DJ Solitare @ Ozora 2024

A bit about the inspiration for this mix - the full text and the tracklist are at https://djsolitare.com/old-dogs-new-tricks

I recall an amazing Equinox event in the Autumn of 1995 where Kuni played the whole night and the impression was that a cloud of quantum information would enter the dance floor in the middle of the forest and when it had communicated its message, another would come in and take its place as the old one left, and there was a moment to catch your breath and adjust to the new data entering the space. At times during these events, one had the impression that the music was not music, it was geometrical design and information that was communicating in sonic form. There wasn’t the sense that the DJ was a ‘DJ’ playing ‘music’: rather, the DJ booth was like a cosmic radio tower with an antenna tuned into outer space, picking up signals and transmitting them to those gathered in this tribal gathering.

Each time I play a set, the type of storyline and style of tracks are different, and my approach to transitions depends on track selection and how things line up, though there are general parameters that I always aim for. As a result of my classical training, my emphasis when mixing has been to try to connect more than just the kick but to find matching patterns between tracks and to blend those to create a thread of continuity beyond the percussive elements, at times with kick-matching and at other times not. Usually, it’s a combination of the two, but keeping the rhythm consistent and aiming to have one track ‘hand over’ the space to the next one in a less conventional sense, like multiple speakers reading different chapters from a book that one absorbs through the set.

As I tuned into the more hypnotic and nighttime storyline that emerged as this set evolved, I was drawn to more of that atmospheric cloud-like mixing style, where one track dances with the next along harmonic, rhythmic, and upper-register elements as opposed to the bass-level kick. As I listened with headphones, I was able to let go of the technical focus of the ‘mixing' of two ‘tracks’ and rekindle some of those early impressions of this music being more than just music but combinations of patterns gathered together and presented through sound waves, hearing things not in left-right, high-low mode but all-at-once, like voices coming both from the speakers and the centre of one’s head.

I believe that as we have gotten used to listening to this music at clubs and events over the years, many of us have adapted to a sense-based linear perception of what we’re hearing as opposed to a more embodied dimensional experience, and we can easily listen with a set of standards that can be mechanical rather than holistically musical. I know this has been the case for me, and listening at home can have its pitfalls, as you get used to hearing the music outside of the contextual space for which it was created, and on speakers whose size are inverse proportion to your body than what they would be at an event. But in the right outer and inner space, we can hear these sounds beyond the framework of the familiar and as an expression of something quite outside the ordinary.

All of us experienced some magic in our early years of attending these events - and sometimes since, too! - and it is my hope that these classic tracks in this storyline will enable some of those to be rekindled as they have for me.

DJ Solitare - Old Dogs New Tricks Mix

My mix for the online streaming event Sola Luna-Samothraki 20 Year Reunion, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the legendary Greek party. This online event was dedicated to the memory of Olli Wisdom of Space Tribe, who had submitted his mix just a few days before he died suddenly on August 23, 2021. Olli was my greatest inspiration in the scene and so I was delighted to be invited to participate in this event, which included sets by Total Eclipse, X-Dream, Gabriel LeMar, Jean Borelli, James Monro, and other luminaries from the 90s. 

In preparing this mix, I opted for a 'new school' set in a throwback style, with some remixes of psy classics and newer productions that capture the harmonic depth and stylistic variety of the groundbreaking music of the 90s.

The track list:

Tsuyoshi Suzuki & Etnica: Thunderbolt
The Square: Animalia
Man with No Name: Neuro Tunnel (Tsuyoshi Suzuki & Uni remix)
Filteria & Tsuyoshi Suzuki: Time Slip
Astral Projection: Time Began with the Universe (GoKen remix)
Funky Gong: Mind Mirror
Spindrift: Mind Over Energy
Gorovich & Tsuyoshi Suzuki: Oriental Express
Hallucinogen & Hujaboy & Striders: Machine Selves
Iridian: Unexpected Visitors
Kundalini: Kanpai
Bezonance & Solitare: Nirvana

DJ Solitare Solaluna - Samothraki 20-Year Reunion Mix

I was invited to contribute a mix for Psylicious Radio and we timed the date to coincide with my birthday. Domino provided a mix too (shortly before her own birthday), as well as. the great artist Rigel also delivers a set, as does the wonderful host of the stream, EarthAlien. You can check out the full program here: https://soundcloud.com/psyliciousradio/presents-26-11-21

I wanted to start off with a track by Space Tribe as a hat-tip to our dearly departed Olli, and as I went through a number of tracks I wanted to play, most were in the key of D so I decided that with the cloudy, rainy weather we've been having in Vancouver and the shorter days of this season, a musical Vitamin D injection would be nice to have. So - while I always key mix, this time I didn't shift to relative keys and stuck with just that one for the whole set. 

Enjoy the journey and injection! 

