Imba - First Encounter

Suntrip Records: 2016

I'm gonna' run into more artists like this one, the deeper into Suntrip's discography I go, aren't I? Like, I'm pretty sure I've touched upon most of the primary players for this label, and many of the agreed-upon classics from their catalogue. There's still many CDs in the pile I bought from them (just... so many), with artists that are either just emerging, or were fly-by-night producers.

Imba, for instance, has only this album to his name. Several compilation contributions prior, a couple EPs after, and that's all Nikola Petrović wrote for his time in the psy trance scene. Not that this is an entirely uncommon thing to happen, many working hard keeping that initial enthusiasm burning hot, only to gradually recede in the aftermath of their accomplished goals. Or something else happens, like bad drama and whatnot. Hmm, now I'm curious, and whenever I get curious about something regarding Suntrip's artists, there's one place that's time and time again proved quite resourceful, the psynews.org forums! Man, am I ever fortunate that place still exists, and has a functional search engine. Anyhow, back in a pantomime moment...

*bad A.I. psy music plays*

Okay, I'm back, and boy, was Imba ever active there. At least, for a long time leading up to this album. Seems I wasn't far off in my guess though, the chap airing some grievances about the static state of neo-goa as the '10's wore on, how there just wasn't much room for innovation or growth without the purists declaring the music not vintage enough or too modern sounding. Hey, I feel that, the sort of gripes you'll come across damn near every micro-niche music scene in existence. And Lord knows psy-trance's micro-niche scenes can have some of the most anal-retentive, stylistic pedants about. How else does such a specialized genre of music have dozens of offshoots? It's definitely an issue, and I'm glad he felt compelled to talk about it.

Or maybe Nikola was venting that his music wasn't gaining the traction he hoped it would, for those very same reasons. Could be, could be.

So First Encounter just didn't grab me. I really don't know why. Maybe it's because of his insistent use of prominent 'modern' (re: full-on) basslines, which overwhelm much of what else his tracks have going on. The squiggly sounds and melodic leads all seem fine, but don't really leap out in any significant way, almost subservient to the dominate rhythms that vary little between tracks. I'll grant it's not so bad as the random wibble you'd often hear in regular full-on utilizing similar basslines, but nothing I'm anxious to hear anytime soon either.

I suspect, because the rhythms are so high in the mix, this stuff is better served in live settings, but even as I was playing it during my regular walking commute, little hooked me beyond “yeah, this gives some pep to my steps”. And any ol' Suntrip release gives me at least that.

Denshi Danshi - Brain Chemistry

Suntrip Records: 2018

I've got a lot of goa CDs to get through, but don't think it's some sort of chore for me. Yeah, there looks to be a fair bit of repetitive material in Suntrip's catalogue, but I wouldn't have bought the whole damn discography without anticipating a few items. Names like E-Mantra, Khetzal, and Ka-Sol, who I've seen beyond the close confines of the morning trance scene. Or old vets like Prana, Astral Projection, and Ra making appearances. Even the ones I haven't a clue about, but at least have intriguing cover art beyond the usual fractal weirdness. The Merr0ws, the Radical Distortions, and the Celestial Intelligences, all with albums that get my imagination sparking. It cannot be overstated how important cover art is for us LP snobs.

So it goes when I spotted this Denshi Danshi duo among my Suntrip pile. Holy cow, a psy act with a logo! No, I'm not talking about having their name in some fancy fonts. There's structure in their art, including both Western alphabet and kanji, the latter enclosed within diamonds. It's eye-popping, it's distinctive, it's made really darn trippy with all the added fractal bullshit included in their sophomore album, Brain Chemistry.

Of course, I've been led astray by cool cover art before, especially within the psy trance scene. Still hedging my bets going into this one, but the first track, Parallel Universe, bodes well. It's clear Denshi Danshi aren't interested in fussing about with elaborate intros or pretentious concepts, strictly go-go-go full-on psy trance from the jump. Yeah, it's retro leaning with the synths and acid – wouldn't be on Suntrip if it wasn't – but that ultra compressed rhythm is strictly nu-skool. Yet what's this: a change of key and tone two-thirds through? Oh yeah, psy trance used to have multiple sections within single tracks, not just relentlessly going on the same idea for the duration. Now that's a retro notion!

Wish I could say all the tunes on Brain Chemistry do that. This is pretty much a full-on outing wrapped in goa accoutrements. And that does grow weary for a full-length, the sort of peak time party music that's wildly fun flailing under the stars but in desperate need of some variation when sitting at home with chai and malpoa. I'll grant the climax of these tracks are generally strong enough to sustain my interest, and the usual wibble that comes with full-on doesn't overstay its welcome. There's also some rather cliche stuff though, the track Sukha really laying the Indian influences on thick – I want to love that drop, but gads, its so hammy. That said, I know I'd go wild hearing it live, so there's that.

Yes, Brain Chemistry is very much a 'get out and do shit' type of album. Play it while going for a run, or a power walk, or shuffle under a bridge. Denshi Danshi make no apologies for the energy they bring, so best make proper use of it wherever you can.

Tristan - Way Of Life

Nano Records: 2014

Well, I appreciate Audiodrome more now.

Not that Way Of Life is bad. For a collection of standard Israeli full-on psy, it's competently crafted, hitting all the high points it needs to without falling back on cheesy riffs or tired tropes ...often. One track does feature a triplet breakdown, which were a tired cliche even before the '10s took shape, but the sense I get from these tracks is they're mostly in service of giving the party people what the want, and little else. And if Tristan Cooke is fine with making such stuff, that's fine too. It's just, y'know, after hearing some of his more challenging tunes on his debut, it makes him settling on standard party psy so many years later a bit of a let down.

Right, it's not like I was singing high praises for Tristan's explorations of just how minimal psy trance could go on Audiodrome, but I did give a fancy tip of the hat for the attempt. I thought he carried on down that road, though come to think of it, I never really saw his name brought up in dark psy circles. Part of that, I assumed, was simply due to lack of releases. Following his debut, he put out another LP on Twisted Records - Substance - then went on production hiatus for half a decade. He re-emerged on Nano Records with Chemisphere, then took another seven years before coming out with this here Way Of Life. He's mostly stuck things out with single-song collaborations since, including pairings with ManMadeMan, Vini Vici, and a variety of Nano artists I'm in no hurry to scope out. Like, let me at least get through Suntrip Records' catalogue before dabbling in another psy trance label where, if some Discoggian claims are true, this album from Tristan is among its highlights.

Right off the bat, I couldn't help but think, “Oh. He's doing what everyone else is doing now. Huh.” Talking In Technicolour features all the things anyone with a passing fancy for modern psy trance will have heard: peppy plastic bassline, squawky synths, spacey fills, cheeky vocal samples. There are sections that remind me of Tristan of old, cybernetic sounds during the usually wibbly portions of any full-on track. When they're paired with so many stock elements though, little really leaps out either. Tracks like Time & Space, Excitement Generator and Parallel Reality are perfect examples, their early portions taken up by trippy, digital effects, Tristan at his best. Then the second half goes for a standard full-on build, dragging such sounds in tow whether they're suited for it or not. Again, not bad in of itself, just feeling like they could have been something far more daring.

I dunno'. Maybe Tristan received backlash for going as minimal as he once did, or knew those roads were creative (and financial) dead-ends. Nothing wrong with playing things safer in such a fickle scene as psy trance's. Just doesn't do much to stand out from the glut either.

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.

