Yep, bought the album, listened to it a few times then put it in the “can’t stand it” pile. Yes, some of the songs are OK but if I have to skip around a CD to find the one or two songs that I like because the rest make me cringe then it goes in the “can’t stand it” pile not in the ” play it over and over again” pile. Simon’s Hallucinogen albums have been in the “play it a few times a week, love it, never get tired of it” pile since they came out in the 90’s, seriously. The last two IM albums haven’t earned a spot there. Sorry, but I’m just too picky when it comes to what I consider quality music. Converting Vegetarians, BP Empire, Classical Mushroom and Supervisor get listened too on a regular basis but I just can’t do it with the new stuff. I’m not a big fan of vocals in electronic music to start off with and when you throw in some digitally distorted heavy metal guitar with the screaming vocals my old school inner self says “WTF are you listening to Mopho? Make it stop!!!”

Moby is a great example of this in my opinion. His early stuff was awesome especially his “Ambient” album but then he added a cheap distorted guitar and his own vocals or Gwen Stefani’s and it just changed the vibe and direction of his music which seems very record label pushed and over commercialized to me.  : )

Airspeed - 10 December 2009 07:20 AM

I think what Generix is getting at is we need more artist where you can actually listen to their music and know exactly who the artist is without looking at the CD. I can’t do this with artists like Ephedrix but I can with Hallucinogen, Shpongle, Prometheus, Ott, BT, Infected Mushroom, Ozric Tentacles, Eat Static etc. etc.

you hit the nail on the head with this!

I’ve come to realize that all of my favorite artists don’t have a genre. Their name is their genre.

Infected Mushroom is Infected Mushroom. Ott is Ott… etc etc.

These are the artists that are most mimicked because the followers can’t figure out how to make their own unique sound and end up oversaturating the respective genres that were named for the unique artist.

now there are a lot of great artists that have followed in the footsteps….that’s the way it goes with art, it inspires. The ones that last the longest though are the ones that create their own style, while still drawing upon all of their influences.

Airspeed - 10 December 2009 01:38 PM

I’m not a big fan of vocals in electronic music to start off with and when you throw in some digitally distorted heavy metal guitar with the screaming vocals my old school inner self says “WTF are you listening to Mopho? Make it stop!!!”

I understand the vocals and guitar are purely preference…you either like it or you don’t. But I still feel they’ve maintained their own style and sound.

Slowly and Project 100 are epic songs IMHO on par with any of their greatest songs from any album.

Then those are the two songs that I like out of the TWELVE songs on the album. Not great percentages if you ask me. A great album should have a WOW factor all the way through in my opinion. Maybe IM needs to stop releasing albums and just release singles that way some of us don’t feel so disappointed when they mix in some good stuff with some crap and call it an album. Just opinions…........

Airspeed - 10 December 2009 02:06 PM

Then those are the two songs that I like out of the TWELVE songs on the album. Not great percentages if you ask me. A great album should have a WOW factor all the way through in my opinion. Maybe IM needs to stop releasing albums and just release singles that way some of us don’t feel so disappointed when they mix in some good stuff with some crap and call it an album. Just opinions…........

well you have to realize that a lot the fans they have happen to love the other 10 songs on the album.

You can always just steal the album and keep the songs you like.

I personally don’t mind the guitars as I grew up with guitar and play it so I enjoy that factor and I don’t think it’s done too terribly. I think Duvdev’s vox are a bit corny at times, but the songs that are effected really don’t bother me that much because he usually just sings very short verses vs. long vocal songs with verse/bridge/chorus stylings.

My two least favorite songs are the one with Johnathan Davis and Perry Ferrel just because it isn’t IM at that point but I understand why they’re doing it because it’s fun to work with other people, especially 2 well respected vocalists. That, and they’ll get even more recognition from people who might not necessarily know who IM is.

Are we talking old school fans or new fans. I’m not really saying that the new music is total garbage, it’s just that when some of us hold it up to the level of the older stuff it just seems weak and off track. Kind of like old Metallica vs new Metallica if you know what I mean. From kick ass guitar solos and epic progressions to non existent or weak guitar solos and drums that sound like pots and pans thrown down an alley while being recorded by an engineer that apparently loves limiters and the loudness war way too much. Sometimes older is better…

Airspeed - 10 December 2009 02:21 PM

Are we talking old school fans or new fans. I’m not really saying that the new music is total garbage, it’s just that when some of us hold it up to the level of the older stuff it just seems weak and off track. Kind of like old Metallica vs new Metallica if you know what I mean.

I dunno, I’m sure it’s a cross section of both.

