Progressive, Synthy, Trippy, Big Beats
932273
This Com Truise release is more progressive and minimal than the previous, but generally sounds huge. All the tracks follow a similar formula, and they use similar sonic choices which I found very agreeable.

Backing synth sequences and arpeggios are simple, repetitive and trippy, reminding of early Ozric Tentacles or Tangerine Dream's live shows circa 1983(and in one case of Goblin's early 80's soundtrack output) taking turns switching between simple motifs, before a melody emerges in the foreground that takes on a moody lyrical quality. The lead melodies themselves move into repetition fairly quickly, but the tracks build and break down in enjoyable ways. Slow pitch wow effects are present throughout.

Basses are less repetitive and can at times suddenly become lyrical. Basses also drift into Aphex Twin's Ziggomatic 17 territory on some of the latter tracks, with a bit more funky movement. The drums take a typical 80's stiff pounding kick and snare, with a bit more umph, and then leading in at the right moment are huge layers of a resounding chorus of hats and cymbals, elevating the intensity in a satisfying way. The drums are actually the least repetitive aspect of the music.
Basic short spoken samples distorted by ring modulation or bit-crushers and a few ambient interludes bookend each track. All in all, it's the quality of the production and the trippy, progressive characteristics that made this album for me.

The vinyl is 2 45-rpm 12 inches, so the cover is a very minimal gatefold. The high end treble on these is very powerful, so a low-end stylus may be insufficient. Vinyl quality is mostly good, except for one spot near the very end of one side, which was a bit scratchy.

All in all, a quality release that works well as the album as a whole, rather than much judgment placed on individual tracks.
3062406
Im just starting to get into electronic music, but i don't know that many bands or albums that really grab me.  This, however, is just absolutely earth shatteringly good.  Oh man.  I recently got a synth and have realized just how hard it is to make this type of stuff.  The programing and sound design on this album is perfect.  Every synth tone just shakes you to the core.  Best songs are High Roller, Vapor Trail, and Trip like I Do.
3746139
Picked this up on a recent electronica expedition at Rasputin's and it was the last one I grabbed. It's an amazing layering of sounds that picks up right where Night Works, their previous release leaves off. Disc 1 is a bit more experimental, and does have some tracks with some vox on them, 'Special Place' has a killer funky intro and blends into some rap, 'Rock the Record' the next track, has some repititious vocals, and 'Jam on It' the track after that, is mostly pretty funny with some bizarre sped up vocals that sounds like MC Pokemon or some shenanigans, but when it hits, disc 1 is amazing. Orbital's "Funny Break" is typical Orbital, simply outstanding. Western Root's Scorpio Swift is a highpoint of disc 1, and lays down an incredibly smooth vibe.
Disc 2 is the gold in this set though, similar to Disc 1 of Tosca's Dehli9 release - it's the one to listen to. Disc 2 is almost all music, and surrounds you with a stunning layering of sound that is finding itself in reavy rotation in my car and at work. James Banitez' "Starchaser" is inspiring, and is a highpoint. The whole second disc though never lets up and Layo and Bushwacka! definitely showcase their skill with this set.
4/5 starts from me. Disc 1 is a bit more experimental, and hell *I* love it, but it is a bit uneven as a chill/techno/house CD as it showcases so many styles. Disc 2 is phenomenal, and I love it as much as my Sasha CD's, which is saying something as Sasha is the MAN.
3914022
It's hard to classify this sound. It's so new and different it's almost groundbreaking. It has great music, trippy almost techno pop-rock with some hip hop beats even great piano on one song (Lok at All the People) and even a bluesy track (Wasting My Time, from the 8 Mile soundtrack). It has bold lyrics such as "I won't break, I might bend but I won't break ... I will try, I might lose but I will try" (B4 It's 2 L8) The tones change from fun and a bit sexual (Crazy Love) to inspirations for the world (Left Side/Right Side). The three fun hit/hit bound songs on this album are The Wreckoning, Move On and Now Understand This. Overall it's really different and fun to listen to!
1985617
This album has the kind of dreamy, spaced-out repetition that reminds me of Disc 1 of Dave Ralph's 2-disc "Resident Alien" album, without all the vocals. Like Resident Alien disc 1, this album takes a more minimalist approach to trance (as if an adjective like minimalist could even be applied to the trance genre in the first place). While not as upbeat as a lot of popular albums today, this is the kind of album that really lets the DJ do his thing. Call it repetitive all you like, and complain about the massive length of the songs all you want, you must admit Christopher Lawrence is a MASTER at mixing. Each track is seamlessly blended together into one flawless and gradual mix from start to finish. Truly superb... an album that takes you on a seemingly endless journey.
2896751
If you like Dave Seaman's electronica taste then you will probably love this compilaton (especially disc 2).  I'm not a huge fan of Seaman but I predominantly bought the album for the first disc.

