Really surprised I haven't seen a thread about this album or producer. Cinematic, atmospheric progressive trance with some influences from the deeper end of prog-psy - the kind of material a lot of TAs will surely gobble up. Pretty similar to the stuff Airwave's been putting out recently, although as yet John 00 Fleming has not been known to break down in tears to any Akshan tracks.

This album is from last year. He has another one from 2012 I haven't heard yet. You can listen to the full album on Youtube. Click anywhere in the first 30 minutes if you're impatient and you'll quckly get a good idea of what to expect:

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Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

I clicked right around the 30min' mark. Acid!

It definitely flits that line between outdoor party prog-psy and late-'90s prog-trance. The name seems familiar. Wouldn't surprise me if he's been billed at events with Ultimae's roster.


*backchecks*

Ah, that's why, he's on Altar, a Quebec label that also puts out a lot of AstroPilot music (whom I've been digging into lately). Must have seen his name while browsing through Altar's material on Discogs.

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Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most.
Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!

Yeah, you can tell instantly it's the same label as Astropilot, because the cover art is the same garish ugly fantasy nonsense. I was actually trawling through the local HMV the other day to get a gauge of what's hot right now* and came across some Astropilot albums. Altar must have a shit hot distribution deal for an obscure Canadian psychill label!

*It's somehow a source of smug satisfaction that having watched the dance music section shrink steadily through the '00s in every HMV I set foot in, it's now expanded back to the size it was when I first perused one sometime back in 2002.

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Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

Wow really? With much less dance music available these days on CD, what kind of stuff are they selling?

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My Soundcloud Page | The Free Soundcloud Stuff Thread

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Levels is...decent...damn better than a lot of the shite dominating the charts at the moment. It sounds absolutely nothing like...a billion and one similar tracks in this big-room style. I always had a soft spot.

I've always wondered, is there some kind of unwritten rule that every psy(ish) release must have awful and cheesy cover art?

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June 2018 mix

quote:

Originally posted by Adam420 Wow really? With much less dance music available these days on CD, what kind of stuff are they selling?

A surprising amount of mix compilations. You'd think the format would be totally dead, wouldn't you, but there are dozens of Ministry Of Sound compilations with titles like Deep House 2014 and Future Bass Hits. The albums are a mixture of surefire classics by people like 808 State and Aphex Twin, and new stuff like Michael Mayer, Involv3r, Jon Hopkins. As well as Skrillex, Deadmau5, Avicii and co, natch. And Astropilot, it seems.

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Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J *It's somehow a source of smug satisfaction that having watched the dance music section shrink steadily through the '00s in every HMV I set foot in, it's now expanded back to the size it was when I first perused one sometime back in 2002.

At least you still have HMVs.

And fuck you, Woony! Cheesy cover art is what rave culture was built upon!

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Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most.
Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!

Oh yea, I forgot to account for the fact that EDM happened.

Thought I read the other day that MOS doesn't put out as many comps as they used to though.

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My Soundcloud Page | The Free Soundcloud Stuff Thread

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Levels is...decent...damn better than a lot of the shite dominating the charts at the moment. It sounds absolutely nothing like...a billion and one similar tracks in this big-room style. I always had a soft spot.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J A surprising amount of mix compilations. You'd think the format would be totally dead, wouldn't you, but there are dozens of Ministry Of Sound compilations with titles like Deep House 2014 and Future Bass Hits.

Then Andrew Ryce's obituary over the Mix CD was even more unfounded than before. Can't blame him for thinking as such though, seeing as how he's from the same 'dead music shop' city as I.

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Everyone has an opinion. Mine just happens to be a little more informed than most.
Electronic Music Critic: Near-Daily Ruminations Of Music I Own, In Alphabetical Order!

These compilations usually don't have any DJ attached to them, just pack in all the big hits from the cross-over names and are probably sold mainly to teenagers. I suppose a lot of casual listeners just don't really know (or particularly care) about the names of individual producers or DJs, they just want "deep house" or "dubstep", and buying some handily packaged CD comp on the high street is still as convenient for them as hunting down specific podcasts or online mixes or finding a Spotify playlist.

That said, I think the RA article is pretty accurate: I'm just about old enough to remember the era when mix comps were the main way of staying in touch with new tunes, especially for casual/young listeners who didn't or couldn't go to specialist record stores. There was a big emphasis on compilations to get upfront tracks, hence the likes of the White Label Euphoria discs. That kind of importance has completely vanished now, and I can't even remember the last new mix comp I paid for.

It's also a bit creepy to hear RA talk about Northern Exposure and progressive house in glowing terms again. Times, they are a'changing.

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Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

I really like The Rise Of Atlantis, I think it was Syntonic who posted about it here in a thread some time ago. Like much of the stuff on the Altar label like Astropilot, I feel it's more rewarding to listen to the album as a whole as the majority of tracks, though well produced are quite samey and don't really stand out too much on their own, but the flow of the album as a whole is stunning.

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Youtube
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Twitch

quote:

Originally posted by Teezdalien I really like The Rise Of Atlantis, I think it was Syntonic who posted about it here in a thread some time ago. Like much of the stuff on the Altar label like Astropilot, I feel it's more rewarding to listen to the album as a whole as the majority of tracks, though well produced are quite samey and don't really stand out too much on their own, but the flow of the album as a whole is stunning.

Yeah that makes sense. I can certainly see any of these tracks stepping outside the album and doing a good job in a DJ set, but I can't see any of them being the money shot moment for a DJ. I posted this mainly because it's just as good as most of the modern credible trance that gets hyped around here, and so deserves more attention than it seems to be getting.

___________________
Mixes:
> Maximum Elevation [Progressive House]
> DI.FM 26th Anniversary Guest Mix [Progressive House]
> Live @ Dance:Love:Hub London, 11.10.2025
> Higher Peaks [Progressive House]
> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/