Dolmot

Chinese

Hey, I learned something today! I always thought it was Plain Old Telephone Service. (Well, maybe not, but never bothered to find out...)

http://www.discogs.com/artist/18906-Shidapu

I still listen to various mods regularly. (It used to be an unambiguous term meaning a tracker file and nothing else...) Actual goa or even any electronic CDs were rare as hen's teeth where I used to live, and mp3 trading was slightly hindered by 14.4k speed, <1 GB hard disks, and the first clunky real-time mp3 players (that is, real-time assuming you had a mighty CPU dedicated to playing only) appearing in 1995. The demo and tracker scene was something awesome and genuinely free in every sense. Picture this: you could take any track, produced by anyone in the scene, load it in an editor and start tweaking. There was no need to release a "remix kit". Everything was there, fully open from the very beginning. I spent vastly more time on that stuff than on commercial releases. Obviously there were endless poor attempts but plenty of gems too. M^3's Robotik still sort of defines psytrance as in "psychedelic trance" to me, because that's exactly what it is. Why did that term come to mean extremely formulaic fullon? Oh well, let's load a bunch of XMs and enjoy the sound which definitely wasn't compressed to hell and back. Another benefit of low tech. By the way, for playback I heartily recommend XMplay or something using the BASS libs. There were dozens of tracker formats back then, and they were quite complex to implement accurately. Some of them were even poorly documented or relied on some specific, unexpected behaviour of the originating tracker. Even if your random player software can nominally load a tracker file and produce some sound, it doesn't mean it's playing correctly. Get a good one and write out your own wavs or something for wider use.

I should have quite many of them, freshly downloaded since 1996. It was one of the sites to check regularly. Good times. Although can you remember the hassle of downloading, transferring and storing those files that could be several megabytes?! Didn't even fit on a single floppy! Madness, I say...

Wind Remind?

OOP: "Of course this particular pressing won't be repeated." (There may be a repress but let's not discuss that.) Rare: "I'd like to get more money for this." Masterpiece: "I'd totally like to get more money for this."

Whenever the genre is discussed, I think of this (1:46 for the impatient):

Still makes more sense than Radi.

You're not reading this forum enough. http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php/topic/32099-secret-hallucinogne-track/ http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php/topic/59442-i-just-found-2-rare-hallucinogen-tracks/

But note that it's probably called Colonization.

Deviant Electronics

Yes...or at least it's the downtempo version. I haven't checked in detail whether it's exactly the same but I'd assume so. Interestingly, the promo LP contains a track that later changed its name and/or artist. Hard to verify as it was the only appearance of that collaboration.

That's how it would make sense but... The uptempo version is: - "Star Above Parvati" on Blue compilation (and less known compilations "The Big Tip" and "First Light") - "Star Above Parvatti" on Goa-Head 1 (and "Shabda" compilation) - "Full Moon Over Parvatti" on Trancentral Four, 07 and boxed The downtempo version is: - "Star Above Parvati (Bijli Mahadev Mix)" on Let's Turn On CD - just "Star Above Parvati" on TIP Singles 3 (so the same as the uptempo on Blue) Orchestral World Groove as a version is clear, but it uses a new "Star Over" combination for the main title. And for something completely different, I think the names of meteor showers use a bit kludgy combination of partial Latin genitives and the -ids suffix, which is not Latin itself. Therefore it's not that obvious that Aquariids should have their Unique ending. Even NASA seems to disagree so it's very understandable that some 1995 source did the same. Not really a typo if you ask me.

Full Moon Over Parvatti Star Above Parvati Star Above Parvatti Star Above Parvati (Bijli Mahadev Mix) Star Over Parvati (Orchestral World Groove Remix) All from official releases, I think. So what is over/above what and when exactly is it the downtempo-ish version?

