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.