Space Tribe: In the Hands of the Shaman
The Overlords: Naked People (Man With No Name Full Moon In Disco Valley Remix)
The Infinity Project: Uforica
Space Tribe: Machine Elf
Hallucinogen: Orphic Thrench
Psychaos: Soundbeams
Semsis: Planet
Killing Joke: Jana (Hallucinogen remix)
Pleiadians: Taygeta
Total Eclipse: Toxic Caterpillar
The Infinity Project: Binary Neuronaut
Orichalcum & The Deviant: Dawn of Epsilon
Hallucinogen: Angelic Particles

DJ Solitare Vitamin D Birthday Mix

A retro mix of tracks made for a Global Goa Party held over the internet that was themed around music produced or released in 1998. My time slot was 2am to 330am, so I went deep and dark to hit that peak of darkness time if it were an outdoor party under the stars... The tracklist:

The Groupie Syndrome: Pacemaker
Fools & Tools: Itchy & Scratchy (unreleased edit)
Psychaos: Mindwash
Cydonia: Mindhunter
Byte 1: Dive 1 (unreleased)
Etnica: Electric Shower
LFOID: Medusa (unreleased)
X-Dream: Radiohead rmx
Cydonia: Chrome Android
Byte 1: Byte 1
Psychaos: Chaos to Order
The Infernal Machine: Nocturnal Chainsaw Kerfuffle
The Delta: Travelling at the Speed of Thought 

Here's the link to all of the sets in the 1998 Global Goa Party: http://goatranch.com/2013/07/20/global-goa-party-3-the-mixes/


Retro Mix - Back to 1998

A guest mix I put together for DJ Jester's True Hallucinations program on Dice Radio on December 14, 2013

Juno Reactor- Final Frontier
Total Eclipse - Virtual Terminal Energized (Remix)
Graham Wood & Franco Rossi - Resurge (Alternate Mix)
Blue Lunar Monkey & DJ Solitare - Divine Connection
Ginetik - Cosmiconnection
Juno Reactor - Guillotine
KURO - Analyzer
Vishnudata - I Love You
Blue Lunar Monkey & DJ Solitare - Future Memory
Manmademan & Brightlight - Make Up Your Mind
Prana - Boundless (2013 Re-edit)

https://www.facebook.com/DJSolitare23
http://diceradio.gr/
https://soundcloud.com/ru-bix_vs_jester

Intended For Promo Use Only. Please support the artists, labels and festivals - buy music! 

DJ Solitare True Hallucinations Guest Mix

A retro Goa mix I produced for Goat Ranch's monthly Goa mix series on Digitally Imported in November 2013 

01 The Infinity Project: Blue Aura (Weird Meeting) [first 5 minutes of unissued 12-minute track; only the first 2:39 was released]

02 The Infinity Project: Uforica

03 North Central Positronics: The Great Bear

04 Nucleus: Spooked

05 Prana: Pneumatic

06 Psychaos: Intellect

07 Parasonix: Warp Phaze

08 Tim Schuldt: Red Hair Hospital

09 Pleiadians: Electra

10 UX: Alien Earth Activity

11 Juno Reactor: Ice Cube

12 Transwave: Absolum

13 The Infinity Project: Squidgy Atomicus [the title 'Squidgy Atomica' on the Concept in Dance CD is incorrect]

14 Kox Box: Space Interface

https://www.facebook.com/DJSolitare23
http://goatranch.com/
http://www.di.fm/goapsy



Digitally Imported Retro Mix Nov 2013

Producers: Mark Ainley and Daniel Gradilla
Emails: markainley@gmail.com and dgradilla@mac.com
Length: 8:28
Program: Logic 


Juno Reactor: Tempest (Solitare & Blue Lunar Monkey rmx)

My reworking of the set that I played at the ZNA Gathering on August 19, 2022, from 11 am to 130 pm. 

In the weeks and months leading up to event, I was ruminating over various tracks and ended up with about 8 hours in a shortlist for my 2.5 hour set (and I am never restricted to only the ones in the playlist but those are often the ones I feel more drawn to). As I worked on various flows in practice sessions, I was primarily aware of how I wanted to begin and end: starting with a blend of some excerpts from the three unreleased tracks that closed my 2019 Goa Guardians set (with the intention of making the intervening 3 years 'collapse'), paying homage to Olli with the first kicking track of my set and some others, and having Tiny Little Engines be the climax. 

Although I am generally as known for my access to unreleased music as I am for my meandering storylines, this set was a bit different. A lot of artists continually tell me that the released versions were chosen for a reason: because they are great; and while some unreleased edits are of course amazing, lack of availability is not the only reason to play a track. I am constantly amazed by the astounding music that we have in our genre and I wanted to craft an upbeat story for that middle-of-the-day time of my set, so it was this vibe and character that were primary in my selection ... so even if it might seem to some like something of a selection of popular classics with fewer gear changes than I often incorporate into my sets, it's still (in my opinion) 'all killer, no filler' in a sequence that tells a cohesive flow-filled story, and the crowd was certainly beyond enthusiastic in its response.

I've replaced only one of the unreleased tracks I played at the event with the issued version as I know the artists did not want the unissued mix published.

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did playing it - it was an unforgettable experience with an incredibly enthusiastic and responsive forest dance floor!

