her best, that was the attribute that stood out the most. On Soaring Above The Thunder though, such attributes are noticeably absent, lending her synth work to more of an old school '80s vibe, when layering synth pads was in a more primitive state (if even achievable at all).

Still, a couple pieces hint at roads where Lucette would soon explore with greater results. Winds Across The Fields is almost pure minimalist drone, even if some of the 'wind effects' come off a little clunky. Despite also being comparatively jagged, Sundrops (Interlude) does offer a gentleness heard in many pieces of her discography. Elsewhere, the titular track and Showers brings some rhythmic elements to Ms. Bourdin's repertoire, showing she wasn't just an 'all ambient, all the time' artist right out the gate.

So yeah, a bit of a disappointment this one, but like I said, I've only my own expectations to blame. Had I started this Retrospective Box Set (2005 – 2017) from here, rather than jumping all over the place, I'd probably have a better first impression of it. Then again, what if I'd discovered Lucette somewhere around her Ancient Memories period regardless, digging into her back catalogue from there? Would impressions have been the same?

Chris Liebing & Speedy J - Metalism

NovaMute: 2005/2021

Post Loudboxer Speedy J is mostly new territory for me, but it's not like I don't know what I'm in for. Being in the throes of European tastes, Mr. Paap didn't have much choice falling in with either 'shranzy' or 'minimal' stylings. Not wanting to go it alone though, the mid-'00s kicked off his Collabs Period, a string of singles pairing up with many movers and shakers of the more pummelling side of the genre.

These being vinyl, I naturally never got any of them, and since none of them were consolidated into any sort of CD compilation, the series passed me by. Fool on me though, because there was a single, lone compact disc option released from this exercise, a full-length album between Mr. J and one Chris Liebing called Collabs3000, sub-titled Metalism. Which is what it's formally known as now on Speedy's Bandcamp page. Like, I probably would have nabbed this had I ever spotted it a shop when it came out, but actual music shop options for techno CDs were a quickly dwindling enterprise in jolly ol' Vancouver in 2005. Gotta' settle for Joel Mull's The Observer instead.

I don't want to burn too much word count going over Mr. Liebing here, as this wasn't their only collab' in these Collabs sessions, but just in case you need a quick refresher/overview... You know that distinctly hard, loopy, bangin' brand of techno that emerged at the start of this century? Chris was one of the forefront promoters of this sound, rinsing out on the regular in German clubs, even getting the nod as one of that country's top DJs. That Jochem would fall in with him after Loudboxer was probably inevitable.

After a requisite ambient-noise intro (three minutes worth!), Metalism kicks off with Modish Ride, and... woof, did this ever worry me something. I know Liebing and J were going for something a little more experimental here, but not right out the gate, and certainly not with a rhythm that feels like it's tripping over itself. Follow-ups Triflon and Hilt triggered me further, clear bandwagon jumps on the growing minimal trend with all manner of annoying clicky, glitchy, white-noisey nonsense and a plodding tech-house groove. Fortunately, the lads say nuts to all that right after, giving us a run of relentless techno bosh. Tunox gives us the furious octane, Acid Trezcore unleashes the 303, and Cream 3 slows things down again, but pummels you with a noisy assault of a build.

Come to think of it, Misters Liebing and Paap sure do love themselves some noise. Eventide is technically an ambient piece, but it sure is a noisy one. Lava is pure Loudboxer action, and just as noisy while doing so, while closer Assault is twelve minutes of minimal dub. Okay, not so noisy, that one. Don't worry though, Metalism throws in a bonus, noisy live performance of Tricko, with all the crowd noise you can handle. Eh, I liked this idea better mid-album as Krikc.

Various - Choice: A Collection Of Classics - John Digweed (2022 Update)

Azuli Records: 2005

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review)

In my original review, I waxed on a bunch about the need for compilations such as these. A chance for famed DJs with deep crates to show off the influential but outdated tunes from their collections. Music they could no longer reasonably rinse out on the weekends, but hold special or sentimental value to their developed playing styles just the same. Granted, the '00s compilation market grew rather bloated with multiple series covering similar ground, such that a few are all but utterly forgotten nearly two decades on. Yes, I'm including Choice in that category. Don't get me wrong, it had a decent run. It didn't last past 2007 though, bowing out when Azuli Records went into liquidation by the end of the decade, and isn't brought up in The Discourse anymore. Gosh, maybe I can find a couple on the cheap-cheap now!

I'd like to assume, had the CD market not collapsed in the wake of streaming services, such compilations would still exist. Would it, though? Like, you'd think curated favourites of famed individuals would be big business with so much music available to the masses now, but I don't see much hype around it. Yeah, a Drake or a Kardashian or a Gorillaz might share some mixtape release on social media, but I'm thinking more than that.

Like, those artist Radios you get on Spotify. Wouldn't it be neat if they were actual radios, music they'd play over radio waves, each their own version of a college rock station show? Instead, it's just another algorithm generated playlist, featuring a selection of artists that are similar to the one you clicked the Radio button for. Maybe handy for those just getting into some genres or producers, but wholly redundant if you've been at this a while now. Why can't the algorithm provide some proper deep dives, yo'?