U-Recken - Aquatic Serenade (Original TC Review)

Dooflex: 2006

(2019 Update:
Haha, I was such a chronic back in the day, wasn't I? There I go, smoking d'at dank kush, all for the means of a review that I assumed few people would read because really, who'd care about Yet Another Full-On producer in Israel's overcrowded scene? Oh, wait, a lot of you, apparently. Uh, didn't see that coming, all the hits this review received on TranceCritic. Not to mention just how much some folks are willing to pay for this on the Discogs market. Like, I knew this was generally well regarded at the time, but didn't think it'd be a superstar launch or anything. I could hear the potential though, Yaniv's songcraft at creating psy trance with some intelligence and skill behind it. He just needed refinement, or at least an editor, someone to shake off the useless fluff he littered so many of his tracks with.

And wouldn't you know it, he seems to have taken the advice I offered here, even if he likely never read it. I checked out his latest album, 2017's Nothing Is Sacred, and most of the things I liked about Aquatic Serenade has been retained, with none of the naff randomness I found distracting. Just simple, spacey, morning psy vibes. Almost tempted to buy a proper copy.)


IN BRIEF: A full-on olive branch to goa? Perhaps...

The genre wars in the psy scene is probably at an all-time high. The old goa guard has been moaning over full-on’s raise to supremacy for most of the 21st Century, claiming it’s destroying psy’s initial spiritual connections in favor of clubbing appeal. To the old goa guard, I say this: welcome to the world of music.

No matter how hard some may try to protect and cultivate their scenes, electronic music has a way of being heard by outsiders: separate scensters, business opportunists, even those who don’t consider EDM ‘proper’ music. When this happens, it attracts new folks, and thus new ideas. Some stick and become new sub-genres, attracting even more new folks who dig the new sound over the old. I’m sure everyone knows what this leads to, so I won’t dwell on it.

Still, even if full-on is super-popular in psy strongholds like Israel and... um...er, other places (does psy have huge followings anywhere else?), if it doesn’t try to innovate or change its formula, it will suffocate on its own bloated self-worth. As much fun as driving rhythms and catchy psychedelic hooks can be, endless copycats only dilute the scene, leaving it to collapse from excessive weight.

Yaniv Ben-Ari may realize this. As U-Recken, he seems to show interest in crafting songs using the full-on template merely as the foundation rather than to get popular with the kids.

I know the term ‘subtle full-on’ sounds like an oxymoron but that’s honestly the feeling I get from Aquatic Serenade. Despite the trappings, there’s few moments that succumb to full-on’s clichés. The tracks have mellow, flowing synth melodies that guide you between typical wiggly, squiggly bursts of acid. In fact, with such attention paid to the melodies rather than the climaxes, I’d almost be inclined to say some tracks hold elements of goa rather than full-on.

A couple by-the-book tracks aside, the main thing that helps U-Recken distinguish himself are the rhythms. Yes, there’s plenty of full-on’s characteristic ‘duggita-duggita-duggita’ bassline throughout, but it doesn’t always dominate. Some tracks even forego it altogether (Pitch Of Mind being the most apparent example). Most of the time this happens when the standard bassline begins to overstay its welcome, making the differing basslines most welcome.

As with most psy trance, Yaniv fills his tracks with many hooks and sounds; one can sometimes hold more musical ideas than half an hour of an epic trance set. This seems to be the result of his improvisational approach to the tracks, and will often keep you guessing as to where he’s taking a song. It sounds like a good idea: unexpected surprises keeps music exciting if you crave diversity. Something seems amiss though, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. Fortunately, I have a handy aid which allows me to pay diligent attention to music in such emergencies like this.

Sykonee gets stoned; listens to Aquatic Serenade in such state. Eighty minutes pass...

...see, what I don’t get is why the Machines would send a Terminator back in the first place. Surely they would have realized if they had to send one back to kill Conner at all, that the T-800 failed. If he’d succeeded, there would be no Resistance to begin with. But then I suppose if they didn’t send the Terminator, the Resistance might spring up anyways. But then we’re just back to the illogical assumption sending a T-800 to the past if its mission was pre-determined to fa- Wait, what was I talking about again?

While listening to U-Recken’s debut under a THC haze, I find the biggest problem is it just doesn’t maintain its focus. A big number of tracks have wonderful little melodic or psychedelic moments (opener Lost Paradise, Tania being good examples), then are never heard from again. Various themes are often dropped after a good minute or so, and aren’t even revisited again later in the track. I don’t mind musical tangents in a song, but at least have some kind of unifying narrative, otherwise it can turn into a big mess of rando-

Wait, what was I talking about again?

I have to admit a part of me fears technology is slowly but surely taking over our humanity. I mean, just look at the most recent party trends of raving. Synthetic music; synthetic stimulants; synthetic lighting; hell, even the synthesizers are synthetic (word to laptop symphonies)! Maybe there won’t be any need for an apocalyptic war between man and machine; they’re already doing an excellent job of subverting us. Is it such a bad thing though? After all, if we as a species are ever to travel to the stars, we’re gong to have to rely on technology. Flapping our arms has proved fut-

Wait, what was I talking about again?

U-Recken can’t go eight bars without throwing in some random, superfluous sound effect or sample. It’s like, “Can’t have a moment’s breath; this is psy trance, and we gotta keep this baby chaotic!” Frankly, I tuned out most of these inconsequential fills very quickly, and primarily focused on the meat of the tracks. Of this meat, there’s some good and some bad, but de-

Wait, what was I talking about again?

Since all energy transfers from one state to another, where does the left-over energy generated by our body go when we die? I can see it slowly fading away as we get older, but what about quick deaths, like a bullet to the head? Our body is generating energy as always right up to that point (sometimes even more if adrenaline’s surging through your body), and I highly doubt a penetrating bullet sucks it all up. Is this why some people twitch after they die, as a means of releasing residual energy stored in the body? Or might it be that energy is what gives us our conscious thought, and when we die, that conscious thought moves on into other forms? Frankly, I’m too scared to find out for my-

Wait, what was I talking about again?

When U-Recken settles things down toward the latter half of Aquatic Serenade, the tracks start to show some tighter musicianship of which was lacking in the first half (opening track notwithstanding). Songs like The Other Side and Misery hold a definite themes together - even if the melodies aren’t always synced, at least the general atmosphere is. Normally, a melancholy mood is felt as we head into the final stretch of this album, which makes for an interesting contrast given full-on’s typical gung-ho approach. The self-titled downtempo closer to Aquatic Serenade is quite nice as well, ending on a gorgeous bit of singing from Slay (nope, don’t know who that is either).

Generally, Yaniv displays an interesting take with full-on. It’s a blessing and a curse though, as he creates some nice melodies and hooks but without the focus needed to make them enduring. You get the impression he has tons of smart ideas floating around in his head, and let them all out in a big burst of driving rhythms. With luck, his next offering will show more restraint. It’s already apparent in the latter half of Aquatic Serenade, so we know he has it within him.

Anyhow, time to raid the fridge.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved.

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.

Alien Project - Activation Portal (Original TC Review)

H2O Records: 2007

(2018 Update:
Probably more acerbic than necessary, but eh, that's just how you did things back in the '00s. If something was dodgy, crummy, sketchy, awful, and poo, you didn't hold back the hyperbole one iota, lest readers/viewers mistakenly think there was a glimmer of good in the product. These days, it's better doing harsh criticisms with thoughtful approaches, nuanced deconstructions, and long-form video essays talking into a microphone really fast. Still, there's something to be said for the cathartic release of what we have below.