Disc 1 is a little experimental for even Dave Seaman (who in my opinion is not as versatile as most of the other big name DJ's).  I only wish he would have done this sort of thing more often in his career.  The first seven tracks on disc 1 are very strong and mix exceptionally well together.

For the remainding tracks on disc 1 and most of disc 2 he settles down into usually genre of hard techno.  There are a couple of nice progressive trance tracks interspersed throughout.

Overall I don't think this album has aged well.

Disc 1 4/5 stars and disc 2 gets 2.5/5 stars.
3035874
BT leaves the dance floor behind for this cd of everchanging sonic soundscapes. Besides the cd it also includes a dvd of trippy yet beautifully stylized animation shorts for each song. At times lullingly pretty,at times jarring with layers of bleeps and glitches and at times epic and thrilling this isn't easy listening new age music. BT's constant manipulation of sound keeps you off guard and maintains your interest throughout never becoming dull like many electronic instrumental albums. If you have the slightest interest in electronica you cannot go without this innovative work.
2834856
Disc 1
1. The Future Sound Of London - Papua New Guinea
2. Gat Dcor - Passion
3. Joey Beltram - Energy Flash
4. Moby - Go (Delirium Mix)
5. Jones & Stephenson - The First Rebirth
6. Sourmash - Pilgrimage To Paradise
7. L.S.G. - The Hidden Sun Of Venus
8. Tilt - I Dream
9. Digital Blonde - Antheum
10. Astral Projection - Flying Into A Star
11. Grace - Orange
12. Man With No Name - Teleport
13. Astral Projection - Mahadeva
14. Juno Reactor - Masters Of Universe

Disc 2
1. Sasha & Emerson - Scorchio
2. Cass n Slide - Perception
3. Breeder Twilo - Thunder
4. Space Manoeuvers - Stage One (Separation Mix)
5. Solarstone - Day By Day
6. Ecano - Run
7. Way Out West - Intensify (Part 1)
8. Art Of Trance - Killamanjaro
9. Humate - Love Stimulation (Love Mix)
10. Moogai - The Labyrinth
11. L.S.G. - Risin'
12. X Cabs (aka Chris Cowie) - Neuro
13. Nemo - Spacemaker
14. Human Movement - Travellers Theme
15. Faithless - We Come 1 (DJ Pierre Hiver & DJ M. Hammers Tribute Remix)

Disc 3
1. Airwave - Alone In The Dark
2. Sander Van Doorn - A.K.A.
3. Andain - Beautiful Things
4. Planisphere - Teardrop
5. John '00' Fleming - Tour De Trance
6. Tillman & Ries - Bassfly (Moogwai Mix)
7. Oliver Prime - Sights Beyond
8. Katcha - Touched By God
9. Plastic Boy - Twixt
10. Matt Darey Presents DSP - From Russia With Love
11. Body-Shock - Full Moon
12. Wizzy Noise - Sabotage
13. Vibrasphere - Seven Days To Daylight
14. Delirious - Atmos Fear
15. Astrix & Atomic Pulse - Scientific Reality

To be honest, I know nothing about old school trance.  I've been listening to electronica for about 6 years but I've been somewhat ignorant as to the history of it's origins (I have tracks from about 30% of the artists on here, the rest are completely unknown to me), so I picked up this album out of curiosity.  I've purchased some previous work from John 00 Fleming (Psy-Trance Euphoria 1+2, Global Trance Grooves /w Christopher Lawrence), and every compilation I've heard thus far from him has been pure brilliance.  This mix follows that trend of excellence, a feat which most DJ's fail to accomplish.

