THE REVIEW PAGE.
Welcome to my review page.
I have put down very brief opinions of some Releases that I acquire. A
forewarning : I am biased towards the uplifting and melodic Israeli sound..Full
scores are
July 1998
Xerox and Freeman : Human
Race (Hom Mega)
Very energetic release with some
chunky riffs and some poly rhythmic drums thrown in for good measure. However
it does not deliver the full potential it could have. 3/4
Digitalis :Third State (Matsuri)
Very good and polished breakbeat
from Sebastian Taylor. 1/2
California Sunshine : Trance (Phonokol
/Unnatural Recordings)
Progressive and Melodic Trance
that really sucks you in at times. Not as great as Nasha but a sign of
things to come. Ironically their following release Imperia was extremely
bad.
Pigs in Space (Phonokol)
Ofer Dikovsky unleashes another
banging album but this time its more cyber trance. Too repetitive at times.
VA Trance Independence Revival
( Phonokol)
This is the best compilation
I have heard this month. All tracks are just magnificent and spirited. 3/4
August 98
Enertopia : Face Adaptor (Krembo)
This was a surprise but what
a vast improvement over the last Enertopia album. Brain Spider is one of
the best tracks. Very dark yet very original and melodic at times. Cool
and disturbing cover and sleeve too.
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One Man Game : Total Trance (Purple
Trance)
One Man Game a.k.a. Mystica releases
an album full of '96 era type Goa Trance. All tracks are very uplifting
and melodic Israeli Goa Trance. A perfect antidote to all the squelchy
and cold releases by the labels from England. 1/2
California Sunshine : Nasha (Phonokol
/Unnatural Recordings)
My favorite album so far this
year next to Muses Rapt's Spiritual Healing. Words fail me on how much
I love this one.
VA Ptzatzot (Kajoonk Records)
A smoldering Israeli compilation
with the classic Israeli Goa Trance sound. Some very mental tunes here
courtesy of Shidapu, Narcomax. The Cal Sunshine track however leaves much
to be desired. 1/2
VA Psychedelic (3D Vision)
A great 2CD compilation from
Christoff with fruitful collaborations with Greek Buzzcraft. However his
compositions as Abosolum leave much to be desired. Certainly the better
half of Transwave.
Future Prophecy : Future
Prophecy (Helicon Records)
I wasn't too impressed by their
tracks on the Ptzatzot compilation but this album contains some inspired
tracks with strong influences from MWNN and Astral Projection. Apertif,
the 2nd Track, on this album is just fantastic. Definitely worth getting. 1/2
Jaia : Blue Energy(Fairway Records)
Jaia is best known for their
track Mahamour, an eastern not so full on track. But this album contains
some stormers (some are rather ambient and tribal) that will blow your
mind away. I am talking about the track called Brainstorm. It contains
strong Israeli and yes Etnica synths. But this comes as no surprise since
the duo comprises of a Frenchmen and a Greek. Yes, Greece has a strong
passion for Israeli hence the Israeli sound. 1/2
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September
98
Shiva Chandra : Positive (SpiritZone)
This time around Shiva Chandra
releases an album of singles instead of the beautiful cohesive album he
put out on Spicy Moments. Its also more dance oriented with nice yet surpressed
builds but a little less spicy than the first. But this is not to say it's
bad. In fact I love it but not to the extent I did the first. In short
if you like Shiva Chandra's very distinguishable sound you like not be
disappointed with all the tracks except for the jungle track Jungle Base. 3/4
Virtual Trance : Mixed by Indica
aka Eliad (BNE)
Another great Israeli Trance
CD from Israel featuring tracks made and compiled by Indica. The tracks
are all full on and the best are offered by Indica and Possessed.
Ubar Tmar : True (matsuri)
This is an extremely strange
release from Ubar Tmar being familiar to his refreshing last album Fusion.
Weird, experimental, disorganized and melodic set of tunes that make no
sense. All the tracks are titled Rhythmless 1, 2...7. Is this a move again
by Matsuri to push the boundaries of Psy Trance? I think so. I did not
like most of the tracks on this album but track 6 and 7 kinda clicked in
with me. The soothing chant at the end of Track 7 left me quite perplexed
since the whole album made me quite agitated.
