The Antidote Close Encounters Solstice International (France)

Must admit, always had a soft spot for anything with Serge’s name on it... and another Antidote album, long overdue if you ask me, is just what the doctor ordered. The album has a sheeny production to it that reeks of future-fear scifright robotics, which contrasts nicely to the fluid and weaving music underneath. Black Jack is an utter killer and one of the best tunes I’ve heard in a while: the sort of stuff that has you running to the dancefloor, it takes an understated synth line and escalates in an incredibly deft way. The proggy touches are nice, and a perfect break sees the introduction of a smoothly offset bassline that takes things higher and higher. Camouflage and Saiko Lake showcase a deep intellectual groove that’s hard to shake, and Explorer’s disto-303 mayhem is perfect teethgrinding music. Dr Magneto and 3rd Wave take that deep groove and pixel-perfect escalation to intensely enjoyable peaks, and finally the positive-groove of Analog Activity is a perfect morning-set, come-on-get-up-and-dance-you-lazy-lying-down-monkeys offering. Massively individual, very well polished, and a generally impressive and stonking album.

More info: www.solstice75.com

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Hallucinogen / Younger Brother Gamma Goblins / The Finger (GMS Remixes) 12" Twisted (UK)

Now, we all knew that Gamma Goblins was a “right old psychedelic anthem.” But prepare to multiply this by a factor of ten with the GMS remix. One of the most notorious unreleased tunes circulating in murky corners of both the psytrance underground and the internet, giving this a vinyl release is both a marketing masterstroke and a dancefloor-igniting bottle of amyl. GMS tweak and tease at that killer GG melody, adding increased kickage and pushing the sounds around like they’re little lego cars involved in a massive crash on your landing carpet. Filters get abused, kicks get ... um... kicked, and the killer midsection is quite possibly the run to end all runs. The remix of The Finger can’t compare, and can’s I listen to Gamma Goblins again, though there’s depth running through it that’s impressive and the groove is firmly set to stun. Medium marks for The Finger, but Gamma Goblin is so damn fine and so damn essential that this just has to be a well-recommended purchase. Buy or regret.