Etic - Touch Ups

Trancelucent Productions: 2004

It was that fateful re-connection with the Trancelucent Productions compilation Buckle Up Vol. 2 that led me here, and what fortuitous timing it was. Had I not done that re-update of the CD when I did, I would have missed out on buying a few items off of PsyShop for the final time, the long-lasting psychedelic trance webstore shuttering its doors mere months after. Of course, if I really wanted to nab Etic's debut album, I could probably find a copy for a fiver on the Discog Marketplace, but it just seems more appropriate I got this when I did as I did. Makes for a better anecdote, y'know?

As for why Etic, his contribution to said compilation was an intriguing one, a rather deep prog-psy outing surrounded by a bunch of standard Israeli full-on psy trance of the day (plus one super-dope cut from The Misted Muppet!). I didn't know if that was just a one-off, or if the rest of his discography was like that, but since I couldn't find his music on streaming services (note: this is before I started using Deezer), I figured it best doing it the ol' fashioned way: blind buying the CD.

And what I got was... pretty much what I was expecting. Like, if 1 Day was anything to go by, he wasn't going to tear things out the same way his Trancelucent brothers had, but I was hoping for a little more than retreads of the same basic idea. If anything, Touch Ups is even deeper than I could have imagined, the sort of minimalist prog-psy that you might find on Spiral Trax or Iboga Records. Considering this came out in 2004, does that put Mr. Harari ahead of the curve? Well, not quite, this sound floating about corners of the psy scene since the turn of the millennium. It's just surprising to hear it on a label not really known for it. Definitely helps it stand out though.

The good news is this is still an era when this brand of deeper-than-thou prog-psy had some groove behind it, and Etic offers that quite nicely. While the sounds and effects used remain subtle and flowing, I never felt bored or impatient with whatever wibble he uses, the steadying rhythm keeping my reptile brain entertained. It also helps that Etay makes it abundantly clear he isn't in any hurry or need of dropping some big, mind-melting tear-out hook, perfectly content providing the warm-up vibe such tracks rely on for maximum impact. Even when something resembling a proper melody shows up, its always with considered restraint.

Touch Ups won't win the hearts of folks burnt out on prog-psy's turn towards minimalism, but it holds its own nearly two decades on. Frankly, if you switched the psy trance rolling bassline with a rhythm more rooftop appropriate, this stuff wouldn't be much removed from early Minilogue. Hey, Etic had a label with tech-house releases, so it's not as far-fetched as you'd think.

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.

Electro Sun - Pure Blue (2015 Update)

Trancelucent Productions: 2005

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review)

Before digging into updates regarding Electro Sun, I need to get this off my chest...

Dear God, has it ever taken forever getting through these last two letters! Right, officially the count's four months, and at least one week was eaten up by a technicality of Western languages. I look at the hard numbers though, and it doesn’t seem like I should only now be wrapping up the ‘P’s, yet here we are, eighty-four albums successfully navigated through and reviewed (sans the alphabetical back-track releases). You know what’s scary though? Eighty-four is still nowhere near the amount of albums I have starting with ‘S’ – that letter may eat up four months of this project alone. I guess I should be thankful that ‘P’ took some of the hit with all those ‘psy-whatever’ CDs. Ooh, can’t pass up a genre segueway like that now!

Yeah, I know, Electro Sun’s debut LP Pure Blue is only psy trance in the most liberal sense of the word. I even pointed that out in my original TranceCritic review, and I was just getting my feet wet with the nascent Israeli full-on movement. With plenty of time checking out more full-on since, I think his tunes fall under the micro-sub genre of Morning Trance, though only 7am will suffice for the track Sundance. Which one was that again? You know, the track with wibbly rhythm, the wubbly melodies, and the bouncy hook that sounds like acid filtered through a tin can. No, the other one that sounds like that. No, the- ah geez, not this snarky shit again.

Make no mistake, that “bland Stretch of Vanilla” doesn’t hold up in the slightest. Mr. Elkayam’s production comes off as plastic and cheap as any generic Israeli trance as you can stereotype, and sounds woefully dated a decade on. And yet, those few good tracks I liked before (I’ve Got The Power, In My Dream ...Super Nova, maybe) are simply irresistible to the cheddar centres sparking the lumps of grey matter inside my skull. There’s something just so cheerfully earnest about these tunes, I can’t hate on them no matter how much critical logic dictates I should. Damn these feels I have for silly, slap-happy psy.

As for ol’ Nadav, he’s kept a steady career since this album, releasing two more full-lengths, the latest of which coming out in 2011. Even more recently he’s gotten his fingers into the digital EP business, though Lord Discogs only lists two such offerings at this point. Whether he’s released more music than that, I haven’t a clue, nor do I care. Pure Blue was average at best, and while Electro Sun may have grown as a producer, he toed the divide between shameless fun and eye-rolling rubbish too closely for my liking. It wouldn’t take much for him to dive fully and completely into either side, but judging by the awful cover of his third album, Higher Than Ever, I can safely guess which way he went.

