Kuba - Bringing It All Back Home

Chillout artist Kuba is back with another album. I admit I haven't heard the middle two yet, just Inside Out which was a cool experience. Before I even got to listen to Inside Out enough for it to grow on me and pick out the best tracks on it I found out he's out with his fourth album. As I haven't heard the other two I won't compare this to his other work.
The album opens with a very chilling Monk Dust. It's a really nice piece, with "tribal" vocals repeating throughout the track. Not very psychedelic or dubby, just good old chillout. The next track is a bit more dubby. Sounds very similar to what I would expect from Kaya Project. Just great. After the first two we get something different. Heavy dub sounds, a psychedelic vibe and reggae vocals. I am not a big fan of this kind of vocals in chillout music, but here they definitely sound good. And as if there wasn't enough happening the listener gets some magnificent flute playing as well. Really cool track, not the best vocals, but they fit well. Track number four is titled They All Went To A Party and it's totally different from the previous three. It's pretty upbeat, almost trancy and a bit monotone, but still one of the best on the album. Perfect soundtrack for a rainy day train ride. The next track is a pretty simple one. Uplifiting guitar playing, flute and a lively beat make it one of the most chilled tracks on the album, but it's a bit on the cheesy side. Still nice to hear. The next track features guitar as well, but I like this one much more. Not as uplifiting and a bit more ambient, very beautiful. Soft female vocals are a very nice addition. The following piece is titled Mushroom Daddy In Dub and it has a lot of reggae influence. Really nice sounds, Kuba really shows how varied his styles can be. Make Me Water is the second trancy track on the album, not really impressive, kind of simple, but still worth a listen. Next on the list is Keep Walking, which has hardly any beat at all and keeps on building up and right when you expect it to climax it dies down and ends. It's very good though, great sounds Kuba offers us. Track number ten is a dubby chillout tune with an ethnic sound. Good one. Next is Maria From Huddersville which has a very heavy feel to it. Not sure what is it about it, but it's one of the best on this release. The outro track is an ambient piece with some vocals, a good ending to the album
This album is an amazing experience. Psychill, trance, dub, reggae, ambient. You hear everything on this one, but none of those styles stands out at any point. Maybe it's a bit inconsistent, but all tracks are at least good. Very positive and uplifiting vibes, perfect for anyone feeling down. While I usually prefer the darker side of electronic music, Kuba knows how to deliver without being cheesy. Highly recommended.

Rating: 4.5/5

Standout Tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 11
Genre: Chilout, Dub, Psychill, Reggae, Ambient

Release info:

Label: Chillcode Music
Country: Germany
Released: November 2009

Tracklist:

1. Monk Dust
2. Where's Fragga
3. A Shoe String (Spaff Mix feat. Shaky)
4. They All Went To A Party
5. The Sky You Are (Feat. Tiago Coimbra)
6. It Keeps Us Down To Size (Feat. Michele Adamson)
7. Mushroom Daddy In Dub (Feat. Charlie Shuttler)
8. Make Me Water
9. Keep Walking (Feat. Michele Adamson)
10. Bringing It All Back Home
11. Maria From Huddersfield
12. A Tangerine World

I'm back!

Hey everyone and sorry for the long silence! I just moved recently and getting an internet connection took way more than I expected which stopped my progress with the blog and my YouTube channel, but now I'm back and don't expect to have interruptions like this again. A long overdue update is coming up (probably tomorrow) with all the album news. Reviews will follow so I can get back to normal.
For those of you who follow my YouTube channel I invite you back there as well. New upload in progress as I'm writing this ;)

Second week of November update.

With the new Shpongle album out the my most awaited albums of the year are already released. Still no news on the Asura album though... I've been listening to a lot of classic rock lately so I have less recommendations related to this blog, but one album I discovered this week is Visions Of Surya by Colourform, a project consisting of Matt Hiller and Jake Stephenson. Amazing, light ambient, similar to the ambient works of Solar Quest, but probably even calmer. Another album I heard by this duo is Microcosmacrocosm, released as Alien Mutation vs Indigo Egg. Check those out if you like to hear some ambient sometimes.

