The Rex | Boundless Energy

For years, I've been looking for a piece of my Progressive puzzle. Ever since deadmau5 decided to leave the genre for what it was, after his life changing "Random Album Title" album, I've been waiting for someone to bring that fantastic vibe into progressive back to me. After three fantastic EP's and one equally great remix, I've seem to have found that missing piece in Soundprank.

Where his music left me unmoved at first, I finally seemed to have opened my ears properly. It's a fact that I've become quite familiar with Soundprank by now. At TATW 400, Jaytech played an ID halfway through that turned out to be from the Prankster. Later dubbed as "Boundless Energy", it immediately conquered my heart.

When it was announced to be featured on Anjunadeep 02, I couldn't be happier! I mainly boughta the compilation for that track alone, and the full quality version didn't disappoint me in anyway, on the contrary, it was even better.

With the weather remaining has damp as ever, a good burst of energy is always welcome. The track's waves of melody and perfectly timed gimmicks, give more than 10 cups of coffee. The track title is spot on, and the track itself is one of those special ones that actually does something with your mind and body. Something you would like to hang on to for many years to come!

Also included in this release were two other very appealing tracks called "Change Of State" and "Midas". They played a pretty big part in my symptom-esque crisis a few weeks back. Not sure if that story is over, but this whole EP is inevitably linked to it from now on. Couldn't think for a better fitting EP to help me through this like this one!

The Sky

I discovered a new phenonemon that has been going on lately, that caught my complete attention. Dubbed as "Skyroars" or "Sky-Trumpets", these eery noises that seem to come from above are turning up more and more around the world. Often described as hums, moans or even melodies, it has a big part of the conspiracy theorist in it's grip.

There are many many videos that report this and there is even an official weblog called http://strangesoundsinthesky.com/:

"Welcome to Strange Sounds in the Sky. Every other day, somewhere in the world, someone records disturbing unexplained noises coming from the sky. My interest in this phenomenon started when I accidentally came across this Youtube video (video). With some research on the subject, I discovered very quickly that many other people around the world had also recorded strange sky sounds recently and that some were similar and some were not. I’m fascinated and disturbed by these strange sky noises happening in our world today. The purpose of this blog is to serve as a journal for the events in order to identify patterns and commonalities. These sound events have increased recently. Some are obviously hoaxes and I promise to try and weed those out. I will never present the videos as fact and will critique them based on the YT description and what is presented in the video. I may speculate as to the cause but in the end I will let you decide. I will add posts every day as long as I can find them. If you find videos or have thoughts on this, please let me know or you can post here. Cheers!Jay Man"

Here's the most popular and biggest collection of recordings, varying from 2009-2011.



It has got a lot of people speculating and with something as large as this, the autentisity is ofcourse heavily debated. I have yet to dig deeper into this subject, but as I'm easily fascinated by the unknown and unexplained, these "Skyroars" are worth keeping an eye on. Maybe there's more than meets the ear. After reading about this, I immediately thought about a new upcoming Anjunabeats single by artist of 2011, Mat Zo. The new track is the weirdest trance production I've encountered to date and I didn't really know what to think of it. After reading and hearing all about these "Skyroars", Mat's new track bares a lot of musical resemblance. The title fittingly being "The Sky", the lead got the be inspired by these trumpets of the sky in the video above. Not being a conspiracy theorist or anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if Mathan was actually inspired by this urban legend when making this track. This supposed link made the track a hell of a lot more interesting for me.



I do hope that these recorded videos and this single aren't the last thing we're going to hear from the trumpets of the sky. Many mysterious tales and interesting unexplained stories have died out after a while. This however feels different. I might be a simple geogolical event, a jet surpassing the sound barrier or even the testing of a new international sonar system...This mystery is simply too good to be left unexplained.

The Jurassic Jeep

The first lesson has ended came to a conclusion and I was thrilled. Operating such a strong machine with your bare hands is an unreal experience when you first do it. After just some steering, I already found myself thinking about the car that I would purchase after finishing off this driver's license. I've discovered a strange craving for owning and driving a jeep. After some thinking, I know where I got this from.

