Jaza

^^^^ Some years ago the guy who runs Ektoplazm (I think?) enlightened me to something very obvious but quite powerful I had missed. GMS weren't the issue. GMS clones were. GMS did their thing. They were fresh, they cared, they innovated, and people loved them. The fact everyone followed it, typically without innovation of note, is not their fault. It's easy to hate on GMS as that's the root of it. But really - to hate on innovation is absolutely wrong, esp given where we've ended up some years later - so I often find myself talking to people about re-framing their view on this a little. I never got in to GMS. Infected Mushroom were my 'classic common entry point' to psy. GMS tunes were not too big at parties I went to when young so it never caught me. By the time I got around to them I knew so much modern psy that they didn't grab me. I may not even have listened to Jaws since properly devoting myself to goa a few years ago - it's a beast. I once saw Riktam do a GMS set that was largely pop remixes, super super disheartening to see thousands choose bed at 4am at an otherwise pumping party. I wrote about it once on here some years ago. I am told that Bansi played more pumping, normal (if still accessible bordering on cheesy) sets when he was the one on stage. A pity he's gone then. Curious to see what happens with Riktam and Bansi now. I hope he was not the driving force behind that project, I quite like some of their tracks.

The word 'cheesy' is perhaps second only to the word 'commercial' when it comes to being over-used and mis-used when describing music. As a native speaker I do find 'cheesy' has a negative connotation. It's descriptive, yes, but it's describing something very few people would want to identify with. The word carries some weight. The way anything with a melody can be described as 'cheesy' is typically a good indicator of how deep someone has actually thought about music. Melodies (including those in full-on!) can be happy, dark, melancholic, powerful, emotional, and yes cheesy. This is specific to song-writing, not the genre. Whilst good quality melodic full-on is timeless, I am really digging the metallic sounds at the moment. Tristan is in the best form of his career, lots of bubbling sounds, twisted voice samples, and real sharp metallic sounds that fall short of being full melodies but add a daytime or early morning vibe. I particularly like the unreleased track 'The Kitten' you can hear from 1hr55mins here:

His album Concept of Freedom was in this style too. He experimented a few different ways thereafter. If you like this you may like the first Motion Drive album too. A bit more banging in parts but definitely a lot of similarities with Dreamatic. Produced in the same era: https://www.discogs.com/Motion-Drive-In-The-Dirt/release/2260596 I still absolutely adore the track 'Stars'.

Ooooohhhh. After a quick skim I like the previews.

Newly made tunes mimicking the dated sound of old school goa make no sense to me. What a waste. We have such sharp sounds now, so much cool stuff you can do with the tools available and it sounds so fresh... The vibe of old school can easily be kept in the song-writing, there's no need to intentionally make it sound date. So many releases like this. It's heartbreaking to think what could be.

I buy AIFF. A lossless format that contains metadata (unlike WAV) and can be played by Pioneer CDJs (unlike FLAC). Frustrating file sizes though.

Whilst this album is dark by goa standards, it's not super dark. The black holes that guys like Atriohm or Farebi Jalebi open are more substantial in terms of dark atmosphere. This is a very special album though. I had very high expectations - I guessed at the vibe this would bring after his set at Connection Fest 2017 (noting the evolution from those I saw in 2016) - and I'd say they've just about been met. Christian has put a lot of work in to advancing his sound and it shows. Whilst the last album 'City Of The Moons' was amazing, two years on after enough repeat listens you hear that it did repeat itself a bit. But here in 'Perplexity' every track has an identity, and of the 8 full songs it's only 'Outer Limits' that feels like filler to me. This album most excels in the darker, weirder territory it covers. Whilst 'Hallucinatory Acid' is fun, and the revisit of 'Bad Dreamer' is well worth its inclusion, I think the trio of 'Vektogram', 'Unreal', and 'Twisted Reality' (possibly the best) are my picks. Each contains a winning combination of brooding atmospheres, well-designed sounds to match, and full power sequences that will annihilate dancefloors. While not as well-rounded, I also like 'The Creature', and hope for more experimental tracks like this in future. Morphic is at his best combining eerie, darker atmospheres, and crunching, textured sounds delivered with force. This music is at its best when you almost (but not quite!) feel like you want it to relent. As much as I love his nods to old school goa, I really think he has the chance to make a name for himself and create truly unique experiences by further pioneering this extremely atmospheric, sometimes industrial feeling. Given the strides made in the past two years, it's crazy to think what sounds he'll be designing as we go in to 2020 and beyond. It is extremely rewarding to be along for the ride with one of the most exciting names not only in new goa trance, but in all of new psytrance. Finally, I should note that both the name of the album and the cover art are extremely apt. Well played to Christian and Suntrip for that.