Track list:

(Ambient collage of Wizard, Uforica, and LSD alt mixes)
Space Tribe: Geo Matrix
Pleiadians: Alcyone live (alt mix)
Excess Head: Expo
Laughing Buddha: Karma
Total Eclipse: Chaotic Circus (live in Bordeaux)
Green Nuns of the Revolution: Lost & Found
GMS: Protos Upgrade
Space Tribe: So Deep
Green Nuns of the Revolution: Ring of Fire (extended mix)
Satori: Back to Earth 
Universal Sound: Third I
Man With No Name: Tarantula
Kox Box: Stay Psychedelic
Infernal Machine: The Loin King
Space Tribe: Star Travellers 
Doof: Destination Bom (alt mix)
X-Dream: Freak
Psychopod: Psychopod
The Visitors: Tiny Little Engines of Creation
Psyko Disko: Mon Ami

photo courtesy Sauriêl Creative Photography

DJ Solitare @ ZNA Gathering 2022 remixed

My closing set at the November 19, 2022 'Return to the Trance' gig in Ottawa, Canada, recorded directly from the mixing desk. 

Organized by Gordon Clone604 (and his crew), who had heard me twice at ZNA Gathering in Portugal, the event was a retro party meant to highlight the best of 90s psychedelic trance. 

I was given the closing set to go full 'Goa' with my selection and story - and I did. There were a few favourites here that I'd actually never played out and a few others that I'd not played publicly since the 90s. The crowd was awesome and the vibe top-notch.

I hope you'll enjoy it!

The Infinity Project: Telepathy
Eco: UFOlk
Shanti Druid: Insect-a-traction
Pleiadians: Maia
Rhythmystec: Stellium
Hallucinogen: Soothsayer (Lysurgeon Warning Remix)
Fools & Tools: Itchy & Scratchy (unreleased mix)
Orichalcum: Alien Homes
Prana: Indigo (remix)
Conspiracy Theory: Project Oblivion
Total Eclipse: Waiting For A New Life (Abbaye live 1995)
X-Dream: Do You Believe?
Transwave: Zero Density
X-Dream: Brain Forest
Mandala: Utopia

DJ Solitare @ Back To The Trance

A nearly 3-hour set that I played on Saturday April 8, 2023 at a private event in Ottawa, Canada at the invitation of Clone604. 

I was due to play for two hours and then with one DJ being indisposed that was bumped up to two and a half hours - and then during the party the host asked if I would keep playing a bit longer.

It was a really fun event, small and intimate with a fantastic vibe on the part of the dancers who were really into the Goa sound - a rarity anywhere in Canada these days. 

I hope you enjoy the set featuring a lot of masterpieces released primarily between 1994 and 1996, with a couple from '97 and one from '98:

Arcturus: 1000 Planets
Ayahuasca: New Moon
Man with No Name: Who Is It?
Slinky Wizard: Lunar Juice (Hallucinogen rmx)
The Infinity Project: Oscillator
Juno Reactor: The Heavens
The Infinity Project: Noises from the Darkness
Prana: Pneumatic
Aban Don: Electrifiled Night
Kox Box: Loads of Flow (Molecular Mix)
Voodoo People: Quadsep
Hallucinogen: LSD
The Infinity Project: Uforica (Voodoo People rmx)
The Human League: These Are The Days (Man With No Name rmx)
Slinky Wizard: Wizard
Total Eclipse: Toxic Caterpillar
The Infinity Project: Binary Neuronaut
Psychaos: Soundbeams
Juno Reactor: Kaguya Hime
Infernal Machine: Nocturnal Chainsaw Kerfuffle
Pleiadians: Asterope
Juno Reactor: Silver
The Infinity Project: Wow (mix 4 - unpublished)
Total Eclipse: A Little Bit of Heaven
The Infinity Project: The World of the Acid Dealer
Total Eclipse: Partycles

DJ Solitare @ Celebro Amicis Nox

A mix I created at the invitation of Marios Makar of Total Eclipse for his Dice Radio program. It was requested in late September and the due date ended up being days after the attack on a party in our community that has shaken our scene and the world dramatically. 

I was not particularly in the mood to hear music but gathered my forces and focused on channeling my emotions and energy into creating this story. 

Beginning with the track Reboot (live mix by Etnica & Pleiadians) and ending with Sense of Unity, the new production by Prana (the first time the three musicians from the two incarnations of the group have come together to create a track), I thought that 'Reboot Unity' would be an appropriate title - a concept very much on my mind from the beginning to the end of this mix and very much at the forefront of my thoughts these days with the awful violence and divisiveness that's plaguing the world right now. 

May we all experience, embody, and connect with each other from that innate sense of unity that is our true being.

The tracklist:

Etnica & Pleiadians: Reboot (live mix)
Hypnoxock: Mutant Zone 
Morphic Resonance: Hypnoman 
Hypnoxock: Magma 
Shisho: Audio out 
Kundalini: Creations 
Kox Box: We Are Not Who We Think We Are 
Tsuyoshi & Filteria: Time Slip 
Atmik: Madness 
Etnica & Tsuyoshi: Thunderbolt 
Etnica: Microdrive (Hypnoxock remix)
Prana: Sense of Unity

DJ Solitare’s Reboot Unity Mix

A reworking of the set that I played at the VER: Exploring the Roots event in Goa, India on February 3, 2024.