So as far as new releases this week go the highlight has to be E-Mantra's Arcana. Another Suntrip release in a short period of time and from I heard on the samples it will be awesome. Really great year for goa and Suntrip. Full release list:

E-Mantra - Arcana (Suntrip Records)
Silent Enemy - Diabolic (9th Circle Records)
Yubaba - Paradiso (Cyberset Records)
Animalis - Sly Technology (Geomagnetic.tv)

X-Dream - We Created Our Own Happiness

Before the Shpongle album review I decided to go back in time to 1997 and one of my favorite goa albums. We Created Our Own Happiness is the second album by the famous X-Dream duo from Germany. It's widely considered as a goa classic so many of you must have heard it or of it.
It starts out slow and then we get what I love the most about this album. The amazing acid sound use, X-Dream are the masters at that. After the amazing first track I expected things to go down, happens a lot when artists put the best track to start off and leave a good first impression. But no, in this case it gets even better. Do You Believe is just an amazing journey through acid landscapes and goa melodies. Very hypnotizing. The following track, The Second Room (A-Trip), is a bit weaker in my opinion, but still great goa. We don't have as much innovation here, it's simpler, but that also makes it feel like it's much faster. Then we move on to Zebra which has a more chilling feel to it, probably because of the lower BPM. But the track is just beautiful, great use of acid again. The fifth track is a downtempo piece, nothing special really. Not bad, but I preferred the trance tracks. About half way into the track we get a quote about ganja. We go back to trance with We Created Our Own Happiness. Good track, but more monotone compared to the first few. The sample here reminds me a lot of the one used in Sea Of Tranquility by Art Of Trance. Eleven follows and it is probably the second best track on the album. It starts out simple and continues evolving and the second part of it is one of the finest moments of this release. Unlike on most goa releases the last track is no a downtempo piece. Aurorix is just crazy fast, but still manages to be very complex. It's actually the perfect ending for this album.
We Created Our Own Happiness is one of those albums that could be recommended to someone new to goa, if they won't like this, then they probably won't like anything else. It's very complex, but everything flows perfectly. Listen to it if you haven't already and let me know what you think.

Rating: 5/5

Standout Tracks: 1, 2, 7
Genre: Goa Trance

Release info:

Label: Tunnel Records
Country: Germany
Released: 1997
Artwork: Bi.sign
Producer: Rough & Rush

Tracklist:

1. Screw (The Truth)
2. Do You Believe
3. The Second Room (A-Trip)
4. Zebra
5. Related Vortex
6. Eleven
7. Aurorix

Links:

Discogs

Last.fm

Myspace

October release summary and upcoming week's albums.

My blog is two months old now. Thank you for all the visits again, I got twice as many visitors in October with the counter hitting 1500. I also added a Flag Counter (after around 1000 views) and got visitors from 62 countries so far.

October had some interesting releases, but no great albums. The Intergalactic Slapstick is the best I heard so far, but Planet Discovery should be good too. Here is the full list of releases from last month with my rating added:

Para Halu - The Future Sound of Para Halu
California Sunshine - The Dark Side Of The Brain (3/5)
Bodhisattva 13:20 - Equations (3.5/5)

Shotu - Conception
Liquid Stranger - The Intergalactic Slapstick (4/5)

Kalumet - Burlesque
Easily Embarrassed - Planet Discovery

November will start out strong with the long awaited Shpongle album. It will be available from the Twisted website October 7th, but the pre-ordered copies will be sent out November 2nd. The Shpongle Live DVD is also being sent out Nov. 2nd. It includes Shpongle Live In Concert as well as bonus materials. Here is a list of new releases for the first week of November:

Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries From Shpongleland (Twisted)

Yggdrasil - Prose Edda (Digital Psionics)

Ghreg On Earth - T³ (Underground Sound Promotions)

Liquid Stranger - The Intergalactic Slapstick

The American producer Martin Stääf, aka Liquid Stranger, is back with a new full-length album. The first album was an amazing journey through his sounds, very heavy in dub and overall just a very chilling experience. On his second album he continues to give us a very heavy dub sound. This time however we don't get as much ambient and vocals are present on most tracks.

