Various Clairaudience Devic Craft Recordings (Greece)

As the devilish little cover pic above suggests, this is twisty spirit-of-the-forest psychedelia double-dipped in hoffman’s special brew (TM) with a sense of humour. Rip Van Hippy kicks off with the hammond-spiced conematic weirdbeat of Bite The Flower, setting the tone for the album as being one of those trips when you’re sure you’ve forgotten something but never sure what it is. A vibe continued by Spyweirdos with Soryps, a squarepusher-esque monster with angular beats, jazzy stabs and plenty of silliness at every turn. The gorgeously twisted house of Looups in Fabula’s Funky Town is wonderful, Spaztech’s 18U is only describable as thunderstomp acid tech junglism, Weird Alchemy are weird (possibly they’re alchemists too), and Silent Disciple’s Millenium Drone takes care of the crusty anarcho-feedback nightmare department. The Omm Squad’s Phoenix is pure future-perfect funk, like an alien Herbie Hancock who’s abducted a drum machine, and the utter schitzout outdoor stompathon of Sienis’ Feel The Power of My Itchy Foot is battered sausage for the clinically insane. Chips and gravy all the way then, and it’s only left to Poly 61 to bring things down with Out Here We Aren’t, a nice slice of melodic morning trance with a breakdown that’ll replace your lysergic gurn with a nice beamy smile. We like.

**Various

Miditation 2 (CD) – and Visitation (DVD)

Ceiba (USA)** 

If your typical seduction ritual generally consists of impressing the object of your desires with a kebab followed by a demonstration of your skills on Halo, then maybe try a different approach: Miditation 2 deserves a place in every tantric lover’s bedroom. Miditation 2 is a class chilled compilation that showcases a bunch of different downbeat stylings, from the lazy hip hoppy white island groove of Max Maxwell’s Gypsy, through the beatific Sonic Ghazal from David Battenfield, the sweet and uplifting incensual Fall Into My Heart from Kode IV featuring Ara, right to the cute and chummy cuddly toy trance of Pridon’s The Birth After Death. Highlights are the solid state, relax-yo-hammock shagfest Third Eye from Tom Van Draft, and the simple yet elegant Lucid Dreaming from the awesome Shakatura... it takes yoga sorts years to attain this level of relaxation. DVD-wise, and the two are separate releases folks, you get a melange of chilled sounds half-lifted off the album we just discussed, laid down over (or is it under) some dazzling and moving visuals from scene stalwarts such as Lightmotiv and Liquid Crystal Vision. Immaculate production, tons of extras, damn good music and visuals to die for. A damn good package and one that’s worth keeping under the bed with your other lovemaking miscellany.