This 3 CD set was a sacred pilgrimage to the very heart and soul of trance music.  It got me acquainted with the roots of trance music and I discovered some truly awe-inspiring tracks along the way.  This is yet another superb masterpiece from the man, the legend, John 00 Fleming!
995476
I love EDM but I also love progressive music and this is just awesome. I wasn't expecting such a change of pace, it sounds sad at times but in an awesome way. I'm finding it very hard to describe this album but its definitely one of the most unique albums I've ever listened to. Great for work since their are only a few songs with lyrics.
3160316
I'd classify this more as "ambient-techno" than I would trip-hop altough I guess that title isn't too far off. Upon hearing the increadible track "Sundial" on a local public radio program I searched for  this cd for quite awhile and eventually found it more than a year  later.
This album is very dancy, but not exactly something you would hear  in a club. There are alot of "tapping", light bells and waterdrop  effects on this album and it can only be described as "unique".
Some of the album has somewhat of a cultrual feel - especially the song  "Sundial" which has flowing, soft tribal chants, dreamy, floating  atmospheres and an underlying, base-driven hypnotic groove.
This is  somewhat of a difficult cd to compare with anything else - I'm not sure of  any other albums that sound quite like this. You simply have to hear it for  yourself!
1085029
Hernan Cattaneo (along with&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/James-Zabiela/dp/B0009R1SIW/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">James Zabiela</a>&nbsp;and occasionally&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Satoshi-Tomiie/dp/B00006BCFV/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Satoshi Tomiie</a>) is one of my favorite DJs.  I first discovered him through his&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/early-work/dp/B000A61RWE/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">early work</a>&nbsp;with the Renaissance Masters label, and then I grew to fully appreciate him under his&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Sequential/dp/B000HEV8JQ/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Sequential</a>&nbsp;mixes.  This set finds him back at the helm again for the 13th installment of the Renaissance Masters collection.  The number, in this case, is not the omen of doom it is often known to be.

Hernan's allure early in his career was found in his deft mixture of tribal house with progressive sounds from a whole host of styles -- minimal, a little techno, veins of trance.  This album marks a slight change in Hernan's usual oeuvre.

Disc One starts off with the gleefully gloomy "Jag House 1989," a song that Hernan tweaks with a light touch, giving it a poppy, experimental feel over a hungry-sounding bassline.  He feeds that bassline very gradually over the next few tracks, giving it a bit more verve and bluster.  The pace of the set stalls some when Hernan puts Gus Gerber's "Stoppage Time" on the reels.  Normally a club favorite, this track has had much of its juice mixed out of it by Hernan's decision to make it a ten minute bridge between the set's opening darkness and the glowing grooves that follow it.  "Amarillo" pulls the lineup out of its meandering and gives it enough oomph to make it to the CD's first deliciously dirty climax -- a stunning collaboration between Kubic's "Voyager" and Hernan's own "Fereek."  These two songs are stitched together meticulously, creating the powerful, thudding heart of the first set.  The remainder of the set is energetic and exciting, although Hernan doesn't manage to pull off any last minute tricks to make the album's closer very memorable.

The second disc is more consistent overall, although it lacks the peaks and valleys that make these kinds of mixes more interesting.  He starts here the same way he started the first disc -- with a sort of religious gloom, a kind of hopeful shadow -- with Glass's "She Shines."  He adds a sort of glorious rebellious flavor through the next three tracks until "Darwin's Eye" unspools, making the set feel like a song of fierce vindication.  The following track -- "Flower's Planet" -- feels a little dim and trancey to work well where it's placed, but Hernan immediately course-corrects with "Butterfly Effect," a dark slab of sound that fades nicely into Tonecast's "Murder & Fingerprints," a wonderfully nasty track with twitchy tones.  Hernan starts to tone it down early (if you ask me) with his second Guy J track, a bubbly ditty called "Leave Me Alone" that sounds as if it were lifted out of a video game.  With this mood in mind, Hernan ducks and weaves through the next few (ultimately forgettable) tracks before he lays down Saiz's "They Came From The Light."  If this set started with "She Shines" as a dark but hopeful number, Hernan has chosen to end it with the same kind of illumination.  This song is a brilliant black bow, a satisfying deep house dance number with some serious guts.  Turn up the bass (if you haven't already) and let Hernan send you off with style.

