Archived Music Lists 1994-2004
For several years, I highlighted on my old website my favourite tracks of each season. I stopped doing this when the music got really boring and I didn’t have enough nice things to say. While I think that there is much more high-quality music these days, I haven’t yet picked up making my lists of favourite tracks… For reference, here are the old lists – not all of my opinions still stand true and some of the tracks have since been released on CD. Will get around to updating these eventually…
2003-2004 Season
- Tristan and Psyberant: Wait and See
- I’ve been looking for some tracks with great whooshy noises that didn’t sound like GMS. At last we have something with a driving baseline, a really balanced structure, and that old-time ‘tunnel vision’ sound. Awesome!
- Tristan & Electric Ant: Six Straight Days (ManMadeMan remix)
- What a dynamite track! Lot of great squelchy sounds and a really driving rhythm make this a phenomenal dancefloor hit.
- Kox Box: 911
- Once again, the Danish masters deliver a marvelous tune. The structure is awesome – what brilliant breaks! – and the sounds are killer. Can these guys do no wrong?
- Cydonia: Funky Monkey
- Dino delivers with a retro-style track that features the best of the past. A great melody, funky percussion, and awesome analogue sounds make this a surefire hit. His buildup to higher frequencies will have dancers bouncing off the walls!
- Charasmatix: Crazzy
- Some funky progressive stuff.
- Blowfish: Liquid Eyes
- While the entire Blowfish album has some of the best trance I’ve heard in years, this track takes the cake. Graham Wood, former member of The Infinity Project, and partner-in-crime Tony Stapleton freshen up the old TIP sound in a brilliantly structured track filled with fat analogue sounds and an anthem that cuts through time and space. Phenomenal! My favourite track of the season.
- Total Eclipse: Aguas Blancas
- This track is at least two years old, but it has finally just been released. This is the real morning sound – light, uplifting, and airy. It has a melody you can hum yet is not cheesy, and still has some great electronic sounds. Super nostalgic!
- Total Eclipse: Jadran Temple
- A great mystical track by veteran Stef Holweck. Some Total Eclipse signature sounds: a touch of dissonance with animal-like calls and full analogue sounds. A stormer!
- TIP: Stimuli (Hallucinogen remix)
- A fresh remix of the classic TIP track by the Man himself. The kick is huge, the baseline bouncy, and the vibe nostalgic.
- Prometheus: Samothraki
- While the Prometheus album isn’t quite what I had expected or hoped for, this track was quite nice.
- Tristan: Cats and Fish
- The Trizzer is back to his old form of atonal madness and organized mayhem with this belter. This track has a driving baseline and rhythm that will keep the dancefloor packed and rocking.
- Matenda: Tunnel Vision
- A fantastic high energy track with an old psychedelic harmonic element and alien voices coming out of everywhere.
- ManMadeMan: Network
- This is SUCH a cool track. It features heaps of quantum noises that build up into a stunning climax. A brilliant track for the middle of the night to send you into outer space and bring you gently back to Earth.
- Hydrophonic: Eb’n’ Flow
- This is a really outstanding high-energy track with an old-style harmonic loop. There are some absolutely mental noises supported by a solid baseline.
2002-2003 Season
- Kox Box: Woolectrix
- It seems that these guys can do no wrong. This is just an amazing track that brings to mind The Full Monty (see 1994-95). Fabulous.
- Domestic: Stimulated
- Wow. Some really great high-energy music with fantastic sounds in the upper registers.
- Initia: Spiritual Powers
- This Greek project has made some wonderful music. This is a really clean, light, breezy track that is expertly produced.
- Man With No Name: Axis Flip
- Full-power madness from a master who some people tend to find ‘light’. This is an absolutely first-rate mind-bender.
- Man With No Name: Space Juice
- This is just bloody brilliant. It has the anthemic quality of earlier MWNN tracks without being cheesy. This is one of the best tracks in years.
- Fly Agaric: I See Myself
- I haven’t been wild about Infected Mushroom, but this collaboration with Simon Posford is really excellent. The dance section is a bit short, but it is a strong track.
- Younger Brother: Weird on a Monday Night
- A great intro track to the Younger Brother album, this is also a wonderful opening track for a set. Lots of shifts, great sounds, and excellent samples.
