Jaza

That party in Berlin is meant to be very, very good. Just note that Astral are playing the main room, not the goa floor, so will clash with a goa act.

This one is a gem. Admittedly it's hard to compare a 4 CD VA with 1 CD... But I think it trumps Terraformer in quality. Yes, it sits right in the Global Sect comfort zone, but this is mostly proper top quality modern psytrance. The Zopmanika, Centavra and Median Project tracks are all bombs. The Omneon remix of Median is very worthwhile too. The Goasia and Astrancer contributions are also very worthy. The Mindsphere one drags on for me - I love >10 min tracks but this one doesn't quite grab me - but it deserves its place on the CD. In the end it's only really the first track from Fiery Dawn that doesn't grab me. An absolute bargain at the price. Well played again Global Sect.

The problem with this is the modern day move to selling more singles and 2-3 track EPs means that such a list is more likely to contain older albums. Neo goa is one of the few sub-genres left where artists still seem defined by LPs. For instance a Dickster album with all his best tracks from VAs, etc, from 2010-15 would likely make mine. But his actual album Innebriati would not.

I find Clementz one of the most interesting of a generally promising crew releasing on Timewarp and Global Sect (inc Atlantis, Median, Centavra, etc). Not unhappy they are taking this route though. I think it's better to get to a really good level before your first LP. Better to do a Celestial Intelligence than a Psy-H Project. Old mate Proxeeus is the winner on this one. That guy is the poster child for strong improvement over time.

A huge feature of this album is the way tracks are often full power right until the end. Swirling melodies intensely layered right through most of the last minute. Not very DJ friendly, hard to mix out of and not make a mess, but I think also may contribute to the overwhelming vibe it gives sometimes when listened to end-to-end. Transitions between the main parts of tracks are not prolonged There's some great dancefloor tools in here though when played as part of sets including other artists. Curious to see where this project goes. Strong fundamentals in place to expand on.

He's not going for that vibe though. It's quite introspective and hypnotic. You almost don't want a dominant melody to break you out of it. He has it in him to do it as shown by Ayahuasca, Distant Signals, etc, but I think it wasn't his aim here. It's a pronounced journey from night to day. Almost a concept album. A quite intentional link between where he came from with Arcana and evolved to with Nemesis. It's nice to get some morning E-Mantra vibes with the sharp production he's developed. I would critique that it is a bit too similar in the 'night' session and one of the tracks - probably Typhon's Wrath - could be swapped out for something. I'd have liked him to go crazy and give Morphic a run for his money on a track, but even another morning-ish track may have balanced the album a bit better. I dunno... I guess I wouldn't intro a person to neo goa, psy, or even E-Mantra himself with this. But the world needs more artists with clear identities like he has.

It doesn't sound as crisp as it could. While some neo goa production is intentionally sharp (E-Mantra, most of Filteria's stuff, Imba) a lot of artists choose to have some more 'dull' sounds (for want of a better phrase) to mimic the old school vibe. Good examples are Omnivox, and particularly Triquetra. Ovnimoon has done a bit of that here IMO. He is capable of razor sharp sound design, but a few of these tracks sound like he's gone for some of the old school buzz. On one hand I am happy he's changed it up a bit - I love him but it's only been incremental changes over 6 LPs in 9 years since Geometric Poetry - on the other hand I think he has more to offer. I'd play half of these in a set out live, this is a good purchase, but he has it in him to make an end-to-end stormer. JBC Arkadii has done a great job bridging modern psy and goa on a few tracks on his new album. Similarly the new E-Mantra LP is very tight on production. I'd like to see Ovnimoon try that next.

I agree with that comparison. This album is lovely. Such a nice mix of wet foresty stuff and proper weird trippy trance music. Some nice musical influences. The melody inTleilaxu reminds me of old school Talpa, then the middle is almost Posford-esque with the voices.