Or maybe there actually is a thriving social media community out there making ample use of such services, one I simply haven't stumbled across. For sure outlets like Mixcloud or Twitch should provide the means, but then you're kinda' shouting into the ether-void to get attention. Unless you already have a brand with a prominent base, establishing yourself as some modern John Peel is an almost futile gesture. And to be fair, a series like Choice would never have gotten off the ground if it hadn't relied on DJs with some brand reputation behind them, ensuring some curiosity from consumers in such a product. These were always an additional item of interest though. You needn't get a Choice from Digweed when he still had Bedrock or Transitions as his primary outlets.

I dunno. Feels like this is just more 'old man yells at cloud' musing. Why can't things be like it once was, and such as. I'm sure music compilations like Choice or Life:Styles or Back To Mine still exist out there, even as a nebulous streaming service concept, but it sure was easier finding them back in the day.

Various - Buckle Up Vol. 2 - The Trancelucent Garage (2021 Update)

Trancelucent Productions: 2005

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review)

You'd think with such hilariously tacky cover art, Trancelucent Productions wouldn't have been long for this psy trance world. I certainly wrote them off early on, believing they couldn't possibly survive the great Israeli full-on glut of the '00s, especially as more notable, credible labels ermeged on the scene. Yet their Discoggian data shows they lasted as far as 2016, going the digital route like so many others before. The only name from this compilation that remained with the label until the end was Cosmic Tone, though he spent more time on Trancelucent's sister label, Comp.Pact Records. Amazing that the one producer I felt had the weakest cut on here (the Danny Tenaglia aping Elements) would be the longest tenured. He even released an album a couple years ago, with music that sounds... exactly like what's on this fifteen year old compilation. Huh.

That's not to say other acts didn't have fruitful careers in the wake of this release. I've mentioned before Electro Sun carried on for a while, as did System Nipel, but most of the artists featured on Trancelucent's second label showcase didn't amount to much after this. Many a psy-trancer lament the brilliant but brief outing from The Misted Muppet, but names like Aquatica, Systemic, and Noga barely have anything beyond here. That Noga is kind of funny, in that there appears a bunch of Discoggian data mentioning him being part of Cosmic Tone for their first album, then splitting after. Seems such a shame, as Noga's offerings are some of the purest, tranciest cuts among a bunch of tracks with that squawking synth. Not a single album listed though, just a single EP to his credit. Lots of compilation support though.

Another name that always intrigued me off here is Etic, and it appears he's had a very strong career since his Trancelucent debut, five albums to his name, plus a pile of EPs. Then why can't I find any of his stuff on Spotify or Bandcamp? Seems like a heck of an oversight, especially since much of his latter output is strictly digital. Maybe he didn't retain the rights for it, and Trancelucent's been in internet limbo since?

Ah, wait a second, Lord Discogs says Etay Harari, the man behind Etic, established his own label in Digital Nature. Still no Bandcamp option there, but it does lead me to a homepage. Ah, nice, it even has links to all the places you can find their music. Still neither of the two streaming services I prefer, but all the other usual suspects are here: Soundcloud, Beatport, iTunes, YouTube, JunoDownload, PsyShop, Amazo-

Wait a second! PsyShop is still around!? Holy cow, so they are! Man, what fond memories of scrounging for psy from that place back in the day. Wouldn't it be funny if they still had some of Etic's old albu- Oh. My. God!

Erm, anyhow, Buckle Up, Vol. 2. Somehow, it still has that vintage Israeli full-on charm, or it could just be the nostalgia talking.

Various - Balance 008: Desyn Masiello

EQ Recordings: 2005

Before getting into Desyn Masiello's contribution to the Balance series, I feel it necessary to confirm that, yes, I don't have James Holden's edition. For sure I've heard it, and I thought to myself, “Gosh, if it ever comes down in price, I may pick that up.” It never did, growing more pricey as the years went on. Not some of those other Balance mixes though!

Straight up, I don't know much about Mr. Masiello, and to be fair, neither does the modern internet. Chap apparently had quite the run of success within prog-house circles at the start of the '00s, often name-dropped among the Next Generation of DJs leading that scene into the future. Except he didn't, nearly any records of solo output drying up from Discoggian archives following this release, retreating into the DJ conglomerate SOS thereafter. No follow-up DJ mixes, no big singles, and no in-demand remixes. For all intents, Desyn peaked out with Balance 008, then decided the fame of having a 'Best of 2005' set out on the market was all the taste of the limelight he needed. Time to get back behind the decks, with two other guys running photo interference.

By the by, when I saw Discoggian posts claiming Balance 008 got a 'Best Of 2005' honour, I had a hard time figuring out from who. Like, DJ Mag, or Mixmag? Surely not Resident Advisor, but lo', when I checked, there it was! I couldn't believe they would have considered a set such as this among the best releases of that year, but then, RA was still in the habit of dishing out 3.5/5's to the likes of Ferry Corsten and Armin van Buuren. Ah, your older shame will never be wiped away, RA.

