Various - tʌntrə x: Rakrita

Neotantra: 2021

Although I've gone off about how overwhelming all these tʌntrə compilations are, I wonder if Neotantra's wrapped the series up for now, as there hasn't been a new edition for all of 2023 thus far. Granted, the series has had a couple fallow periods, but nothing half a year long. Some of this might have to do with the label sorting out its back-catalogue, including putting together the third box-set of tʌntrə material just now, not to mention another Coercion Of Deities collection too. Then there's another box-set called Ember Delays, wherein some of their digital-only albums were given the CD treatment, plus changing all the older artwork throughout their Bandcamp page. Yes, the slightly OCD-triggering colour gradient era of Neotantra's cover art has been replaced with various still-shots of classy photography. Which... makes those original CDs a might more precious on the collector's market now? Oh, naughty, naughty, Neotantra.

Of course, this might also have to do with the label going to a subscription-based model, wherein you get sent all newly-minted music directly, eliminating the need for free compilations that may or may not get a download. Aw, but I like tidily consolidated collections, even those as formidable as tʌntrə XXIII's twenty-seven track, four hour outing.

Any-whatsit, here's CD3 of tʌntrə x, titled Rakrita. I... can't seem to find anything about this word. The Mighty Google draws an utter blank, steering me towards similar sounding words like rakkhita, rakti, yakrita, and sutrakritanga, which 'rakrita' is a part of. Definitions seem to be all over the place too, the closest commonality being affection and attractiveness. It seems a bit obtuse for a collection of ambient music, but then perhaps there's a deeper meaning that will reveal itself as the CD play- Eh? I should look at the digital title of this set? Oh, it's called Prakriti here, which has a definitive definition of cosmic material energy from which all matter is composed. Well, that makes a whole lot more sense!

I only recognize two names in this set: Ambidextrous and Mind Over MIDI. Everyone else is new to my eyes. Todd Gerber, Paul Tyrrell, Michiru Aoyama, Drifts In Autumn, Clouds Are Learning, The Fold (10), and what's his name, Whatsisname. No, seriously, how is the former prog-rocker the first to ever use this alias? Seems like such a shoo-in for so many techno projects.

Musically, this is the most ambient CD out of this box-set yet. I'm talking pure, gentle, soothing, wispy pad drone, very little in additional experimentation or heavy field recordings getting in the way of things. And while that makes sense for a theme of either prakriti or 'rakrita', it seems at odds with the actual track titles. It Drowned Again, Lose Me To Despair, Rage Against Light, Å˙¨ · º•., The Manacles, and so forth. I'd imagine something more dark and depressing going off these. Heck, even Urskog could imply a foreboding setting. Ol' Fangorn Forest ain't the sort of place for a hammock doze, nosiree.

Various - tʌntrə x: Apurva

Neotantra: 2021

Given how much music is featured on all these tʌntrə compilations, I do wonder what the selection process entails. I've no doubt folks and friends of Lee Norris are more than happy to send in material, but I'm talking about all the other, less-known names. Can you send in any ol' demo, and Neotantra's head of marketing will just slot you in whenever another edition is ready for export? Do you have to have some material already out on streaming services to even be considered? Or a Discogs entry?

Like, I'd consider myself at least somewhat well-versed in the ambient scene – my scrobbling data assures me it's the most prominent genre of music I gorge myself on. And for sure, having listened to many releases out on this label and others of similar ilk, I've come to learn of several artists I'm more than willing to drop big Bandcamp bucks on. Yet even browsing through a random volume of tʌntrə - III, let's say – I'm confronted with names like E.U.E.R.P.I., Theadelaidean, James Shain, and Sebastian Paul, all fresh to my eyes. Might I enjoy their works to?