The Misted Muppet - From The Legend (Original TC Review)

Trancelucent Productions: 2004

(2013 Update:
The opening few paragraphs are a good example of the convoluted ways we'd occasionally look for unique angles to review music at TranceCritic. All that mumbling about fantasy influences, though definitely in need of being touched upon given the material, still ended up being overlong and undoubtedly tedious for those just wondering about the music.

Speaking of, I'm surprised at how well this CD's held up. From The Legend remains one of the best full-on psy albums I've heard, in that I hardly grow weary of playing it for the duration - almost always there's those two or three tracks that'll drag psy albums down to mediocre levels, but not here. And holy shit, does Toward The Castle kick ass! I think I enjoy it more now than I did back then. Shame Misted Muppet didn't do much after this.)


IN BRIEF: Fearful full-on trance.

Metal has it. Folk has it. New Age kind of has it. Orchestral definitely has it. Yet, for some reason, electronic music is bereft of it. What is it? Why, songs dealing in fantasy, of course.

Now, I’m not talking about references to fairies or unicorns as heard in some of the more fey forms of trance music. I’m talking full-blown, sword-wielding, magic-casting, mud-on-your-boots, dragons-on-your-neck fantasy. The kind young teenage boys absorb themselves in with Tolkien novels, Forgotten Realms quests, and online Ultima sessions.

Of course, the reason for this is elementary. EDM, with all of its fancy, hi-tech sounds and effects, is normally concerned with two things: the dancefloor in the present, and the music of the future. Fantasy, with all its historical milieus, has no place in the realms of synths. Attempts at melding the two often sound conflicted - either electronic elements are neutered to the point of sounding no different than New Age compositions, or they overwhelm fantasy’s organic textures.

However, if any EDM camp has a decent shot at bridging the gap, it’s probably psy. With properly executed parties, psy already has a mystical quality to it. Additionally, the psy-sters love their Tolkien imagery of magical mushrooms and exotic forests. A natural progression in making that jump to full-blown fantasy seems likely enough provided someone has the production chops to attempt it. Enter The Misted Muppet, I suppose.

Comprised of Dagan Israeli and Tal Hassidi when this album was released, the duo are yet another member of the ever growing Israel Full-On Mafia (unofficial name, but if it works for Swedish house...). To distinguish themselves from the glut, Misted Muppet filled their music with traditional fantasy themes inspired from movie soundtracks: dragons, warriors, wizards, epic quests - you name it. While this concept sounds good on paper, does it translate will into full-on psy trance? Let’s find out, then.

They certainly don’t waste any time in getting their agenda across. The Mist starts with the sounds of a battle: horses are galloping, swords are chopping, and people are dying, all to the refrains of a mournful piano melody (bearing some resemblance to Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells opening). A piercing, wraith-like wail quickly interrupts the intro, and we’re plunged into typical full-on territory.

...for pretty much the rest of the album.

Oh, it’s certainly better-than-average full-on, and Misted Muppet are quite clever with their chosen template. However, if you have no interest in this style of psy, or can’t stand releases where each successive song follows the same structure as the last, then this release isn’t for you.

That out of the way, here’s the finer details of what you’ll hear on From The Legend.

The album is roughly divided into three stanzas, with each track in said stanza bearing similarities to one another. As mentioned, the opening song of From The Legend makes decent use of orchestral samples to start the track out before diving into familiar full-on sounds. The next two follow suite, with symphonic swells setting ominous tones before driving rhythms burst forth. As for the psy sounds, it’s most of the usual stuff: wiggly acid, squiggly synths, bubbly bells, etc. Misted Muppet’s material stands out though, as everything is intensely chaotic, yet well suited for their environments. Aside from brief breakdowns for breathers, there are always two or three synths going at it. And, remarkably enough, where psy trance is concerned, they never sound disjointed together.

Misted Muppet simplify things a little with Midnight Tales and Innocence. Rather than the frenzy action of the previous tracks, things get reduced to more typical trance fare; this includes a heavier reliance on loops and, gasp, extended breakdowns. Heh, really, these features aren’t too obtrusive in this case, and Muppet do make nice use of some ethereal female chants at points. But, ugh, what’s with that build in Innocence? It could have been better handled, me thinks, had the sounds used not been so annoying.

Up to this point, From The Legend has had a decent sense of flow more akin to a live PA set than an album narrative, which is fine if you go into this expecting it. However, if the fantasy artwork had you hoping for the tracks to provide something of an epic quest, you may be a little disappointed thus far.

