Ocean Star Empire: Dots on Maps

Modern goa at its best

I am not the biggest fan of goa, but Ocean Star Empire has been a repeat on my playlist for the past couple of months. The layers of twilighty morning clips and breaks are done really well. I have to admit that goa baseline is pretty pleasing.

SoundShaman: DJ Profile

Magic basket of heady beats

The story goes that once upon a time, SoundShaman asked for advice about mixing music, and a wise friend prompted him to "go with the vibe rather than the genre." And this is what he does. Paul Mulhern from Austin, TX enjoys seeking out new and innovative branches of psy, IDM, glitch, morning, uplifting, zenonesque and overall awesome psychedelic bass music. He evolves with what he likes at the time, rides with it on a quality mix, and shares it with any ear who'd like to listen.  Each of his diverse sets are easy to dance to and soulful.  Read more here.

One time after a set at, he had a huge smile on his face as he said to me, "at one point I had three tracks going on." When we met, he was into BMX and punk rock! Our friends Jeni and Daniel introduced us to EDM, and the rest is history. Since then, he's DJ'd at Art Outside and at festivals with Enichkin and Psykovsky.

Keluk: Soldiers of Gaia

A morning cup of dark blend

A neuro high-tech darkpsy piece with melodic morning trance landscapes. Keluk constructs a mosaic of multiple psytrance sub-genres beautifully. Hold on to your space suits; it's quite moving. For less neuro and more morning, check out Sunning Rise.

Keluk hails from Estonia.
Album: Terra Taara Available for download.
Release: 2014, Monkey Business Records

Derango: Tumult

Slippery gator pop

Listen/purchase here

Snap, pow, bumble. Derango, a delightful Swedish forest psy duo, indeed created a tumult of highly intricate home-grown forest production dabbled with peculiar video game samples. The kick is much more amplified than the bass giving it a pop sensation more than a darkpsy one even though the subtler bassline is dark and the themes are freakish. This was my first psytrance CD to purchase. I literally selected it at random from psyshop.com having no idea it was a forest classic.

Derango is the project of Jens Erikson and Ola Erikson, unrelated
Album: Tumult
Release: 2005

Psykovsky's Bekhudi

Proceed with care to break open the heart

Psykovsky’s Bekhudi is the epitome of all that is psytrance. Psy-heads around the globe agree to it, not because it is a popular notion, but rather this uni-inner-versal journey of his fosters highly lucid dreams, hallucinogenic hypnoses, and hyper-sensitive physiological effects! Consume with reverence and caution.This concoction has surely been dosed with the power of love.

Psykovsky is Vasily Markelov from Russia.
Album: Da Budet
Release: 2009

Update 3-2015: Psykovsky is coming back to Texas for another round at Armadillo Acres with Atrium Obscurum this summer.