Some years back I was exposed to trance and it was like magic. From 1996 to about 2000 it was pretty much all I listened to. And then it seemed like the spirit, the wildness of trance just dried up. It all got to be minimal and really pretty dull. So I gave up on trance. Last year, I got turned on to this, and if anything could ever make me get back into the scene, this is it. Very solid all around, very thick, heavily layered, chaotic stuff. You can listen to each track several times and keep hearing sounds, textures you hadn't heard the last time. It brings the magic back.

The Emperor's new clothes?

Listening to a record like this I can't help thinking whether the psytrance community is kidding itself. Is this good?! Infinitely far away from the midnineties psychedelic trance/dance music this type of music stems from, it's possible to love the one genre and hate the other. No straight forward melodies. No easy recognizable themes to associate with each track. No straight, full-on dancing codes to decipher. Just relentless sound attacks, dark monotonous basses, creepy samples, disturbing moods. Psytrance's equivalent to death metal. How is this enjoyable?

Well, I believe two things are given. Firstly, this music only comes to its fullest potential when experienced at a festival/party. This has to be played LOUD on high-end equipment. Secondly, it has to be played at the right hour when I'm ready for tricky, hard digestable, highly psychedelic, multi-layered, aggressive music. At the wrong hour, it might make me elope the party all toghether.

But then this music could supply the ticket to psychedelic Nirvana. And the recipe I would prefer for this trip is firstly Ka-Sol's Just Another Riot. The bass here is killer like not much else around, the sounds creepy and scary, the track constantly developing and changing, the mood infinitely deep, dark, scary, and psychedelic. Or Zalabim's Jiggsaw Tonic setting out with a scared girl's voice. If you want to try this on psychedelics, you better be among friends to supply warmth and comfortability! When you are able to follow a track like this through all the way, you may come out a changed person. Likewise something like Traskels's Unknown Speaker could change your perspective on life and reality.

Picking a track, though, is hardly worth the effort. All tracks here provide the same type of musical experience, and if you're able to get on the boat, what at first may seem as a less appealing track, may prove in the end to be the most rewarding one.

Grading this album is therefore almost futile to me. At the right moment this could be THE 6/5 star album if there ever was one. At the wrong hour I could angrily pronounce this to be the most shitty and reserved music ever to have been published. In a close battle with Derango's Tumult.

The Emperor's new clothes or not, it surely makes you take a stand.

experiMENTAL!

Sanaton Records is a small, independent record label from Sweden. Basically it’s run by the Derango guys and in 2005 they released the debut compilation Boldly Audio – a critically acclaimed, low budget underground CD-R release which is already O.O.P. and thus sought after… For the second release, they upped the ante, and Sanatonic Audio is a properly pressed CD with a tracklist that instantly released gazillions of endorphins into my brain when I saw it… I mean, just look at this collection of freaks, perverts and deviants… I’m guessing we’re in for quite a ride here… Let’s pop it on!

Yes sir! This is the best forest trance compilation since Pavarti’s Psy Stories released in 2005. On this remarkable piece of plastic we get a very fine collection of shroomy, deeply psychedelic forest trance choons… It’s dark too, but not dark in the somewhat ‘predictable’ darkpsy way – this is much more versatile and eventually rewarding… A couple of the first tracks didn’t really rub me the right way, but they are easily outweighed by the rest of the tracks here – they are ALL stand-outs! Something that’s getting increasingly rare with psytrance nowadays… The cover art is extremely simple and doesn’t even sport the name of the compilation, but with it’s forest-like appearance, it totally fits the music…

This release is limited to 400 copies and it can only be ordered directly from Sanaton’s website – and believe me, it’s totally worth a purchase! It’s an essential buy for fans of trip-friendly, Swedish forest-trance like Stoneage, Schlabbaduest and so on – and to fans of rich, diverse psychedelia in general… Go get it now – it *will* sell out soon… Enjoy!

Favourites: 2, 3(!!), 5, 6(!), 7(!), 8, 9, 10