I joked about 'banishing' Alien Project to the bowel's of TranceCritic's archives, but I wonder if he somehow did wind up there. This was Ari Linker last album under the moniker, shortly after rekindling his partnership with Ido Liran for their Save The Robot project. That lasted a little longer, shooting straight for commercial appeal, even to the point regular eurotrance jocks like Ferry Corsten and Richard Durand were rinsing their tunes. Don't know what he's been up to this past half-decade, but for all intents, it looks like Alien Project is totally dead. Surely my words didn't kill it...?)

IN BRIEF: Familiarity breeds contempt.

What the...? No... You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! Did he really think he could get away with it? This is so blatantly obvious, even a complete trance rookie would see through this hack. What a fucking gimp.

Eh? Oh, hi there, fellow readers. Whatever am I blathering on about? Allow me to introduce you to Exhibit A: N R G by Alien Project. You may know this track by its more familiar title of Café del Mar. Yes, that’s right folks: N R G is essentially Café del Mar (Alien Project Remix). But instead of giving proper credit to the source material, Alien Project changed a note or two and gave it his own ‘original’ title, thus negating the need to pay royalties. Vanilla Ice would be proud.

Apparently, this is only the tip of the dodgy iceberg when it comes to Ari Linker. Talk to anyone in the psy scene about him, and you’ll be met with a level of scorn usually reserved for the likes of DJ Sammy and Scooter in other circles. However, many dedicated goa-heads are rather anal when it comes to maintaining their scene’s underground cred, and anything with a whiff of commercial intent is often unjustly derided. Just because something has popular appeal doesn’t automatically make it bad, so I gave Activation Portal a spin to hear if the buckets of bile were with merit.

Indeed they are.

Ignoring for the moment his shameful pillage of recognizable trance tunes (and Café del Mar isn’t the only occurrence), this is a very bland collection of psy. Ari seems incapable of making his arrangements work. The rhythms are typical full-on drive but very little of his synths in support give them life. Most of his hooks are the same ol’ tired Israeli clichés. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been done before and better.

Most of his original tracks often start with a hint of promise. Super Buster has some nice leads; Activation Portal’s supporting trancey hooks are effective; Yellow Blaze teases with ace opening rhythms. Nothing of note ever comes of it though, as Ari continuously falls back on go-nowhere wibble supplemented with DOA tweaks. If psy is meant to trip you out, this is the equivalent of drinking cough syrup for a high.

There are some moments worth your attention but I’m hardly giving Ari credit for them. Tweaky, for instance, has a decent enough peak, but this is originally an Astrix track, so that was probably his work there. Groovy’s buttrock guitars are passable, but this was a collaboration with Raja Ram, so who knows how much his influence helped guide the track (and the ‘tee-hee, snicker’ use of the Cannibus Culture dialogue from Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas is juvenile idiocy). And Aztechno Dream is an agreeable if uneventful slice of simple trance, but this is a remix by Shanti, whom likely stripped out the original's bunk.

The shame of it all is just how good the production is. I’ve seldom heard all these stock psy synths sound better, and when the rhythms do drive, it’s with just as much punch as the stuff coming from Discover Records. It’s even enough to be forgiving of how achingly average most of the stuff on here is.

But no. We mustn’t forget our initial reasons for hatred. Ripping off Café del Mar is bad enough, yet Ari trumps that by doing the same thing with As The Rush Comes! Yes, that is the Motorcycle song you’re hearing in Deeper, and yes, that is Jes’ voice. The breakdown/build is practically a direct lift, with Ari throwing in useless effects to hide it. Does Ms. Brieden even realize she’s now singing for bland Israeli psy? I'm not so much irate over using the song itself (t’was quaint, but overplayed); it’s Ari’s utter insult to our intelligence that we wouldn’t notice it that gets my goat.

If you wanted to do a remix of the originals, fine. Contact the producers to request a remix project from them. If you wanted to cover it, fine. At least have the decency to call it by the same name since everyone will recognize them as such. Instead, both N R G and Deeper have all the hallmarks of a producer looking to capitalize on weak rehashes all the while hoping his audience is so clueless, they’ll think he made these melodies himself. Mr. Linker would have a promising future being the ghost producer of a This Is... Psy compilation from Beechwood Music.

These are disgraceful antics, my friends. I simply have no choice in this matter. I hereby banish thee, Alien Project, to the bowels of our review archives, to sit alongside the likes of Scooter and Cascada. May the scouse house brigade have mercy on your soul.

Oh, for additional unintentional hilarity, seek out the promo spiel for Activation Portal. Here’s a sample:

”Are you prepared to step up to the plate, into the Portal, and onto the next level of light on your path to enlightenment and joy??Are you willing to move towards a higher destination where peace and goodwill reside continuously, where love dwells eternally and where all things are, indeed, possible???

Well then, friends, compadres, amigos - step up, right this way........the Activation Portal is now open and all Galactic travelers and music lovers alike are invited to come forth and experience, even embrace, if you will, ever new and unfolding infinite dimensions of cosmic consciousness, hitherto unavailable to humanity at large, but now easily reachable by all, through the timeless, enduring and commanding medium of sound, which is, by the way, the Governor of all Existence!”

Can you believe there's three-hundred more words of the nonsense?

Etnoscope - Way Over Deadline

Ektoplazm: 2010

Back when I figured my post-TranceCritic hiatus wouldn't be so lengthy, I snatched this album from the ever-awesome coffers of Ektoplazm, anticipating it a good album to review upon returning. I'm... a little behind in getting to that, aren't I? You could say I've been... tardy in my timeliness. Why, this review should have been written... much longer before. What I'm getting at is the words you're reading are... really, really late.

I recall Way Over Deadline having some hype in the lead-up, a return of prog-psy's earliest heroes in Etnoscope. Their 2003 album Drums From The Dawn Of Time was hailed as among the early classics of that scene, fusing tribal drum workouts into a groovy time for all the forest ravers getting their flail on. Yet despite the initial positive buzz, Etnoscope receded from the spotlight, doing the occasional live gig and not much else. And it's not like the group's members were busy with other projects, Misters Englebert, Collin, and Alanne having little else to their Discogian credits. But with prog-psy having settled into a 'deep, minimal, plodding triplets' phase by 2010 (thanks, Iboga!), that these guys were coming forth with new material was welcome news indeed.

Still, as I scoured the web for reactions to Way Over Deadline, it seems as though the album came and went with barely a blip. Even review threads at the old guards of psy-trance discourse – psynews.org and Isratrance – had little activity beyond an obligatorily 4,000 word review, followed by a half-dozen 'this is great!' reactions. Kinda' makes me feel all the more negligent in my own failure contributing to the initial hype, as this is the sort of prog-psy that was so very desperately needed at the turn of the decade. Rhythms that are propulsive, live drumming that's funky, basslines that are gnarly-as-fuck, and melodic flourishes that capture the best of morning trance giddiness.

Specifics? Oh, how about the opening cut Odin's Kraft, featuring all the drum work you can handle, coupled with one Hell of an ear-wormy chant. Or Kaijko, which goes more subdued with its drumming and samples, but, mang', that rubbery acid! Sunset gets all operatic on our asses, while Might & Magic rips out one of the most infectious basslines you'll ever hear from the prog-psy camps (really, it's creeping up to full-on territory). Elsewhere, Jävla Sladdar adds a little guitar shredding to the fray, and Freedom opts for a bouncy, world-beat jig, plus a standard dubby closing cut in Floating Feeling. Really, the only two duds are Guitar Session and Medieval, for having a hand at the tropes that made prog-psy more a chore to get through back then (plodding minimalism, triplets, etc.).