Right, the music. It definitely isn't 'prog' in any traditional sense, that's for sure. I've seen the word electro bandied about for Desyn's selection, but coming off Chris Fortier's proper electro exercise in Balance 007, that just won't do either. Still, there's definitely something of an '80s space disco vibe going on with CD1, with occasional Moroder basslines sprinkled about the retro synths. Even when Desyn tries steering things into traditional prog and anthem house territory for the finish, there's still that space disco feeling lingering in the air.

Chris Lake's piano anthem Changes ends CD1 on a pretty big high, almost impossible to follow upon in CD2. So Mr. Masiello doesn't even try, instead getting a little indulgent by opening with Orbital's Halcyon Anonanon. Okay, sure, not my favourite Orbital tune, but I'm sure has plenty of personal feels for Desyn. This set's a bit all over the place though, running through loopy disco house, funky synthy house, Hed Kandi anthem house (thanks, Joey Negro), and deeper tech-house. Some good tunes in there, but not as cohesive as CD1 was. Ah well, at least there was no sign of the dreaded 'mnml' bug in here. The Balance series wasn't gonna' hold that off for much longer though.

Various - Balance 007: Chris Fortier

EQ Recordings: 2005

Balance? What is this? I recall that Bill Hamel guy was involved, but when the DJ mix market was flooded with serviceable prog sets with interesting photographic cover art, you'll forgive me for passing on the series' early editions. Tell me that Chris by-God Fortier has been tapped for a whopping 3CD set, however, and you've got my attention! Dude had twice kept my prog faith alive by that point, the previous year's Audiotour all but cementing my notion he could do no wrong. And now he was unleashing a triple-discer of the stuff? Who cares if I have to import it from Australia, there's no way this could go wrong!

Balance 007 became my least played release from Mr. Fortier, some of the CDs un-played since I first threw them on fifteen years ago. Oh... oh no! How did that happen?

It didn't take long to remember the sinking feeling with CD1. With an early run of trendy minimal tech-haus, it was my first indication that the prog bandwagon jump into that genre wasn't going to be pretty. Hell, the tunes from Alex Smoke and 2 Doller Egg aren't even that bad compared to what was to come, but stacked against the deep proggy vibes of Chris' previous mix CD, it was a serious letdown. Shame on me too, because the back-half of CD1 features some mint Soma Quality Recordings techno. My brain just wasn't ready to accept it from a Fortier set, I guess.

Even worse, I was so checked out on what Fortier was doing with Balance 007 that I barely registered he supplied the prog I was craving in CD2. To be fair, the start of this disc is somewhat misleading, getting in on a little menacing robot music action. Plus, Vector Lovers is here! Oh man, hearing one of my favourite electro producers was so unexpected and enjoyed, nothing better could follow it, despite coming so early in the set. Have I mentioned I never realized there's some mighty fine deep, dubby prog in the back-half of CD2, that I only realized just now, after revisiting Balance 007 all these years later?

Honestly though, the main reason the first two discs of this triple-discer faded from my memory is because of CD3, a surprising bonus outing of proper electro from the Fade Records founder (plus a little Floridian and prog-breaks action towards the end). And when I say proper, I mean proper, Mr. Fortier firmly declaring the lamented appropriation of the word for obnoxious acid-fart house music an injustice to the roots of robot-funk music. Aw, man... brother, I feels you so hard in the year 2005, I do. *fist taps the heart* For sure, anytime I grabbed Balance 007, it was always CD3 played first and only. Such a breath of fresh air then, and still holds up remarkably well now. As do the other discs too, even if it took me this long to accept it.

Dousk - D.I.Y.

Klik Records: 2005

(a Patreon Request from Omskbird)

I recall seeing Dousk's name floating about the dread years of mid-'00s prog music, but never made a lasting impression on me, likely due to a lack of compilation presence. A stray Cattáneo mix, the odd Buddha Bar collection, and occasional name-drops in forum discussions. That's honestly all on me though, because Mr. Douskos had in fact gotten his break with a pile of Bedrock singles, instantly putting him in the discourse among the progressive elite. I wasn't much of a singles guy back then, however, relying on the good ol' DJ mix for my proggy fix, and when one's music is being rinsed out on such prestigious offerings like Steve Gerrard's Thinking Out Loud, DJ Sajem's The Universe, and Side-A's Afterhourz, you can forgive a Western Canadian for letting someone's tracks pass them by. (of course, I rib; jocks like Anthony Pappa and Timewriter also rinsed out Dousk tunes)

In all seriousness, it's a bloody shame I completely missed Dousk on the first go-around (yes, even after Jack had reviewed his follow-up album Kind Of Human on TranceCritic), because D.I.Y. really is the sort of album I'd have adored back-when, but I'm not alone in that. I once asked the TranceAddict community (as knowledgeable a bunch of people regarding music like this as there ever was) about any good 2005 albums, and revisiting the thread, not a single name-drop of this record comes up. That's honestly astounding because for all the belly-aching that place did over Schulzy McProg, D.I.Y. would have provided a powerful talking point the old, classic sound was alive and well. Better than Pole Folder's album, anyway.

