I recently wrote about top tens and hinted that I might get back into the practice. After all, compiling and publishing a top ten chart is an easy way to recommend music, something we all like to do. Here is the first set of tracks I have compiled in recent weeks—ten dark thrillers to light up the night: Alter…
Planet B.E.N. (Ben Wierzoch) composed Ant Invasion in 1993, years before the widespread popularization of Goa trance. This enduring masterpiece of psychedelic electronics predates the vast majority of classics we commonly associate with the genre. Unfortunately, its place in history is often overlooked as it wasn’t formally released until 1996, when the movement was already in full swing. With…
DJ charts have long been a fixture of the electronic music movement. Charts serve a simple purpose: to recommend music. I haven’t seen it mentioned before, but I suspect that the widespread popularity of top tens is at least partially rooted in the fact that they transcend language. Absolutely anyone can figure out what a top ten is all about…
Cato Unbound published an interesting issue entitled The Future of Copyright back in June of 2008. The lead essay, written by Piratbyrån co-founder Rasmus Fleischer, offers insight into the consequences of increasingly severe copyright legislation: Every broken regulation brings a cry for at least one new regulation even more sweepingly worded than the last. Copyright…
This comment is in reference to Creative Commons in Practice: Notes from the Trenches of the Independent Electronic Music Industry by Björn Hartmann, founder of the Textone netlabel. At the time of publication I called it required reading for anyone interested in the ideology behind Ektoplazm and the free music movement in general, but it doesn’t appear to be online…
Third Eye’s Ancient Future is the debut release from Psy-Harmonics, an influential Australian trance label that became a major force during the early years of Goa trance. Behind this project is the legendary producer Ollie Olsen, also known from his work as Shaolin Wooden Men. Released in 1993, this album captures the embryonic movement in…
BBEP is a five-track digital single from the influential Danish psytrance group Beat Bizarre, one of the leading artists on Iboga Records and a group widely known for their distinctive blend of clean, cold, and minimal psychedelic grooves. It features three original compositions and a pair of remastered classics, both of which are sure to appeal to longtime fans.
Darshan exploded on to the scene in 1997, signing with Flying Rhino Records to become one of the hottest new acts in Goa trance. Formed by Grant Collins and Mark Robinson, Darshan was seen by many as the spiritual successors to Green Nuns of the Revolution, a legendary act that had been slowing their output in the years…
Electric Universe was originally a collaboration between German producers Boris Blenn and Michael Dressler, who left the project around 1997. One Love, their debut offering, is a cosmic collection of unpretentious analog trance and breakbreat soundscapes. Nothing here is overly complex; the arrangements are simple and straight-forward, and the production style is smooth and hypnotic, but there’s no shortage…
In the mid-nineties, the legendary Mazzo nightclub in Amsterdam formed several record labels to showcase a diverse array of electronic music styles heard within their walls. Founded in 1995, the M-Track imprint was chartered to release trance and techno—most of which was written by local Dutch producers like Synchro (Jeroen van Garling), Cwithe (Jens Waldebäck and…