The album starts out with a minute short intro track. The two following tunes are really awesome psydub. Just what I like  in this kind of music, heavy beats with a psychedelic twist, just awesome. Seb Taylor plays steel guitar on His Fully Automatic Wheelbarrow. Following the first two we get the first vocal track. The reggae sounding vocals are the main focus of the track, but it's much less complex than the first two. It continues like this through the next few songs. Heavy dub beats, reggae vocals, but unfortunately they lack the psychedelic twist I mentioned.  But even though less complex than what I like to hear, the music flows nicely. The vocals can be annoying at times and at other times they are enjoyable. Tantrum and Bodily Needs are examples of tracks where I couldn't stand the vocals. Tantrum had a reggateon feel to it which I absolutely hate and Bodily Needs, while it's a decent track overall, has some terrible vocals towards the end, both lyrically and in the way they sound. Then the album finishes off with two great tracks. Lotus is a very calming piece with softer beats and beautiful female vocals. Dew Point is the most ambient track on the album and a beautiful finish to it.

This album is something different compared to The Invisible Conquest. More focused on the vocals, it loses some of the psychedelic beauty. Two or three bad tracks are equaled out by the standouts making it a good album, with some minuses. While the change of style is interesting and enjoyable for the most part, the tracks most similar to what we hear on his first album are standouts.

Rating: 4/5

Standout Tracks: 2, 3, 12, 13
Genre: Dub, Reggae, Psychill

Release info:

Label: Interchill Records
Country: United Kingdom
Released: 16 October 2009

Tracklist:

1. Hiding In The Morning Mist
2. His Fully Automatic Wheelbarrow
3. Dancing On The Petals Avoiding The Nettles
4. Soundboy Killa
5. Full Mental Jacket
6. Tantrum
7. Dub Missile
8. Mutants
9. Rough Road
10. Hexed And Perplexed

11. Bodily Needs

12. Lotus

13. Dew Point 

Links:

Discogs

Last.fm

Myspace

Fourth week of October update.

I want to thank everyone for your visits! I really appreciate it, without you I would stop writing.

New Easily Embarrassed album is out now! You can buy it here. I'm finished with my review of the new Liquid Stranger album. I will post it soon. There is no releases coming up this week that caught my attention, but the following week should be much more exciting.

Because of the lack of news this week I'll go a month back in time to the release of Imaginary Friends by Ultimae. Those of you who get their newsletter must have heard about it, but for some it might be news. According to Ultimae it features "a melange of styles, different facets of ambient electronica infused with neo-classical moods, acoustic sensibilities, epic melodies and impressionistic textures and tempos for a vibrant and overall warm feel". Sounds impressive. I'm not sure what to expect from this release, but I thought I would mention it here since Ultimae hasn't released a single bad album (or compilation) so far.

A new psychedelic chillout review website by Trwolfe is up. He has one review so far, a nice collection of links and a very useful artist list. Check it out at http://psyreviews.trwolfe.com/.

With the month of October coming to an end I made the October compilation of my YouTube videos. You can see it here or on my channel. A few IDM tracks again, I'm really getting into that genre now. Also featuring a track from Liquid Strangers new album.

Artist Profile: Sebastian James Taylor

For those who don't recognize him by his real name he is also known as Digitalis, Shakta, Kaya Project, Hibernation and also for his collaboration work, most notably as Angel Tears with Lior Miller and Momi Ochion. If you still don't know who am I talking about then you're missing out. Seb Taylor is one of the most versatile electronic music artists, often compared to Simon Posford, but unfortunately not as well known His music styles range from pure goa trance through chillout with world music influences to IDM.

