I am surprised this has no review.

I picked this up many years ago as this special release is just too good to miss: a simon posford project that offers an opportunity to catch up with his older ambient project with Raja Ram. You can't go wrong here - if you like Simon P you will like this album. The sound of Infinity Project is outdated, no doubt, but will appeal to many oldschool ambient fans. It's mostly electronic and experimental, weird and mellow. The Yeti stuff is a timeless masterpiece, more ethnic and immersive. A very worth-the-money release, of course, if you can find it anywhere near the original retail price =)

Capsula is one of the most psychedelic artists in the psy scene nowadays. His music is unique, his production impeccable, and his tracks are melody driven. Cushy dubby bass serves as a template for Capsula's experimentation, engulfing the listener with a myriad of intricate sounds that tease, scratch, sooth and fascinate. Androcell lovers would likely find this very appealing. While the melodies are strong through-out each track, Capsula tends to lose himself, occasionally, playing with side-effects that don't always contribute, just enhance, and unnecessarily so. "Less is more" is a point to be taken.

Sense Of A Drop has a very consistent resonance, both in terms of quality and complexity. All the tracks have the same, familiar Capsula sound, with the exception of Mundi, which introduces a more mellow, acoustic-guitar driven atmosphere. Melodies retain a certain laid-back appeal in all the tracks, not really going anywhere, but always laced with trippy effects to keep careful listeners intrigued and musicians impressed. There is plenty to listen to but not much story to read. His remix to his old-time favorite by many "I know that I know" is a classic example of how to ruin a great work by adding too much.

Overall, Capsula has produced a very well-rounded album with a single previously-released track (Golden Orb), abundant with fresh psychedelica and tingling with creativity. It's a little too overwhelming for background music, which makes it less appealing to the wider crowd of chillout listeners. With more emphasis on melodic content and less on the orbiting effects Capsula could easily climb even higher on the list of producers in the scene. Regardless, he has landed himself a very respectable place among the top names in this genre, and we are sure to see him spread into more experimental venues in the future.

4/5.

Infected Mushroom's latest continues where their previous album left: fusing the energies of their live-acts with studio-work. This time, however, IM brought forth their oldschool electronic sound to compliment their guitar riffs more prominently, at times accompanied by Erez's famous melodies or Duvdev's infamous vocals. Fortunately, IM have also enlisted professional singers to create a deeper and more sensual feeling in some of the tracks. This works very well in some (Smashing & Sa'eed), but can sound rather lame and tasteless in others (Legend & Poquito). This shows the problem is not the vocals but the melodic content which seems shortcoming, despite - or perhaps as a result - of the vocals.

While the overall feeling is still quite trancy and uplifting, IM build their tracks experimentally, altering the up-beat in a fashionable style. The melodies take on many break-bits and funky trip-hop tempo changes that show how talented this duo is. Just like their vocal songs, though, the result is charged and explosive at times (Franks & Project 100) and degenerative and boring in others (Cant Stop & Herbert). IM incorporate electronic guitars almost stubbornly, overwhelming the delicate build-ups they are so well known for with hollow, screechy noises that lack sensitivity. The harmony is obtained only momentarily in some tracks, and it is fantastic, but then it is gone. The unformulated compositions also mean they are not coming back, you must press rewind.

As the BPM varies through-out and between each track, the overall resonance is distinctly compact, typical of the sound you hear in live-show rock bands, incorporated with - or dominated by - IM's synths. Digital effects mimic the sound of distorted guitars even when the latter are not present. This consistency may appeal to some, but the tracks overall lack individuality, a unique quality well-reserved in IM's earlier work. There are, however, plenty of violins, chorus and acoustic guitars mixed-in, all processed with IM's top-quality production and attention to detail, delivering a sharp and crisp psychedelic effect. This definitely helps break-up the monotone sound of the album, but it misses the rich compositions and lush sonic environments IM are famed for.

Infected have not yet been able to find the right balance between their new approach to music, both stylistically and instrumentally, and their innate compositional abilities behind the knobs. Almost all the songs have great moments that are subsequently ruined by unnatural guitar riffs or discordant singing. It is as if IM sacrifices melodic content in favor of these two elements, putting them up-front, at all cost, and expecting them to fill in for the rest. This may work in live-shows, where energies build-up differently, but not here. The best parts of the album are where melodies and rawring guitars meet diligently - like in the ending of Franks - and that shows Infected can make it work. Can, but not often enough.

Legend of the Black Shawarma = 3/5.

Zymosis are the best thing that happened to the psybient genre since Shpongle. They are in the top class of psychedelic producers as Simon Posford & Co., Entheogenic, Androcell and the likes. The complexity of their sound and the emotional content is at the max, delivering a psychedelic effect fresh and unique. Each track is carries a personal and intimate melody, binding instrumental, vocal and digital samples seamlessly. You can simply not go wrong with this release. Get it now - and all of Zymosis's others. And wait for the next.

When this Cd came out Infected where at the top of their game: world-renowned and rulers of the psy-trance scene in Israel. Never looking back, IM remained committed to their promise since the beginning not to repeat themselves and to continue experiment stylistically as they did in Classical Mushroom, their 2nd album. While it had been critically acclaimed, many listeners felt it was too far off the "mainstream" psy-trance genre, and perhaps because of that IM brought their 3rd album closer to the pounding, up-tempo sensation of their 1st album. But make no mistake, this album manifested its own new, fresh and unique sound.

After Infected's second album, which delivered a classical-music oriented resonance, B-P-Empire pushed the psy-trance boundaries into jazz and funk, mixing game-music with something that sounds like the ending credits score in movie. The bass and melodies never leave you cold in new water, though. The emotional deliverance of each track is very well preserved, and the classic build-ups IM fans are familiar with are ever present. All the songs are exceptionally well-produced, a quality consistent with all IM releases.

Infected's musical expertise and creativity, compiled with their high-profile samples and production skills make their music a joy for any objective listener. You can't go wrong here, but you can be disappointed if you are looking for a specific, old-school goa sound. IM dropped this in the 90's, move along.

Zero Cult has been steadily releasing psybient music for several years now with consistent quality. And it is good quality: all his work is very well produced & composed, melodies following clear, almost geometrical structures, with a conservative yet creative resonance. You will not find random & odd noises that scratch the insides of your brain, but elegant and smooth textures that flow together and harmoniously create a rich and sophisticated sound. Emotional chill-out at its core.

Dreams in Stereo delivers an eclectic collection of styles: spacey and dreamy, up-beaty and funky and melancholy and moody. Each track has a very distinct feeling behind it, a quality transparent in all of ZC's work. His background in progress-trance is reflected in the gradual and restrained build-ups that characterize his ambient music. The tempo remains consistent through-out each track, telling a particular story that is carefully amplified by each layer of sound. The melodies aren't dramatic but are quite moving.

Zero Cult has not evolved greatly in terms of diversity since his first album; The sounds are pretty much the same and the compositions follow the same logic. The content is unique in each track, though, forming up quite a collection. If you liked his previous ones, you will almost certainly enjoy this Dreams in Stereo. In fact, you might want to hunt down all his previous releases. They're similarly worth it.