- Prometheus: Number Cruncher/Snakes and Ladders
- Well, you can tell that Benji has been working with Simon here…He incorporates a few tricks into his own excellent set of ideas. Two first-rate tracks.
- Saikopod: Insoma
- Well, just add everything these guys are doing to my list. I love this high-energy bouncy track.
- Mexican Trance Mafia: Aquario
- A super track with some great effects.
- Nerve: Nervous (Etnica rmx)
- A luscious, dark reworking of a great track.
- MOS: Connected
- This is just what these guys are when they produce tracks like this. Fantastic.
- Nerve: White Sand
- Mmm…Nerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrve. This is just marvelous.
2001-2002 Season
- Saiko Pod: Silent Running
- I was blown away the first time I heard this – the day I was scheduled to play in Calgary. I put it on in the set and it rocked big time. The accenting gives the illusion of it being in half-time. Really kicking.
- Sandman: The Dark Side
- A more mature, structured sound from the Israeli master. Great sampling and awesome sounds. A perfect night-time track.
- Talamasca: Magnetic Fields
- A cool track with a very nice harmonic component – something that I have difficulty finding these days.
- Psychaos: Free Radical
- Another great track with that distinctive Joti feel. Love it!
- Psychaos: Juice
- This is a pretty full-on, almost violent track. Not everyone can get into this sound, but I think it has its place.
- Sandman: Jungle Rock
- A somewhat different sound for this artist. It is lean but still powerful and gets the dancefloor filled really fast.
- Noosphere: Vektor
- A very cool track with a different sound for this group.
- Nerve: Channel 59
- This second track by Nerve got me fully into their sound.
- Saikopod: Tron
- The Danish masters once again creating a truly marvelous piece of work. High energy and loads of fun.
- Saikopod: Magnetic Force
- I’m not sure what to think of this…it is unusual to hear the Danish guys doing this Israeli-style declamatory trance that epitomizes a certain exasperating and occasionally torturous kind of music. But they do it so well…Kind of dangerous stuff.
- Logic Bomb: Desire
- A nice, upbeat one – a different sound than their usual ones. Very clean.
- Bio-Tonic: Ayauesca
- I heard Taka play this and loved its high-energy punchy quality. A really great track.
2000-2001 Season
- Etnica: Merkaba
- A good old classic Goa-style riff and a super sample make this one of my favourite mid-speed tracks.
- Juno Reactor: Nitrogen Part 2
- Stef (Total Eclipse) had written to me from Brighton that he was visiting Ben Watkins and doing an experimental track. Well, it’s one of only two tracks on the Juno Reactor album Shango that I like, and it is indeed a kicker.
- Logic Bomb: Skrok
- I love the sounds in this track. It gets a little intense midway through it, but it is still a very strong track with an important flavour.
- Nerve: Rocket
- Ooh, this is dark in a lovely way. My introduction to Nerve, a group whose music I really enjoy.
- Talamasca: The Flow remix
- I completely missed this when I heard the CD and then heard it played out…WOW, what a powerful track! Brilliantly done!
- Vibrasphere: Lava
- Well, I pretty much loved every track on this group’s debut album, but this one is a piece of work. A wonderful uplifting piece of morning trance.
- Prometheus: Sunspot/Time Bandit
- Both of these tracks are incredible. I was floored when the package arrived from Twisted. Benji has really developed into an incredible artist. I was amazed to hear from Sean Process that these tracks had in fact been written a full year before their release.
- Vibrasphere: Airfield/Urban Grace
- Beautiful slower tracks by a marvelous group.
- Planet BEN: TNT
- What a fantastic, full-power track. It’s repetitious but it bears repeating. Absolutely electrifying.
- Organic Noise: The Vacuum
- Wow, what a cool track. Dark and brooding, perfect for the darkest part of the night.
1999-2000 Season
- LFOIDS: Medusa
- I heard Serge play this in Gifu (Japan) and at Solipse, and was blown away – absolutely mental energy, lots of great runs up and down. Got my hands on it and played it loads, and have never seen it be released. I don’t know who these guys are, but they are GOOD.