If there's any fault I can find in Dousk's debut LP, it's that it feels too long and too front loaded. The first few tracks work a nice, chill Ibizan flavour (Robot may as well be the 'deep house anthem' of this lot), while As If takes the trendy twinkle prog sounds of the day and slows them right da' fuk down. From there, we're off to the races, 'choon' after 'choon' of grade A progressive house music retaining all the best traits of the '90s while giving it a spiffy (then)current sheen. When the proggy breaks of Busmekanik hit, you suddenly realize, holy shit, this album's only half-way done! How can Dousk keep this vibe building?

He honestly can't, so it's just as well he completely changes gear after. Feign serves as an abrupt trip-hop interlude, followed by a serving of serviceable prog-house numbers that feel like D.I.Y.'s easing us through the comedown. Two downtempo tracks after – one more on that experimental tip, the other pure mellow bliss – and golly gee, we have ourselves a proper ol' Journey Album, don't we, folks? Still, I won't deny needing to start D.I.Y. from the middle a couple times for that back-half to stick in my head better. That initial run is just too damn dope for anything after to compare. Not the worst of nitpicks, is it?

Modeselektor - Hello Mom!

BPitch Control: 2005

(a Patreon Request)

T'was neigh impossible missing out on Modeselektor throughout the '00s, if anything because of their unique logo. By the time they established their own Monkeytown Records print, you couldn't go anywhere within German tech-house circles without stumbling upon some variation of it. Then they teamed with Apparat to form Moderat, and hoo, were the tech-haus press ever a'twitter over it. They've actually kept that group together ever since as their creative output, Modeselektor receding to the background of DJing and label management. It all had to start somewhere though, so let's go back to beginnings of the Modeselektor empire, all the way back in ...1996? Whoa, too far back! Better at least fast forward to the current millennium, when Misters Bronsert and Szary actually started releasing music under the guise.

So the lads Gernot and Sebastian got chummy with Berlin tastemaker Ellen Allien, whom in a city filled with so-called tastemakers, actually does make hay with her taste. They signed to her BPitch Control print and released a few EPs of left-leaning IDM wonk techno and electro, even getting in on that trendy micro-glitch stuff. Not much of which would have any commercial appeal, is what I'm saying, so the fact they seemed to settle down on the experimentation leading up to this debut album must have had their long-standing fans concerned. Or maybe not, eager to finally hear Modeselektor bust out some club-friendly jams.

I don't know if they expected 'euro-crunk' though, as the Mode-boys likened their opening few tunes off Hello Mom! It sure ain't American crunk; more like 'glitch-grime', but hey, can't let those Brits think you're style-bitin' for a minute. So tracks like Dancingbox, Silikon and Fake Emotion cut up and glitch up their beats and vocals in a super-micro sort of way. Some other tunes are clearly in line with what German clubbers were flailing about to (before the ketamine kicked in), Tetrispack a jolly bouncy electro-house ditty and Kill Bill Vol. 4 reminding you that Alter Ego's Rocker was barely a year old still.

Then there's the IDM stuff. Oh lordy, is there every IDM stuff, sounding as though it's coming from an entirely different album than one with the above tunes. Vote Or Die is the one you all know, a lovely ambient-electro ditty that needed more compilation shine than just James Zabiela's Renaissance set (the great one!). And how can you not adore the retro-Aphex vibes of Ziq Zaq? Or the gothic electro-funk of The Rapanthem? Or the crunchy organ shuffle-crunch of In Loving Memory? Or the Artificial Intelligence techno bliss of I Love You?

Oh, it's because you just wanted more Kill Bill Vol. 4s? Don't worry, mang, there will be plenty of such tunes in the half-decade following this album, though not from Modeselektor. I think. I dunno', I haven't listened to all their output yet. If it's more the middle of Hello Mom! than the outer portions of the album (save closer I Love You), count me intrigued.

Nova - Albedo

Ultimae Records: 2005

If I'm gonna' break my oath and buy old-school Ultimae releases in a digital format, I might as well do it for all of them, right? I can still hold out hope for hard-copy re-issues of items like Distances, Earthshine, and Memory Shell, but really, I'm only denying myself by not going the digital route with the rest. Besides, it's not like there's many Ultimae CDs I haven't gathered. My collection of their releases is remarkably thorough, especially considering it was 2009 that I started buying in earnest (what humble-brag?).

Albedo came out quite early in Ultimae's lifespan, around that transitional point after the label had properly established itself with a few core acts and a solid, continuous compilation series. Time to take that next step, then, and expand the roster, release extra content on other formats (not vinyl tho', no one buys that stuff), and launch additional compilations, broadening your exposure beyond the lucky few within the psy-chill community who'd already stumbled upon your work. Albedo was the first volley into this wider world of scene dominance, with nothing less than a bold step into the domain of conceptual compilations.

