Jaza

Broadened taste for sure. I listen to lots of stuff now that once felt too slow or simple or dark for me. Glad I never had a "slow down" phase where I phased our faster music. This is a common theme I see in people 30+. I still love tunes cranking at 140-155 when they are good, now more than ever. I've got a stronger quality filter regardless of genre but I suspect that is normal. (... Still find Zenon more miss than hit though )

I was a huge fan of the first album Perpetual Energy - I never felt it got enough hype - and the live sets I saw them play at in 2017 and 18 were both strong. Between this and their consistent VA releases in recent years, Celestial Intelligence have become the new school act I have the most hope for. Before this album release I had heard it live twice in Portugal this past summer. I knew I was getting more of the same melodic morning power, but with a much tighter low end and generally more refined mix of sounds. It's not often a release you hype in your head lives up to that hype, but here we are. Alteration starts the album, and if I am honest it's not my favorite. It's decent but feels a bit like filler. The melody is not quite enough of a stand out to me, and everything thing else feels perfectly good without being great. Forking Paths is the first one to really catch me. I quite like the unique sound that comes in at ~1:45, this whole track really feels like it goes places as the melody grows in to dominance. It's not their best but it doesn't need to be, we're suddenly right back where the last album left off. Three tracks in we find something special. The spacey intro of Deja Vu leads in to a beautifully up and down opening half: trademark Celestial melodies, a nice level of complexity, and engaging 303 sounds lead us to the stunning main melody. Comparable to Filteria's The Big Blue or Crossing Mind's No Event Horizon, it's a psychedelic morning trance anthem that carries us through the last 4 minutes. Galactic Journey is a worthy follow-on. I remember this vividly from the live set - at the time it felt like the re-announcement that Celestial are back - and that remains my feeling at home. The core melody is fun and just powerful enough, and the way it builds up and reappears at the end in classic goa trance style really scratches that itch. Overall a strong track. Owl originally did not grab me (maybe it's the cliche samples at the beginning?) but it's since grown on me. Not as strong as the last tracks but a worthy addition. When listening to the album in sequence it can feel like a slight come down, but on repeated listens it holds its own as a perfectly strong morning track. On first listens to Blueberry the unique main melody sound in the breakdown (almost like a violin) is all I came away thinking about, but on repeated listens I've really come to appreciate the whole track. Another one that is the right mix of engaging and trancey throughout, building nicely to its peak. Ummo doesn't grab me as much. It's a testament to this album that it's one of my least favorites but is still a worthy addition. I think it's the mix down that doesn't quite get me, it feels a bit too noisy, the balance is not to my tastes. The 1001 Reasons remix is interesting. A proper rebuild rather than a minor edit. The key change makes a big difference. It's a little stripped back for me, I prefer the original for it's melody, but this is is a great example of their improved production skills and goes particularly well played out live. Thankfully Psychic Transference takes us out with a banging journey track. A lovely mix of melodies and again a nice long build over >8 minutes. The power sequence that starts with <4 minutes left is peak Celestial Intelligence, as is the last peak after that. This album excels in showing off their improved production skills and a refinement of the Celestial sound with more variance in the song-writing. If you don't like their style of powerful melodic morning goa it's still not for you, but lovers of the first album should be well pleased. Those people who found the first album too loud and hectic may find this more to their taste. If I were being super picky I'd like to have one more mega power anthem track like Gray Matter or Anapa, there are times where I miss the blasting anthem sound from prior tracks, but that's a tiny gripe on what is an excellent release.

Both are every second year. So there is an Apsara 2020 from the 12th of August, and a ZNA in 2021.

Released today: https://pleiadians.bandcamp.com/album/pyramid?fbclid=IwAR1L5aB01TSIDJaR3VxWkjy3Cw_4fwP06YqzHuUkArcYRI8EO4TR_FGuQxY

No I mean full-on but with that spacey Etnica / Pleiadians vibe. Not quite Nano heavy but BMSS or maybe Dacru level of heavy. There are still some thoughtful and deep space moments. But very much generic dugga dugga in large parts

He's a great guy too. Humble

The thing with this set was it jumped around a lot. One minute he was playing early stuff, then stuff from the last album, then 9th era stuff... It didn't really flow. For instance playing 12th hour as the second track was odd.

It's been "coming" for 3ish years now and for the last year we have known it will be called "Pyramid". Don't get your hopes up though. Both Etnica and Pleiadians new-school sets I saw in the past 18mnths were mostly flat. Cosmic full-on is what I'd call it. There's a fine line between tracks that convey psychedelia through subtlety, and tracks that are just boring. They straddle this line far too closely for my liking.

Hey plz send contact details. That could be great. Whatsapp or similar. I land on Sunday night.

Don't suppose anyone has a lift? Out on the 19th, back any time after Filteria plays. Lazy planning from me on this one

Any further news on this? I land on Thursday.