I was given a sunset time slot on the Saturday of the 3-day event and my initial time of 90 minutes expanded to two hours, so I had an opportunity to go in a few different directions. I opted for a few longer, more lyrical mixes in the latter half to provide some breathing room and connect some melodic riffs from one track to the next.

It was a magical event, my first time in Goa and an amazing way to start the 30th anniversary year of my introduction to this global dance movement. I am so grateful and honoured to have had the opportunity to be there, and I am happy to share the story that was shared at the time.

The track list:

Juno Reactor: Guardian Angel
Space Tribe: Machine Elf
The Overlords: All The Naked People (Man with No Name rmx)
Slinky Nuns: Shitty Stick (Better Than A Poke In The Eye With A)
The Infinity Project: Alien Airport
Green Nuns of the Revolution: Ring of Fire (extended mix)
Semsis: Planet (alternate mix)
Arcturus: Compound
The Delta: Traveling at the Speed of Thought
Infernal Machine: The Loin King
Earglobe: Spherelobe
Doof: Destination Bom (alternate mix)
Ayahuasca: Propella
Pleiadians: Maia
Rhythmystec: Stellium
The Visitors: Tiny Little Engines of Creation
Mandala: Utopia

DJ Solitare at Ver in Goa in 2024

DJ Solitare @ Ozora 2024 | Pumpui

https://soundcloud.com/djsolitare

https://2023.ozorafestival.eu/

DJ Solitare @ Ozora 2024 | Pumpui

A set for the fifth Global Goa Party, an online party which was this time themed at the year 1997. I featured some of the most memorable tracks that I experienced that year (though not all, as I was limited to 90 minutes and it was a morning set), a period when I was living in London but also went to Japan a few times for some incredible events. It was a revolutionary and evolutionary time with this music ...

Total Eclipse: Collapsar
Hallucinogen: Astral Pancakes
Psychopod: Universal Mind
The Infinity Project: Phosphorescence (mix 2)
Infernal Machine: The Loin King (Man With No Name remix)
Hallucinogen: Snakey Shaker
Transwave: Flamicogyre
Utopia: Mandala
Juno Reactor: Jardin de Cecile (Man With No Name remix)
Digitalis: Slotek
Kox Box: Fuel On (live mix)
Sibilant: The Fly
Transwave: Code S9



DJ Solitare - Global Goa Party 1997 mix

A recording of the set that I played at the Apsara Festival in Hungary on Saturday August 12, 2023, from 630pm to 830pm. 

I was given a truly wonderful time slot leading into the final full night at the event, from full daylight at 630pm through to full darkness by the time my set ended at a bit after 830pm, enabling me to do a journey through various moods as the light shifted - one of my favourite things to do, as these transitions were among the most memorable parts of my experiences on the dance floor in the 90s.

Things had been super high-energy throughout each day, and I thought it important to provide a bit of breathing space, so I took the risk of starting things a bit more slowly for a gear change in the lead-up to the evening; this led to about half of the dancers leaving for a while, but those who stuck around went through a meandering journey through a range of vibes as well as different speeds - from 130 bpm up to 148 at times, ending at a full-power 140. 

I had hoped to play Etnica's Screaming Butterfly just before things got dark, so I observed the shift in light in the previous evenings and fortunately was able to time it just right during the set ... and because the artist after me was a bit delayed setting up, I got to put on the Pleiadians epic classic Maia, which ended up blowing the lid off the party and making for an incredibly ecstatic climax to the set.

I delayed uploading this recording as there are a few unreleased numbers on here and now that one major one has been issued it was easier to consider sharing the set; I additionally opted to make an edit in one of the most exceptional rarities - unfortunately it's become a norm for folks to rip rare tracks off of online mixes and play them out - so for the purposes of home listening, the extended 'desk mix' of Slinky Wizard's Lunar Juice is about half of its full length and has a couple of fades. The rest of the journey is exactly as it was played ... including one challenging transition where the track's 'drift' made precise mixing impossible - very retro DAT-style!

I had a terrific time playing the set and I'm very pleased with the full journey, and I hope you will enjoy it.

DJ Solitare @ Apsara 2023

A reworking of the set that I played at the ZNA Gathering in Portugal on August 4, 2015. The overall flow is basically the same, though there are 3 tracks that I didn't include because they are very rare and unreleased (by X-Dream, Graham Wood, and Hallucinogen), and in two cases here I used the commercially available versions of mixes when I'd played alternate unreleased mixes at the party (Green Nuns 'Conflict' and TIP's remix of KoxBox's 'Too Pure'). I also shifted the order of two tracks as with the current flow the transitions made more sense this way...  Still very much the same story, with just a few variations!