The good news is Misted Muppet do bring it for their final act. Toward The Castle, as the title suggests, has a sense of urgency that’s been absent in previous tracks; storm clouds roll in as a deliciously warped synth line worms about to driving rhythms. A squiggly bit of acid marks the climax, which isn’t quite the payoff I’d have liked after the first half, but at least it’s suitable in setting us up for Mercenaries, where opposing forces appear to collide as piano melody gets tweaked out.

And, to cap this metaphorical battle off, Might And Magic wraps things up with triumphant ceremonial bells and trumpets along with all your usual full-on fare. Actually, some of the melodies sounds like something you might have heard in the computer game of the same name. I can see this one being popular with the RPG geeks, er, players out there.

As for the album’s title track, well, it suffers from ‘One-Track-Too-Many Syndrome’. There’s nothing bad about it, but it’s filled with too many sounds already heard, and the unique feature - droning, wailing synths during breakdowns - are hardly as interesting as all the quirky things we’ve heard elsewhere. At least the intriguing ambient piece Defender Of The Past makes for a nice epilogue though.

So, yeah. Pretty decent full-on album here. It’d have been cool to hear Misted Muppet attempt to expand their fantasy motifs more but this is a first attempt at it, and perhaps a second album will see them shake free of the standard full-on trappings a little more. The willingness to even try an album like From The Legend is worth a couple brownie points anyway.

Various - Buckle Up, Vol. 2: The Trancelucent Garage (Original TC Review)

Trancelucent Productions: Cat: # TPCD-IL012 

Released July 2005 

Track List: 

1. System Nipel - Russian Gangsters (8:08) 

2. Cosmic Tone - Element (6:51) 

3. Electro Sun - Demon's Halo (7:20) 

4. Aquatica - Skydance (Remix) (7:35) 

5. The Misted Muppet - Snarling Zraw (7:56) 

6. Noga - Acceleration (8:15) 

7. Etic - 1 Day (7:38) 

8. Systemic - Systec (6:53) 

9. Noga vs Solar System - Above The Ground (6:53) 

(2010 Update: Well, at least I was getting the hang of talking about the music without going track-by-track, even if I only did it for the latter half of this compilation. A lot of these guys are still around, though have somewhat faded as the whole prog-psy thing started to get more attention than full-on. In fact, I think this was about the peak of full-on's popularity, not to mention creativity -a lot of subsequent full-on I heard wasn't quite as good as this stuff was. Maybe I just had bad luck of the draw? Cover's still hilariously tacky too!) 

IN BRIEF: We're missing a decade here. 

 Before I write anything regarding the music on Buckle Up Vol. 2, I want to direct your attention to the cover of this compilation. No, go ahead and look at it. Don't be shy, I know you want to. Got a good look at it? What's that? You need more time? Okay, but don't take much longer. I have much to cover here. 

Seriously now! You can stop looking. No, I mean it! Stop looking! Bloody pervert... 

So what's the big deal, you ask. It's just a couple of naked gals. Plenty of covers have used this tacky gimmick to sell their CDs: thrashy, trashy rock music; booty bass hip hop; even superstar teen pop (well, they may be clothed in the last one, but they certainly don't leave much to the imagination either). You can hardly take such covers seriously. 

That's exactly the point, though. All too often trance music, especially of the psy variant, takes itself far too seriously and uses overly pretentious images of Buddhism or fractal artwork. Fine and dandy for the most part but it'd be nice to see the genre have a little fun as well. It might actually attract more casual folks into the fold, if anything to sate their curiosity. The only time I've ever seen trance try to get kinky is back when Hypnotic would put devil chicks wearing S&M gear flopping their giant breasts around in moving cover art (plus other assorted fetish material inside, but perhaps too hardcore for many of our readers so I'll spare you the details). Whether you were turned off or on by the stuff was inconsequential -at least Hypnotic had the balls to do something different from the norm. 

These days trance covers play things safe with scenic art, contemporary computer art, Renaissance art, or 'DJ/Producer looking off in the distance' art. So, no matter how many psy-heads may call this cover tasteless, I say Kudos to Trancelucent for breaking the norm. That rant out of the way, let's get into the music. 

Straight up I'll tell you there isn't anything revolutionary or groundbreaking on Buckle Up Vol. 2. This is un-mainstream trance going about its business as though the last ten years hadn't happened. The furthest thing from these producer's minds is having the likes of Tiestin van Corstenfold play them or to be broadcast on A State Of Global Deejays (or something like that). As such, this compilation would probably get lumped into the psy trance section of your stores, even though not everything on this is true blue psy - it's just a tendency for stuff that doesn't fit into popular niches to get shunted over to the psy camp. However, such concerns aren't all that important: how effectively these producers craft their music is the main question. 

