After years and years of waiting, Ka-Sol FINALLY got his debut album released. I know that a lot of fans have been waiting for this one for a long time, and in my experience when people wait a long time for a release they get such high hopes that they almost inevitably get dissapointed when it's finally released. Luckily this is not the case here. Some people used to Ka-Sol's sound on various scandinavian trance comps might be a little confused because this is morning trance, not really the dark stuff that we're used to hearing from him. I am explained that Ka-Sol always made morning music since the beginning of his project, just that the record lables he worked with prefered to release his dark stuff instead.

Also people used to the Suntrip sound might be confused because this doesn't sound anything close to other Suntrip releases. This is because this album was never meant to be reseased on Suntrip, Anoebis and Mars just decided at the last minute to release it on their label because Christer couldn't find a label willing to release his stuff.

So anyway, on to the tracks:

Tecmorning is a pretty repetitive track with morning influences, not unlike what you could hear on Schlabbaduerst vol. 2. It is a nice intro track, but nothing to get too excited about.

Blogz remains in darkish territory, but there is more variation in this one. Only Christer can find the audacity to mix in dark industrial sounds with djembés and even an oldschool goa-ish melody around 4:12.

Shlumpen this is the track that sounds the most like the stuff people are used to hearing from Ka-Sol on Schlab comps. It is nice but doesn't really fit in with the rest of the album IMO.

Skreno OMG this is IMO THE definition of trance music: a slow repetitive hypnotic melody and a crazy lead on top. The best track on the album IMO, absolutley genious.

Back Basic (Goa Mix) I don't know about you, but personally I find it quite disturbing to see the word "Goa" specifically mentioned in a Ka-Sol track. And yeah, don't expect much oldschool here. I mean, there are oldschool elements (notably a 303 and an oldschoolih bassline melody), but interpreted by Christer's own rules.

Matrix Remix is an interesting morning track, it doesn't really sound like anything else out there. There are some VERY light melodies but also some dark typical sounds. It really feels like watching the sky during a very cloudy day and seeing some powerful rays of light come through from time to time. Near the end there is a buildup which sounds a bit wierd, like some tiny gnomes chanting in the forest and then some sounds that make me think of some alien replying to them. It is wierd, I know and Christer is one of the very few artists that manage to make me have such vivid images when listening to music without taking any drugs.

No Return again, transitioning from dark to light but I must say that this track inspires me less... I prefer skipping this one and moving forward.

Sticky Web back into full morning territory with this one. This one actually makes me remember some old Eye Q stuff, there are some very raw and simple melodies, almost childish but they all work very nice in the end.

White Magic this is an absolute dancefloor stormer. The kind of melody that just stays in your head for days and days. It also has the typical goa kick, an absolutly incredible track, it is a wonder how such a gem has been unreleased for such a long time.

The Light yet another stormer and I must say that it fits in perfectly with White Magic, both these tracks sound like they should be one giant track. A lot of oldschool elements but again, interpreted in Christer's own way. It is absolute genious. Proof that there is still room for improvement in the genre.

THE GOOD: creativity is skyhigh here. When you think that it is impossible to make morning trance that doesn't sound like a copy of everything that has been made in the past, think again.

THE BAD: pretty confusing at first when you are used to hearing Ka-Sol's and Suntrip's sound. Also some tracks are a bit too dark and don't really fit in this album.

Conclusion: Hats off to this genious producer and hats of to the Suntrip crew for being crazy enough to release this. It is not a perfect album, but the originality more than compensates for any little inconvenients.

From psychedelic tooth grind to fluffy melodies in 10 easy steps…

Once again the Psynews.org spawned label Suntrip Records is out with a genre-defining, daring album. Fairytale is the long awaited debut album from Swedish sound magician Christer ‘Lulle’ Lundström. Previously Ka-Sol had more members, but for the last couple of years it has been Christer on his own. He has been in the biz since the late 1990ies though – and has produced psychedelic music in a number of outfits including Lulle, Alien Hand Syndrome and Exakt Abstrakt.

He has also been a frequent guest on Schlabbaduerst compilations, both under the Ka-Sol guise but also as a member of the following constellations: Church Of The New Age Hippie Disco Shit, Doda Hundens Kyrka, Lardfish and Signal. All of which has produced extremely underground, maximal, forest-friendly psytrance. So yeah, this is a guy that doesn’t give a shit about psytrance conventions – he has always gone to great lengths to produce unique music – and pretty much everything I’ve heard from his hands have been relentless, extremely powerful, unconventional and totally stellar! So hell yeah, I’ve been looking forward to this album longer than I can remember… It’s a fairytale!