Agree that's a great track. I was there when Atmos opened with at Boom 2016 - what a moment. Lyktum's take on Mahadeva, whilst nowhere near the original, is fit for purpose and not a waste of time like 98% of remixed classics are.

They've released almost a full album's worth of material on various compilations since the album. Very excited for it though. Don't know why Perpetual Energy didn't get more hype.

Dickster is the king

It's true. He's playing a 60min preview set this weekend in Israel.

Interview with DJ Emok of Iboga: "Any upcoming releases you want to mention? Gaudium and Atmos albums on the way to be released this year on Iboga Records. There’s also a new Man With No Name album on Future Music, and a new GMS remix album. The legend Eat Static will release an album, but under his other alias, Strontium Dogs, a new project which is more psytech orientated." https://psymedia.co.za/dj-emok-iboga-records-exclusive-interview/ Future Music is the psytrance sub-label of Iboga Records.

Super promising first skim on bandcamp. Purchase this week for sure!

Centavra is working on an album for Global Sect. Excited for that one.

Jack In The Box off Sonic Algebra is a good full on track.

No Event Horizon might be the best psychedelic, melodic trance track of the last 15yrs. This is his best work. I was never a big CM fan (and still find him a bit repetitive) but his set at Boom won me over massively and this album is largely excellent.

First impressions on tired ears = very very nice...

Not psytrance per se, but anyone with cable TV in Australia ('Foxtel') has likely heard Ott, Atmos, and similar relaxed psychedelic artists when browsing the TV guide channel. Whoever has that job has great taste in music

Like all Suntrip releases I want to love this album. It's a solid listen, but it doesn't grab me. It's a testament to the amazing strength of the Belgian goa trance scene that two young lads would aim to make music in 2017 that mimics music written around the time of their birth (1996 - staggering to think that Electric Universe' One Love and Hallucinogen's Twisted were released before they were born!) In terms of the vibe they're going for they pull it off amazingly. I doubt many people at all would listen to tracks off this album for the first time and pick they were produced in 2017. The 303 usage is maybe a bit over-the-top, but that's a minor gripe. The songs themselves are written well enough without anything screaming out at me (I've listened to it three times now and could only ID Psychic Dissonance and Gargantuan Tribes immediately if I was played them again). For me the stand out track is definitely Gargantuan Tribes, comfortably the freshest sound on the album, a really cool mix of trance and live instrument additions. If you really love the 90s sound this should be an instant purchase. I can tell I'm going to be in the minority in the goa community and that this album is going to make a lot of people very happy. But between this and the new Omnivox album I think I've cemented a personal feeling that I like my new music sounding well... Newer. I respect 'Ecstatic Planet' greatly for it's nod to the past, and I've tried to divorce myself from focusing on the old-school production and listen deep in to the music, but it's hard to get away from the fact I'd rather be listening to Celestial Intelligence, Artifact303, etc. (Helios is a perfect example of a track that could be perfect but just sounds too dated in parts.) Whilst this one won't be cranking in to dozens of listens throughout 2018 like others will, I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on Triquetra. To be writing and producing at this level at their age is brilliant, there's so much potential here no matter which way they go in the future.

One of the craziest things about the time signature stuff is that he only half understood it. Approx 5 years ago (maybe more? 7?) there was a discussion about this on the Twisted Records music forum where he replied with a post asking what the second number means in a time signature. He explained he played around with settings on his sequencer but only really paid the first one mind. Staggering.

It's aged some of the best of all music from that era. I think it's the atmospheres created within the music as much as the production, but you can play this stuff on dancefloors and have it surrounded by post-2015 producers for hours either side. I saw Hallucinogen three times in the last 18 months, never once alongside other 90s acts, and he smashed it every single time. As much as I love Cosmosis, for example, I am not sure the set he played at Connection Festival would have gone down the same. He killed it at Connection amongst other old school acts and the occasional new school (he played after Goasia...) but that same set wouldn't have dominated in the slots I saw Simon tear apart. (Which for the record were Ozora 2016, Rainbow Serpent 2017 and Oregon Eclipse 2017.)

