antic604

Instant purchase for me, even though I can see it will take some time to get used to those melodies

Agree. And it's a difficult balancing act really - trying to ascertain what's worth your time and what isn't. It's true more often than not I can recognise if I'll like something (more than 3/5...) but I sometime get carried away with hype or good word of mouth and not trust my instincts enough - recent examples would include Ticon and Astrix. Another good test is if the release is featured in Psyshop's TOP10 - if it's there, it's probably not what I'm looking for

Long(er) samples: http://suntriprecords.com/release/cat/SUNCD42/

If your music is ever released - even for free - then good practice is to list the sources of sounds you used and their copyright owners.

If you followed my recent posts in certain reviews or discussions about mastering & compression, you'll notice a pattern that my views are sometimes strikingly different than those of the other forum users. This made me wondering if what we're looking for in music is the same? Well, obviously not because we're each a different person, but I'd like to understand at least the range of expectations or requirements you guys (and girls ) have to like or dislike certain album or compilation. Let's focus on broadly understood psychedelic / goa trance, ok? Now, for me: - style - I'm fairly open to different music and if enough people see something in certain stuff, I'll try to dig in deeper. Therefore I have my favourites in most sub-genres: from chill, world, suomi, prog to full-on, psytrance, darkpsy, goa and nitzho. In other words, I'm *trying* to not focus on single sub-genre and more importantly not to project my dislike for the sub-genre as a whole on individual releases. - musical content - since we're talking about music, a good melody is always a plus but more often than not this ends up being really sub-par in our genre: most artists either go into the sparse, repetitive and simplistic few-notes riffs (most prog, full-on), or completely to the other extreme: an overload of notes and sequences rarely making sense together (goa). Good music - for me - is one, where the melodies (or chord progressions) try to convey some kind of emotion and are doing so in an unexpected, difficult to predict manner. Where the progression of music follows a certain, natural flow which is difficult to quantify, measure and contain within a strict 4/4 rhythm. That doesn't sound like it was "produced" on a computer using a letter-keyboard and mouse. With peaks and valleys that provide the emotions. If I listen to a track and I *know* what it will do in next few bars, if it uses all the same sounds and tricks that countless other artists use, if by progression the artist means adding an open hi-hat or a clap for the new bar, then it quickly bores me. It's just as if someone was using a template to do a better or worse version of something that already exists. If the artist feels obliged to make a 6-8min track, but only has ideas for 4min then stretching what's there is not the best idea. A lot of artists play it very safe, sticking to the few true & tried chords, the same bass line (sound & pattern), the same effects, the same transitions and breaks, thinking this is what defines the genre. Whereas - for me - the magic happens when someone uses something extraordinary, unexpected; something that a lot of others would probably throw away as controversial, too risky. If artist's only influence and inspiration are other tracks in the style he's creating, then it will limit his horizons pretty quickly because it's the juxtaposition of different - sometimes very contrasting - elements that creates fresh, unique music. Likewise, the blending of tempos (slowly developing vs. fast melodies, not suddenly going to triplets like a lot of full-on does recently...), timbres (deep, growly leads vs. ethereal highs) or origins (electronic vs. analog instruments) is something that works really well and you don't need 10+ layers to create contrast, tension and energy. - depth / complexity / instant appeal - by that I mean the breadth of the sonic experience that is provided, which is either what-you-hear-is-what-you-get or fill-the-holes-yourself. The 1st one is when after 2-3 listens you already know all that there is to know about the track: you know the sounds, the melodies. And this is a byproduct of commoditisation of music - this is the goa bass, this is the prog bass and this is the darkpsy bass; those are the tempos you're allowed to use, here's your approved melodies and break types, here are your gated angelic goa voices and those are your full-on lasers, etc. It's maybe a good place to start, but if adhered to religiously it takes away all individuality - it's clean, ascetic and functional but without much room for personality. Like IKEA furniture. On the other hand you have music that you need your imagination to fill the blanks, where you can't really put your finger on the details or even tell if they're really there or your mind just created them. You can name the individual components but they're put together not how you'd expect them to be, where every little detail is there to add to and expand the experience. That 1st type of music will stick in your head only if it's exceptionally well crafted, the 2nd will surprise you the 10th, 20th and 50th time you listen to it with new elements that you somehow missed or interpreted differently. The 1st will be very literal with what it wants to express putting it right to the front, the 2nd will initially sound bland and boring, because what happens is beneath the surface and requires attention as there's rarely a distinct, clearly evident leading instrument or motiff. The 1st will wear off pretty quickly, the 2nd will provide a lasting experience. - idea / theme - it becomes less common these days to release concept albums (or compilations), i.e. the collection of music bound by a singular idea, which doesn't translate into the tracks sounding the same, but rather them being a variation on the theme, providing different view of the topic at hand. My favourite example is Cosmosis' "Contact" that's talking about human evolution from money & instincts-driven, self-destructing homo sapiens to enlightened species living with other extraterrestrials in 'intergalactic community' outside our so-called reality, that is only an illusion and holographic projection of our minds. It tells that story not only via samples, but by employing different tempos and aesthetics (from goa, to reggae, to regular trance and acid) and using a lot of dissonant, detuned sounds creating an unearthly atmosphere. Sure, some of the tracks are better, some are slightly worse (and let's pretend "Human Evolution" never happened...) but existence of this additional thread that binds it all together makes the whole greater than a sum of its parts and elevates it above simple average of individual ratings. - technical quality - in this day and age it's a requirement for music to sound good, because everyone has access to tools allowing to produce a decent mix. Therefore the sound should be free of artifacts, spacious (with good stereo separation) and with clearly defined but balanced bass & trebles. Above all it shouldn't be over compressed and squashed to death, which makes it unpleasant to listen on any decent headphones. So, TL;DR - I'm personally looking for nonconformist, complex music that's difficult to categorise. That conveys some emotion, mood or atmosphere, by mixing and juxtaposing contrasting elements in a non-obvious and surprising way. That avoids religiously following the cliches and templates, but isn't afraid to use them and break them. That is deep, elusive and vague, instead of cheaply pleasing and superficial. That has a clear purpose, identity and theme (you can basically tell what it's about) instead of just wanting to be the next prog/full-on/goa/dark, etc. dance floor hit. That's made primarily for the mind. Obviously it doesn't have to tick all those boxes at once, but 2-3 would be nice. Some of my favourites from 2015 and 2016 that I gave 4-5/5 rating: - Lunar Dawn "Kolovrat" for merging balkan folk into goa, - Skizologic "Robotized" for acknowledging that less is more, by creating very energetic & dense music with simple sounds & FX, while preserving its individual feel, - Hypnocoustics "Transformational Structures" and Psilocybian's "GodHead" for proving that full-on can be done in an interesting, intelligent way avoiding the cheap thrills, - Loud "5 Billion Stars" for the concept, successful mixing of live & electronic and variety, - Nervasystem "Brainradio" for mind-bending complexity and boundless depths, gentle but relentless energy and drive, - Mindsphere "Presence" for unparalleled emotional message and melodic complexity, - Morphic Resonance "The City of Moons" for the dark, heavy and oppressive atmosphere, - Tripswitch "Vagabond" for creating the emotional, melancholic and deep ambient(ish) progressive house,