So, did this album live up to the expectations? Well, yes… for the most part! The first three tracks are pretty much what I hoped for – raging mad, relentless Ka-Sol mayhem… The next couple of tracks are somewhat of a hybrid between the I-don’t-give-a-fuck-attitude of recent Ka-Sol tracks mixed with more full-on, uplifting elements – but those extremely intense moments riddled with high-pitched and deranged melodies never really grabbed me… Those less-good moments are scarce though, and the vast majority kicks royal ass! Luckily the last half of the album saves the day with its nostalgic pure goa trance tracks… That style was somewhat of a surprise to me, but in retrospect I don’t think I could have coped with an entire album in the hardcore Schlabbaduerst style. So, as always, diversity rules!

As always with Ka-Sol stuff, the level of energy Lulle puts forth in the tracks are unsurpassed in our scene – and this kind of music should really be mandatory for all those upcoming, so-called full-on artists… *This* is how you create energetic, trance-inducing music! Let that be a lesson!

Flow wise I’m not sure how well this album works. I think I would have preferred it in reverse order, having the most hardcore tracks finish the album. Also, the white-out mistake on the pressing plant is an eyesore to John Bauer’s wonderful artwork. The retail copies were not supposed to have the big white squares, but I believe Suntrip Records will issue high-res replacements on their website for people to print themselves. But all that is nit-picking – this is truly a marvellous album with more than enough fantastic tracks to validate a purchase. Suntrip fans should order immediately as should fans of nostalgic goa trance propelled well into the 21st. century. Another benchmark album from Suntrip – and their best release since the Apsara compilation. Go get it!… Enjoy!

Favourites: 1(!), 2(!), 5(!), 6, 8, 9

This surely is the noisiest release from Suntrip so far, even if it gets gradually more accessible through the album.

While the first 3 tracks are less devastatingly dark than, say, the Sanatonic Audio release or Derango's Tumult, they're still pretty fucking far from easy listening! Perhaps coinable as commercial forest psytrance, this is multi-layered, complex, attacking psytrance. And hardly with any theme safely to return to, you gotta love complex psytrance compositions to get the full benefits of this part of the album. On the other hand, if you're able to go all in, this part may reward you generously. Even I can tell it's done in a clever way.

To me, however, this album doesn't really open up until track 4 Skreno. A catchy bass line shoots this track off, builds gradually until midways when a high pitch lead takes over the stage. Again, you gotta go ALL in to get this, or it may come across as cheesy. Ka-Sol even applies modulation. Now, that CAN be done without resembling some Eurovision Song Contest entry, and is actually executed quite well in this track, but elsewhere on the album modulation completely ruins the moment for me. Like White Magic. This does not start as an amazing track, but it does intrigue me, I'm working with it, going deeper, expanding my mind ... and in the peak of my concentration at 7:14 all my dedication comes down to a keychange. WTF!!! Makes me feel completely ridiculed, and this does not happen only once on this album (even if the modulation particularly on this track goes completely berserk towards the end). But, hey, if you like modulation, this may just as well add a star in your book.

Modulation issues aside, by now things have taken a turn for the better. That is, we've climbed out of the woods and entered the dance floor. Back Basis (Goa mix) is a mean party-stomper embracing the New Skool Goa sound Suntrip is famous for. Think Filteria less 50 peaks. A strong track for the floors.

And so it seems the 2nd part of the album sticks closer to the Suntrip tradition. Hearing No Return you can hardly tell it's the same album you set out with! Melodic and trippy, this track retains its momentum, until 5:24 when Ka-Sol unleases his powers. This has GOT to set the floors on fire! Sticky Web follows up with another head-on psychedelic monster. Again, think Filteria, but without the relentness. Sweet, sweet track.

Summarizing, there's good and bad this time around. On the down side this album seems somewhat incoherent. It sets off with border forest trance and ends with New Skool Goa. On the plus side, this means more variety. In any case, Ka-Sol represents a more challenging type of psytrance and followers of Suntrip may need to adjust their ears to get the full enjoyment out of this release. I know I am. The Suntrip trademarks are still here, though. No-bullshit, head-on dancemusic for the height of the night, 2006 production with a twist of Goa fascination, and a hell of a lotta testoterone.

Still, if you wanna find out what the Suntrip hype is about, I suggest to check the Apsara compilation first. This also contains an excellent introduction to Ka-Sol with Scraqp. For now, Suncd05 lands in my "well, ..." pile.