johnb820

I was more laughing at the responses radi, not you. It's also funny because Imba would probably find your praise funny too. Honestly Nikola does make great stuff. Check out Space Elves too!

Lol.

What I hear from Nebula Meltdown's album, it could be the most innovative goa/psy in a while.

Hey Imba I like what you have there. Radi mentioned AP using fat claps with a lot of reverb. I think getting a proper balance between where your high hats are and where the loudest part of your snare/clap is makes a big difference. The big clap sound of AP would not sound good without the same big open wet open hats. Likewise in bass it's important to have good interaction between kick and bassline at the lowest end first and foremost. Secondary to that is a balanced volume level of the mid frequencies of kick and bass. Maybe one of the reasons why I don't like clicks in kicks is because it starts to defocus the listener towards the high end of the mix. And that's where kick|highhat|kick/snare|highhat|kick starts to become static. At that point the listener is required to listen to other things in the mix in order to feel any rhythm. For example, I love Filteria but not much of his music makes me want to dance except for a couple tracks on Sky Input.

In salsa it's called clave, in goa trance it may be called triplets. That irresistible syncopation on and off the beats that makes the kick drop, and the snares snap. But which part or element of the track should utilize this beat pattern to maximize the groove and rhythm? Also which combination or style of kick, bassline, snare, and high hats produces the perfect balance? Many times I listen to a song for the first time and then later on when I start to focus on certain elements suddenly the song loses its groove. I get driven into hearing static beats rather than fluid rhythms. Many people listen to psy trance and immediately they hear boom, boom, boom when of course to those of us who listen carefully understand the rhythmic depth of well crafted melodies, unique bass lines, etc. Is there necessarily something objective that makes one song groovier than another or is it totally dependent on the listener? Of course this is not restricted to psy trance, but for a genre that is built upon trancey dance beats it should something you want to dance to right? Why dance to psy trance but not rock music? I realize that was a lot of questions. Sorry.

Nebula Meltdown has this awesome style like nobody else, really trippy and complex.

Very exciting!!!!

I really really enjoy RA's Unearthly album which leads me to mention Altar Records for all your ambient needs. Ektoplazm has also had a ton of good ambient albums this year. Oh and Shpongle released a new album although it's more upbeat than previous albums.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaIzlvQC1M8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-yjEGet_DY

First that came to mind was Ra - Transcendent.

Lol. That Teleport remix is hilarious. The main melody comes back at the end of the song and then it just fades out.

Psychedelics are really my only drug of choice which I only save for special occasions every few months. I kicked coffee and all caffeine back in April but unfortunately started a kratom addiction. I don't drink or smoke nor am I on any prescription drugs.

Royal Mail.

Just received my vinyl copy today. Funny how the pre-order download had an incorrect track order.

What is this connection between anime and trance? I've known about this for years when I had a friend who watched more anime than a sane person should and he was really into Tiesto, etc. Is it like an otaku thing or something? Since trance is so niche in America I guess it goes hand in hand with other niche interests?