A bit of video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gUy55Y7akA


The tracklist: 

Juno Reactor: Jungle High
Man of the Last Third: Mystery of Imagination
Space Tribe: The Great Spirit
Overlords: Naked People (Man with No Name remix)
The Infinity Project: Alien Airport
Opale: Anaconda's Dance
Hallucinogen: Snaky Shaker
Parasonix: Warp Phaze
The Visitors: Tiny Little Engines of Creation
Shakta: Spiritual Beings in Physical Bodies
Excess Head: Rinky Dinks
KoxBox & Jens: Jungle Walla*
Total Eclipse: Partycles
Storm: Storm (Man with No Name remix)
Excess Head: Another Planet (final mix)*
Doof: Angelina (alternate mix)
Gong: Isle of Everywhere (Total Eclipse remix)
Green Nuns of the Revolution: Conflict
Doof: Destination Bom (alternate mix)
KoxBox: Too Pure (The Infinity Project remix)

*unreleased

#ZNA #ZNAGathering #Goa #GoaTrance #Retro #RetroTrance #RetroGoaTrance

DJ Solitare @ ZNA Gathering Remixed (2015)

My mix for Digitally Imported's Goa-Psytrance Channel's Summer Solstice 2017 online event - a mix of new productions that includes some of the newer forms of music in the genre along with remixes of a few classic older tracks. Many thanks to the artists who produced this great music, including Dick Trevor for letting me include a soon-to-be-released track (it's the closing one of the mix). Support the artists and buy their music!

Pogo: Fabric of Reality
Killerwatts: Spirit Drop (Laughing Buddha remix)
Pogo: Spikeadelic
Arcon: Valkerie (new mix)
Martian Arts & Radical Frequencies: There Is No Time
Outer World Elements: Velocity Nova
Solaris: Extra Mundane
Crop Circles: Different Species (Morphic Resonance remix) 
Oforia: Dimensional Exploration
Arcon: Time Loop
Hujaboy: Aftermath
Total Eclipse: White Line Nightmare
Dickster: Rawcous (Waio remix)

DJ Solitare DI Summer Solstice 2017 Mix

A remix of my set that I played on the opening night of the 2017 edition of ZNA Gathering in Portugal on August 23, 2017. I played a 2.5-hour night-time set after Eat Static's opening set, from 11pm to 130am (this was one hour later than originally planned) and aimed for a deep and dark atmosphere that also included some uplifting and cosmic night music as I led into Element Over Nature's set. 

This remix of my original set includes a few but not all of the unreleased tracks that I played - I have used the commercial release of Hallucinogen's Demention rather than the extended and rather wilder unissued version, and have used the issued Pleiadians 1997 live version of Electra rather than the unreleased 1998 mix that I played - but there are still a few fantastic as-yet-unissued alternate mixes here, notably the opening No Guilt Trips remix and a stunning 1998 live mix of the Pleiadians' Alcyone that was really well received. 

A note about No Guilt Trips: I played a bit of it for the X-Dream guys when we met privately at our accommodation and they didn't recognize or remember the mix... so it is unclear if it is really X-Dream's own alternate mix of the track, but the quality and musical integrity of the track is such that I would expect it to be (whoever produced it, it's top-notch). Stay tuned on that one...

In addition to having the opportunity to play this amazing festival again, and on opening night, there were two particularly meaningful aspects to my experience of the set: Graham Wood was there to hear me play some Infinity Project tracks (he danced by the front of the DJ booth while I was playing the Noises from the Darkness live mix), and Ray Castle was also there to hear me play my favourite track of his, Stellium (which I also got to hear him play in his morning set at the festival a few days later). 

Enjoy!

Tracklist:

X-Dream: No Guilt Trips (unidentified remix)*
Hallucinogen: Demention
Juno Reactor: The Heavens
The Infinity Project: Noises from the Darkness (desk mix)
Crop Circles: Antonomasia
Rhythmystec: Stellium
Juno Reactor: Kaguya Hime
Infernal Machine: Nocturnal Chainsaw Kerfuffle
The Delta: Traveling at the Speed of Thought
Hallucinogen: Angelic Particles
Semsis: Planet (alternate mix)*
Space Tribe: Machine Elf
Overlords: Naked People (MWNN rmx)
The Infinity Project: Binary Neuronaut
LFOIDS: Medusa*
Pleiadians: Alycone (1998 live mix)*
Cyberjam: Alpha Flight
Transwave: Code S9
Akasha: Ace of Wands
Pleiadians: Electra (1997 live mix)
Blue Planet Corporation: Xoco
Slug: Slugfest

*unreleased

#ZNA #ZNAGathering #Goa #GoaTrance #Retro #RetroTrance #RetroGoaTrance

DJ Solitare @ ZNA Gathering 2017 remixed

A mix of 1990s trance tracks that I created in 2000 on a friend's computer with a basic mixing program that only allowed simple crossfades. I had taken a nap and woke up with the track list in my head - I wrote it down and then mixed it at his place. 

The photo linked to this mix was taken while I was playing a sunrise set at the smaller stage at a New Year's party in Playa del Carmen, Mexico on the morning of January 1, 2001. 

Space Tribe: Machine Elf
Prana: Primal Orbit
Kox Box: Life is a Gas (X-Dream remix)
Juno Reactor: Children of the Night
Tristan: Perimeter
Delta: As a Child I Could Walk on the Ceiling...
Crop Circles: Full Mental Jackpot (Pleiadians remix)
Hallucinogen: Solstice
Faure: Requiem - In Paradisum

Y2K Retro Mix

This was my first set in Tokyo upon moving back in early 1998. I was playing off DATs (digital audio tapes) and hadn't played for a couple of months (the previous set was the Vancouver Art Gallery performance, some film footage of which is on my YouTube channel). I'd received a lot of new music and had only one practice session at a friend's house before the gig. I was really nervous but soon got into the flow and the atmosphere in the room was fantastic. I opted for longer mixes with a focus on the long melodic line, as was often the case with Goa music of the time - and in fact that's how it was composed and meant to be played, according to a number of producers who told me as much.