Probably, but who's got time to digest them when just a couple months later, we're already on tʌntrə VI, with names like Todd Gerber, Nihhus, Hirotaka Shirotsubaki, and Brómus now crowding in for my attention? Throw in Neotantra's mainline run of albums, not to mention whatever parent label Fantasy Enhancing gets up to, and it can all feel overwhelming in how much is getting released. Add one's desire to explore other corners of the ambient scene while you're at it, and y'all understand why I say it's better to just focus on a select few? Even just this one can potentially leave a regular connoisseur more than sated, which I assume is kinda' the aim Neotantra's been shooting for anyway. Your one-stop shop for whatever ambient needs you may be fixin' for, yo'.

ANYHOW, here's CD2 of tʌntrə x, titled Apurva. Google tells me it's another Sanskrit word, in reference to something unique or newly achieved. Wiki tells me it's an element of ritualistic acts within Vendanta philosophy. Given the nature of the music within, I'm kinda' leaning towards the latter definition as it pertains to the CD, as this is some seriously meditative ambient.

I recognize Encym, Memex, and Natural Life Essence on here, not to mention two-and-a-half 'Moss' projects (MO-DU is half a 'moss', don't deny it!). Names that are new to me include Daniel Vujanic, Tunnelwater, Å Asher-Yates, and D York. Some of it's droney, some of it's bleepy, some of it's heavy on the field recordings, some of it heavier on the acoustic fuzz, but all of it is remarkably tranquil. Like, one, long lethargic drift through a gentle brook, slipping in and out of conscious thought. I wish I had more to say about it as music, but again, going into heavy details track by track is totally missing the point of these CDs.

Various - tʌntrə x: Dvandva

Neotantra: 2021

Yo', dawg, I hear you like reviewing box-sets while still reviewing box-sets, so here's another box-set to review while you're still reviewing other box-sets.

I mean, I guess I could have just “not” gotten this. I certainly have never felt compelled to get any of the tʌntrə digital compilations out of Neotantra, and there's plenty of them to freely nab off their Bandcamp, believe you me. In fact, I think that's partially why I never did. There's almost too much ambient music available in this series now, already up to volume twenty-six, often averaging over twenty compositions with some reaching upwards of twenty, twenty-five, even thirty minutes in runtime. It's a lot of ambient music, is what I'm saying. How much ambient music? Hell, two more box-sets of tʌntrə have come out since this one, also five CDs thick!

It's these box-sets, however, that caught my attention. Make no mistake, I'd love to gorge myself on the digi-comps, but I fear so much of it will fade into the background thrum of wallpaper music, never giving enough of it the attention it deserves. No, for my needs, I'd rather have all the choice cuts curated into thematic sets of reasonable listening duration.

That sorted, let's dive into CD1 of this tʌntrə box-set, subtitled Dvandva. What's 'dvandva'? According to Google, it's a Sanskrit term referring to compound words, and gets more complicated the deeper into linguistics you go. For the purpose of a compilation called tʌntrə, however, I assume it has more to do with yoga teachings of dualities. Or something.

Artists I recognize in this set include Specta Ciera, Martin Allin, Futuregrapher, Darren McClure, and Wil Bolton. I think I also recognize Off Land and Milieu, but haven't heard any of their stuff, at least to my recollection. Still, half of these twelve pieces are from artists I don't know, so great for discovery purposes, right? Sure, if I had a handy index of everything. Yeah, there's a tracklist, but as this is technically a 'DJ set' presented as one single track, everything's continuously mixed, even though most transitions are simple fades. I could studiously keep track of every transition, chronicling who's tune comes next and such as, but eh, that defeats the purpose of listening to ambient music such as this, doesn't it.

As for how Dvandva plays out, there does seem to be a push-pull of tone going on. A calm, tranquil piece will be followed by something a little more atonal, experimental, or abstract, then switch back to a more meditative flow of ambience, and so forth. Or maybe I've subconsciously created that theme thanks to the CD's sub-title. Hey, whatever it takes to give all these beatless, freeform compositions some sort of staying power within my psyche. Is this sustainable for four more discs though? Pft, I'm the guy that somehow managed to talk up Every. Single. CD. of a Pete Namlook tribute box-set. This'll be no th'ang, ha-hah, hah!