Taylor started out in the early 90s producing goa trance under the alias Digitalis. Sometimes described as breakbeat goa or psybreaks his work as Digitalis is pretty unique stuff, often being pure breakbeat. He's still producing under this alias with the last EP released in 2008. In 1996 he started his pure goa project for which he is probably best known, Shakta. With tracks like Silicon Trip or Lepton Head Part III he guaranteed himself a place in the goa trance history. His sound with this alias is pretty hard and heavy sounding goa. Around the same time he also released as Somaton, also goa, but in a little lighter melodic form. It never gained as much popularity as Shakta.

But even though he is an amazing psytrance/goa producer what impressed me the most are his chillout productions. He is one of the core members of Angel Tears which started out in 1998. Wonderful chillout, with calming melodies, amazing flute playing and hypnotizing vocals. Lots of indian, arabic and african influence here. Some tracks have a bit faster beat, but overall Angel Tears offers very calming, meditative music. We hear a lot of authentic instruments like indian sitars, arabic violins, tibetan flutes etc. After Angel Tears, Kaya Project followed. Pretty similar by definition, but with a more natural, "dry" sound. It's hard to explain what makes Kaya Project unique, but just give the latest album a listen and you'll know what I mean. Really passionate music. Just when you would think Seb Taylor can't do any more styles he released an IDM album as Hibernaion. Well maybe not pure IDM, but very different from his other chillout output. You can hear some influences from the days of Angel Tears, but it's something completely new. Let's hope that's not the last he has to offer as Hibernation.

In the sixteen years of producing he released 13 albums, 9 solo and 4 with Angel Tears, and numerous EPs. Everything I heard so far is just amazing music and he keeps on evolving. And what's most important he hasn't gone commercial. We can hear passion in his music and as long as he is passionate about what he does we can only wait for another masterpiece.

Solo Albums:
Somaton - Future Memories (1997)
Shakta - Silicon Trip (1997)
Digitalis - The Third State (1998)
Shakta - Enlightened Ape (1999)

Shakta - Feed The Flame (2004)
Kaya Project - Walking Through (2004)
Kaya Project - Elixir (2005)
Kaya Project - And So It Goes (2008)
Hibernation - Some Things Never Change (2008)

Collaboration Albums:

Angel Tears - Angel Tears (1998)

Angel Tears - Angel Tears Vol. 2 (2000)

Angel Tears - Angel Tears Vol. 3 (2002)

Angel Tears - Angel Tears Vol. 4 - Vision (2005)

For his complete discography go to Discogs. He has many more aliases and collaborations with only a few tracks for compilations or one or two EPs. I only covered the most notable projects.

Links:

Discogs

MySpace

Kaya Project - Official

New releases update plus the promised goa playlist.

The new Shpongle album is coming up very soon and it is available for pre-order from Twisted. I'm really excited about this one and I refuse to listen to any samples until it comes out.
I gave a listen to the new Bodhisattva 13:20 album. I'm not really a big psytrance fan so my rating for those albums will always be lower than some other styles (unless it's a real masterpiece), but this album is pretty good overall. 3.5 out of 5 for me. Worth checking out, but nothing amazing. It's a bit on the dark side, but you can't say it is a darkpsy release. The California Sunshine album will be an interesting listen, I'll put up a review soon.

Releases for the next week (both due October 23rd):

Kalumet - Burlesque (Halu Beats Records)

Easily Embarrassed - Planet Discovery (Cosmicleaf Records)

The new Easily Embarrassed album is one of the highlights of this month. The first one had some very interesting tracks and they sure showed they have talent so this should be good.

I also created the neo-goa playlist which I mentioned in my article. Over 52 tracks from the artists from my list. Enjoy!

Adham Shaikh - Fusion

As I promised I'm reviewing an older album now. Sorry for being a little inactive lately, I had some more important business but now I should post as often as before.