- Tristan: Perimeter
- I first heard Taka play this at Hallowe’en in Calgary. I had not taken a set of promo vinyls of Tristan’s album when it was offered me in London the month before, opting instead to wait for the CD. Had I known that this track was on there, I might have decided otherwise. An absolute classic in dark but structured night music.
- Total Eclipse: 10 Years of Trance
- Stef and I started this track when I went to Bordeaux shortly after Solipse in ’99. We didn’t have the time to get very far (just the opening) so he finished it with Loic a while later. The title comes from the Distance compilation for which it was chosen, and not the sample from “Men In Black” that I supplied (the working title was “Imagination”). I had imagined – no pun intended – a different direction for the track (and I suppose I’ll remix it when equipped to do so) but it is a kicker and I really enjoy it.
- Tristan: Fetish
- I certainly have a fetish for tracks like these. SO high-energy, really wonderfully electronic yet uplifting. Phenomenal!
- Phoetus: Groovy Symptoms
- Just a lovely track.
- Space Tribe: So Deep
- I heard Olli play this at Solipse 1999 and loved it right away. Wild energy, great bleepy sounds, and a fantastic sample. Super energetic!
- The Delta: Thing
- I had heard talk of this track since Spiralkinder had played it at the opening of Voov. Mark Allen told me he found it a little too epic, but as I loved most other Delta tracks up to then, I was raring to get it. I eventually got it through Twisted Simon, and had every trance DJ in Vancouver running up to me asking “What the f***?” when I played it before its release in a monster set.
- XV Killist: Gurgel
- This masterful track was sent to me via Oz and arrived just before a Vancouver gig. I had heaps of DJs coming up to me to ask what it was. It has a great build-up, superb sound, and awesome structure.
- Hallucinogen: Beautiful People
- Simon was working on this track when I visited him a month or so after Solipse 1999. He wasn’t wild about it, but I thought it was great. He originally had the donkeys doing a Delta Skelter spoof riff (that was the bit that he liked and I didn’t…) I really like the way Ott has mixed the opening section (and the rest of it is pretty damn good too!).
1998-1999 Season
- Byte 1: Byte 1
- A wonderful dark and brooding yet musical extrapolation. I first heard the magnificent DJ Shingo play this at a beach party that we were both playing at and loved its old-style flavour…with Graham and Xavier being responsible for it, no wonder it’s so good.
- Digitalis: Slotek
- Wow, what a sexy track. Shingo also played this on the beach and I just loved the full psychedelic vibe with breakbeats. A perfect track.
- Children of Paradise: Bloodsuckers
- I used to LOVE this track. It is massive, with beautiful harmonies and solid, well-rounded sounds. Lush and full-bodied.
- Stoop & Fidget: Mudless
- Very nice brooding yet bouncy number.
- Astronomix: After Life
- An excellent nighttime track that I only discovered – well after I had played it in almost every set – was written by two mates I had known in London. First rate.
- X-Dream: Coming Soon
- X-Dream at their best. One of the best baselines ever and a really wild track. If only they would write more music like this…
- The Delta: Delta Skelter
- Not what I was expecting when I saw the DAT, to be honest, but WOW what a track! A minimal computerized language that hits the body on all kinds of levels. I was indebted to Akira from Solstice for slipping this my way well before its commercial release.
- Pleiadians: Seven Sisters
- A wonderful, marvelous, spiritual journey. While I was a little disappointed when I heard that the opening sounds are the first preset on the Prophecy synth (couldn’t you even be bothered to change it a bit, guys?), it is an AMAZING track. The buildup is fantastic and the climax is just so cleansing.
- Fancy Vision: Supergirl’s Wedding
- With Ben doing some work here, it’s no wonder this track is a kicker. Lovely.
- The Beast: Trouble
- I first played this on the beach in Japan – I hadn’t yet listened to it all the way through – and I loved it. Great sample, and a much cleaner, less chaotic vibe than the preceding Beast track.
- Children of Paradise: Troll
- I first got this from Total Eclipse Stef, who said “No need to preview it – copy it, you’ll love it.” Sure enough… I love the pitch-bending melody and the whole feel.
- Deedrah: Kiba remix (Prana)
- More Transwave with a Man-With-No-Name vibe…a wonderful track with a strong retro feel.