Okay, I'm over-selling a little, but for as much choice music the Fahrenheit Project provided, they generally remained regular ol' compilations showcasing Ultimae's manifesto. As one of the label's primary DJs, Massimo Terranova undoubtedly had his own ideas on how to curate the various gathered muses, and he was given the opportunity with Albedo, technically Ultimae's first DJ mix CD, though still in the 'partially mixed' form their other discs do.

Still, 'Nova' got to indulge in more of a focused musical narrative, and have himself a clutch of all new, exclusive music from most of Ultimae's main players: Dana, Hol, CBL, and, of course, Mr. Fields, dropping yet another utterly sublime piece of music in Fiat Lux, making me cry to the heavens that this guy can do a 'toss-off' track with such ease. Some scene vets like Ishq and Vir Unis also contribute, while a couple cats get their start here as well (Between Interval, Antonio Testa).

So the music is all panoramic and lush, as you know it would be from a mid-'00s Ultimae release. As a set though, Nova does a good job in showing off tonal contrasts, with the early sections featuring something of an urban, technological bent (so much radio static in Between Interval's Wishful Thinking), gradually going full-on nature by set's end. While there are clear sections within Albedo (hoo, does Fiat Lux ever mark the end of one), everything flows smoothly throughout, like chapters of the story Nova wishes to tell. Still, as these are essentially tunes made for Nova's mix and not their own albums, it's not the crème de la crème of their respective discographies. Yes, even the ridiculously wonderful Fiat Lux. Thus, if I'm to be honest, I can't say Albedo reaches those upper echelons of Ultimae's catalogue, but it sure does push up against that impossibly-high ceiling.

Bubble - Airless

Mushy Records: 2005

I've never mentioned this, but my 2005 re-entry into the world of psy-trance was via a promo package sent to me from the now defunct Boa Distribution. Included in that package was Electro Sun's Pure Blue, the compilation Buckle Up, Vol. 2: Trancelucent Garage (aka: that one with the tacky cartoon of naked chicks), and the downtempo collection of Unwind: A Journey Into Global Grooves. Unbeknownst to everyone though, there was a fourth CD in that bundle, one I found so shockingly bad, I couldn't in good conscience write a review of it too. Okay, it wasn't so much I'd feel guilty on ripping a new artist, but rather I didn't want to so viciously bite the hand that fed me. TranceCritic had already dealt with managers not pleased with us being just another outlet of enthusiasm press, when Paul van Dyk's team pulled back an interview request following Jack Moss' less-than adulatory write-up of Politics Of Dancing 2. However, I never got further packages from Boa, so my discretion was moot.

Plus, I doubt anything I'd have written back when would have made much difference. The duo behind Bubble – Guy Sarnat and Karen Bagdasarov – have maintained a steady career to this day, no small feat in the overcrowded realm of Israeli full-on. True, their last album outing was in 2011, but they've continued a trickle of singles, a smattering of Soundclouds, and a permanent presence on the festival circuit, with a dedicated following eating up their brand of light-weight psy. They've got it made, and all the more power to them for their success. Their debut album's still balls, though.

I get what they're shooting for, Infected Mushroom's influence evident throughout Airless. With song-writing so disjointed and production so cheap, however, it's rare anything clicks in this album. Opening track I'm Looking nicely exemplifies what I'm getting on about. Gentle guitar strumming gets us started, then that plastic, lifeless rhythm the worst of Israeli full-on uses appears, burying everything in the mix. The guitar's still going, but details are lost, nor does it sync with the supporting superfluous effects.

And it just gets sadder from there, I'm Looking diving into 'buttrock' territory with hilariously limp shredding that has no idea what the rhythm's doing, and a pathetic piano patch even Casio keyboardists would shun. This is also that kind of segmented full-on gibberish, where nothing musically ties together, everything arranged in the most generic of random wibble I've ever heard out of the genre. That's just one track out of eight, and things get worse the deeper into Airless we go. Dear God, won't someone save that poor piano patch?

Bubble clearly had ambitious ideas, and sometimes they come through (Class-X has a nifty squealing acid line, Bubble In Panic's rhythms don't suck so hard). Sadly, they lacked the songcraft experience and production capability to see them to fruition here. It's like a teenage garage band shooting for Led Zeppelin epics in their earliest sessions. Not recommended.

Alex Smoke - Incommunicado

Soma Quality Recordings: 2005

Yet another item I picked up in my Soma Quality Recordings splurge, for a reason that should be obvious to anyone. See, despite neglecting him for so long, I've long been a fan of Alex Smoke, from his appearance in Chris Fortier's impeccable contribution to the Balance series (three! CDs!) to his closing out of Marco Carola's contribution to the fabric series, ending that abysmal mix of minimal techno and giving me a sense of relief. Okay, none of that's actually true. I picked Incommunicado up because the samples I heard weren't all minimal (an impressive feat for a techno album in the mid '00s), the cover art looked cool (gotta' love radio telescopes!), and it was a release from the year 2005, a year I've sorely neglected for over a decade now (has finally caught up to 2011 tho'!).