Etnoscope music is rare enough as it is, so considering Way Over Deadline is still available at Ektoplazm, there's no excuse for prog-psy fans to ignore this. And who knows, now that's it's been another seven years since their last album, maybe we'll get another LP from them soon. One can hope.

Infected Mushroom - Vicious Delicious (Original TC Review)

YoYo Records: 2007

(2017 Update:
Remember when some Infected Mushroom fans figured this was the absolute worst the duo could reach? Haha, oh you darling dickens, just wait until a weird, parasitic, futuristic noise known as 'brostep' invades their sound. Maybe you'll accept the 'nu-metal' stuff after all then.

When I was writing this a decade ago (!!), I couldn't help but worry whether I had any right claiming authoritative insight on what metal fans would like. For all intents, IM lured in quite a few to the ranks of psy-trance, fascinated by the strange sounds and twisted production tricks unlike anything they'd heard paired with power chords and heavy riffage before. Going back to it though, this album still sounds overwrought and corny, making me embarrassingly cringe in the hopes the music's not leaking too much out of my headphones such that complete strangers give me The Look. But it's not like I haven't enjoyed pseudo-serious metal myself (oh hi, Pantera) - taste will always be subjective, and if Vicious Delicious somehow does it for you (!!!), you shouldn't feel any shame in that. Only fans of Handsup should be ashamed of any pride in listening to that rubbish. Shame on you, Handsup fans.)


IN BRIEF: An attempt to appeal to the most moronic of metal fans.

To say Infected Mushroom’s previous album IM The Supervisor was received with mixed reviews would be too kind. More specifically, it divided their fanbase into two solid camps: those who fully embraced the duo’s forays into metal riffage and singing, and those who wouldn’t give them another chance unless they knocked it off with the guitars and got back to making psy trance. Perhaps it's silly to have such expectations on them though. After all, they've clearly stated they’d rather try different music than stay in a specific niche. Still, this is the psy scene we’re talking about here - although fun, it is quite insular to the rest of the music world.

And unfortunately for such fans, Erez Aizen and Amit ‘Duvdev’ Duvdevani are showing no signs of which way they want to go either. They moved to Los Angeles to escape their Israeli scene stereotype, yet retain mostly a psy trance following whenever on tour. They’ve been featured on the cover of DJ Mag, but probably only as a means of that rag trying to gain some ‘underground’ cred for covering a psy act. And are they trying to be rock or trying to be psy? Who knows anymore. Even their latest album - Vicious Delicious - finds this split personality in full effect, with half the tracks sounding like either or.

I’m almost at a quandary whether we should be covering this release at all. When the duo embrace metal, it’s a full plunge; very little of their electronic background is retained beyond studio tricks that add to a track’s production. This isn’t like S.U.N. Project or other ‘buttrock goa’ acts that would use guitars as something to complement acid squelches; this is Infected Mushroom doing rap-metal, or prog-metal, or metal-metal. But an electronic act they still are, as the standard psy tracks on Vicious Delicious attest to. And ultimately, Infected Mushroom are more electronic than Neil Young, right?

For as large of a name Infected Mushroom is though, I’m amazed at how average their psy trance offerings are here. The track Suliman, for instance. With chunky rubbery hooks, vocal samples, and squelchy guitar licks, this could have been produced by any number of Israeli acts. Of course, its possible producers in Israel are copying the duo due to their success, but it doesn’t excuse them from sounding like everyone else either. Eat It Raw isn’t much better, going through so many meandering psy motions, you’d be hard pressed to remember it later. Change The Formality suffers from directionless writing too, but is redeemed by better sounds at play and an incredibly infectious vocal hook (and probably one of the best on the whole album, but I’ll get to the vocals in bit). Beyond, in avoiding many of Israeli psy’s more annoying clichés, is a nice trancer in its own right but sounds strangely out of place.

Ah yes. Israeli psy clichés. Let me talk to you about them for a moment. The title track Vicious Delicious is filled with the best and worst of them. First the good: the climax is great, with a build that just keeps piling the tension on and on; whenever full-on nails this it’s possibly some of the most exciting electronic music out there, and Infected Mushroom hits it wonderfully here. It comes in the last third of the track though, and you have to sit through a bunch of nonsense to get there: lots of rambling tangents, and lots of ridiculous sounds. What even is that? A burbling baby mixed with intestinal indigestion? Just idiotic.

Still, when compared to the duo’s metal offerings...

The flamenco-styled Becoming Insane is tolerable thanks to the catchy guitar licks but the rest of their offerings are hilariously awful. You'd think they were a couple of teens who'd just discovered Metallica for the first time. It’s bad enough their limp attempt at prog-metal (Heavy Weight) relies on the simplest of power-chords and acoustic melodies to get the long-hairs thrashing their heads (and I’m not talking about the hippies). It’s bad enough Forgive Me sounds like they were inspired by shit-rockers Nickelback. And it’s bad enough Special Place is a misguided combination of rambling Israeli psy with rock. No, the ultimate abomination is their attempts to sound like Linkin fucking Park!

Artillery is rap-metal at its most hokey. With one-time mainstream Canadian rappers Swollen Members in support, Infected Mushroom apparently never got the notice this style of music was officially declared uncool for a number of years now; ever since the initial fanbase of the genre grew out of their prepubescent stage and matured. While the raps are at least functional, 'Duvdev' sounds like he's shooting for Chester Bennington but ends up sounding closer to Chad Kroeger of the aforementioned shit-rock group Nickelback. Here's the actual chorus:

“Loooooooocccked insiiiiiiiiidde this caaaaaaAAAAAAggee agaaaaAIIIiiinnn!”

But guess what! Infected Mushroom decide they need to cover all aspects of metal on this release, and offer to their listeners In Front Of Me, a power ballad! Good God, no.

Folks may think I’m being harsh on Infected Mushroom because they decided to venture out of their familiar psy trappings, that I dislike their metal offerings because of their use of guitars and such. Not at all. Heavy guitars have often worked wonderfully in EDM, with Liam Howlett's usage the greatest example. Fact of the matter, though, is Infected's metal songs are just amateur at best and crap at worst, with songwriting at a level only young teenage boys would think is innovative. I’ll grant ‘buttrock goa’ was never exactly musically creative either, but at least it had tongue-in-cheek self-awareness of this fact. Infected Mushroom seems to believe these tracks are actually good. And production wise, yes I’ll grant they are. But make no mistake: Vicious Delicious’s metal is for beginners ...or psy trancers who are easily amazed at the inclusion of a guitar, judging by some of their fans’ reactions. I find if I reduce my brain to the thoughts of an angst–filled fourteen year old, the songs are tolerable but I shouldn’t have to rely on drinking a six-pack of cheap beer in the school park before 11pm to enjoy an album.

All in all, Vicious Delicious is an average psy trance release, and a metal release bordering on parody; there is no middle-ground. If Infected Mushroom stay on this path, they should have little trouble in continuing the alienation of their old fanbase, yet also satisfying them just the same. Trying to have your cake and eating it too has never been so apparent.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2007. © All rights reserved

Various - Unfold #2: Christopher Lawrence

Moist Music: 2008

It's taken forever to finally get Christopher Lawrence into this blog’s archives! Whatever is the matter with me? Don’t I have any of his CDs in my collection? Sadly not, this one technically an abandoned TranceCritic promo that I neglected to review for reasons that utterly escape me now. As for never having picked up a C.L. mix or album, I have no excuse for it other than inexplicable apathy. I’ve seen his name for almost as long as I’ve been buying trance CDs, the chap a fixture on Moonshine after the turn of the century. Though I didn’t buy them, I generally liked what I heard, a tougher take on trance at a time when most jocks were getting fluffier and banal (or abandoning the genre altogether). When that label folded, he soon set up his own Pharmacy Music print, which he continues to run and promote podcasts through to this day. Along the way, he joined John ‘00’ Fleming in championing psy trance as the new hotness for proper trance t’ings, so aces in that development.