The set started at around 3am and went until about 5:30. I had intended to start with Beast's 'Spawn', which was still unreleased but a promo of which I'd been sent by Twisted, but the CD player hadn't been hooked up to the mixer, so my ambient intro (the Astralasia track with which I started the 'Future Was Now' mix which is also on my Soundcloud) went on a little longer than expected while I looked for a DAT to mix into it - and that ended up being 'Maia' by the Pleiadians. I only remembered that I'd intended to record my set part-way through the second track, Eco's 'UFOlk', which is where this recording picks up. The set then took a very different direction than expected ... but went exactly where it needed to go.

One of the reasons I love this set so much is that the process I was going through as a DJ - the in-the-moment spontaneity, the emotion, the exploration - really comes through in the performance. This was a time when 'preparing' a set was not done - it was more or less assumed that you would be playing off-the-cuff, perhaps with a sense of where you'd go but not fully, and that in-the-now-ness creativity is some of what 'primed' the music to electrify the dancefloor. As much as I actually had a hard time while I was playing this set and wasn't sure how successful it was, when I listened to the recording I liked what was there... How much of life is like that, where we appreciate things more afterwards instead of in the moment - despite the moments being filled with what we actually wanted? Interestingly, I found that the same synchronicity that characterized my experience behind the decks will start to show up in the room when I play this recording now ... so if I'm ever looking to break through a creative block or experience some cosmic synchronicity, this is a recording that I line up to help me move through it, just as I did back then.

I hope you'll enjoy this, if you haven't heard it before, or enjoy it again if you have...

Track list:

Eco: UFOlk
*X-Dream: Radiohead (remix)
Juno Reactor: Feel The Universe (Otto edit)
Rhythmystec: Stellium
*Infernal Machine: Chainsaw Kerfuffle
*Delta: Traveling at the Speed of Thought
Space Tribe: Machine Elf
Semsis: Planet
Psychopod: Dreampod
*Metal Spark: Sonic Feet
*Cydonia: Mindhunter
*Transwave: Code S9
*Beast: Spawn
X-Dream: Brain Forest
Mandala: Utopia
Spoken sample: an excerpt from a translation of the Japanese poem 'Preface to "Spring and Carnage"' by Kenji Miyazawa that I had recorded for a Japanese electronica band - I never got a copy of the CD but apparently the artist was pretty well-known...

encore - not on this tape: *Space Tribe: The Great Spirit (unreleased original mix)

*unreleased at the time of performance

Spectrum 5-23 Mix

A spoken introduction to my own introduction to psychedelic trance in Tokyo in 1994, the first of several podcasts that will explore the underground scene as it was evolving at the time and my experiences at this formative events and with some of the key producers and performers. This first episode discusses the two first times I heard this genre of music and the profound impression these experiences had ... Yet to come is how that interest continued to deepen and key musical insights within my first year of attending events.

Image of the Genki batik, painted by Sachi Dawanima

DJ Solitare - Goa Trance Formation (Trance History Vol. 1)

My guest appearance on the Trancendance program, in which I speak with host DJ Smiley Mike about my recent experience at the ZNA Gathering in Portugal and 'retro' music (and music in general), before and after an in-studio mix (with my mixer still covered in Portuguese party dust) that features part of the flow from my 2.5-hour set at the festival. The tracks featured today:

Transwave: Absolum
The Infinity Project: Squidgy Atomicus
Transwave: Ulysses Voyage 1
Ayahuasca: Propella
Anubis: Rites of Ra
Slinky Wizard: Lunar Juice (Hallucinogen's Moon Strudel rmx)
Etnica: Merkaba
... and a taster of a super special rarity that was part of the closing of my set

DJ Solitare On Trancendance - September 22, 2019 (ZNA Afterglow Vol.3)

A glorious ambient mix made by David Dobson in Japan in the '94-'95 season. This mix was produced for the Tokyo-based shop Connected, who every month offered mixtapes for sale, one side being a dance mix, the other side being a downtempo mix. 

I met David at a party he organized in October 1994 - the first time that I heard Olli from Space Tribe and my first real exposure to the 'Goa' sound - and he would become a kind of mentor to me during our stay in Japan. He soon left for Bali to go produce the Hikari brand of clothing, but still passed through Japan over the years and we both lived there in 1998-99 when I was more active as a DJ.

This ambient mix has long been one that I consider to be ideal, with a truly evocative atmosphere and brilliant progression of storyline. 

Unfortunately I was unable to locate my original cassette purchased from Connected, so this dubbing was made from a copy I had made of that cassette. However, due to what I consider its 'historical importance', I am uploading it to share (privately for now).

David Hikari's 1994 'Connected' Ambient Mix

A remix of my August 20, 2019 set that closed the Goa Guardians pre-party at the ZNA Gathering in Portugal.