People who try to do anything in public places while fiddling with their phone - calling, texting, tweeting, what-bloody-ever. I have never met a single soul who would show any ability to multitask with anything else - even walking in a straight line - while their mind is on their phone, so please don't even try, anywhere, ever. Stop. Step aside. Back against the wall. Get a room. Don't do the blind, deaf, moronic zombie shuffle in places where people with a functioning brain and senses try to get around. One day I was walking to the other end of this building and bumped into no less than six of these clueless idiots. I almost pushed the last one down the stairs (which would make a nice new social norm to teach them a lesson). Some even try it while driving. In a city. Mind boggles. If only there was a way to guarantee that these idiots just kill themselves but nobody else, which sadly isn't the case.

Snow my ass, it's +7 °C. In February.

A: Don't name your track "Mind Expansion" or "Ayahuasca". B: Don't name your album "The Tree of Life". C: Don't name your festival "The Gathering of Tribes".

So I counted... Repeatedly: 6 Rarely: 2 No: 2 Yeah but not while listening: 2 I'll quote this next time when asked whether this is drug music.

For a few reminders... F13, a mix DL (mp3, VBR, 245 MB, 135 min, zipped) 01. Nuage - Banyan Tree Snipet ["Vivant", Purple Hexagon, 2013] 02. Entheogenic - Soma (Veda Mix) ["Phoenix", Zion 604, 2013] 03. Time 2 Live - Sacred Ground ["Inner Self", Inner Light, 2013] 04. Nervasystem - Harold Eben D'Owld ["The Kingdom", Zion 604, 2013] 05. Trinodia - Qind Mind ["Astral Clouds", Ovnimoon, 2013] 06. Shantifax - Rudra ["Complete Tranceformation", SarnarSchourt, 2013] 07. Ufomatka - Vega ["Tribal Encore", Anjuna, 2013] 08. Byte 1 - Dive 1 ["Mind Rewind 2 - Past Forward", DAT Mafia, 2013] 09. Nervasystem & Aether - Distorted Waves of OM (Slight Return) ["Lucid Flux", Anjuna, 2013] 10. Tengri with Vlastur - Dance of the Crow ["Icaros", Peak, 2013] 11. Scuba vs Yechidah - Beyond the Illusion of Life ["Turlitava 2", Neogoa, 2013] 12. Radical Distortion - Solar Storm ["Back in Time", Eutuchia, 2013] 13. Dreamweaver - Tabula Rasa ["Goa Overdose 3", Underground Alien Factory, 2013] 14. Filteria - Food Demons (Demon's Head Remix) ["Lost in the Wild", Suntrip, 2013] 15. BlackStarrFinale - Doña Aiuola ["AURYN", Neogoa, 2013] 16. Nebula Meltdown - Stardust Chronicles ["Stardust Chronicles", Suntrip, 2013] 17. Khetzal - Aramean Dreams ["Blacklight Moments", Suntrip, 2013] 18. Scooterbaba - Halleluuja ["Natural Digital", Trance Bum, 2013] 19. Oliveira - Ond Kraft ["Trolldom", Troll N' Roll, 2013] 20. Lapsus - Normality ["Sideffect", Psynews, 2013] 21. Crop Circles - Ghost Circles ["Lunar Civilization EP", DAT, 2013] 22. Dimension 5 - Alpha Particles ["TransAddendum", Suntrip, 2013] 23. Artha - Faith ["If I Wasn't Human, I'd Be a Trance Track", Cronomi, 2013] 24. PharaOm - Shiva's Cosmic Dance ["Under the Sun of Goa", Neogoa, 2013] 25. Globular - Up the Xylem Elevator ["Magnitudes of Order", self-released, 2013]