Both sets are recommendable, but I also daresay you might find yourself skipping one or two tracks.  Even the slippery patches in Hernan's mixes, though, don't diminish the fact that Hernan still knows how to lay down some fantastic music.
2254183
In contrast to reviewed above KAI TRACID set, "DJ Networx vol. 8" not only met my expectation but superseded it. DJ DEAN who usually mix for this double CD compilation has chosen 40 dynamic tracks from TRANCE and TECHNO genres. DJ DEAN features some good, hard to get buy mixes as well providing exciting dance experience. First CD as usually is more devoted to TRANCE club trends. For starter "Monstersound" by DJ BALLON in COSMIC GATE Mix, also "Lovemachine" by AQUAGEN is mixed by COSMIC GATE. Both tracks are already well played and COSMIC GATE mixes are oustanding TRANCE versions with incredible synth-work and excited buttoms overall. Truly masterpieces of the genre. You will also find other tunes that you should be familiar with like "Smile" by FUTURE BREEZE or "Free" by ULTRA or newest from MYTHOS 'N' COSMO - "Hymn" (in haunting Airscape Mix) and MAURO's PICOTTO "Proximus". This CD is full of cutting-edge TRANCE sound. "Reality" by DJ KESSOK is simply intoxicatingly hypnotic circuit TRANCE. If you like COSMIC sound you really should check pounding "The Touch" by BALTES vs. STEVENS. This spacey fare is a chilling and mind fondling experience. Imagination at your finger tips. Similar intense feelings are delivered by BAGHERA's "Tears May Fall" in DE VARGAS Mix truly a rousing, pumped-up TRANCE stomper. Many others are worth of mentioning as well, but to really understand the beauty of it, you have to treat yourself with full CD. The second CD in more TECHNO oriented. It's starts with TECHNO version of legendary "French Kiss" originally by LIL LOUIE now revamped by NIGHTCLUB. Be prepared for extensive dose of hard beat and progressive buttoms when listening to this club oriented CD. Taken together, volume 8 is one of the best edition up-to-date. Well balanced both for club play as for your own enjoyment in privacy of your home. Sound sound sampler features fragments of 8 tunes taken from both CDs. I didn't feature original mixing by DJ DEAN, you just have to trust me it is good. Enjoy the sound and trip to exstatic sound of TRANCE and TECHNO!
3873618
This seems to be a big week for Chilean psychedelic music, as both Follakzoid and label mates Holydrug Couple have albums being released at the same time by respected indie label Sacred Bones, and each deservedly so. Whereas their fellow Santiago-ans specialize in more of a 60s-ish vibe reminiscent of Tame Impala, Follakzoid worship at the alter of 70's Krautrock, especially the motorik beats of bands like Neu! and Faust.

Unlike those earlier bands, however, the tripped-out guitar leads here, along with the trance-inducing drones and echo-y, reverb-laden vocals, just tickle some part of my brain that induces a different sort of hypnotized state, taking me on an intense, dream-like journey. It got to the point where I was having non-pharmaceutically-enhanced eyelid hallucinations. The morphing drones and pulsing, hypnotic rhythms of the excellent "99" was where it peaked for me, but it could have just been the fact that by that point I was fully in the throes of Follakzoid's hypnosis.

Either way, 'II' should be required listening for fans of psych music, especially the droning, atmospheric, Spacemen 3 kind or the propulsive motorik (and also droning) Moon Duo kind. Or if you don't like those bands, but the idea of exploring deep inner space seems like fun to you, I would strongly advise you to take the ride and just see what happens. Then you'll have a better idea of what I'm talking about here, and I can quit trying to come up with more synonyms for "tripped-out" and "awesome," and can get back to listening.
2980819
Masterbeat does it again. This is pretty much a flawless mix of peak vocal and trance, and some hard to get on CD mixes appear, like the 11 minute version of Are You Satisfied, and 7 minutes of Melancholy Rose. Plus, the bizarre but beautiful track Bobby clocks in at 10 minutes. Track times:

1. wake up (7:32)

2. Are you satisfied (11:16)

3. U turn me (8:03)

4. Looking for love (5:42)

5. melancholy rose (7:03)

6. Power (8:29)

7. bobby (10:13)

8. Embrace (7:26)

9. Cascades of colour (7:21)
4306528
A very interesting electronic album, sweeping across several sub-categories of light trance and ambient styles. Cleverly constructed tunes that dig right into the brain, lulling the listening into a slow groove. I'd definitely suggest this album to any fan of electronic music.
188941
If you're even looking at this album, you know who Roger Powell is and probably at which arc the Todd / Utopia set was in at this given moment.

If you've heard Cosmic Furnace, you realize that, like Todd's Initiation, it was something more of a "Wow, look at this synthesizer -- pretty soon we'll have flying cars!" moment in music history. You and I can appreciate the finer aspects of it, and enjoy it in all its techno goodness, but let's be honest, in the final analysis, that's really what we're looking at.

What we see here is a much more refined synth project, produced by Todd, more new wave, including a very good reworking of Utopia's "Windows" -- and Mr. Triscuits, for that matter. I might put it somewhere inbetween ...Oops and Adventures for the feel of it, just more heavy on the synth, and you already know what Roger Powell sounds like, so hey, if you want even more of it, here you go :-)

Highly recommended!
4100038
It's a bit different from the usual stuff you hear from Really Slow Motion, but it's good nonetheless.  It does have a very obvious dubstep and electronic feel throughout, so if you don't like that genre, I'd probably say this isn't exactly worth your time.  The tracks blend full orchestras with this electronic stuff, which makes for a very interesting and unique combination.

If you like the genre, TrailerMusicNew.com is a fantas"tic website that keeps you up to date on the latest releases. Enjoy!