I had agreed to have my set recorded, but unfortunately the device was accidentally set to microphone mode when it was plugged in. The audio recording of the 'air' at the event, complete with cheers and whistles from the crowd, is also uploaded elsewhere on this channel, but this current upload is a high-fidelity remix of the same story flow.

This recording features the first 2 hours or so of my 2.5-hour set, the last half hour of which featured three rare tracks that I am reserving for live appearances only: the legendary 25-minute mix of Slinky Wizard's track Wizard (the DAT title is 'Solar Journey'), the end of which I mixed with the last portion of a 16-minute mix of The Infinity Project's 'Uforica' and the opening of an unpublished mix of Hallucinogen's 'LSD 93' (featuring a different sample than the one used in the released mixes of the track, the one that would later be featured in 'Demention'). For this set remix, I have added a few minutes of these three rare tracks as a kind of closing medley, similar to the final few minutes of my actual set.

You can see some video from the actual set - including more of those closing three tracks than is presented in this remix - at this YouTube link:

https://youtu.be/b14BxC2wDYU

The track list:

Psychopod: Universal Mind
Prana: Primal Orbit
Earglobe: Spherelobe (mix 1)*
Brainman: You Are The Alien (alt mix)*
Total Eclipse: Area 51 (alt mix)*
Tufaan: Probe (Green Nuns rmx)
Doof: We Are Free (Desk mix)
The Infinity Project: Superbooster
Man With No Name: Energy Level 137
Prana: Animamundi
Hallucinogen: Shamanix (early mix)*
Noosphere: 23rd Chromozone (alt mix)*
Transwave: Absolum
The Infinity Project: Squidgy Atomicus
Transwave: Ulysses Voyage 1
Ayahuasca: Propella
Anubis: Rites of Ra
Slinky Wizard: Lunar Juice (Hallucinogen's Moon Strudel rmx)
Etnica: Merkaba

Plus a mashup of excerpts from

Slinky Wizard: Wizard desk mix (aka 'Solar Journey')*
The Infinity Project: Uforica (extended ambient into dance mix)*
Hallucinogen: LSD 93 (mix 4, introduction)*

* unreleased

DJ Solitare @ ZNA - Goa Guardians 2019 remix

My guest appearance on the Trancendance radio program with host DJ Smiley Mike on December 15, 2019. In this episode, we discuss a little bit of the evolution of Goa trance into modern psytrance, where I make a case for a lot of the great music being produced now while acknowledging some of the issues regarding creativity and originality. I then play an in-studio set:

Disco Hooligans: Hands On (Outer World Elements & Purple remix)
Etnica & Tsuyoshi: Thunderbolt
Spindrift: Transfix
Pleiadians: Magnetic Fields
Total Eclipse: In Merge With Space
Prana: Alien Pets (Prastix & Space Cat 2019 remix)*
   * unreleased - presale on Matsuri Digital's Bandcamp on Dec 25

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CiTR -- Trancendance

DJ Solitare on Trancendance - December 15 2019

My livestream set for the Psychedelic Virtual Gathering sponsored by Puzzle Effect on Facebook on April 12, 2020. 

This retro set features longtime favourites - all released tracks, barring one slightly different alternate mix - largely from the 1994-97 period, key tracks and atmospheres that remind me of my earliest experiences with this music. 

There's a glitch at one mixing point but I am keeping the full recording 'as is' as a reflection of how things evolved over the course of the live online event. 

Track list:

Space Tribe: In the Hands of the Shaman
Psychaos: Soundbeams
The Infinity Project: Telepathy
Pleiadians: Taygeta (live)
Hallucinogen: LSD
Voodoo People: Quadsep
KoxBox: Loads of Flow (Molecular Mix)
Psychaos: Intellect
Total Eclipse: Toxic Caterpillar
Process: X-1
The Infinity Project: Superbooster
Prana: Moretsu (Baraka and Indigo mix)
Total Eclipse: A Little Bit of Heaven
The Infinity Project: Wow (Mix 4, unpublished)
Man With No Name: Tarantula
KoxBox: Stay Psychedelic
Doof: Mars Needs Women (Just 3 Words mix)

DJ Solitare @ Puzzle Effect Psychedelic Virtual Gathering April 2020

A recording of a livestream set on the Play Goa page on Facebook as part of an online event on April 25, 2020. I had been asked to play night music, so ... that I did: lots of night-time stormers from the 90s, with a dramatic and orchestral atmosphere. Not all night music was 'dark' per se back then - the emphasis was depth and power.

Byte 1: Byte 1
Tim Schuldt: Flower Power
Hallucinogen: Thugs in Tye Dye
The Infinity Project: Noises from the Darkness
Psychaos: Chaos to Order
Ololuiqui: Argonaut
Cydonia with Tim Schuldt: Chrome Android
Fools & Tools: Itchy & Scratchy (unpublished mix)
Juno Reactor: Feel the Universe (Otto edit)
Tim Schuldt: Inner Child
Hallucinogen: Soothsayer (Lysurgeon General remix)
X-Dream: Radiohead (remix of 'Radio')
Juno Reactor: Kayuga Hime

DJ Solitare 'Play Goa' livestream: Into The Darkness

My morning set for the Intergalactic Sunrise streaming event hosted by Intergalactic Productions on the Goa Trance Australia Facebook page on May 2-3, 2020.