We dive into Buckle Up Vol. 2 with System Nigel, one of many members of the Trancelucent family I've never heard of prior to receiving this disc. Like many psy-trance titles, the song's name of Russian Gangsters doesn't make a lick of sense to what goes on in the song. As for the song itself, it's serviceable full-on stuff, building from simple, chunky acid sounds and bleepy hooks to more stock psy sounds anyone with a passing familiarity with the scene will recognize. As with most psy-trance, there are a few tangents taken during the course of the track before peaking out with rhythms that pick up the intensity as most of the hinted elements throughout come out in full force. It's a bit happy-go-lucky, which may scare off the purists, but certainly inoffensive enough as an opener. 

Cosmic Tone's Element borrows the spoken dialogue from Danny Tenaglia’s track of the same name, but doesn't go through the whole laundry list of items that make up the track like the original, mainly because they'd be out of place here. Instead, it cuts to the chase by skipping right to the "I like it all" bit after the initial prelude. As for the track itself, it's a simple, moody little number. Not much happens in it, letting the subtle sounds create a sinister atmosphere and deep, rolling bassline groove you on. 

As Element ends, we're thrust into the soaring pads of Electro Sun’s Demon’s Halo. The track doesn't waste too much time getting into it though, as chunky, acidy rhythms erupt with everything they've got after the paddy intro. From here, this song absolutely tears along. I mean it! Compared to most of the material on Mr. Elkayam's debut, Demon's Halo is leaps and bounds better. Okay, so there are a few odd tangents (is that a synthesized chicken being strangled?), and Electro Sun still hasn't changed the sound patch for his bassline, but these are just minor nitpicks. When the soaring pad work and invigorating rhythms are this infectious, who cares? Had I known Electro Sun was capable of this kind of stuff, I might not have been quite so generous in my rating of his full length. 

Aquatica's Skydome makes for a decent transitional track on this compilation, but not much more. It's pretty standard full-on material, including a build that peaks with a typical full-on synth - it could easily be called Psy Synth 01 in a pre-set bank. The peak isn't nearly as good as the build would have you believe either but nice eerie pads are to be had in this track. 

The Misted Muppet seems to be one of the main stars of the Trancelucent label, and if this offering of Snarling Zraw is any indication, I can see why. Whatever a Zraw is, it certainly snarls in this track as it oozes absolute evil with some of the most messed up sounds this side of a Hellraiser sound-effects studio. And those rhythms! My God, I thought Demon's Halo was busy but Snarling Zraw is absolute chaos! I've listened to this track several times since receiving it from Boa Distribution (plug!) and am still discovering little nuances amid the mayhem. Most trance seems content to use around four elements in their rhythm sections - Zraw uses three times that in the first half alone. 

Unfortunately, it's not all aceness in this track. It seems my compatriot Cinos was correct in his assessment of Zraw: despite a very promising start with things building in intensity for a while, it loses the plot around half-way through, veering off into just plain weird tangents for the sake of it. Ah well, Zraw finishes off wonderfully with a chopped up female chant accentuated with shuffling percussion that'll get the hippie girls shaking their skirted asses if they hadn't already fled to saner pastures. 

For the rest of this compilation, something strange happens. A feeling comes over me that recently seems to only occur with some the deepest prog around. I know what it is, but I'm almost afraid to say it. For so long now trance music has been mostly about mega-melodies and worshiping the guy who plays them; the name of the genre has gone on to only imply euphoria so saying what this feeling is would be out of place here. Ah, what the Hell. I'll say it. From Noga's Acceleration to his collaboration with Solar System in the form of Above The Ground, I literally feel like I'm getting sucked into a trance -the inward, hypnotic kind, that is. 

How does it do it? Simply put, it's all about the subtlety of these four tracks. The leads and sounds used are subdued and ever shifting as the tracks evolve. Pad effects - some gentle, some ominous - keep the songs afloat and whenever a main hook enters the fray (usually two-thirds of the way through), it doesn't smack you across the head for your attention, rather complementing the track as a logical conclusion to the lead up to it. Of course, this isn't to say these four tracks are perfect. Certainly, some of the sounds in Systemic's Systec are odd, and, as mentioned earlier, it's not like there's anything groundbreaking to be heard. You wouldn't be able to tell if these were produced in 2005 or 1995. Indeed, some of the sounds used are a little primitive considering how far trance has moved. Still, within this field, these producers managed to craft tracks that truly do succeed where so much other trance fails despite better production values. 

There you have it. Definitely some interesting material on hand, if staying true to the source materia nearly to a fault. Buckle Up Vol. 2 probably won't win over any folks who still haven't jumped on the psy wagon, nor will it impress those always striving for the latest and greatest. For those of us who wouldn't mind a little harmless full-on action followed up by some good old fashioned hypnotic trance, this is as decent of a compilation as any which I've heard over the last ten years. 

Score: 7/10 

ACE TRACKS: 

Noga - Acceleration 

The Misted Muppet - Snarling Zraw 

Written by Sykonee. Originally published 2006 for TranceCritic.Com.