The first track by Adham Shaikh I heard was Opal. And I loved it right away. It's just one of those tunes that get you entranced by themselves. The flute (more specifically it's a bansuri) played here is amazing, the beat is just right, everything works. So after hearing that I didn't wait long and decided to give the whole album a listen. Adham Shaikh takes you on an amazing journey, listening to his music feels like you leave the place you are in and travel somewhere far. The most amazing thing about this album is the use of flute, how Adham mixes it in the tracks. The first two tracks are probably also the two best ones, or at least the most entrancing ones. The beat here is pretty fast, but nothing too crazy. Then we get into the more dubby part of the album with the excellent Dubfire which sounds like it could be an Ott track. From then the tracks are pretty much chillout with an indian sound, but they are very entrancing as well. The last few tracks are more trancy again, Shake It (Shaikh It) is pretty much a dance song. Which doesn't mean they are not good, everything sounds just perfect. The album finishes of with Rabbit Hole Raga (Spore Mix) on which we get to listen to some more flute playing.

This album will please psychill, chillout, ambient and maybe even trance fans with a great mix of all these genres. The great thing is that unlike the majority of producers Shaikh uses real instruments on most of these tracks and mixes them in with the rest. And fortunately here we can hear them because often if lets say a guitar was used it's sound is changed so much you can't really tell it is a guitar. It was definitely worth checking out, amazing music.

While in my opinion this is his best release his other three albums are great too. Journey to the Sun is much more ambient but the other two are very similar to Fusion.

Rating: 5/5

Standout tracks: 1, 2,5, 9

Genre: Chillout, Dub, Trance

Release info:

Label: Sonicturtle Records
Country: Canada
Released: October 2004
Credits: Producer, Written-By - Adham Shaikh

Tracklist:

1. Opal
2. Flying Beyond
3. Dubfire
4. Infusion (Bombay Mix)
5. Ohm (Transfix Mix)
6. Gayatri Mantra Shuffle
7. Somptin Hapnin (Ganesh Mix)
8. Shake It (Shaikh It)
9. Newborn Shuffle
10. Rabbit Hole Raga (Spore Mix)

Links:

Discogs

Last.fm

Myspace

Release updates.

New California Sunshine album was released and a Liquid Stranger album is coming up soon. Here is the full list:

October 10th:
Para Halu - The Future Sound of Para Halu (Psylife Music)
California Sunshine - The Dark Side Of The Brain (Ultiva Records)
Bodhisattva 13:20 - Equations (2TO6 Records)

October 16th:
Shotu - Conception (Hadra Productions)
Liquid Stranger - The Intergalactic Slapstick (Interchill Records)

A review for an older album is coming up before I review something recently released. From last month's releases I listened to Open Source's album and I thought it was pretty terrible. A score of 2 out of 5 for me, not really worth listening.

The Rebirth of Goa.

The golden age of goa trance is widely considered to be between 1993-1999, the most known artists being Man With No Name, Hallucinogen, Etnica, Transwave, Cosmosis etc. After that the genre pretty much died. Psytrance took over with acts like Infected Mushroom gaining huge popularity and that made many goa producers turn to psytrance or psychill and later on full-on etc. Very few goa albums were released after 2000 and most of them had a lot psytrance influence. Goa was basically forgotten by most producers up until about 2005 when a lot of new names showed up with new goa compilations and albums. The leading label in all this has got to be Suntrip with 10 full length albums released since 2004, several compilations and EPs. Many artists also started releasing the music online on their own. I'll do a small overview of artists from the "second wave" of goa.

New artists:

Filteria (Sweden) - Probably the most famous "neo-goa" artist with three full length albums released since 2004. He produces beautiful melodic goa, a little bit darker compared to most Suntrip releases. His latest album is, in my opinion, the best goa release since Khetzal's Corolle.

MySpace - Last.fm - YouTube - Official - Discogs

Khetzal (France) - One of the best new goa artists. Corolle is definitely one of the finest examples of the new wave albums. Just like Filteria's, his tracks are full of swirly melodies, but his music is generally light, nothing heavy sounding. Since 2005 he only released a few tracks which appeared on various compilations, but lets hope he has more to offer.