It’s during this period we find ourselves with Unfold #2, a short-lived series from Dutch label Fektive Records, and given an American release by Moist Music. Interesting note about Moist, a number of Moonshine refugees found new homes there, though it’s merely a roundabout coincidence that Lawrence finally ended up there too. Unfold itself was designed to highlight some of trance’s most notable old-school DJs still kickin’ out an underground sound, the first volume of which featuring Fleming (of course). A third edition had Marco V - an odd choice for the late ‘00s as he’d moved on from trance by that point - and that was all she wrote for Unfold (so sayeth The Discogs).

As for ol’ Chris’s go here, yeah, it’s a full-on psy set. Perhaps another reason I wasn’t quick in doing a review of this was my interest in the sub-genre had dwindled when this came out. I’m pretty sure I did like it somewhat, just not enough to inspire fingers to keyboard. Weird, because this stuff is pretty good all things considered. I only recognize a few names here (Mad Hatters, Cosmonet… Spacecat?), and I think I’ve heard some of these elsewhere (Basic’s Toyster and Audio-X’s And We Survive have very familiar, punchy hooks). For the most part though, it’s a classy, energetic collection of tunes for this style, with little of the random wibble the Israeli scene churned out. A few early tracks – Brain Damage’s Waiting For My Angel, Mad Contrabender’s Illegal Hardware and Killer from Gaudium Vs Dualsnug (god, these names) – even get my vintage senses tingling. Unfold #2 isn’t the best starting point for Christopher Lawrence, but it’s serviceable if you fancy the psy of the era.

Eh? CD1 of this two-discer? Oh, it’s just C.L. fitting in with the electro-progressive-plod-house of the time (hey, Mark Norman!). The opening track from Spooky (New Light (Strobelight Mix)) is nice, but the rest… yyy-eeah.

Eat Static - Dead Planet

Mesmobeat: 2015

I was wondering if Eat Static would ever release another album, then ol' Merv goes and gives us a double-album. No wonder he took so long then, and a good idea too. His last foray into the LP domain saw two CDs released as well, though on separate labels focusing on completely different styles. It was a neat idea to feature an exclusively downtempo album for Interchill, but it’d probably be a hard-sell twice. Folks come to Eat Static for the tear-out psy with the crazy cybernetic leads and pulpy sci-fi samples; the few mellow moments under the stoner sun are best served as respites.

Well nothing doing for Dead Planet, once again splitting the Eat Static stylee up between two discs, uptempo stuff on the titular CD, and a chill offering in the second tray titled Human Upgrade. Interestingly, this has been released on Mesmobeat, the label Eat Static set-up for themselves after Planet Dog died, and been in semi-limbo for the past half-decade. What, did no one else want to give this double-LP a chance?

Dead Planet kicks off with another System 7 pairing, tickling all those old-school goa trance triggers in my head. It pretty much goes for the twisted full-on stuff from there though (with one obligatory mint d’n’b leaning cut with Ringlefinch), tracks evolving in dark-psy fashion before unleashing a spacey bit for the climax. It’s all well-produced, but as with so much modern psy-trance, hasn’t evolved much in the past decade, and the same is true for Eat Static’s take on the sound, sci-fi quirks aside. And yet, it’s better than Merv’s dip into other music here. Dragon’s Breath is a frightfully dull tech-plodder, while In All Worlds with Robert Smith is a fine track on a cyberpunk soundtrack, but way out of place here. And Odious Odium sounds like it’s building up to a hideously obnoxious brostep drop (clap builds! glitch-bends!), then does an awesome one-eighty into spaced-out tear-out psy (that low-end!). That’s the Eat Static I love!

Human Upgrade meanwhile... holy cow, where did this album come from? As the chiller side of Eat Static, I was expecting some psy-dub rubs, or maybe a throwback cut that might have appeared on the old Planet Dog compilations. And the first few tracks do offer this, even getting Robbert Heynen of the former Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia in with Near Future Myth (dear Lord, such expansive sonics!). The back-end of CD2 then grows more ethnic, orchestrated, and wordly with the beats. There were hints of this sound on Back To Earth, but ol’ Merv’s taken things to another level here, sounding like latter-era Juno Reactor in some parts. I know I said hearing Eat Static without the quirkiness feels off, but if lush production like this is what we can also expect, I’m all for it.

Dead Planet as a whole is quite a bit to take in, but is well worth the investment for followers of the alien nation.

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.

John '00' Fleming - Psy-Trance Euphoria 2 (Original TC Review)

Ministry Of Sound: 2009

(2015 Update:
Not as good as I remember, and that's before I get into the music itself. There's a lot of 'short-hand' writing in this review, understandable since I wrote this late into TranceCritic's run and most of the website's readers were regulars by that point. It doesn't make for a comprehensive read as is though, even after doing a few edits so it's not quite so clunky. Some of the information regarding John Fleming's previous output isn't terribly accurate either, as his Euphoria mixes did much better than I gave them credit for. Maybe I should have actually listened to the damn things before saying anything about them, eh?

As for Fleming, he's kinda' moved on from this style of trance, unsurprising since there's more options for high-energy club music now than psy. Honestly, I didn't get into this as much as I did when I first listened to it, though I suspect it's all due to context. The regular ol' trance we were reviewing was mostly balls, and Psy-Trance Euphoria 2 was like a breath of fresh air, presented to us from a guy with much of the same sentiments regarding that scene. With much better alternatives of late however, three CDs of the stuff just grows tedious. I still have soft spots for a few tracks on here, but the enthusiasm I had half a decade hence has definitely dwindled.)


IN BRIEF: Are you psy-curious?

…And finally, we get to Fleming. Yes, we know it’s been a long time coming. If anyone deserves recognition here at TranceCritic, it’s good ol’ ‘00’.

His career has seen several hurdles (the most prominent being surviving a battle with lung cancer), but ever so gradually he’s kept on a continuous climb. After DJing in relative obscurity throughout most of the 90s, Fleming got his break at the turn of the century when he was tapped to help put together various Euphoria and Godskitchen compilations. Unfortunately, these releases didn’t do much to stand out from the glut, as many of them recycled the same prog trance hits available everywhere else. Despite this, he still managed to develop a larger audience and fanbase.

Then, in a move that probably seemed like career suicide at the time, Fleming abandoned the mainstream aspects of trance music and started pushing psy instead. Or perhaps it wasn’t such a silly notion to do so after all. He’d gone on record numerous times regarding his growing dissatisfaction the direction trance music was going, feeling it was abandoning the communal free-for-all party ethos the early goa scenes enjoyed in favor of superstar pop concerts dedicated to a guy who played other people’s records. Seeing as how Fleming’s brush with death put him on a path that lead him to always follow his passion, a jump to the psy scene does make sense, even if it lessened his exposure.

Still, with good intentions brought more underground respect and Fleming’s brand of accessible psy garnered a steadily growing fanbase of equally disillusioned trance fans. As the Tiestin van Schulzenyonds of the world continued to disappoint with trite pop efforts, those looking for trance music that’s entrancing found a hero in Fleming. The Worthing native hasn’t disappointed yet.