I understand your Metaliica analogy. While I love the Gathering and Classical Mushroom as much as the next old school IM fan, (it’s was my first discovery of psytrance along with Twisted by Hallucinogen) I can still appreciate and admire their new direction because I know as a producer I can’t come close to doing what they’re doing musically and production wise. That impresses me… the Vox and the Guitars don’t bother me…I’m listening to everything else.

PLUS, Metallica hasn’t done a single goddamn thing noteworthy since the black album that wasn’t just a rehash (Unforgiven II?? hah!)

Ha Ha… It’s SAD BUT TRUE (insert James Hetfield vocals here)... isn’t it?  : )

Airspeed - 10 December 2009 02:39 PM

Ha Ha… It’s SAD BUT TRUE (insert James Hetfield vocals here)... isn’t it?  : )

lol!

one thing I will say that is definitely lame about IM is that they don’t ever play any of their older songs from Gathering/Classical/BPEmpire live with the band setup which I think is a bit of snub to the older fans.

At least Metallica is still rocking the older material

OMG sorry I didn’t mean to start an IM discussion here! Generix sorry for ruining your topic..
Let me just say this, since the original ‘you’re missing out on IM’ was directed at me:

I have bought Converting Vegetarians. I like the chillside but not the trance-side, sounds light and uninspired to me (well actually I do like Apogiffa Night and Yanko Pitch). I also bought I’m the Supervisor. Some ok tracks on there: Muse Breaks RMX, Cities of the Future, Frog Machine and Stretched. Then came vicious delicious.. Didn’t bother buying anymore. It was nothing special (to me!) except Heavyweight, which I really enjoy. On their latest album I like Project 100 although I like Dancing with Kadafi, Stretched and Heavyweight better. For the rest, it’s just not my cup of tea. I like good psytrance and I like good metal but IM’s newest work just doesn’t reach me. It’s got no soul for me. Just my personal opinion.

I’m happy for them though, that they are succesful now. And I respect them a lot as musicians for their older work but also for their newer work and having the guts and skills to do that. Doesn’t mean I like the newer music a lot though.

If you’re into the more dark psy stuff, check out anything on the Yggdrasil label.

Other than that, have a look at…

Audialize (the Starship Earth album for instance, I really like that one, even if it is slightly cookie cutter)
Alien Project
Dualsnug
Astrix (particularly, the Artcore album)

For an oldskool fix, check out (I guess some of them aren’t really classified as “psy” in the modern sense, though)
Union Jack (the There Will Be No Armageddon album. There’s a punk band with the same name, so you might find the wrong stuff pretty easily..)
Cosmosis
Psychaos
Greenforce
Omega Force

And about IM, I mostly agree with what others have said, there are a few tracks on their newer albums which are nice, but I can’t stand the cheesy lyrics and metal approach of some of it.. The three first albums are in a league of it’s own, and simply kicks ass.

the last trance album i remember that stirred the scene was logic bomb’s sonic algebra, and that was 2 years ago. They def tried to push the limits with tons of effects and serious compositions, but it only went so far. There’s also hux flux who’s got plenty of off-road tracks released here and there, it’s oldies but goldies and worth tracking down if u haven’t.

as in any creative scene that is saturated with technlogoy these days, the talent-less bastards simply get more tools to play around and flood us with crap wrapped inside a better looking envelope. Depsite the variety in tools, they still to manage to produce very similar shit. all the artists i checked from this thread sound crap to me… although i do remember metzanima releasing a goodie at some point, i think it was a progress trance tho…

anyways, if you haven’t looked into ALL of IM’s releases, and i mean their many compilations tracks, you should. there are some immense classix there (symphonatic, facing and others, depends on ur style).

as for their latest 2 albums, there’s so much u can argue if their new style is good or not, its a matter of taste. obviously many ppl (i imagine 13-14 years old) like it… but from a technichal point of view, what i think happenned with their music is that they replaced the sensitive keyboards with a rough guitar sound. it’s like switching from drawing smooth curves to squared-off lines, it doesn’t really carry the same emotion. Shawarma has some gr8 parts in it, i mean brilliant, but that’s just because they haven’t ruined them!

it looks like the scene is waiting for someone to shake it up and show them ‘this is how u do it’. and who better than the one who has done it first…

I have to highly recommend Electrypnose - Where to Go?

it’s the best psy I’ve heard in quite a long time. It’s a double album, where the first part is nighttime fullon and the second part is morning fullon.

the production is almost second to none… you won’t understand how he’s doing what he’s doing.

i have to agree - the 2nd part of electrypnose is the best psytrance i’ve heard in quite some time.

Personally I also like Electrypnose’s chillout stuff. They have an entire chill album and some tracks spread out on compication tracks. It’s kind of glitch-breakbeat-psychill.