Anyhow, Alex Smoke (Mr. Menzies to the Glasgowian Guard) pretty much got his production break right off the bat, scoring a minor techno hit with his Chica Wappa single on Soma, from which this debut album came a year after. He stuck things out with Soma for a few more years (plus several more records) before striking out on his own with his own label in Hum+Haw. That didn't last too long though, and more recently he's been releasing material through R & S Records, with a few one-offs on various labels. Not to mention his time spent DJing, but that's practically a given with most UK techno dudes anyway. Overall, a fairly typical techno career, one that's earned Mr. Smoke enough buzz that folks recognize his name whenever it crops up.

Having a solid debut album certainly helps though, and Incommunicado definitely is that. Released when minimal was becoming the trendiest shit around, but not so trendy that it dominated everything everywhere everyhow, it gives everyone a bit of every-techno you could every-want in every-2005.

For sure you get the classic stuff like Chica Wappa and OK, stuff more on a minimalist bent like Lost In Sound, and stuff on the trendy, blippy-bloopy minimal bent like Nuance and Passing Through. Look, few knew just how massive minimal was gonna' be at that point, so Alex may as well cover his bases a little there. Besides, his offerings are perfectly fine for that sound, by no means as plodding as the genre would turn in but a couple short years.

Elsewhere, you get experimental electro cuts (Coda & Clang, Recess), some moody tech-house tracks with digital vocals (No Consequence, Don't See The Point, Ditto), a melodic breakbeat tune (6AM), an... electro-house (?) track with Brian's Lung, and whatever strange, abstract glitchy trip-hop thing Jah Future is supposed to be. Cool, is what I call it, only adding to Incommunicado's eclecticism. All these diversions might be a bit much for those who were expecting this album to be a pure minimal techno outing (because 2005), but without that variety, I wouldn't have picked this up. It's what's important.

The Oak Ridge Boys - Gospel Hits

Sony BMG Music: 2005

Greetings, Past Peoples. It's been a while, at least from your perspective, that I, Sykonee Of The Year 2073, have graced this region of your 'inter net'. It's been a while for me as well, hopping the various timelines, seeing what events may come and how things may have turned different if things had just gone a little stranger. For instances, did you know there's a time-line where the German Nazis won World War 2 with a little item called the Heisenberg Device? You do? And they made a TV series out of that? Oh, well, that's arctic and all, but you all figured it just fictional, whereas I've seen the reality of it. Or the alternate reality. Sure t'was not mine, and t'is not yours, though whether my reality becomes your reality remains a mystery, don't it. I've noticed a few minor instances of differences of what I knew and where you are, but very little to suggest The Great Divide isn't still on course. No, fret not, the Atomic Brotherhood will carry you through it, saving us from all that unsavoury retrograde Murican business. They look out for their own kind, they do.

Of course and correctly, I'm back here to bring tidings of that indomitable musical force that at least provides our disparate cultures with some common ground of clay, the everlastingness that is The Oak Ridge Boys. We in the Cascadian realm admire them for their contributions to atomic resourcefulness, while those others adore their Jesus, Godly, and Murican themes, reinforcing their beliefs to an almost fanatical degree. It's strange how two cultures can find such different, opposing embracings of enjoyment from the same musical source. You folks in your times could learn a thing about that. Might even prevent what's to come, if you think what I live in isn't to your likening. Haha, just coming with the jokes there; my future is ordained.

So here we are again, with Another Oak Ridge Boys Gospel collection. It's astonishing just how many of these are on the market, isn't it? All with different degrees of quality, content, and presentation. I've been handed a couple impressive ones, a few redundant ones, but this one, this one is a big ol' lie.

Unlike so many other of their gospel collections, this one had some major-proper support from one of the big record companies of old, Sony BMG (eventual subsidiary of Disney-ZTE). The Oakies weren't signed with Sony BMG (eventual subsidiary of Disney-ZTE), but they had gotten a little surged patriotic love in rallying Muricans together in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. What better opportunity, then, than dusting off some rights-held recordings for the quick bucker compilation market?

Thus, even though the cover adorns The Oak Bridge Boys as they were in 2005, everything within is music recorded in the early Nauty Seventies, including when Lil' William Wynn was tenor. Deceived us, Sony BMG (eventual subsidary of Disney-ZTE) has! Should have just shown another church.

MUX - 2005 Live-PA Demo

promo: 2005

I wonder how many of these exist out there. Like, even from my tiny, backwater home-town, I've come across a number of them. Hell, I technically made one, when a couple buddies and I borrowed our fathers' music gear and started jamming out some really, really, really amateurish Primus-inspired nonsense. We recorded our efforts to a few tapes, but fool ye' be should thou seek to purchase a demo of The Festering Rat-Heads. Point is, music demos are everywhere, made by many who had an early itch to produce something, anything, but go no further than that. Maybe they found a musical calling elsewhere, or other life commitments prevented them from following through. Whatever the case, it seems no matter the level of talent involved, only one out of thousands of demos blossom into an actual career with signed records distributed through a label, even if but a short one.