- The Groupie Syndrome: Pacemaker
- This was Tsuyoshi’s opening track for a good chunk of 1998. I first heard it at the Equinox festival in Gifu – from the opening notes I knew that the DJ had changed and that it was Tsuyoshi at the helm (another friend of mine sensed the same thing). Apparently the maestro was furious that the schedule had been changed and that he was now to play very early in the evening, and this is the track he put on – lots of anger (as per the sample and the music itself).Phenomenal stuff!
- Space Tribe: Beyond the Subatomic
- A great slower tune with a fantastic sample and a fun feel.
- Space Tribe: The Circle of Life
- Another one of Olli’s more spiritual tunes – just the right amount of samples and great engineering.
- Pleiadians: Meter
- An absolute kicker. I got this about a year before the album was released (took Dragonfly a while to work things out, apparently) and this one was one of the best high-energy tracks I had heard in ages. Blows ‘em away every time.
1997-1998 Season
- Fools and Tools: Hundreds of Sunsets (Edit 37) / Itchy & Scratchy (original AND unpublished mix)
- I heard these tracks the day after the DAT arrived at the Twisted office in London and was blown away. Somehow they weren’t very popular but I think they are absolute classics. I blew away a crowd in Vancouver with the Itchy & Scratchy promo in March ’98. The unpublished edit of Itchy & Scratchy is one of the most powerful night-time tracks that I’ve heard.
- Sun Kings: Starbuck (Anatomae Fabricus remix)
- The essence of DMT. Absolute mystery and evocation. A masterpiece.
- Doof: Destination Bom live mix (unpublished)
- One of my greatest musical experiences was playing at Tsuyoshi’s house when he was moving in August 1997; as Aquaspace was playing, Doof came up and said he had a perfect track to play next and this was it. It was mixed in a set and we cued it up together and out poured the most beautiful track I think I have ever heard. It felt slower and smoother than the original, and lyrically evocative in a way that is just indescribable. I mixed it out smoothly and the DAT went back into Nick’s briefcase, and that was that. It is tragic that this has not been released.
- X-Dream: Radiohead
- I absolutely HATED the track ‘Radio’ when it first hit the DAT circuit, and didn’t take the chance to copy this remix well before it was released. When I got the CD single promo from Blue Room before leaving London, I was blown away. A very, very solid and powerful track, way better (in my opinion) than the one on the album.
- The Delta: Traveling at the Speed of Thought
- This was the Holy Grail for me. I heard Stef (Total Eclipse) play this in Osaka in November 97 and was floored. Then Ian played it at a Dragonfly Christmas party that year – I was with Mark Allen and asked him if he knew it but he didn’t. I knew it was The Delta (I had seen Stef’s DAT box), but kept on being told it was the Stranded remix, a track that I hated. Finally, my last night in England, LITERALLY at the 11th hour (and just before my last train) I got a copy from Jez (Laughing Buddha) and was thus able to create some powerful moments in my sets in Vancouver and Tokyo before its release and subsequent overkill a year later.
- Total Eclipse: Dracula (unpublished)
- I got this from the French DAT mafia and love it. Turns out the Bordeaux trio don’t like it very much and so it won’t be released. It is a super-lively, bouncy track that is a guaranteed floor filler.
- Pleiadians: Full Mental Jackpot remix
- This is one of the most beautiful melodic tracks that I know. The Crop Circles original was great, but this remix is the bomb. I have another unreleased DAT remix which is really great too, but the commercially available one is the bomb.
- X-Dream: Life is a Gas remix
- Another track that I hated when I first heard it but which had a profound effect on me when I heard it in the right context. Dark and sneaky, with a haunting melody and a really odd structure.
- Prometheus Process: Clarity From Deep Fog
- Pure magic. I first heard this when I was in quite the state with label DJs Richard “Purple” (Dragonfly) and Hector “Toast” (Twisted). Richard and I were talking when all of a sudden this background noise started getting louder – and as the track progressed, we were both swept away by the latest track from the Twisted clan. This was a good year before its release and prompted Richard to beg for a copy, laying out his entire DAT collection…
- Metal Spark: Sonic Feet
- I hate breakbeats, but Metal Spark knows how to do it with style. A wonderful track with lots of flying bits of madness.