+2

In every genre, the majority will be mediocre by definition. We look for the best and then find out that the rest is below that. There's hardly any way around that phenomenon. Also, whenever something becomes "popular" (that is, at least somehow known), there will be followers or copycats who share the enthusiasm but not the full set of skills, tools and vision. That will happen with every genre, always. For example, I've gone through boatloads of less known "golden era" goa 12"s and compilations. Let's just say that many of them are rightfully forgotten. There were so many lazy or clumsy attempts. It's just plain BS to think that everything back then was brilliant, innovative and spiritual. A huge amount of it was produced in a day with no good idea of anything - just like in every genre. The totally forgettable stuff has been forgotten over decades. Regarding the style of "neogoa", I think there's a bit of bias in how we understand it. In 1996, we didn't bother inventing dozens of names for subgenres. It was all just goa or psychedelic. Nowadays anything that diverges too far from a certain path will be relabelled forest trance, swamp trance, desert trance, mud pit trance, hi/low/mid-tech trance, progressive, regressive or whatever. If you only accept Afgin, Antares and Merr0w albums to the definition of (neo)goa, sure as hell it's going to sound melodic and "light". Anyway, I also think there's a gap that's a tad underrepresented. I hesitate calling it "dark" because many attempts of going dark for its own sake end up being just stupid. What I'm looking for is intense, dynamic and exciting. If I can predict from the first (post-intro) 30 seconds how the next seven minutes will sound like, it probably isn't very exciting. How to prevent this? Well, if the "basic formula" would dictate that you should do something, don't do it. If you're going to fill in a certain pattern without thinking about it, think again. If you have a feeling that "one can't do this", try it anyway. Many major leaps in any area of creative work are achieved accidentally. It may flop but at least it won't be boring. Finally...regarding the state of the genre as a whole, my 2013 yearmix was longer than ever so I'd say there's plenty of neat stuff floating around. It just takes a while to go through it all and find what you really like.

While I could easily slag off many acts, I think it's actually a bit sad. There are trends in music. As a general rule (with exceptions, of course), those who follow the trends will get the big gigs. In a genre like this, the difference between big crowds and even medium crowds is basically the same as "making a living" or "not making it". Bill Cosmosis is one of the very few guys who can keep doing this full time. What about the rest who didn't "sell out"? I'd guess they're now spending their time on actual paying work, family and/or whatever. Spending hundreds of hours on an album, selling 500 copies and playing to 100 people just doesn't pay the bills. Reality won't reward "keeping it true". By the way, have you ever thought about how e.g. Filteria has been doing fairly consistent work for ten years now? Ten years. As a time span that's like...from 1993 to 2003. From early proto-goa through the heyday in its entirety and all the way to full-on galore. The original goa scene burned bright and fast. I think you can find much more stable careers from what we've been calling neogoa for over a decade now. (Well, maybe full-on too but is it possible to fall from anywhere there?)

I should but I don't even try. Meanwhile, I'm listening to Deviant Electronics and it's so bloody good that I'm rapidly failing my plan to do stuff outside during daylight hours. "Just this one track", I said...

On CD? Probably because even artist albums and exclusive compilations only sell a few hundred copies despite having all new, full length tracks. Meanwhile, there are boatloads of homemade mixes floating around on the "promotional licence", that is, free of charge or even guilt. With forums, soundcloud, mixcloud, youtube, net streams, podcasts etc. at our disposal, good luck selling any more than a nominal amount of mix CDs. Warming Freeze was a free extra. Sakura is 100 freebies and 100 low-price CDr copies. Demand like that hardly encourages proper pressing and licensing. It may be a different story if you're on Djmag top 100, but goa DJs rarely are. Besides, music consumption today tends to rely on single tracks, custom playlists and heavy use of the skip button. Mixes may get streamed but purchases must be in a shufflable/selectable format. Buy a mix and you're stuck with that track order forever or it sounds like crap. There's no shortage of mixes, though. In the 90s it was a small luxury to own discs, decks and good recording equipment. Download speed was 28 kbps, not Mbps. Your average mix copy was a big name CD or a cassette recorded from radio. Today anyone can cobble together a mix on a $200 laptop using an endless supply of torrented mp3s. (You don't have to but you can.) There are so many mixes that you must actively push your stuff to get a few dozen plays. It went from "oh boy, a psy mix!" to "sigh, yet another psy mix". Another thing that largely vanished are compilations of already released stuff. I guess YSE still does them, but otherwise the expectation for compilations is all exclusive content. You don't need samplers because everything can be sampled online. Labels won't bother with singles collections either, because today a "single" is an mp3 everyone has already, not a 12" owned by a handful of DJs. But hey, at least you won't feel silly any more for buying the same track five times on different albums, compilations and mix CDs...