Which brings us to Psy Trance Euphoria, one of the most unlikely mainstream compilations you’d have ever guessed being made. Seriously, when was the last time psy had this kind of exposure? There was Christopher Lawrence’s Live In Moscow a couple years back, but that was more about cashing in on Lawrence’s popularity than exposing the music he played. It grows increasingly sketchy the further back you go; DJ Brian’s Hardesertrance series had some respectable promotion in the States at the turn of the century, and you might have found the odd track in a Global Underground release; however, we’d have to go as far into the past as Paul Oakenfold’s Perfecto Fluoro to find any real mainstream acceptance of the genre. Even looking at this release, you can’t help but figure Ministry Of Sound is banking on Euphoria brand recognition rather than daring to dive into a fringe scene like psy. Ahh, it doesn’t matter – the music’s too awesome to worry over insidious corporate agendas.

Yes, the music here is awesome. Very awesome. You’ve got all the heavy hitters: Vibrasphere, Astral Projection, Ticon, Astrix, Wizzy Noise, Human Blue… Wait, there’s more. Ovnimoon, Ace Ventura, Perfect Stranger, 00.db (Fleming and Digital Blonde), U-Recken, Chakra, Sub6, Zen Mechanics, Infected Mushroom, Push… (Push…?) If few of these names are familiar to you, then get ready for a crash-course in why many of them have been earning plenty of underground plaudits. Heck, the first CD alone would almost be worth the price of admission, were the whole release not saddled with a (reasonable) 3-disc price tag.

Progressive Psy provides exactly what it advertises, although with more emphasis on the ‘progressive’ than the ‘psy’. Really, it’s picking things up where prog trance left off near the turn of the century – ample amounts of good groove, brilliant touches of melody, and plenty of sonic space so the tracks never drown in over-production. The only dip in quality comes from Chernikov’s Kerudu, which unfortunately sounds underpowered and out of place coming off a string of excellence from Perfect Stranger, Ticon, and Vibrasphere. Once prog psy veteran Human Blue comes along though, the set rebounds and finishes out with class.

The other two discs [one titled Deep ‘N Serious, the other The Fun Stuff!! (Full On)] are quite similar, though one’s more gusto than the other -the titles alone should be a clue which. The momentum of both is mostly go-go-go, with some tracks offering welcome brief lulls during the course of their playing time. Whenever it feels like the energy starts laggging, Fleming drops a track that cranks it right back up; gander at the transition from The Return to Insomnia’s 24/7 for a prime example –‘!!’ indeed. I’ll grant the lack of stylistic variation will be a turn-off for some (all psy, all the time!), but unlike other sets which lay out samey track after samey track, it works here thanks to the busy nature of the music. There’s always something new going on, and fortunately there’s enough differences between each producer that it seldom sounds like you’re hearing the same thing over and over, a common complaint where psy albums are concerned.

Though minor, the only quibble with discs two and three is the manner which they are wrapped up – considering how energetic the music’s been, it’s disappointing they finish rather limply. Actually, it isn’t so much that Deep ‘N Serious ends poorly, you’d just expect a track titled Strange World (Astral Projection Remix) wouldn’t be so ho-hum. And yes, I realize Infected Mushroom are huge stars, but Becoming Insane seems to only highlight just how awful their metal leanings sound. Why even tag such a corny track at the end, as a silly joke to end CD3? Hmm… if Fleming did intend it as a piss-take, then it worked brilliantly!

I’m sure there are a number of psy trance veterans who feel I’m being far too positive with this release. After all, there’s little innovation to be had and the producers in his track list are rather safe – he hasn’t dug terribly deep into the scene to unearth some truly unique and twisted offerings from the genre. Well, that’s because Psy Trance Euphoria 2 isn’t exactly for the vets, now is it. This is a Ministry Of Sound compilation and, in case those TV advertisements weren’t a dead giveaway, it has a broader audience in mind.

Yet, this isn’t simply a cash-grab to milk the psy-curious either (!!). Fleming also made this just as much a showcase of what the genre has to offer, and compiled three strong convincing sets of psy to reassure the disgruntled trance fan that, yes, there is more out there than what Black-Armada-Beats provides, and it kicks a whole lot more ass in the process. I’d call that success any day.

Written by Sykonee for TranceCritic.com, 2009. © All rights reserved.

Psycoholic - Parallel Universe

Psy Spy Records: 2010

Why is it that every time I kick off a new letter now, it’s with something ridiculously obscure? ‘O’ had Wyatt Keusch’s Object-Relations, ‘N’ featured Dub Trees’ Nature Never Did Betray The Heart That Loved Her; ‘M’ was a little better with Macro Dub Infection, Volume 1 (can anything released by Virgin be rare?), but who’d have ever heard of Cheb I Sabbah’s La Kahena? You’d have to go all the way back to the ‘I’s for something everyone should have heard about (it’s an Aphex Twin album).

However, let me turn your attention back to the album that began my run through ‘G’, Aquila’s Gain Control. It was a free full-on psy trance album downloaded from Ektoplazm, and not a terribly remarkable one at that. I only bring it up because, coincidentally, our journey through ‘P’ begins with another free full-on psy trance album that I downloaded from Ektoplazm, Psycoholic’s Parallel Universe. And… if you look at some alphabet charts, ‘G’ is above ‘P’. Additionally, if you were to replace the letters by their sequenced number, ‘G’ is ‘7’, ‘P’ is ‘16’, which can be divided by ‘2’, giving us ‘8’. ‘8’ follows ‘7’, which means ‘G’ precedes half of ‘P’, and Boards Of Canada’s album Geogaddi starts with the letter ‘G’, which means… which means…

Which means I’ve wasted enough word count on this nonsense. Yeah, sorry about that, but sometimes my brain gets caught in feedback loops of silliness, wondering where it might take me once I’ve stepped onto that path. I could go on and on if I didn’t have a psy trance album I should be reviewing instead. So what information can I dig up on this Psycoholic chap… Uh huh, uh huh, is Russian, real name Mikhail Fedosov, released another album prior to this one called (*shudder*) Trance World Over, hasn’t released much since this one, though carries on a psy trance compilation series titled Psytrance Open Air. That’s about all Lord Discogs provides me on this front.

As should be abundantly clear by now, I’ve little to discuss regarding Parallel Universe. It’s certainly a fine collection of full-on psy, Mr. Fedosov’s production beefier than most acts I’ve come across in this genre. He’s also unafraid of getting his melodic trance on, some tracks sounding like psy coverings of classics of that scene, though more subtle about it than Alien Project’s blatant rip-offs were. Sevgilim could have been a proper Dutch anthem, Light Years Ahead has a charming melodic line to go with its ‘buttrock’ goa guitars, Alfaville has to have found inspiration from the Balearic trance branch, Kuzlaring features ethereal vocals (!), and We Will Make You Happy… ooh, I’m getting a bit of that vintage German trance vibe on this one. Minor key melodies and evil dialog samples for the win!

Parallel Universe has just enough cleverness going for it to check it if you need a little more full-on psy in your life, but won’t win you over otherwise.

Various - Massive Passive (Original TC Review)

Tactic Records: 2007

(2014 Update:
I can't believe this CD's from the year 2007. For some reason, I had it in the back of my head it was at least a couple years younger, maybe late-'08 at best. Then again, I was still willing to give full-on psy some chances that year, so perhaps this was the final nail in the coffin for yours truly, where I simply gave up on Israeli psy save for the occasional recommendation from Ektoplazm. That reminds me, I should check that website out sometime soon. Maybe the music's gotten a bit better now that we don't have as many overnight start-up labels clogging the works. ...we don't anymore, do we?

