97.8% positive (46 ratings)Buyer Rating: 100.0% positive (7 ratings)PKS's groups (6)
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Reviews & Discussion:
This seems to be a very over looked piece of vinyl. I know very little about this project, and it doesn't seem like they have continued this project after 1994. Anyway, this sounds really smooth in my ears. A mixture of ambient and electro, done in a beautiful atmospheric way. Some of the floating vibes here gives me a very melancholic vibe. It sure reminds me of "THE YEAR" 1994, which for me is the year that has served the best techno/electronic music from all over the planet. It's hard to describe, but it was a time when many artists perfectly combined warm feelings in their music with the colder techno vibes. A lot of these feelings are gone today. Still, a couple of the tracks we get here still sounds very fresh in my ears, and can perfectly well be put into a set today, 13 years after release. Timeless electronic music for your mind travels... Recommended!
Without doubt the most trippy album I have ever heard! Being a collector of Goa/psytrance since the early 90's, this album is one of those classics that really stands out in my collection. It was made back then when Pleiadians was a full group. When comparing their music back then with what Pleiadians has pushed out after two of the members (Carlo Paternò and Andrea Rizzo) left the band, there is no doubt about who was the creative heads in this band. The melodies in this album still blows me away, each track giving us something unique, extremly hypnotic and intense. One of those albums I never get tired of listening to. It still sounds like gold in my ears, ten years after...! The first track (Maia) is the perfect opening track, starting slow and building up to a monster. The melodies in Alcyone and Electra almost gives me tears of joy when listening to it. Celaeno is the perfect ending of the album, giving us a beautiful chilled downbeat track. One of those albums you can not be without if you liked the melodic Goa trance back in the mid 90's. This album gives me tons of nostalgic memories from crazy parties back then... Recommended!
This is one of the best releases Flying Rhino ever came out with in my opinion. And that says a lot, because this label kept a high quality from beginning to end. The theme on this compilation is the total solar eclipse that passed over Colombia, Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea on the 26th of February 1998. The perfect ambient/downbeat compilation including ten of the most talented musicians from around the world within this kind of chill music. Not a single bad track here in my opinion, but the stand out track is withouth doubt the Binah - Crescent Suns track. An almost 12 minutes beautiful journey, given us by two of the true masters in the scene, Simon Posford and George Barker. But the track wouldn't have been the same without the gorgious vocals by Jewel Stanbridge. Her voice in this track is absolutely stunning! This compilation is the perfect example of how strong a downbeat compilation could be. It has brought me a lot of good memories as well as great inspiration for my own label. Just get it!
It's very rare I can recommend an album and say that all the tracks are absolutely masterpieces... When this album was released, I was totally blown away hearing the creativity in this album. At the time it was released, it got mixed feedback from the global Goa trance scene, because it brought something new to the scene; less typical Goa melodies and more far out psychedelic vibes than we had ever heard in this scene before. But, the album has grown on people, and is now considered as a real classic in the psytrance/Goa scene worldwide. Back then, Koxbox was three guys, something I feel helped to make this album to such an outstanding result. Peter Candy with all his creativity, Ian Ion the studio wizard and Frank E with his crazy ideas made them to dream team! Back then, I had the honour to see the three of them live at a rave party in Oslo, Norway, where they served most of these tracks. A live set that made me go totally mad on the dancefloor. I have actually never danced like this ever since! It was the ultimate head trip to listen to these tracks on a great soundsystem. What a memory! To my frustration, I was filmed by the national TV (without knowing it) while I was dancing, something that was shown on the next days news, focusing on drugs related to rave parties... Phone calls from family, friends, teachers etc came in, wondering what the hell I was on... Anyway, after this album Peter candy left the band, and Koxbox took a new direction with more minimal sound. This album is my best memory from 1997, with a unique sound which will probably never come back... Those were the days! Also the cover art is wonderful. A must have album for everyone interested in the psychedelic side of electronic music.
Ciaran Walsh from the UK has been one of my absolute favourite artists for many years. Every musical project this guy has been involved in has turned out to be absolute masterpieces! His most known project called Deviant Electronics resulted in Goa trance releases as early as 1995 and a debut album 'Brainwashing Is Childs Play' in 1997. The Goa sound from those days might sound a bit outdated today, but his creativity and production showed that this guy was on a higher level than most other producers within this style allready then. He continued evoling his skills, and came up with the best album I have ever heard 'Blunt Instruments' in 2000 on Blue Room Released. An album mixing psychedelic melodies, breaks, drum n bass and ambient like no one had done before him. A timeless album that still sounds totally fresh six years after release. Between 1996 and 2001, he also made music as Solar Systems and Supertonic, aswell as several collaborations such as Breach Of Space, Bunker Din, EHB and MOK Systems. Always giving the listeners something fresh and top quality. After 2000, he sadly took a break from making tracks, but started making music for video games. He has been involved in music production for several famous games, such as Prisoners Of War, Battalion Wars (Nintendo) and SingStar Rocks. Hopefully he will return with some new tracks for the music listeners one day...
A totally underground release. Early techno/trance from beginning of the 90's by mostly German acts. Sadly, there is no information in the cover of who is behind these tracks, so most of these artists are a big mystery. Even the label of this release is slightly uncertain, because there is no mention about Tunnel Records on it (still, Tunnel released the second chapter in this series). There is a logo on it that says UNIT, and "This compilation is forced by UNIT".
The announcement about Orbital leaving us came as a really sad message to me, after following their unique, wonderful music almost from their beginning. Orbital was one of the bands that brought my attention to electronic music for full back in the days, and their albums has given me tons of good memories and fantastic moments. This Blue album was their way of saying goodbye, and this way of doing it is like quitting on top in my opinion. This album is in my ears one of the best albums they ever produced, and for sure way better than the previous couple of albums. Here we get great variation, everything from chilled to uptempo stuff. My personal favourite track here is track 2 called Pants, which is a pretty relaxed track with a very typical Orbital sound. A track I have put into several of my sets around the world lately... Orbital is for sure a band that will be deeply missed...
While I find a majority of progressive house releases deadly boring, some pearls show up now and then anyway. This album is one of those that surprised me in a positive way. Pretty easy digestible melodic music from beginning to end, but still the album keeps a nice level without falling over on the too cheesy side. With the light vibe we get in these tracks, it should be a perfect album for chilling out in the sun. Especially track 7 Chrysalis should be a summer winner. I like the variation here, with several chilled tracks in between the progressive house tunes, which also fits well for homelistening as well as on a club.
There is no doubt Dousk is a creative artist, but there are several elements in these tracks that I recognise from tracks I have heard before. But, this has become the trend in the house scene, especially picking up elements from electro tracks from the late 80's etc. There is something about track 6 Espero Sun, that sounds like he has "stolen" several sounds and melodies from a classic downtempo trance track done by French Blue Planet Corporation. I'm not hundred percent sure, but it sounds almost too equal to be an coincident... Anyway, a nice album I will for sure listen to several times this summer...
This might actually be the album in my record collection I have played the most in my life! When this was released, it absolutely blew me away. From the day I heard this, there was absolutely no way back from electronic music. I remember the first time I heard it was in a car, driving high in some Norwegian mountains in spring. An album that gives me more nostalgic memories than any other record I own. An absolute masterpiece from beginning to end. When I first time heard "The Girl With The Sun In Her Head" live with the Hartnoll brothers on stage, it gave me tears of happiness... An album I will continue listen to until I pass away... Recommended! | ||||