Last.fm - Official - Discogs

Afgin (Israel) - Perfect representation of new goa. His albums are lighter as well, and he sounds a bit more old school compared to other artists. He moved to Suntrip after releasing his first album on his own. A bit cheesy at times, but not in a bad way.

MySpace - Last.fm - Official - Discogs

Goasia (Serbia) - This duo makes very powerful, pounding goa. A little less crazy than Filteria for example, but extremely atmospheric. Their tracks actually sound scary at times. I heard new album rumors, but so far nothing has been confirmed.

MySpace - Last.fm - Official - Discogs

Mindsphere (Turkey) - Inner Cyclone is his only album so far, but what an album. Probably the most powerful sound out of all neo-goa albums I heard so far. He has confirmed he's making a new album, but there is no official release date yet.

MySpace - Last.fm - Discogs

Radical Distortion (Greece) - Another good project. The BPM is a little lower here for the most part. Besides their three albums they made many compilation tracks as well. New album just released on Suntrip on October 2nd so come back to read my review ;)

MySpace - Last.fm - Official - Discogs

Merr0w (France) - One of the most recent artists with his first album released this year. His style is a bit different from the other neo goa artists, but still amazing stuff. Worth checking out.

MySpace - Last.fm - Official - Discogs

More artists:

Artifact303 (Romania) - MySpace - Last.fm - Discogs
E-Mantra (Romania) - MySpace - Last.fm - Discogs
Lost Buddha (Portugal) - Last.fm - Discogs
Aerosis (United States) - MySpace - Last.fm - Official - Discogs
Travma (Turkey) - MySpace - Last.fm - Discogs
Goalien (Serbia) - MySpace - Last.fm - Official - Discogs
Liquid Flow (Croatia) - MySpace - Last.fm - Discogs

First wave artists still producing goa:

Chi-A.D. - MySpace - Last.fm - Official - Discogs
Ra - MySpace - Last.fm - Discogs
California Sunshine - MySpace - Last.fm - Discogs
Cosmosis - MySpace - Last.fm - Official - Discogs

There is a few "stars", but the rest remains virtually unknown with only 2 or 3 tracks released on compilations or a single EP. Only a handful of full-length albums have been released since 2005, but there is a lot of compilations (often combined with psytrance tracks) and more is being released each year. The new stuff from old producers is often very close to psytrance which can't be said about most of the artists from my first list. So, for the fans of Dimension 5, Etnica and similar goa acts that never really trusted the new guys it's time to catch up because they are really up there with the old masters.

I'll make a neo-goa playlist on YouTube soon and post it up here so come back soon if you want to give a listen to it here before buying or downloading.

First month of my blog. September release summary and albums coming in October.

Thanks to all of you for commenting, following and visiting my blog. I managed to get nearly 500 pageviews which is much more than I expected. Hopefully the numbers will continue to grow. I posted three reviews so far and that's what I am planning on doing every month. September has been a very intense month as far as new releases go. I still haven't listened to Banco's new album, but when I do I'll post a review. Here are the releases from last month that caught my attention. If I listened to them I added my rating.

Banco De Gaia - Memories Dreams Reflections

Capsula - Sense Of A Drop (4.5/5)

Argaman - My Little Forest (3.5/5)

Side Liner - Missing Pieces Of A Puzzle (4/5)

Union Jack - Pylon Pigs (5/5)

Smiley Pixie - Chillout Moods To Urban Grooves

Open Source - Uncultured (2/5)

Soundaholix - Soundaholix Annonymous

Way Out West - We Love Machine

Heyoka - Gate Code

Lokesh - Utopia

DarkShiRe - Breakdown

Vishnudata - Vishnudata

And the first week of October watch out for (all due to be released Ocober 2nd):

Radical Distortion - Psychedelic Dreams (Suntrip)

Rawar - A Journey Through Time (Wild Seven Recordz)

International Observer - Felt (Dubmission)

Union Jack - Pylon Pigs

Union Jack is back with a new album, fourteen years after the release of There Will Be No Armageddon and twelve since their last single. Clasudio Giussani left the group and was replaced by Paul Brogen (also known as Pob). This is probably in my top three most awaited albums of the year because Union Jack, alongside Art of Trance, has influenced my taste like no other project.