Speaking of, Tactic Records did hold on for a couple years, folding after about a half-dozen releases (so sayeth Lord Discogs). Yep, about how it went for most Israeli psy start-ups last decade. Oh well, at least I wrote an unique review out of this mess. Can you tell I'd gone back to college at the time?)


IN BRIEF: Israeli Trance Compilation #3187...

One of the largest complaints surrounding Israeli psy trance is a lot of it tends to be samey sounding from artist to artist. You’d think a scene that annually offers dozens of new names, albums, and labels would create plenty of diversity over the years, yet enduring highlights remain few. The generally homogeneous execution of it all has to be the reason of something thus far hidden from the public eye; they can’t ALL be this creatively lacking by accident, can they? Although I have no proof of its existence, my suspicions are centered around what must be the Israeli Psy Trance School (IPTS).

There aren’t many courses at IPTS, but they will teach you everything you need to know about breaking into the Israeli scene. They include:

Israeli Trance 101: Learn how to produce your standard psy trance track. Your instructor will guide you in a step-by-step process of how to arrange your track, from the rambly intro sections to the trippy middle sections, and finally with the full-on synthy finish. Stock psy sounds are provided in your music making computer program, including chunky acid, spacey pads, rubbery basslines, and faux-thrashy guitars.

Israeli Trance 201: For advanced students, this course will teach you where to find contemporary movie samples, how to inject a little funk into your music, implant hidden trippy messages for stoners to discover, and maintain your interest in the scene after your sophomore slump. Innovative hooks are required for a Major.

Label Management 101: It’s not enough to be a producer, but you also need a label to distribute your tunes too. But what if no one accepts them? Then perhaps you should enter the exciting realm of DIY management! After completion, you’ll be able to do the following with ease:
-Snag a roster of new graduates from the Israeli Trance 101 course
-Entice a couple graduates from Israeli Trance 201 to give your label some potential class
-Use your label’s compilations as promotion for your artists’ new albums
-Steal away new computer art students to give your releases that extra psychedelic edge

Label Management 105 (Compilations): You have a label, but you need compilations to help promote your artists. This two-month course offers tricks of the trade to make your compiling methods easier. How to get a scene veteran to offer a new track to attract the old school, inclusion of at least one exclusive killer cut that makes your compilation a must-have for trainspotters, borrowing of other label artists, ample advertising of your roster through collaborations or remixes, and much more!

If such a school does exist, then Leon Gossler (aka: Tactic Mind) appears to be yet another graduate from it. Massive Passive is the debut compilation from his new label Tactic Records, and checks off everything you need to get a start-up in Israeli psy. Familiar faces Bizarre Contact and Ultravoice are present but mostly we find fresh faces here. The scene veteran could very well be Ultravoice as well, as he’s had releases since 2003. And sure enough Toxical’s debut album was Tactic's follow-up a mere month later.

Musically, it’s pretty much Israeli psy by-the-numbers. There are a couple better-than-average moments to be had - the peaks of Be Yourself and Flaming are solid, and Hot Leads is suitably trancey throughout - but innovation is severely lacking. In fact, some of the hooks are downright embarrassing to hear - the peaks in Ultrabizzy and Insomnia’s Computer Land are especially hilariously bad. And could Toxical have sampled something a little less obvious from The Fifth Element on Cosmic Radio? Guess not everyone managed to pass Israeli Trance 201 on this roster.

Oh, and that “one exclusive killer cut”? Look no further than Unique’s Hug & Roll, a surprisingly funky slice of psy with faux-guitar licks that aren’t corny and bouncy energy to spare. I was almost ready to start singing “Everything, everything...” along to it. Fun stuffs.

As for the rest of Massive Passive, you can throw it on and be reasonably entertained for portions of its playing time, but there’s very little to distinguish it from the hundreds of other Israeli trance compilations out there. While it’s still too early to tell whether Tactic Records will just be yet another victim of this scene’s super-high turnover ratio, a lackluster debut doesn’t do much to help make an impression in a sea of wibbly glut.

Infected Mushroom - Legend Of The Black Shawarma (Original TC Review)

Perfecto: 2009

(2014 Update:
For a late-period Infected Mushroom album, this has held up surprisingly well. Too much of their work instantly dates, whether it be doing crap nu-metal years after that scene died, or jumping on the brostep bandwagon like everyone else. Since they went for more an industrial sound here, though, it doesn't come off so tired. Something about industrial has allowed the genre to endure far longer than anyone would have believed, and while Infected Mushroom's offerings wouldn't have Trent Reznor quivering anytime soon, it's at least respectable enough takes on the sound. Or maybe I'm just showing '90s bias.

This definitely was an odd time for the group, getting picked up by Oakenfold's Perfecto print while suddenly finding themselves rubbing shoulders with trance-cracker jocks at the top of popularity polls. They've since plummeted and are no longer on Perfecto, so who knows what the future holds for Infected Mushroom. Maybe full-on garage rock?)


IN BRIEF: Back in the right direction.

Someone must have sent Infected Mushroom a memo informing them that nu-metal and that entire ilk was a dead genre, something that grew out of favor when all the teenagers that listened to it earlier this decade came of age. Sure, it’s a shame the group didn’t actually read the damn thing until after Vicious Delicious was released, but at least they have read it now. Their latest album, Legend Of The Black Shawarma, thankfully sees a lack of rap-metal leanings, power ballads, and, most thankfully, Amit Duvdevani hilariously awful attempts at gravel-throated earnest singing (even the mock singing in those Creed Shreds vids on YouTube are better). Oh, there are still problems to be had with this album, but IM have at least abandoned the worst bits of their last one. In the process, they’ve also managed to refine some of the things that did work, and the group comes off far more musically taught than they have in while. In a nutshell, they seem to mostly be done exploring, and are now solely focused on execution.

Cause for celebration, right? Perhaps. If you’ve stuck with them through their last couple albums, it certainly is, and definitely so if you’ve only just recently discovered Infected Mushroom. Of course, you’ll still find an army of IM old-schoolers who’ve written this album off as a continued degradation of the psy trance scene, but Infected Mushroom are quite removed from it at this point. Sure, they still retain a few instances of the music, but this album aims for a different audience than crusty hippies and cyber-trippers. And by ditching much of the teenager angst that permeated Vicious Delicious, it seems they’re after a more mature audience as well.

Or maybe not. The CD opens with a guest acoustic strum by Everlast, suggesting the duo ha

The CD opens with a bit of acoustic strumming that reminds me of Everlast, but quickly turns to chugging metal guitars, faux-funk breaks, a bit of psy wibble, a few wordly trappings, and, um… not much else. Poquito Mas is hardly much of a song, sounding more like a mish-mash of ideas IM are preparing you to hear once the album properly gets underway. Rather pointless, to be honest, even if it’s meant to be an intro.

From there, the album unfolds quite entertainingly. You have catchy EBM tunes like Sa’eed and Smashing The Opponent, blinding buttrock goa with Can’t Stop and Herbert The Pervert (now there’s some effective use of their guitars!), and even a credible ballad with Killing Time (having long-time alt-rock favorite Perry Farrell on vocal duties here certainly helps). Elsewhere, ‘Duvdev’ does carry on with the vocal duties, but his voice is fed through so many effects, it actually helps enhance the tracks.

