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Buyer Rating: 100.0% positive (2 ratings)

anenburg's groups (3)

• Goa / Psy-Trance
• Israel
• Progressive / Psy-Trance

Phobium - Future Uncertain - 06-Dec-07 11:34 AM
I'm not a fan of this dark-psy-fullon-forest music but every once in a while I hear something I really enjoy - just like this album just here. Norwegian Phobium (Henning Helland Ottesen) has posted a recorded live set of his music for free at his website so I downloaded it just to hear what's it is going to be like. I was so much impressed by how much it kicked ass, so I ordered his album and it was one of the most wise decisions I made this year.

So let's go:
Let me start by saying that the artwork is preety much fugly. I see no thought behind it, and the print (or design) quality really sucks ass. Luckily, the music is the total opposite of it.
I Know Where To Go Now introduces us to the Phobium sound. very fast (I'd say over 150 bpm, without checking) and very "forestly", if you know what I mean. No melodies here, just rich textured sounds which will sound really good at 4am. Tonight Is Forever is even better - not a single moment of relaxation. This is full power music! Carefully placed breaks and transitions outcome in some pleasant surprises many times throughout the track(s). Come Now takes a turn to the darker side, if it wasn't already aggressive enough. Not Human wasn't interesting. We're All Crazy is definitely crazy - this is on the border of hardcore, and I love it. This is probably the worst sounding track on this album, but it is lots of fun and smiles. Unsane Networking is one of the highlights here. Very rich layered sounds with thought behind them in almost a melodical way, not just randomly thrown in sounds like I hear many times. Perpetual Motion starts different, a bit minimal (as much as it can be minimal in this genre) and a non 1/16ish bassline. That was enough to make my ear interested, but when the goa (yes, goa.) came in I was so happy. I am a very big fan of goa trance, and whenever someone tries to make new-school goa trance I'm hooked in seconds. This is the case here - especially the second half of the track. It's simply mind blowing. Different Ways is not any worse than Perpetual Motion. Not as much goa in here, but this is one hell of a psychedelic track with lots of great hooks in it. Retro Square shows the atmospheric side of Phobium, with some almost cheesy (god-forbid) melodies. Nonetheless, it managed to be extremely trippy and interesting. Brilliant.

Bottom line: A bit more variety in the middle part of the album and a better cover and this would be a perfect album. This is good forest music - very psychedelic, great textures and a high "killlargh" factor. It would be really interesting to hear more goaish music from him, as he can definitely do it. Give it a listen even if you don't usually listen to this kind of music, maybe it will change your mind.

Pakito - Living On Video - 12-Feb-07 04:48 PM
Living On Video is another example of how unbelievable shallow and simple music gains such popularity.
The track itself has the most basic rythm section, one note riff and a (again, simple) melody copied from another track.

The most amazing part of it is that some of my friends honestly think this is a good track. Makes me say sometimes, why bother...

Various - Order Odonata - The Technical Use Of Sound In Magick - 25-Nov-06 08:11 PM
One of the best from the Order Odonata series with a bunch of Israeli and British producers collaborating with themselves under different names. Most tracks in here are very dancefloor oriented, some dreamy while other psychedelic, and very psychedelic. True goa here - make no mistake.
Witchcraft Magic (one of the best tracks ever created IMHO) alone is worth the entire compilation, but tracks like Phreaky, Zodiac Youth, Mandra Gora are also amazing.

Shpongle - 28-Apr-06 07:45 AM
Where to begin? The Shpongle duo are veteran musicians which need no further introduction. They took the psybient genre into a new direction and set new standards with their first album. Since then they were virtually reinventing themselves which each new album: the trancey music of Tales Of and and extreme diversity of Nothing Lasts. Even though a large portion of their melodies and lines are taken from sample collection and known songs, the way they combine it all into one harmonic piece is simply brilliant.
Even people who do not generally listen to psychedelic music find this music wonderful - especially the second album since it is the most musical and "beautiful".
Unfortunately Nothing Lasts is their last album - and we can only hope they will come back with another name in the future.

Electro Sun (2) - Pure Blue - 28-Apr-06 12:21 AM
If you expected psychedelic trance, this is not for you. This is full on trance and it's very melodic. Some say even too much. If you like melodies, then this is the album for you - the melodies are excellent. Dreamy and catchy, and you'll find yourself humming them in your head after listening to it. For all of you cheese lovers - this is brilliant cheese. The collaborations with System Nipel and Brain Damage are favorites here, together with Sundance and In My Dream.
For those of you who want some more powerful music, there are also tracks for you - Vanilla and I've Got The Power, even though I think that if you're looking for that kind of music try to look for something else than Electro Sun.

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