MUX though, I always felt he coulda' been a contender, making live acid techno at a time when the genre was pretty much a forgotten relic of the '90s. Yeah, the Stay Up Forever posse were still kicking out the jams with regularity (they never go to sleep, see), but they had that legacy momentum going for them. Ain't no where else on the globe peddling that stuff in the mid-'00s, much less the West Coast Of Canada. So you gotta' give it to MUX (Drew Smith to the Pacific Naval Patrol) for sticking to the sound he loved best: 4am bangin' acid techno.

Four tracks long, this live-PA outing picks up right where the London Acid Techno crew have remained for two decades. Okay, it's not pure TB-303 action in play, as authentic machines are limited and difficult to come by, but the essence and soul of acid remains. For folks starved for the stuff in a region completely devoid of it, MUX's stuff is the right stuff indeed. It's got the thumping beats, the looping vocals ripped from sci-fi movies (I'm not inconsistent, you are inconsistent, dammit), the tweaky acid builds, and... um, okay, that's about all there. It's acid freakin' techno, exactly what you'd expect, delivered as well as you could hope from someone not within the Stay Up Forever inner circle.

Though he probably could have sent some music to the London Acid Techno Crew for consideration, MUX recorded little else after this. He still keeps semi-active in the Vancouver scene though, a prominent promoter for the long-running, bi-annual live-PA showcase Sequential Circus, even occasionally breaking out his old gear for another live acid rinsing. Mostly though, Mr. Smith's found his true calling gallivanting across the Pacific shores in his own sail boat. I'm serious! Like, if there's ever a reason to not follow through on a career in techno, that's good enough for me. Maybe I can hire him sometime in the future for an expedition to Kerguelen Island, have an acid techno party on the loneliest place on the map.

Pole Folder - Zero Gold

Bedrock Records: 2005

This has to be one of the most '90s sounding progressive albums I've ever heard. Unfortunately for Pole Folder, Zero Gold came out in 2005, half a decade past when having a top notch '90s progressive album would make serious bank (in that scene, anyway).

For sure this album had its fans and supporters, especially from proponents for progressive purity (I think Progressive-Sounds gave it a 12/10, with a seal of Digweed Approved), but by the mid-'00s, most folks were well past vibing on anything sounding like it came from the Clinton Years. Big beat was dead. Tech step was dead. Happy hardcore was so very, very dead. Instead, newer fresher sounds like liquid funk, electro house, minimal-tech, and whatever it is you want to call Pendulum's style ('Pendulum Jungle'?) was getting the buzz, not to mention a rediscovering of '80s aesthetics after the '90s had disowned it. Progressive house was no different, poppier McProg singles having massive success in the wake of the darker, super-serious 'prog' that came before. By the year 2005, the transition was complete, progressive of days past but a shadow of its former glory, Zero Gold left an album out of time when the kids just wanted to hear another Gabriel & Dresden breakdown. And people wonder why Digweed went 'minimal' after this.

Of course, we're over a decade removed from all that, so the fact Zero Gold was released in 2005 is a moot point. You can throw this album on today and enjoy it for all its '90s-ness, (oh my, Scared To Lose could have been an Erotica-era Madonna track!), maybe even more so since that decade's music has seen some rejuvenation in recent years. Always twenty years, always.

Fancy yourself some of that vintage cinematic trip-hop that made Massive Attack huge stars? Pole Folder's got you well covered, tracks like Abrasion, Waterfalls Of Love, and Faith In Me perfectly custom made for the credit roll of a mid-budget cyberpunk thriller. And speaking of, dear me, does Inner Turmoil ever want to be a Fluke track as heard in The Matrix. Other 'prog' beasts include Salvation On Slavery Sins and London, while Mr. Folder also mixes things up with the broken beats in the spacier Before It All Changes. Elsewhere, in case you absolutely had to have a 'twinkle prog' outing in your 2005 album, Morning Crow does inch around the fringes of that sound.

Like any good '90s prog album, tunes are nicely spaced between the downbeat, lyrical pieces and the club-ready uptempo jams, with enough variety holding your attention throughout. At ten tracks though, Zero Gold feels short, like it's missing a proper coda moment. As the final cut on the album, the energetic Before It All Changes leaves you wanting, suggesting there's more to come after, even if it's just an ambient outro. Maybe that hanging feeling was intended to lead into a sophomore album, but it never happened, Zero Gold remaining Pole Folder's lone LP effort (so sayeth Lord Discogs).