The only real duff track in the opening half is End Of The Road, which seems to be a woeful attempt on IM’s part to do a ‘minimal’ track - that is, a whole bunch of aimless, tuneless dull beats and sounds, with a couple instances of false-climaxes (here’s the build, but forget about a payoff); it does come correct with a typical psy ending, but the lead up is pure toss.

That’s the first half done. The second half of Legend Of The Black Sha-Na-Na sees IM get their concept on; in other words, having satisfied the masses with catchy tunes, Erez and Amit are now ready to get prog rock/metal on our asses. In terms of ambition, the triple-dose of Project 100, Franks, and Slowly can’t be faulted, as there’s quite a bit going on between these three tracks; however, as a listening experience, it wanders aimlessly too much.

Changes in tone, abrupt shifts in time signature, overcooked effects, and just plain dull stretches dilute the great moments to be had. For instance, there’s an excellent burst of strong harmonizing between the psy effects and chugging guitars at the climax of Project 100, but the song needlessly carries on afterwards with dull faux-funk. Meanwhile, Franks and Slowly wander all over the place more so than Israeli psy often does, never seeming to come together as a solid musical outing. If you skip through a track by a few minutes at any given point, it sounds like you’re listening to an entirely different song, and trust me there isn’t much to bridge these disparate sections in a convincing fashion. Any island of quality is thusly lost in a sea of mediocre wibble. For every winning wailing guitar peak, there’s a pointless dinky bloop-bloop bit elsewhere (I’m looking at you, Slowly).

The trouble is then multiplied by just how plastic it all sounds. Granted, Infected Mushroom have long had that aesthetic about them, but it served them well when they were dishing out typical full-on psy (or, in the case of Legend Of The Black Shamwow ’s first half, EBM). In attempting complex prog structures, however, they’re shooting for bold musical statements that can’t be done justice with the hollow sonics they use.

After all that, it makes the titular track a welcome, fun return to the material that worked in the first half of Legend Of The Black Shangri-La. As much as it may infuriate long-time IM fans, the duo seems to have found a comfortable niche in being more of an EBM group than a psy-trance one - they definitely show more aptitude for writing such music than they do in overly-ambitious prog. (by the way, the remix of Riders On The Storm is a love-it/leave-it affair; it’s serviceable, though hardly surprising if you’re at all familiar with IM’s sound)

Legend Of The Black Shawarma is not without its faults, but it is a step in the right direction again. Even if the album is split between catchy cuts and overcooked ambition, the gulf between the two isn’t nearly as pronounced as the split between full-on psy and rap-metal was on Vicious Delicious. You may want to give this a few listens over before making a firm purchasing decision, but it remains one of Infected Mushroom’s better albums in some time.

Various - Goa Spirit 3

Cyber Productions: 1998

No doubt, the ‘00s saw a glut of psy trance, far too many start-up labels churning out generic Israeli full-on or dark psy. Why couldn’t things be like it was before, in the ‘90s, where instead of countless one-off compilations from quickly forgotten net labels, we’d get countless compilation series from somewhat remembered labels. Distance To Goa, Goa-Head, Psychedelic Goa Core, Goa Trance (yes, that’s all it was called), Sun Trip, Flight, Fill Your Head With Phantasm, Mushroom Trance, Tantrance…

Yeah, I would run out of self-imposed word space before finishing such a list. Point is the ‘90s were no less guilty of flooding the market with psy, but that era tends to hold more fondness for collectors, if nothing for the fact that scene was still in its infancy. It may not have gained as much press as other ‘on the rise’ genres, but there must have been enough interest if nearly every label in Europe dipped their toes into these psychedelic waters.

In this case, we're dealing with French label Cyber Production, who were more known for several 'acid core' CDs and other assorted hard dance than anything psy orientated. Still, they must have heard a kinship with all that acid goodness coming from the goa camps, this Goa Spirit series being the result. I've never even seen the first two volumes (stupid imports), and number 3 came into my grasp by total chance, sitting neglected in some box of CDs underneath the shop's main display shelves. Well hey, I recognized a few names in that tracklist – Koxbox, The Delta, Green Nuns Of The Revolution – so I plucked it out to buy, even if the store clerks didn't even know whether it was part of their inventory or not. Ooh, good karma points for my honesty!

Goa Spirit 3 turned out better than I expected. While I knew I was in good hands with a classic like the early full-on monster As A Child I Could Walk On The Ceiling, the duo Quirk stunned me with their crunchy freak-out Dark Matter and gloriously bonkers Ping (holy cow, that final build!), where samples of a ping-pong game are actually used for the percussion – so delightfully daft, even the early wibble’s fun. Elsewhere you get other examples of the emergent full-on sound from the one-off acts like Prometheus Process and Twisted Travellers, while Green Nuns and Kox Box keep the proper psy trance vibes alive (not to mention a surprisingly strong remix of Killing Joke’s Intellect from Johan). Overall, there’s not a duff cut found on this tidy nine tracker, a strong blend of fierce beats, fun psy-trips, and memorable acid. Only complaint is the CD’s title is misleading, as there’s barely any proper goa on here (yes, there’s a difference).

That all said, Goa Spirit 3 shares the same fate as so many psy compilations: lost in the goa glut. It’s a fine disc should you happen across it, but unessential if you already have these tunes.

Aquila - Gain Control

Dacru Records: 2009

Moan and groan, I thought I was done with this stuff. I had my fill covering it for TranceCritic, occasionally an incredibly solid album still crosses my way, but this? I’m actually surprised it’s still being peddled, at least at this standard of quality. I know some scenes and genres can recycle the same sounds and tropes for years on end, but this? Well, these chaps aren’t from Israel, so I guess there’s at least that.

If I’m doing all this moaning and groaning, then why do I even have Aquila’s debut (and only) album Gain Control? As with many things psy-trance based as of late, it was another recommendation at the always awesome ektoplazm.com, I think brought up during an online discussion over new full-on psy albums that weren’t bunk. What hurt is there in downloading a free album, right? If it’s not all that good, it’ll either get deleted or simply forgotten to the nether-realm of the harddrive. Unless, of course, I engage in a dedicated, sequenced re-listen of everything I have. Such foolishness.

Aquila, a three-piece psy act, are based out of Belgium, but if you were to go by their sound, you’d swear it was just another Israeli full-on project from the mid-‘00s. This was released in 2009, however, which actually shocked me when I went to Lord Discogs to double check. To be blunt as a brick, Gain Control sounds exactly like the generic material released on some of those Trancelucent compilations I reviewed way back eight years ago. I dunno, maybe these were tracks Aquila’d been sitting on for a while, and simply gathered them up a few years after the fact when they finally properly released a full-length, but I’m not finding any info to suggest otherwise.

I suppose what’s troubling me here is it’s not like Aquila’s material is awful - it’s simply more of the same, and full-on can sound incredibly tired even after the smallest amount of it. Listening to Gain Control has actually made me come to appreciate The Misted Muppet’s From The Legend even more now, just for how much different it stands out from typical full-on psy. This one, though? I’m at a loss to remember specifics. There are a few tracks that would sound great while being played out at a forest party underneath the summer stars (heck, even did while taking a midnight stroll to the corner shop for a late night energy drink), but nothing I’m anxious to throw on again anytime soon.

Somehow, I suspect had Gain Control been some of my earliest exposure to full-on psy, I’d be more lenient of it, maybe even give it a thumbs up on par with the mid-‘00s material I still occasionally enjoy. As it stands though, I'm just disappoint, son, moreso with Ektoplazm for rating this than my own folly. You'd think a website so immersed in the psy scene would have fresher sounding full-on to recommend when called upon.

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.