I was afraid even these guys would succumb to the new trends in music, but fortunately they haven't. They haven't forgotten their roots, most of the tracks sound like goood old school trance and just like on their first album we get a few chillout gems. Blink stands out a little stylistically sounding more like modern trance, but it's still a very good track. The acid sound is a little less noticeable on this one, but it's still an acid trance album, something extremely rare these days. The trance tracks have a very hard beat for the most part, lots of acid and a dark sound. Unlike most albums the chillout tracks are put in between the trance pieces which is a pretty good idea. Instead of cooling off after hearing the whole album we get a calmer track more often. The cover is pretty interesting, but very different from the old style Platipus cover art. I liked the old ones more, but this is nice too. It's really hard to find a minus on this album. Even though it sounds old school it's much fresher than all the stuff that gets called "trance" these days. Union Jack does not sell out and gives us another trance masterpiece. It's been a very good year for Platipus records. Six new releases, an Art Of Trance collection and a few compilation albums show that the label is back in the game.

Rating: 5/5

Standout tracks: 1, 2,10

Genre: Acid Trance, Chillout

Release info:

Label: Platipus
Country: United Kingdom
Released: 14 September 2009
Credits: Artwork By - Kiosk, Gemma Winter 
Mastered By - Paul Brodgen 
Producer, Written-By - Paul Brogden, Simon Berry

Tracklist:

1. Papillon
2. Submerge
3. Triclops
4. Longhorn
5. Mainlining
6. Blink
7. Lifeblood
8. Vowel
9. The Dark Major
10. Funnelweb

Links:

Discogs

Last.fm

Myspace

More release news. September YouTube playlist.

The new Flooting Grooves album still doesn't have an exact release date so it looks like it won't be released in September... More albums just released:

Smiley Pixie - Chillout Moods To Urban Grooves (September 25th)

Open Source - Uncultured (September 25th)

Soundaholix - Soundaholix Anonymous (September 18th)

I also made a playlist with all my September uploads on YouTube. Tracks from Ra, Slackbaba, Solar Fields, Walter Ego and more!

Argaman - My Little Forest

My Little Forest is the second album by the Israeli producer Itai Argaman, but first under this alias. He's known for making psytrance, but like many produces he also decided to make some psychedelic chillout...

The cover is pretty interesting and it caught my attention. It looks more like a cover for a Disney DVD than a psychill album artwork, but I actually like it's cheesiness. They say "don't judge a book by it's cover", but in this case I couldn't resist. Especially if it was released by FairyTales Records... After listening to the album it's obvious all this cheesiness is intentional as the music itself has many "fairytale" moments. Most of the tracks have some light dub and classical mixed together with "magical" music which gives it an interesting and very unique sound. There is a lot happening in every track so they never get boring and they are not repetitive. It's pretty weird stuff though and one or two times I was about to skip to the next track. I cannot say this is my favorite style, but I have to give him credit for having some cool ideas and most of all for creating his own style. Most of the time when I hear something new there is always some other artist or album I can compare it to, but this is something new. I've been hearing good things about this album before my first listen and even though it's not really for me I know many people love it. Seeing what Argaman comes up with in the future will be interesting.

Rating: 3.5/5

Standout tracks: 1, 4,9

Genre: Chillout, Dub

Release info:

Label: FairyTales Records
Country: Israel
Released: 4 September 2009
Credits: Artwork By - The-Pash

Mastered By - Itai Argaman
Producer, Written-By - Itai Argaman

Tracklist:

1. LSDing Camping
2. You Will See
3. InHarmonic Symphony
4. WierDUB
5. Don't Leave Me Alone
6. The Old Times
7. It's Not For Money
8. The New Vibe
9. Concertina
10. The Silence

Links:

Discogs

Last.fm

Myspace

Union Jack - Pylon Pigs out now!