Disparate quality across the tracks. The good ones are excellent, but a few feel like filler. It's like Ovnimoon's take on the 90s rather than being entirely cutting edge. In that respects it's a little bit of a missed opportunity. Several of these are making it out in to my live sets though. For sure

Seriously though... Is it just me or does it not sound as sharp as the first two albums, production wise?

Oh nice!! October pay day material for sure. Mark Day put me on to your music a few years ago. Yours was the first name he mentioned when I asked him on a hot tip for new tunes at that moment. I was not disappointed then, so I'm really looking forward to this.

This is awesome. In this awesome sweet spot of goa / psy and nitzho.

Got tix for the Saturday. Glad I stumbled across the pre sale code in my inbox - looks like the main sale was a shitfight.

Confirmed as the last ever full band show. Tickets on sale this Friday.

Not the best time to be in Australia. Problems with authorities have really dampened things. Sydney is recovering with a slowly growing underground of younger people (working amongst some frustrating situations with police) but in Melbourne they've been hit hard by the issues with Maitreya (partly architected their own downfall) and even more so Yemaya (which is a tragic story). In Melbourne during peak outdoor season you used to get 2-4 parties a month, now there's only a few good underground parties a year. Melbourne has a good week-to-week indoor scene. It's not the same but it's something. Parties in Sydney are more sporadic outside of one regular monthly but I'm hearing there's more bush parties happening up there than Melb which is a surprise. The music is much heavier in Sydney. It's past the peak of an extended hi-tech phase that lasted too many years, but still heavier than Melb for the most part and has been for some time. I miss home sometimes but am happy riding this phase out in London. Change of state government in NSW in March could help Sydney a lot, but there's no guarantee it turns in to good outcomes in a policing sense. I have connections in both cities. PM me if you're not yet settled and need help.

Yeah me too. The number of gigs they can do there is mental, and he just doesn't seem to like playing Hallucinogen sets anymore. He's looked half in to it for 2 of the last 3 I saw. Even the new tunes he has doesn't seem to have translated in to more of those sets. That said, to the OP: red rocks is meant to be absolutely amazing as a venue. Not a bad move to go there, esp while Raja is still up and at it. EDIT: Here is the link - found it. As per the comment below the video I suspect it's more a "we may not ever get everyone together again" warning, which is fair, rather than locking it in.

I don't see this confirmed anywhere?

I saw them twice in 2016 (Ozora then Connection) and then 4 times in the past twelve months: Connection 2017 last September Hilltop New Years New Years after party on 6th January Shankra Festival in June A pity I couldn't make Connection this year, but that live feed of the whole set was a godsend even if it's phone quality. It's been interesting hearing the new tracks evolve over time. They're definitely getting better. More layers coming out over time.

Son Kite had their own niche in the sub-genre. Vibrasphere, Atmos and the more traditional tracks by Ticon are definitely ontemporaries but they each have their own niche..

Ohhhh what a question. I struggle to go past Filteria - The Big Blue. But perhaps it's too trancey to be the one?

Having listened to it twice in full this afternoon... This is a good summation. It's not perfect, but it's well and truly worth the money (!)

Oh wow. It's everything I hoped for: Progression from Nemesis. Slightly sharper production The "Nemesis meets Arcana" description is very spot on. If Nemesis is a 3-4am album this is for 5-6am. Nice mix of vibes in the tracks. Full report to come... But he's absolutely nailed this one.

If you like Dohm, also check out Goch

Awesome return to form from Sonic Species. His last few years have been flat after such a promising start with that LP in 2012-ish. If I am honest, I had started to worry that the real talent lay in the dude who left the duo shortly after that album was released. I would gladly welcome him bringing back floatier morning sounds to the Nano stable.

A return to form after the second album which was a bit flat IMO. I love Ephedra's sound generally so this album is very welcome in my life. Tell me though... Are my ears fooling me or does this sound a bit more intentionally old school compared to the crisp production of the first two? Not full old school Proxeeus style, but not as sharp? (I am quite legitimately having hearing issues of late, this is not a trick question.)