Various - Trust In Trance 2

Outmosphere Records: 1994

I can't believe this happened again. Once, sure, a weird fluke of chance, but twice now? Not that I'm complaining, per se, as this is by far a more interesting item to review than what I initially set out to get. It's just bizarre that, once again, an order for an In Trance We Trust CD has yielded me something completely different. Right, not as egregious a mispick as ending up with Tiësto's In Search Of Sunrise 5 - this at least has the words 'trust' and 'trance' in the title. But yes, getting Astral Projection's debut album is a far better grab than another In Trance We Trust mix – guess that collection will have to wait a little longer for completion.

Okay, this technically isn't an Astral Projection album, but it may as well be. Though the famed Israeli group made their proper debut with The Astral Files, they'd spent a few years prior honing their craft under a number of aliases, including Mantra, Aban Don and SFX. Hitching up with the label Phonokol, Misters Avi Nissim, Lior Perlmutter, and Yan-Iv Haviv were given the green light in compiling the first Trust In Trance collection, launching the sub-label Outmosphere Records. That one had a couple other contributors, but by the time they put together the quick follow-up, it was strictly an Astral Projection joint, even if they were operating under various guises. Hey, if The Black Dog could get away with it on Bytes, why not good ol' A.P.?

What makes all this a bit confusing is Astral Projection did release an album called Trust In Trance ...two years after Trust In Trance 2 came out. Confounding things further is them renaming Outmosphere Records into Trust In Trance Records. To say nothing of an Indian re-issue on Vale Music simply calling it Trust In Trance, which was later re-issued as Karma Trance 2 (so sayeth Lord Discogs). Good God and Vishnu almighty, does this nine-tracker of proto goa trance ever have a weird history.

Oh yeah, the music! Mahadeva is on here, often considered among the earliest tracks shaping the genre's defining characteristics many future artists would emulate. Sure, Eat Static, Total Eclipse, and Juno Reactor were doing their own things by this point, but Astral Projection really put a stamp on tweaking acid and vintage synths in such a fashion you just couldn't help but conjure flailing about on the beaches of Goa. Still, there's no denying Trust In Trance 2 is some early-ass trance music, a hefty portion not quite yet transitioned from mainland Europe's idea of what the genre should entail. Some are blistering fast, while others, particularly the SFX cuts, have little 'goa' influences in them at all. I can see that being a turn-off for those weaned on the psy scene's latter years of radical, freeform, trip-your-face-off music. For those preferring their psy on the simpler side though, Trust In Trance 2 does hold up pretty good three decades on.

Massimo Vivona - Travelling Alone

Carpe Sonum Records: 2021

No sooner had I reviewed Mr. Vivona's debut on Carpe Sonum Records than he dropped a sophomore effort a scant few months after. And seeing as how I'm a couple years tardy on reviewing this album, that's likely given him plenty of time to craft a third outing for the spiritual Fax+ successor. Coming out any day now. At least, I hope so, because I wouldn't mind hearing more from him in the future, nosiree.

But first, a little correction on my part. In my Breathe review, I mentioned ol' Massimo had released a lone single on Pete Namlook's label, Elevator as Elevator. While that part is true, I neglected (overlooked) to mention he'd worked in collaboration with a few others during his brief tenure there. This includes DJ Criss as Xenon, Dr. Atmo as Gamma, and Bela Cox as Gorn. Most of this stuff is early German trance, with Gamma dipping a bit into goa trance's territory, but regardless, to claim Massimo only released one acid techno record on Fax+ is just factually incorrect on my part.

That sorted, I like Travelling Alone a great deal more than Breathe. Not that I disliked that album by any stretch, quite vibing on its retro Berlin-School approach to songcraft. I just felt it lacked an extra gear his looping synths hinted at building towards. And while there's still some of that in this outing, Massimo mixes things up enough such that I'm coming away more satisfied with the overall experience. Heck, even the inclusion of actual track titles, like Paradise and Submarine and Love Of Horizon, does more than the strictly abstract Phase titles of Breathe.