I've been checking the Platipus website and their Myspace weekly for months now awaiting news about their new album so I'm not sure how I missed this, but the new album from masters of acid trance is out! Pylon Pigs was released September 14th by Platipus. Simon Giussani is replaced by Paul Brodgen on this one. Papillion sounded promising so I have very high expectations.

Reviews for Memories, Dreams, Reflections, My Little Forest, and Pylon Pigs coming soon!

"Memories, Dreams, Reflections" released! New releases update.

One of my most awaited albums of this year, Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Banco de Gaia was released on September 11th. You can order a copy here. It's not really a regular artist album, but as he stated on his blog disc one is is remakes of a few songs that influenced him plus remakes of his old tracks and the second one is a "selection of live recordings taken from over the years". Maybe not as exciting as an album full of new tracks, but still something to look forward to. My review of it coming as soon as I listen and analyze it.

Sense of a Drop by Capsula was also released on Waveform Records on September 8th and My Little Forest by Argaman was released on September 4th.

Side Liner - Missing Pieces of a Puzzle is due to be released tomorrow, September 14th.

Lots of new stuff in one week. Check back for my reviews of those.

And here is a taste of Flooting Grooves (another September release) on my latest YouTube upload, enjoy.

Slackbaba - ...And The Beat Goes Om...

Here is my first review. I don’t have much experience so sorry if it’s very amateurish, I should improve as I write more :)

I’m always up for checking out an artist I have never heard of, especially when they are known for making psychill. Slackbaba was recommended to me on Last.fm so after a while I decided to listen to his album.

...And The Beat Goes Om... is an easy to listen to album and is very re-playable. On my first listen I wasn’t sure what to think because it is a little lighter compared to most albums in the same genre, but it grew on me very fast. While none of the tracks actually stand out that much the whole thing melts perfectly together. The album is pretty up-tempo compared to other psychill releases and you won’t find many ambient moments except for the first track which has a very beautiful intro. The only minus is that some of the tracks are a little too repetitive, but I guess after three listens in a row you would get that impression with any album. Expect some very interesting samples. Psychill and dub lovers will find everything they like about this kind of music on this release and some more, because unlike some other artists Slackbaba has his own distinctive style. This is definitely one of the best psychill/psydub albums I have heard in months and deserves way more recognition. Let’s hope he will release another album soon because this one is a real gem.

Rating: 4.5/5
Standout tracks: 1, 2, 8
Genre: Psyschill, Dub

Release info:

Label: Liquid Records
Country: United Kingdom
Released: June 2006
Credits: Artwork By - rich@purpleproject.co.uk
Mastered By - Kevin Metcalfe
Producer, Written-By - Jonathan Smith

Tracklist:
1. A Drop in the Ocean
2. Drink More Tea
3. Sea of Green
4. Long Sunny Daze
5. The Golden Apple
6. Metatron’s sugar cube
7. And the beat goes om
8. Fruit of Mahoot

Links:
Discogs
Last.fm
Myspace

Upcoming albums for September

Upcoming releases confirmed to be released in September. Full length artist albums only.

Banco de Gaia - Memories Dreams Reflections

Capsula - Sense Of A Drop

Argaman - My Little Forest

Flooting Grooves - Psydeburns

Side Liner - Missing Pieces Of A Puzzle

If you know of any other releases let me know :)

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog I decided to make in order to share my musical discoveries with you. Some of you might know me from Youtube (as OutOfBodyExperiences) or from Last.fm. I will add news from the psychill and goa scene as well as reviews of new and old releases. I haven't reviewed much before but I should get the hang of it. I'm probably gonna focus on the psychedelic side of electronic music with some other stuff here and there. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.