At first I was kind of disappointed in this album, but like all of the Shpongle albums it takes many listens to catch all the little details going on in each track. While I would say musically this album is not as developed as the other albums (Every song is in common time signature) I think there are still enough tricks up simon's sleeves to keep it interesting. There are moments of depth where elements are so quietly hidden in the mix that it is sometimes difficult to hear them. Brain In A Fishtank starts off with dark well layered melodies before exploding into a neat little rhythm with funny claps piercing through. Like a lot of tracks on this album the middle section develops into a dance beat before coming to an end. I think this track has the most obvious straight forward ideas. How The Jellyfish Climbed Up the Mountain is probably the least interesting track on the album. There's just not much going on and its dance beat gets kind of repetitive save for the climax which energizes the rhythm with nice clever guitars. Juggling Molecules immediately caught my ears the first time I heard it with its euphoric pads and thundering percussion. This one kind of reminds me of Nothing Is Something Worth Doing on Ineffable Mysteries. It has an immediacy that I think a lot of people can enjoy. The multilayered vocals are really cool the way if you listen carefully you can hear endlessly fascinating variations on them. The Aquatic Garden Of Extra-Celestial Delights finally slows the tempo for a nice lengthy journey throughout its nearly 12 minutes. The intro seems to take forever to build up but once it does the song really gets going. I love the bassline on this one. It has a great rough pulsing vibration to it. This song is probably the most subtle on the album. At first I thought it was kind of boring but then I started noticing a lot of extra things going on. The finale with the vocals is just gorgeous. Further Adventures in Shpongleland is a strange little song. It doesn't really have a strong beat or rhythm but the sounds here are diverse and more like the outward ideas on the first album. Near the end of the song the guitar parts from Juggling Molecules start playing which makes me think this song is sort of a remix of that earlier track. What percussion is present fits perfectly with that song. The Epiphany of Mrs. Kugla starts out like the soundtrack to a movie but eventually develops into a pretty neat song. I'm not sure what else to say about the song spcefically other than to say that within the context of the album this song is sort of like the climax that it all built up to. There is something going on here that I can't really explain very well. Tickling the Amygdala is a mostly ambient song that seems to last an eternity. Finally some soothing bass comes in but before the song can develop it dies off and all we are left with is a faint piano that keeps tricking us into thinking that it's going to end on tonic but then a few more notes play. Overall Museum of Consciousness is a really good album. I can see where this different direction may disappoint people. Gone are the slow tempo dubby moments on Are You Shpongled as well as the sort of ethnic world influence of Tales and Nothing Lasts and the mix sounds decidely different from the previous albums. Still, it would not be fair to dismiss this fantastic journey through the museum of consciousness. The solos are really good as always especially Raj's flute, vocals are well placed, and there are enough shpongley moments to separate it from everyone else out there. So I guess I should say thanks to Simon and Raj for giving us another amazing work of art to contemplate and experience.

Gozu. Weirdest movie you will likely ever see, one that you will never forget.

This is called motion aftereffect in which the brain assumes the continual motion of an object and when the motion suddenly stops or you look away everything in your vision within that area will appear to be moving in the opposite direction. Try watching fast moving clouds by staring at a fixed point and you can achieve the same effect, amongst other neat visual tricks like color contrast illusions.

Sorry no I was not actually joking. I have gone down that path of telling myself that the things, especially music, that light up my world are somehow just as acceptable as other people's interests and that has led to a lot of self loathing. I am proud of the fact that I listen to complex music, with complex patterns and I have invested many hours into carefully listening to each and every sound every artist has come up with. Likewise all of you here on psynews have a passion for this music because you aspire for something greater which is more than can be said of many other genres.

To get this topic back on topic, I think this album has all the typical Shpongle magic in terms of Simon's production values. The dude just knows and is a genius at mixing and getting that 3 dimensional aspect to his music. Unfortunately the album seems less varied and developed than any of the other albums. Nothing Lasts still blows my mind with all its glorious glitchy, effects driven intricacies. Museum of Consciousness is a nice listen for the most part, even euphoric, but nothing that makes me think an alien wrote it. It lacks the subtlety of Ineffable Mysteries. I will probably give it the Shpongled Test at some point soon and write a longer review but this is my first initial reaction.

Intellectually and spiritually dead people who only want to drink themselves into oblivion, these are psychedelic trance's worst enemies. Stop wondering why and just embrace the fact that you are better than everyone else for appreciating and enjoying more sonically unique, interesting and stimulating music.

Lots of dance floor beats on this one.

Got an email today saying I was supposed to get an email with a download link for the preorder earlier except there wasn't one. By the way, it's no coincidence that they chose to drop it like this precisely 5 days before the original release date, and the preorder went up on June 5th. Next there will be 5 songs on the album all in 5/4 time signature and Si will have the number 5 tattooed to his forehead precisely 5 times. Edit: Sent a quick message to support and they helped me out. About to listen to the album for the first time.

I deeply appreciate and respect darkspy. The level of creativity is astonishing and the speed is just so trippy and relentless. With that said I couldn't tell one artist apart from the next and I feel almost no emotional connection to it. It's not rhythmic and is hard to dance to so darkpsy is basically just a cerebral and psychedelic attachment for me.

Thanks Rotwang.