This majestic piece of engine has apparently been in my mind all along. I've always fancied a jeep over any sports car, not only because of it's sheer power, but also because it was in my favorite film to date!
                                                             

I'm not the first one though! There is even an entire forum dedicated to recreating the infamous jeep!
There are tons of enthusiastic fans of the trilogy, who apparently have the skills and time to recreate it to an almost perfect clone of the actual films. Honestly, if I had the time, money and materials to recreate one of my own, I would surely do the same! The results look spectacular and are nothing less of a dream come true for a big JP fan. There is one that describes the entire work process of building the car.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2624060

Driving in such a rare and hard to recreate vehicle is probably not going to happen though. So I won't be surprised if I would end into something like this "normal" variant, the "2005 Jeep Wranger (TJ Willy's Edition)". I can only hope to find a replica of this somewhere!

Ear Attack 2012: Change Of State

After a week of using those damned ear drips and physiotherapy, my complaints are severely lessening! I stopped having neck and shoulder issues and even better: my hearing is fine again! I was worried sick that it might be a form of hearing damage. I started focusing on weird noises that could be experienced as a loud hissing noise (most common with hearing damage) and I was constantly in panic of my situation. I stopped listening to music for almost a week!

Now, after a doctor visit and some physiotherapy, I feel so much better! I carefully started listening to music again and even when "Midas" came on, I didn't experience what I last had when listening to that track. When I was certain that my hearing was fine again, I even started listening to some TATW. At that particular show, they played the second track of the three track Soundprank EP. The track is called "Change Of State", and I think it is fitting to my situation! 

I can only hope that I'm completely fine again after a few weeks, since I still have several physiotherapist appointments and a second doctor-checkup. We'll see. But for now, my state has indeed changed to something more positive! Let's keep it that way. 

Project Voyager: The First Step

As I'm writing this, I'm about to have my first driving lesson. I've never been behind the wheel and I've no idea of how this is going to be! I'm quite nervous, although I don't understand why. I guess it's the pure excitement of a new chapter in my life that's about to open up. When you know how to drive a car, virtual boundaries seem to vanish when getting that much desired license in your hands. First, I had no interest in any form of transport other than the public transit. But over the years, as new challenges and responsibilities arose, the desire for wheels grew as well.

The first track that came in mind was a gem from a long time ago. I recently purchased both Daft Punk albums, for the sake of nostalgia. It was Daft Punk's "Voyager" that remembered me of those good old Daft Punk days. I have to say that this has to be my all time favorite Daft Punk track. Brilliant track on a brilliant album.

Ear Attack 2012

Yesterday while listening to my beloved TATW, I discovered that there was something wrong with my right ear. When Soundprank's new track "Midas" came, I started to experience really annoying pain shocks throughout my shoulder, neck and ear.



When I turned my music off, I still felt these strange pressured feeling deep in my head. I stopped listening to music for the rest of the day, but the feeling worsened up to a point that I almost fainted.

I was terrified that it could be ear damage, so I decided to go to see my doctor right away. After some examination, it turned out to be just a minor irritation. The doc sent me home with some ear drops and they actually worked a bit. I hope this feeling goes away in it's entirety though, because I'm afraid to listen to anything anywhere, because of the fear that the slightest of bass will bring back that dizziness.

It just shows how careful one should be with active music listening. Really not sure what I would do if my hearing would suddenly be inadequate for listening EDM. This world I came to learn and love has become an essential part of my life, and I cannot imagine the emptiness I would cause when not available. Considering earplugs and safer headphones because all of this. Maybe it's for the best to spend a little bit more for listening that to spend less and lose the availability to listen in the future.

The Fossil: Corsten's Countdown 250

I was in love with his single "Fire" both the original but especially the Flashover Remix. But due to my house roots, I kinda lost touch with Ferry's music. Now, 7 years later, I'm recovering from his brilliant ASOT 550 set and playing his WKND album over and over again. How times change. But never the less, his track "Fire" has never left my playlist! I even posted about it a couple of months ago!



As I'm writing this, I'm listening to the 250th episode from his podcast. After 250 episodes, Ferry is doing a 8 hour marathon where you as listener can request all kinds of tracks. I requested my beloved Ferry classic and as I'm writing this, the flames of Corsten are burning through my headphones! He's only halfway, so lots of more classics will surely find their way to this stunning broadcast! I feel like I've been missing out a bit, so from now on, Ferry's Countdown show is a priority. I couldn't afford to miss another 250 great hours from this great producer..