Opening track Beautiful Field doesn't waste time getting us on those vintage early '90s Balearic feels: gentle pads, floaty melodies, bleepy sounds like seagulls, and even a downtempo rhythm! In fact, this sounds like something you might have heard on a slightly sappy chill-out compilation, but, like, the best cut from said comp'. I could easily hear Beautiful Field sharing playlist space with William Orbit or ATB (it's the slide guitar additions) and being none the worse for wear. The Orbit feels get even stronger with the short piano interlude Dramma, if for no other reason than adding a little modern classical flair to the album.

Still, if you were coming into Travelling Alone for more of those looping, trancey arps as heard in Breathe, Mr. Vivona has you covered in tracks like Paradise (bouncy and spritely), Love Of Horizon (really getting on that Global Communication / Manuel Göttsching pulse; also, a Wu-Tang sample?) and Around The Ocean (lazily chugging along in a tribal sort of way). Topping everything off is Submarine, a dubby bit of retro-groovy progressive house with plenty of aquatic samples sending you deep into the abyssal plain.

And then it's over. Damn, does this album ever fly by fast, ending just as I'm primed for things to ratchet up another gear. Oh, dammit, Massimo did it again, didn't he?

Saphileaum - The Traveler

Silent Season: 2019

I've had Saphileaum's The Traveler for some time, bought among a bundle that included Beat Pharmacy's Safety In Dub, Mohlao's Landforms, and Wanderwelle's Lost In A Sea Of Trees. Items I reviewed two years ago now. Why, then, did I skip this one? Some weird quirk of my convoluted queuing system? Nay, 'tis a sillier reason: I simply forgot I had it.

As The Traveler is a digital-only release, I assume it got lost among all the other 'travel' albums in my folders (Travel The Galaxy, Traveler '03, Traveller, Travelling Without Moving... bonus points if you can I.D. what artists those are tied to!). Only now, during this run through the 'T's, did I realize I missed Saphileaum's EP. Oopsie on me, but that sometimes happens when I don't have a physical copy to confirm I actually bought something. And y'all wonder why I held off on the buying digital for so long.

Anyhow, Saphileaum. There's a lot of history behind this project of Andro Gogibedashvili, at least according to his Discoggian bio. More than I'm willing to divulge here, if I'm honest. Perhaps his biggest claim to fame (aside from being the grandson of one of Georgia's most popular singers, Temur Tsiklauri), is having a snippet of one of his tracks sent out into space, directed at a Neptune-like planet orbiting a red dwarf called K2-18. Huh, seems a bit random. Why not an Earth-like exoplanet, like Gliese 667Cc, or Trappist-1E, or Kepler-69C (nice). Guess the waiting list to transmit to those locations is a tad longer.

Anyhow, after spending some time floating about net-labels like Norite, Controlled Violence, and Oslated, Andro landed on Silent Season with a debut of The Traveler. And what an interesting debut it is, treading into sonic territory I've yet to hear the label venture into. Sure, opener Golden Tunic seems to follow upon similar, spacious dubby aesthetics so often heard throughout Silent Season's history, but there's something oh-so relaxing, calming, and soothing about these gentle synth pads and soft tribal rhythms. It's ambient dub, but for the New Age sect. Not that we haven't heard mystical-leaning music out of this print before, but almost always with a dub techno approach. Saphileaum shows almost no techno-fetishism in his songcraft, dub merely used to enhance the spacious vistas he creates. And boy howdy, does he create some deep spaces indeed.

That said, the tracks making up The Traveler do run a tad samey throughout. Establish a steady rhythm with a meditative melody and twilight field recordings, then subtly loop them for around six minutes each, throwing in a few rolling drum fills, layers of harmonic drone, and echo effects for flavour. It's all finely crafted, no doubt, but once you catch onto the Saphileaum stylee, you won't hear much deviation from it. Fortunately, The Traveler doesn't grow long in tooth either, wrapping up in a tidy seven tracks. A perfect length for a nice stroll through ancient forest paths.