Hah it didn't even occur to me it's not 2017 anymore I'm sure it can be moved when the 2018 one pops up

Released January 15, 2018. Purchase from: https://bmssrecords.bandcamp.com/album/unknownium 1. Unknownium 07:15 2. Squareish Sawtooth 06:58 3. Absent Presence 06:31 4. Greasy Roller 07:01 5. Four Sided Triangle 08:06 6. Blackholes 07:46 7. Someone Elses Memories 06:34 8. Randomness of Thought 07:10 My interest was piqued a few weeks ago when the top-quality psy DJ Boom Shankar (who's always impressed me when I've seen him live) announced that Psilocybian and one half of Lunar Dawn had completed a full-length LP to be released on his label BMSS Records. Yesterday's release by the duo who've adopted the name Unknownium was an instant purchase without even listening to a sample. I'm not inclined to do a track by track review. I've only had three full listens and not sure that's my style anyway. But this is a gem. I'd describe it as sitting loosely in the "morning full-on" genre, but what makes it stand out is how it carefully straddles the known patterns that make this style enjoyable and popular while bringing something fresh to the table. In today's world where a lot of music is released that falls under the very broad umbrella of "full on" and "morning full on" that are WAY TOO REPETITIVE AND LACKING UNIQUE SOUNDS, this stands out very quickly. It's a timeless style that is still a lot of fun for the dancefloor and even good for the mind when done well, but I've more or less given up on hunting new releases given how hard it is to find gems amongst the magnitude of shit that gets released. I know I probably miss some good stuff but I chase up tunes I hear at parties and trust a few labels to check them frequently, but I leave it at that rather than surf through rubbish frequently. This release does not fall in to that trap at all. The production is sharp, which is no surprise with Psilocybian involved, but it's the song-writing that stands out here. Words fail me in describing how these tracks progress. They tend to unfold fairly quickly, only one track cracks the 8min mark, but each stands out with a different approach to sequencing and flow. The 303 sound is prominent throughout but to varying degrees from track-to-track, which aligns with the fact that each track has a unique atmosphere. As much as I absolutely love the full power acid attack in tracks like "Squareish Sawtooth" I am glad it's just a supplement on other tracks to keep things interesting. An 8-track LP in this style with something like 8 different vibes is a rarity. The tracks are largely written in F or E minor, but span a very wide range of tempos from 125 - 148 bpm (!) so can find homes in a variety of DJ sets. My first listen had me a bit disappointed the goa influence from Lunar Dawn (and indeed Psilo's own dalliances with goa vibes) wasn't more prominent. I must have been tired or something because it's shone through more in my subsequent listens, something about each repeat listen has the music overpowering the bassline more each time. The tracks "Four Sided Triangle" and the more pumping 147bpm "Blackholes" lead the way in melodic goa vibes. But I think at this stage my pick of the album is "Someone Elses Memories". A unique and twisted track, suitably mixing headcase vibes, psychedelic layers and dancefloor sensibilities. I've only listened on headphones so far - while they are decent quality cans I am looking forward to putting this through my mixer and proper speakers some time tomorrow to hear the full soundscape a bit differently. If you're a goa purist with a genuine, wide-reaching disdain for the chunky basslines of modern psy this isn't for you. But if you have any kind of open mind and an interest in full on or goa this is well worth your time exploring. Best 8 euro I've spent in ages.

They didn't play One in India. Definitely not.

I saw them yesterday here in Goa on New Years Day. From memory they played 5 unreleased tracks: One was surprisingly an almost-generic full-on style psy track. One was this one I captured before - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYZ4wEL21tk - which I can now ID as the title track off the next album "For All Mankind" The others were all lush, melodic, spacey morning trance numbers. Really nice stuff. One had a big modern goa kick breakdown at one point but on the whole it wasn't really banging. Lovers of classic trance vibes should be happy with them, lovers of more complex goa will hope that set was tailored for the 11am timeslot in the heat and there are a few meatier ones on the LP. On the whole it all kind of reminded me of Dacru Records. I think just that style of melody and the modern basslines together. I don't mean that in a bad way - it very much sounded like Astral - but there was something about it. Other tracks in the set I recall were Let There Be Light, a weird modern half-baked version of Mahadeva, the new cut of People Can Fly, and their Age of Love remix.