Gustaf Hildebrand - Primordial Resonance

Cyclic Law: 2005

Dark ambient set in the impossible emptiness of deep space? Love it! Droning emptiness painting a portrait of lost civilizations of times long past? Fascinating! Derelict husks of aquatic transportation? That's... oddly specific, isn't it? Yes, and I've come across a few instances of such cover art, all of which I'm strangely drawn to. I don't know what it is – maybe growing up in coastal climes? - but seeing abandoned boats rotting on dry land is some of the most captivating, harrowing imagery I've seen associated with this genre of music. How did these vessels get there? Was there once a large body of water that dried out due to over-usage or climate change, like Lake Chad and the Aral Sea? What of the folk that once lived on those shores and rode in these vessels, where have they gone? Was there a once prosperous people that thrived off these waters, only to be brought to ruin through their own nearsightedness? All these boats, once integral parts of a functioning society, little more than skeletal, moldy shells, soon reclaimed by the land surrounding them. Throw in a backdrop of two moons, well, you got my attention indeed, Mr. Hildebrand!

Gustaf made his debut on Cyclic Law with Starscape, the sort of dark space ambient I probably would have picked up from the guy if the boats of Primordial Resonance hadn't caught my attention first. Also, I don't know if there's a CD option left, as there wasn't with this particular album either, only discovered after purchase. Eh, it's been over a decade, so no fault on Cyclic Law's part there, but at least update your Bandcamp pages with such details, eh?

Primordial Resonance takes things down to more earthly realms (because boats!), dealing with ye' tragic tales of townships torn asunder from our mortal coils. Think that's a pretentious wording of phrase? One of the tracks on this album is called Ruins Of A Failed Utopia. It features Gregorian chants, among other things like desolate emptiness and abandoned, sickly, grinding machinery continuing to chug and churn long after their utility, usefulness, or reason for existence has any meaning or bearing. Makes me want to leap into this piece and spit some WD-40 into the poor contraptions.

So yeah, Primordial Resonance is the sort of dark ambient that's all about decay and desolation, though each track offers a little variety between them so it's not one long, constant depressing drone. Omega Continuum has distant wails as though the area's deceased still carry through the wind. Post Oblivion Fields adds wind chimes to foreboding menace, eventually retreating into empty caverns. The Hollow Structures... dear God, is this where the Cenobites hang out? And what's with the crying baby at the end? Wanderer Of Strange Spheres is more subdued in its drone, almost giving the listener a chance to reflect on the scenery they've just witnessed. Me, I'll be shivering in one of those derelict boats, thank you.

Atrium Carceri - Kapnobatai

Cold Meat Industry/Cryo Chamber: 2005/2017

So Simon Heath reissued a bunch of his early Atrium Carceri albums on CD, which is nice, as those initial Cold Meat Industry runs are well out of print at this point. It kinda' feels like the project's come full circle now with Cryo Chamber, the label first set up, among other things, to offer digital downloads of those albums. Then it grew to include new projects, other artists, creative challenges, and a little extra swag on the side too. I suppose it was inevitable that Simon would rescue his original works for another run of CDs, waiting for a time such that their Cold Meat rights expired following that label's closure. As such, only his first three have been physically resurrected on Cryo Chamber, Cellblock, Seishinbyouin, and Kapnobatai. I've a feeling Reliquiae's gonna' take a little longer.

Heath's Atrium albums on Cold Meat were heralded because they blended older, industrial dark ambient aesthetics while suggesting a larger canvas than creepy weird music for its own sake. Such is the case with Kapnobatai, an album I picked up because I just gotta' find out what's the deal with that bizarre cover art. What is that, a mask? A demon head? An alien skull? The title itself offers no real clue, as it refers to cloud-dwelling, meditating shamans of Scythian descent, typically by way of burning cannabis flowers. The liner notes relay the inner monologue of an embittered individual as he surveys a land he and his ilk once ruled, only to have been overthrown by lesser sorts, now mocking him as they pass by. Pretty sure that was the whole point of crucifixions. Still no closer to discover what the deal with that cover image is though.

The opening tracks of Enclosed World/Liberation and Behind The Curtain Of Life definitely does bring me back to the early days of Delerium, with choir pads, unsettling synth sounds, and disembodied dialog samples. (yes, Delerium is about my only firm frame of reference when it comes to old school dark ambient) Impaled Butterfly takes things a step further, offering up copious amounts of anime dialog. I keep thinking it's from Cowboy Bepop, just because there's a brief harmonica tone among the sci-fi sound effects, marching rhythms and distorted pads. It probably isn't though, just because I'm fairly certain Kapnobatai isn't supposed to be a sci-fi album. Definitely plenty of industrial body-horror goings-on in later tracks though (Synaptic Transmission, Monolith Of Dreams, Stained Pipes, Thermographic Components, The Corrupter).

While there's elements of the 'cinematic drone' Heath would implement with greater frequency in later albums, Kapnobatai is still mostly playing by Cold Meat Industry's O.G. industrial rules. Which is fine if you prefer your dark ambient claustrophobic, dehumanizing, and horrific. Cryo Chamber showed me there was another way, one that could get introspective and strangely calming in the face of a bleak world (also, grand narratives!). Yeah, the label was hardly the first to do this, but it at least opened the door for yours truly.