I was asked to play a retro set and given the 730am local time slot, so I opted for a somewhat slower melodic set that built up into some more uplifting "hurtle through the cosmos" kind of tracks.

There were some issues setting up the stream and I ended up starting late, and then Facebook cut me off partway through the broadcast, requiring a re-set, so I was a bit unnerved throughout and due to the stress, some of the transitions between tracks weren't timed as smoothly as I'd hoped; I'd considered remixing the set but have opted to keep this 'as is' since the overall atmosphere is still captured and the flow goes pretty well. I opted for longer transitions in general, working with baseline and melodic connections as opposed to just the kick. 

The tracklist: 

Taiyo (aka Prana): Aquaspace 
Etnica: Astral Way
Prana: Voyager III (Voodoo remix)
Slinky Wizard: Wizard
Space Tribe: The Great Spirit  
The Infinity Project: Telepathy
Space Tribe: Machine Elf
Psychaos: Science Fiction
Green Nuns of the Revolution: Ring of Fire ('live in New York' mix)
Satori: Back to Earth
The Infinity Project: Alien Airport
Slinky Wizard: Wizard (KoxBox remix)
Human League: These Are The Days (Man With No Name remix)

Intergalactic Sunrise livestream mix

A retro set I mixed about 7 years ago at a time when SoundCloud was blocking certain mixes because of specific tracks - something that hasn't happened in a while, so I'm presenting it here now. This mix that continues the story of a mix that I played on the Trancendance radio program back then - I was in the flow and wanted to see where the direction of the set could continue if I had more time, and this is what I came up with... Not entirely sure the story is done (is it ever?), but 'Angelic' was a great way to end ...


The Infinity Project: Binary Neuronaut
Psychaos: SETI
Overlords: Naked People (Man With No Name remix)
Space Tribe: Machine Elf
Total Eclipse: Aliens
Excess Head: Another Planet
Cydonia: Screaming Darkness
Prana: Moretsu (Indigo & Baraka mix)
Psychaos: Return Voyage
Juno Reactor: Komit
Hallucinogen: Fluoro Neuro Sponge
The Infinity Project: Oscillator
Juno Reactor: The Heavens
Hallucinogen: Angelic Particles

Retro Spring Mix

DJ Solitare Retro Spring Mix

A mix produced for GoatRanch.com's fourth annual Global Goa Party, which took place in 2014. The event was themed at 1995 and therefore featuring tracks only made up to and including that year. 

For this set, I wanted to go back to the 94-95 branch of 'Goa' where the feeling was more upbeat and bouncy, reflecting the sounds I was familiar with upon my entry into the scene in Tokyo in the Autumn of 1994. I feature some of the slower BPMs from the time, which didn't sound slow at all (the first three tracks here are 130 to 132 but don't sound it). With a mild shift to melodic and a hint of night-time depth, I aimed to keep the overall atmosphere UP, trippy, spacey, and fluffy.

Dynamix: The Rezistor
Ayahuasca: New Moon
Prana: Voyager 2
Slinky Wizard: Wizard
Space Tribe: The Great Spirit (original mix)
North Central Positronics: The Great Bear
Total Eclipse: Toxic Caterpillar (alternate mix)
TIP: Superbooster
Man With No Name: Energy Level 137
Juno Reactor: Man to Ray
Psychaos: Science Fiction
The Overlords: Naked People (Man With No Name remix)
Hallucinogen: Orphic Thrench
Taiyo: Snake
Man With No Name: Moment of Truth (alternate mix)

DJ Solitare Global Goa Party 1995: Up, Up, and Away

My set for the Apsara Mini Online Festival on August 16, 2020. I had been due to play at the festival in Romania but as with all other events it was canceled. This set is very different from what I would have played at the festival - these are all released tracks (for my super-rare stuff, you need to hear me in person) - but these are all killers, and this set features a number that I haven't played in a very long time. I hope you enjoy it!

The tracklist:

X-Dream: Do You Believe?
Kox Box: Tribal Oscillation
Conspiracy Theory: Project Oblivion
Prana: Indigo (remix)
Growling Mad Scientists: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Space Tribe: Star Travellers 
Prana: Boundless
Earglobe: Spherelobe
Doof: People In UFOs
Green Nuns of the Revolution: Magellanic Cloud
Man With No Name: Possessed
Infernal Machine: The Loin King
Prana: Alien Pets
Etnica: Tribute
Doof: Destination Bom (alternate mix)
Morphem: Loving Spirit

DJ Solitare @ Apsara Online

DJ Solitare is Mark Ainley, a psychedelic trance DJ representing both the Italian retro label DAT Universe (formerly DAT Records) and the legendary Tsuyoshi Suzuki's label Matsuri Digital. A classically-trained musician still working in the classical industry, Mark has been active in the psy scene since 1994 and has evolved a mixing style that fuses the formative sounds of the psychedelic trance movement with the latest productions, a blend of old and new, to create a fresh present-time dancefloor experience.

DJSolitare

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