- Infernal Machine: Nocturnal Chainsaw Kerfuffle
- I first heard this at a TIP party as Simon passed the DAT to Andre (who was making a reappearance after a long absence). I was dancing my behind off to its wild mayhem and still really love it. Having had the Dementertainment comp well before its release when I was DJing in Japan, I had the opportunity to rock a few dancefloors with this number before it became well known.
- Cydonia: Mindhunter
- This track arrived in a Blue Room promo pack just as I was leaving London in early ’98. I had heard this track in the Cydonia studio when I interviewed them and loved it. Really great screaming night-time music.
- Semsis: Planet
- I love this track. A more orchestral style number the likes of which is not written frequently enough – certainly not with this kind of quality. First-rate.
- X-Dream: Brain Forest
- A wonderful uplifting track from the German masters. If they always wrote such feel-good music, the world would be a different place.
1996-1997 Season
- Prana: Boundless
- The effect that this brilliant track had on New York at the Liberty Science Center still gives me the shivers. The real Tsuyoshi at his peak.
- Psychopod: Psychopod
- Another classic from the cutting-edge Danes, this is one of the tracks that defines my arrival in London in 96. It has one of the best mind-altering melodies ever put in a trance track.
- The Antidote: Sunrise
- An amazing morning track by the Bordeaux masters. Beautiful, spiritual, and highly danceable.
- Psychaos: Chaos to Order
- Vintage dark Joti madness. This is how you do dark and vicious without getting completely ridiculous.
- The Visitors: Tiny Little Engines of Creation
- Another Tsuyoshi weapon, this brilliant Aussie track has one of the most mantric effects that I have heard. It is a cosmic track with a truly timeless element.
- Transwave: Absolum
- This is just bloody brilliant. I’ve played it out and had people who HATED Transwave recoil in shock as they found out who had written it. It is one of the most beautifully proportioned tracks with a sneaky line that builds into an emotional climax in a way that others can only dream of doing. I first heard Max from Etnica play it in London, and he and his mop were bouncing around behind the decks.
- Hallucinogen: Soothsayer remix
- Another track that defines my early London experience, this one takes dark to a new level of depth and strength. Filled with emotion and raw power, it is brilliantly engineered and structured. One of Simon’s best.
- Infernal Machine: The Loin King
- This classic Posford track was written the first week of September for the Return to the Source party in New York. Simon didn’t play it in his set, but slipped it to Tsuyoshi at the end of his set at the end of the party . It was the crowning glory of one of the most groundbreaking and powerful parties.
- Pleiadians: Maia
- Pure depth and emotion. The Italian masters outdid themselves here.
- Pleiadians: Asterope
- One of the most beautiful and powerful tracks I know. I can never tire of this one.
- Tim Schuldt: Inner Child
- A beautiful and powerful track. Deep, dark, and growling – very introspective and cleansing. A classic of its genre.
- Psychopod: Universal Mind
- THE track of the Summer of 97 in my opinion (not that it was played out much in London). Uplifting and brilliant.
- Astral Projection: Flying Into A Star
- An absolutely incredible track. Pure spirit without the cheese.
- Transwave: S9
- This unpublished track is reportedly the last the French duo made before they ended their project, and it is filled with emotion. There are two mixes, one more industrial and metallic than the other. Both are among the greatest high-energy and emotional tracks ever made.
- Total Eclipse: Collapsar
- One of the best morning tracks ever, from the masters of morning music. The atmospheric sounds and awesome baseline make this a perfect way to witness twilight expanding into light.
- Man With No Name: Jardin de Cecile Remix
- Once again the Man delivers something with a high-energy superbooster. A phenomenal track in very respect.
- The Delta: As a Child I Could Walk On The Ceiling
- I hated this track when I first heard it, but the way Tsuyoshi played it at sunrise at Mount Fuji in May 1997 changed my original assessment. It started a rather unfortunate onslaught of guitar-oriented tracks, but is itself a classic.
- Psychopod: Friagram
- Pure brilliance. I have no idea how they got those mad bubbling sounds but I LOVE them!
- Sibilant: The Fly
- An intro to different beats in trance. Incredibly evocative and beautiful stuff.