ASC - Trans-Neptunian Objects 2

Auxiliary: 2018

James Clements taking his ambient explorations to the furthest reaches of our solar system? Hell, I'm sold! Let's follow that link to wherever the CD can be bought and it's already sold out. Okay, that's on me, rather tardy in getting 'round to nabbing a copy of Trans-Neptunian Objects. Ain't no way I'm missing out on a second edition of this concept series! Maybe I'll get fortunate though, and James will re-issue the first sometime down the line. Hey, he's been offering vinyl editions of his Silent Season albums this past year, so it could happen!

Anyhow, Trans-Neptunian Objects 2 doesn't waste any time letting you know the sort of outing you're in for. Opening track, Varuna (named after a Hindu deity; one of the more prominent bodies discovered in the early days of Kuiper Belt explorations) sounds appropriately desolate and remote, distantly echoing sounds skittering about as a deep space ambience settles in. Layers of drone build in intensity, bringing a sense of awe to the atmosphere, but we're still in the coldest reaches of our solar system, our sonic vista frigid and uninviting despite the subtle glisten of feeble sunlight upon icy bodies.

As if that wasn't enough, second track Huya (named after the rain god Juyá of the Wayuu people; has its own moon) is even more desolate, about as pure a piece of dark ambient drone as you're likely to hear this side of a Silent Universe outing. Deucalion (named after the son of Prometheus; part of the 'cold population') seems to start in similar fashion, but soon comes forth with a more prominent lead of melodic grandeur. It's still all presented in a dark ambient sort of way, the Kuiper Belt forever an uninviting place in Mr. Clements' view. Sometimes though, you have to sit back in your cryopod and respectably take in the impossible remoteness of your surroundings.

Which is just as well, since Typhon (named after one of Zeus' cosmic foes, possibly buried under Mt. Etna; is a binary 'centaur' object) is more melancholic compared to the preceding tracks. In fact, the layers of dubby drone James uses here reminds me more of ASC's Silent Season albums compared to the pure space drone I've heard thus far on Trans-Neptunian Objects 2. Same can be said for Varda (named after the queen of the Valar – that's Tolkien, folks; guess astronomers ran out of names from antiquity lore), but not so much the remaining two tracks.

The bleepy sounds of Mors-Somnus (named after twin Roman gods; likely a merged binary) had me initially thinking something from Fax+, but the ominous, eerie mood quickly brought it back to the realms of dark ambient. Rather cinematic, in fact, while Chaos (oh, c'mon! Naming any moving object in our solar system that is just asking for trouble) has a steady pulsing throb, the sort of rhythm I'd expect out of a Sabled Sun joint. And now I want ASC to somehow appear on Cryo Chamber.

Various - Tranceculture > Endless Universe

Hypnotic: 1995

This was a fairly popular CD among my raving peers way back in the day. When you're stuck in the hinterlands of Canadaland, in the Before Times of primitive internet, finding anything with a hint of the underground was like mana from heaven to the ears of high-schoolers. This wasn't some poppy eurodance rinsed out by MC Mario, this was European trance music, with sounds emitting from the deepest cosmic corners, conjuring sci-fi concepts like semiconductors, DNA structures, and Apollo moon missions, all throbbing at 160 – 200 bpm. It does all seem a bit silly in hindsight, doesn't it?

There's a lot about Tranceculture that can come off rather dodgy, even by mid-'90s efforts. Despite being presented as a compilation, it's abundantly clear all the tracks are produced by one man, Steffen Schuhrke, who barely gets an 'Operations & Navigations' credit. The alias Reverse Pulse had appeared on a few other scattered Hypnotic collections, so why not just bill it as that? No, this is just Hypnotic (re: Cleopatra) on their chintzy marketing shtick again, right down to a lenticular jewel case with lame- oh, I can't stay snarky at you, lenticular jewel cases. There's even a picture of Saturn, always frickin' awesome!