MFG: Project Genesis (Phonokol)
On this album MFG have changed
their sound from their last album. I can say that this time around I like
them more. The last album was refreshing and they tried hard to move away
from being an Astral Projection clone though at times they faltered. This
time around they succeeded. The first few tracks are not that good but
from track 4 Open Mind, the twisting and mind numbing tunes are belted
out one by one. Dark, melodic, big, fuzzy and chunky synth line permeate
every dark. My mind was just going crazy listening to all the tracks in
succession. What a project!!!
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October 98
Genetic : We are .. Genetic (Dragonfly
1998)
Probably the worst album
Dragonfly has ever put out. It is minimal in a bad way. None of the tracks
really appeal to me. This is not the Direction I would like to see Dragonfly
take. No points for this one.
VA Future Navigators (MDMA)
This represents a fantastic cross
Continental Compilation featuring artists from Israel , Germany and France.
Xerox and Freeman kicks things off with a hard trancey manner that is slightly
less melodic than their past offering. From then on we are in for a ride
that almost peaks with Tim Schuldt's The Next. Watch out for Tim's new
album. It should be good. Lagoon does well too. Here Christof shows that
he still is the better part of Transwave. A good first compilation from
MDMA.
VA Singularity (Flying Rhino)
After the almost utterly disappointing
Second Flight comes this mix CD which was supposedly due to be released
a year ago. I was apprehensive at first when I first received this CD but
I can definitely say that it is really not bad. While the first track from
Sheyba is nothing really to cry about but as it progresses Singularity
comes off as mostly composed of mostly old tracks which brings back some
good memories of Flying Rhino's First Flight era vigor. The newer tracks
by Darshan and other remixes don't do too bad either.
April 1999
ISR Aliens ( HomMega)
Finally the third compilation from
the uprising record label. This time we see a more polished set of tunes.
Tunes that emphasize production, superb at that instead of the stellar
uplifting tunes that dominated Full On vol. 1 and the superb Full On vol.
2. Missing are the trumpet like sounds and high kick Victory style drums(Thank
god) and in are abundant are complex rhythmic structures and futuristic
sounds capes which sound much more european in style. Mascok starts off
the proceedings with a suppressed track that merely teases us for the next
2 tracks that are so infectious that it must be from Infected Mushroom
and indeed the 3rd track is from Infected Mushroom. The fourth track is
possibly the worst track of this compilation and possibly in Oforia's career.
His attempts at a funk or some kind of jamboree is almost unforgivable
if not for the subsequent Psy Sex track which is the best shiver inducing
track that I have heard so far. Almost anti drug though it definitely was
not its intention(sadly). All in all this is a very welcome journey/small
deviation for HomMega into a more sophisticated sound. Bravo! 1/2
August 1999
Noosphere : Radiated (Twisted)
Contrary to what most people believe or think,
Noosphere is not composed of Xdream members. Though a certain member of
the Xdream duo collaborates with them. I don't really enjoy most of the
Xdream tracks cept for the tracks 2nd Room and the excellent album Trip
to Transylvannia. This album harkens back to Trip to Transylvannia magic.
It is that good and enjoyable to say the least. Nice melodies, progression
and wonderful builds permeate almost every track. It boggled me on why
this was released on Twisted since it did not have the weird twisted sound
that it is famous for. But who cares if any label be it Matsuri or Warner
releases such a great enjoyable sonic treat that makes you feel radiated
with energy. Bravo! 1/2
Psychotropic (3D Vision)
I think it is a bit early to award the best compilation of the year
but I will do it anyway. To me this is the best Goa Trance compilation
CD released this year thus far. I would definitely like to see any label
matching the caliber of this compilation. In a market where Goa Trance
is being discarded for cross genre embracing "Progressive" to Squelchy
breakbeat crap from Matsuri this is from start to the finish a joy
to behold. Thank god for the believers.
Transient 7 compiled by Jean Borelli
After the dismal Transient 6, this is a sign of
good faith by Transient. Boy, what a relief. I think I like the mixed CD
a lot more than the unmixed one since they are tautly mixed from beginning
to end. Each track is a build up to the next and almost feels like it is
a countdown to the mellenium. Good for Transient. 1/2
Coming soon reviews on Limitllessness, Fourth Flight, Nervasystem and Aether, Syndrome.
Tracklisting of the records can be found on this page.