- Slug: Slugfest
- A track that was one of Tsuyoshi’s great energizers. He heard me play it when I was DJ’ing at the Daniel Poole shop in London, and after that would put it on every time he knew I was in the crowd – “I know you like it.”
- Man With No Name: Tarantula
- An absolute mind-bender. The Man apparently had an entire album of this quality and Paul Oakenfold told him to make it more commercial; this track and Possessed made it to publication unscathed. I was playing it before its release at the Daniel Poole shop in London, and a Swiss DJ ran up to me screaming “What is this music? This is INSANE!!!” The Man IS a master…
1995-1996 Season
- Space Tribe: The Great Spirit (original mix – unpublished)
- This is one of the best tracks ever. The version on the CD “Sonic Mandala” is completely different from the full-on unpublished mix. Huge kick, dolphin sounds, and the samples “But for the strange healing powers of a lost civilization …” Magic!
- Hallucinogen: Angelic Particles
- Quite likely the most beautiful track ever. The syncopated gating effect of the voice, the quality of the voice itself, and the melody and structure all make this a killer.
- Etnica and Cosmix: Kumba Mela
- Again, a different sound for early Etnica. One of the best morning tracks of its time (and all time, for that matter).
- Hallucinogen: Astral Pancakes
- A wonderful morning track with a hypnotic melody. Used to hear Kuni play it quite regularly in Japan and was thrilled when I finally got my mitts on it!
- Man With No Name: Stimuli Remix
- I like this remix better than the original. The Man creates a lively mood with the arpeggiated opening and typical MWNN liveliness…and that ever-familiar bouncing TIP signature combined with another of his own. Masterful.
- Hallucinogen: Orphic Thrench
- I heard Olli play this at Fuji Full Moon in October ’95 and was blown away by the massive kick and the track as a whole. Less than a week later, I found Hallucinogen’s Twisted album at a shop – a whole album of Hallucinogen was the stuff that dreams were made of in those days (still is, in fact). This track brought back great memories of possibly the greatest party I have been to.
- Space Tribe: Geo-Matrix
- This is the first track on the second Dragonfly comp and it was thrilling to hear it for the first time. I didn’t think the CD was as strong as its predecessor but this track still stands up very well. The sound is remarkably full-bodied for the time, and the sample ROCKS. Great pitch-bending effect too!
- Hallucinogen: Lazy Spiral remix of Slinky Wizard’s Lunar Juice
- As if the original weren’t a classic already, Simon outdid himself here. A full-range sound with some chords in the upper registers near the end that have more of a Pleiadian sound than anything else that Simon has done make this one a real floor filler.
- Slinky Nuns: Shitty Stick
- Simply one of the most full-on tracks ever, with the fattest, squelchiest synth sounds in pure blissful mayhem. I remember Olli playing this in London in 97 at a time when retro was passé, and the floor was rocking in a way that city had not seen in a good long time.
- Psychaos: Science Fiction
- One of Joti’s classic baselines and super melodies. Just brilliant and in much need of an unmixed CD release.
- Prana: Primal Orbit
- It was a while before I really ‘got’ this track – it was when Olli threw it on in ‘97 as a retro hit that it really struck me how brilliant it was. This track could easily convert house-heads into trancers.
- Psyko Disko: Nobody
- One of Tsuyoshi’s old powerhouses, this track has a great rhythmic component from the early school of Aussie Goa.
- Pleiadians: Time Dilation
- A monster, epic track which sounds rather primitive in parts but which works incredibly well on the dance floor. Screaming night-time madness.
- Green Nuns: Ring Of Fire
- One of the most full-on tracks from the full-on Nuns, the sample “OK space-cadets, prepare to hurtle through the cosmos” is just amazing. When it peaks, boy does it rip!
1994-1995 Season
- North Central Positronics: The Great Bear
- An early Simon Posford collaboration, this has one of the most beautiful melodies of any track I’ve heard. The climax is just gorgeous – this is a perfect morning track. I used to hear this at the early parties I was going to in 94/95 and couldn’t get enough of it. Originally released on an obscure London label, it has not to my knowledge ever made it to CD. I still blow people away when I play this one. Vintage Posford.
- Etnica: Astral Way
- Some of Etnica’s early tracks sound quite different from their early (and later) albums. This one has fuller sound and a really deep story.