Besides, it's all about the music, right? Right, and Tranceculture features some of the purest forms of trance you can imagine. Like, ultra-retro pure. We're talking basic, hypnotic loops, performed in incremental waves, melody more of a suggestion of minor chord progression in backing pads. There's acid and bleepy arps, but served as a rhythmic rudder to the blistering pace of these tracks rather than prominent leads. Aside from escalating tension as loops build upon each other, there isn't any sort of typical song structure going on here.

It's an almost improvisational method of constructing each track, Steffen feeling out when and where each loop gets dropped in, whether a key change is warranted, and how much knob twiddling one earns. Nor does he seem encumbered by when and how a track should end, letting things run for however long feels right for the moment, even if that's nine, thirteen, or fifteen minutes. It rather reminds me of the old Spiral Tribe free-tekno tapes but with German trance sounds rather than hardcore techno.

Still, the dated nature of Tranceculture can't be overlooked. Heck, I'm sure some could argue A.I. does this now – it certainly ain't no th'ang for computers to emulate popular EDM, so why not three decade old (!!) trance? Plug in some stock loops, request a couple effects, and let 'er rip, right? I thought so at first, but the more I re-listened to this CD, the more I realized Steffen's still doing things that just can't be mimicked by technology yet. When and where such loops are utilized, just how much a knob gets twisted – a 'human intuition' sort of vibe, however basic or subtle it may be. Damn, didn't expect to get so metaphysical with a shameless nostalgic trip.

Tomas Jirku - Touching The Sublime

Silent Season: 2020

Continuing my ever so slow backtrack through Silent Season's catalogue, it's time for the third-to-last item the label released before going into presumed mothballs. Look, it's just a weird coincidence things turned out this way - I guarantee my next reviews from this label won't be Night Sea's Still or Yuka's Moon Song. Although, I see no reason why not, both still available as digital downloads. For how much longer though? While Silent Season doesn't look to close shop anytime soon, the lack of recent activity is cause for some concern. I'd hate to pop over to their Bandcamp and suddenly find *Snap!*, as if it never were.

Anyhow, here's Tomas Jirku's Touching The Sublime, a rather unique item in the Silent Season canon, and I'm not just talking the music. No, this album has the distinction of having a photo book tie-in, which... actually makes a whole lot of sense. Think about it: what's one of this label's defining characteristics? The plethora of naturalist beauty shots, of course. Yeah, the music within has always been class, but what really sold the idea of said music coming from some mystical land of the Pacific Northwest was the steady stream of picturesque scenery adorning the cover art. And now here's a whole darn book of them! I was oh-so tempted in buying one, if the $100 price tag hadn't pushed it to the back-burner of my To Buy bin before they were all bought up. Oh well, guess I'll settle for the CD.

It's a hard one to peg down though. Mr. Jirku released a number of items throughout the '00s, but seemed to go relatively quiet on the music front in the following decade. Lord Discogs lists Touching The Sublime as his first album after a ten year gap, though a smattering of singles filled the space between, consisting of everything from microhouse to dub techno to glitch-fuzz. And while what he offers here definitely fits within Silent Season mould, there's a restrained opulence to his productions that places Touching The Sublime well outside their typical dub techno lane.

Seriously, The Iliad & The Odyssey and Pele & Surtr go full-on orchestral in portions, but as filtered through a submarine turbine. And gosh, are Idiis Mortii, Entropy8, and Hypoxia ever getting on some dark ambient drone action. Even the opener, A Warm Place, is all sorts of moody and foreboding, almost deadly silent before blasting you with a massive wave of atonal drone. If Touching The Sublime was that sort of album throughout, this could have gone down as one of Silent Season's most daring albums ever, especially when coupled with a lovely picture book. However, tracks like Tectonic Monument, Eyeless Through Space, and other portions of Pele & Surtr (at thirteen minutes, it's the longest track here – plenty of space to indulge) do get on some 'typical dub techno' breaded butter. Guess the rest was just a bit too much for the label's regulars to handle.

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.