I will be there. Got a job where I work in Nebraska from time-to-time, so managed to rig it so it's a half work trip which helps me fund it. What's the go with the after party?

You absolute legend. Curious to listen. When do we get it?

His new track on the Suntrip VA is killer. Going places.

I love hearing these versions from a time when live sets were live, so the version you hear on the night may never quite be heard again. The version of Conflict is trippy in its subtlety early on.

Don't have it in me to write a full review, nor have I listened to it enough, but everyone should know about this. A new album from Lyktum and Nerso. https://sourcecodetransmissions.bandcamp.com/album/consciousness-awakened About 12mnths ago Zen Mechanics (who seems a fair-tempered guy and has never had over-the-top hyperbole in his few social media promos) flagged this as "the closest thing we've had to a modern version of Pleiadians" (almost verbatim). My interest was piqued. Well it's finally here and whilst it's a very different take on spacey trance than the goa legends, it's a slammer. It's at this apex of: Old-school influenced modern psytrance, lots of 303s and the odd spiral melody Proper progressive space trance, albeit uptempo. Beautiful spacey vibes throughout, nice journeys throughout tracks, a genuine tranciness to even though they are dancefloor tracks Modern 138ish prog psy, inc the super sharp production It's funny... The modern psy prog sound has put me right off prog in recent years. Slowed down full-on masquerading as progressive seems to be all you can find. Not only are artists like Vertical Mode carrying their inability to write interesting songs forward from their full-on projects, it's robbing us of proper classic prog trance at parties. But despite having many of those hallmarks, this is a bit different. There's an authenticity to this. It's a lot like Lyktum's solo work, but has an identity of its own. They are modern dancefloor bombs but also speak to goa and also speak to Atmos and co.

Nothing Lasts is my favorite Shpongle. Is it enhanced by the re-master? Or is it simply different? (Or not different at all?)

Was this all made on your phone?

You're an Aussie, yeah? I take it you missed his master-classes at Rainbow Serpent 2011 and 2017?

Tents in Portugal are so cheap. Get a decent one at Decathlon for like 30eu that only weighs a few kgs, then you can take it home in your luggage. I will definitely be there. Tickets purchased. Excited for my first ZNA... I wasn't in Europe in 2015, and in 2017 I chose the Eclipse in America instead. At this stage I could be solo or I could have a group of New Zealanders / Indians / Slovenians / Australians with me. Everyone I know who did 2015 said it was one of the all time great parties. Those who did 2017 all said it was very good but not quite as good as 2015. Curious to see how this one pans out.

Here in London the scene is fairly segmented. Organisations have a certain sound and tend to stick to it. There's a crew doing accessible full-on and some prog internationals Another crew running regular nights with locals that's just about all accessible full on (DJ'd pretty poorly too). And another two crews doing mostly darker stuff. Like much of the world, Hi-Tech is mostly dead, but forest and various shades of dark are still big at the right parties. There's a 50%ish overlap with the crowd. Some people are up for anything, others will typically only appear at the one organisation's parties. Goa is non-existent and I have struggled to get sets more than I anticipated. I have learned that to keep the audiences attention here you must have a dominant bassline, no matter what. (I tanked an 11am set playing new school stuff that was melodic and complex and not so heavy on the basslines. I thought people would welcome the change up, but it was quite the opposite.) I can't honestly recommend the scene much here unless you really, really like full on.

In the software development world, this is the bit where those who built the software say "that's not a bug, that's a feature" I agree, it can be pretty out there. I struggle to play this with other music when DJing - even mixed in key and at as-designed tempos, most tracks just stands out weirdly. I'd like to use them more to see people's reactions, but the 40-70 second mix period sounds slightly off no matter what I try.

Impossible to go past The reaction on dancefloors is crazy powerful. I saw Anoebis play it 3 times in 2014 and each time it did a number on the floor.

Morphic Resonance wins this year with his manic journey LP so aptly named 'Perplexity'... Not everyone's cup of tea though. The JBC Arkadii album is fantastic. It really sets the standard for those wanting to modernise goa trance without losing the essence. Timewarp Records have released sooooo much music, but the winner of the many new school goa releases this year is definitely Global Sect's Shambhala. A really strong single disk compilation. The new Smuds album is amazing too. I guess you call it forest, but it's really a broad range of foresty, atmospheric psy that goes weird places without making you uncomfortable. A-Grade song-writing coupled with decent if unspectacular production. I'm a big, big fan. I also quite like the new Archaic LP if you're in to your darker, heavier stuff.

It goes really well live. This is a dancefloor album. Creating a dancefloor experience that sits somewhere between goa trance, modern prog psy, and old school acid techno... It's really unique. The warm basslines keep floors grooving while the music keeps you interested enough but doesn't overload you. I can see why some would think this side of things is underdone, but he's gone for a unique vibe. His set at Shankra Festival was excellent, while his set at Boom (which you can watch here) was a lot of fun and a slightly different journey.