- TIP: Binary Neuronaut
- One of the all-time classics, this track still sounds fantastic. Amazing engineering, great samples, an amazing harmonic structure…all give this a very mystical atmosphere.
- TIP: Telepathy
- The flip-side of Binary Neuronaut – wow, what a single for 1994! Incredible sounds, brilliant engineering, awesome samples, and one of the best base-lines ever. Destined for the ages.
- Rhythmystec: Stellium
- This Matsuri classic by Nick Taylor and Ray Castle has the most alien-sounding riffs of its time and possibly ever since. The introduction is brilliantly conceived, and is only fully understood to be a pastiche of upcoming riffs once the track has been played through. The lines all fit perfectly on top of each other, and the climax gives me a kundalini rush every time. One of the few mainstream tracks to sound really ELECTRONIC, with one of the first big ‘guitars from outer space’ riffs. Kuni from Equinox in Japan used to play it every party, and my friends and I would all meet each other afterwards saying “Did you hear it?” and we KNEW which track we were talking about. Cosmic!
- Kox Box: Point of No Return
- Kox Box were clearly ahead of their time (still are). To have produced music like this in 94/95 was really pushing the boundaries. The sounds are so fresh and clean, and the storyline goes on a meandering journey only to return back to the source (despite the title!) near the end. Brilliant.
- Total Eclipse: Bladerunner (original and unpublished remix)
- The downward sweep of this track grabbed me the first time I heard it. Is this the sound of an alarm signal that we are sending out to space, or the sound of an alien ambulance coming to help a planet in need? The unpublished remix is a lot lighter and faster than the slightly rougher original. Serge hates the remix, and so it will likely never be published.
- Graham and Serge: The Full Monty (unpublished)
- This is a beautiful, mysterious track that was made in a few hours back in the day. The mixing desk was pretty shaky, and while they made several takes (anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes!), all of them have some distortion and have never been released. A real lesson in how a mysterious vibe need not be emptily dark. One of the treasures of my collection.
- Arcturus: 1000 Planets
- This was one of the great Dragonfly tracks back in 94 and it still sounds great. It features one of the characteristics of early Goa – lots of electronic sounds going up and down. The samples “There’s a 1000 planets out there” and “All channels and frequencies clear” were clearly designed to affect people in an altered state with greater consciousness than most samples presently used.
- Kox Box: Space Interface
- Talk about alien sounds…this track sets up a mantra and breaks out of it into a squelchy alien voice after a big build-up. I’ve played this for people who were not trance-heads at all and they thought it was the greatest track they had ever heard.
- Slinky Wizard: Wizard
- What a stunning piece of work. From its soft introduction to its full-climax synth guitar riff, this is a masterpiece. The melodies have heart and soul, and the samples “I am Oz” and “We must be over the rainbow” definitely speak to the alteration of consciousness. Simon reportedly had quite a time doing all the engineering while the boys from Slinky Wizard were barking instructions at him. An unpublished quasi-ambient mix incorporates a chord sequence from The Great Bear.
- Prana: Aquaspace
- This one still gets quite a reaction, and people can’t believe it was done back in 94 by Nick Taylor (Tsuyoshi wasn’t in the studio for this one). Pure magic with its water-drop sounds and its haunting melody. An all-time classic.
- Psychaos: Soundbeams
- For many people, this is the epitome of an old-school hard Goa track. Joti was one of the first to be making such original baselines with an overall distinctive style. This track still stands up well to anything being produced today.
- TIP: Noises from the Darkness (unpublished live mix)
- Although I only got this track several years later, it must have been made around this time. A lovely, wandering, ascending spiral that stands in stark contrast to the rough yet exciting commercial version.
- Space Tribe: Machine Elf
- This was on the first two mix tapes that Tokyo DJs Jay and Mayuri gave me, and I was thrilled when it showed up on the first TIP comp. The full-on vicious exuberance and sonic palette have guaranteed its continued success as a floor filler (I played it in Montreal in ‘99 and the place just erupted).
- Juno Reactor: Feel the Universe (Otto edit)
- The track from the first Return to the Source CD that introduced me to Juno is still one of my favourites. Full on night-time power.
STAY CONNECTED