Remind me to not buy used CDs from you

That's what I call good and responsible parenting! Also, it explains some of your posts

Ok, this here is a problem I - personally - have with most reviews. You ask why I listened to Ticon for a week? Because I wanted to give it a fair chance, since a lot of people whose opinion I value seemed to be pretty excited about it. First I checked the samples & YouTube video for the album and I found it interesting on the surface - because that's all you get from samples and browsing YouTube - hoping there's much more depth, nuance & soul in there. After dedicating it some time I found however nothing more than that - a correct, highly polished but formulaic release that ticks all the boxes for successful progressive trance release, nicely blending in some early Protoculture elements ...but then gets forgettable real quick. Current way of consuming media - quickly, in short bursts, in background while doing other things, randomly, in low quality etc. - leads to a situation where flashy, bold, cheap-thrills and fakely-exciting but in the end very shallow music gets the attention; whereas deep, emotional and complex music gets unnoticed because it's difficult to "sell" that in 30s samples or while spending 10min with 1+ hour-long YouTube video. But maybe that's the point, really? There's never been so much music released on a daily / weekly / monthly basis as there is now, so you shouldn't really be listening to one album for months and years on end - instead, you should buy single tracks, listen to them 5 times and go to the next big, flashy thing. That's why you don't need depth and instead want immediate appeal: clean, simple & catchy. Unfortunately, to achieve that you just need a simple labourer not an artist. Ever wondered why electronic music is "produced"? Yeah, well... BTW, above is not strictly about Tripswitch vs. Ticon, because the former isn't THAT good and the latter isn't THAT bad (I rated it 3/5, which is far from "not liking it") - it's just something that I notice more and more of and it bothers me, especially in reviews / comments.

If you find an intro to concept album annoying, then yes - the album isn't for you It's meant to be taken in as a whole and in context of the overarching message. And yes, it's perfectly possible to not like 1-2 tracks and still think highly of the whole thing - I don't like all the tracks, but I appreciate the idea and the theme permeating through the album and the way it's brought to life in most of the cases. Hence my 5/5 rating, even if it's flawed in places. Nothing is perfect (anymore).

..other than a great release

Good to know you went out of your way and browsed an album on YT from the genre you have no interest in, to write a review... I've been listening to Ticon (after actually purchasing it) for a week 2-3 times a day. BTW, Ticon is not psytrance either

Man, I've been listening to this back to back with Tripswitch's "Vagabond" since last Friday and boy - it's night and day difference One is emotional and atmospheric, the other is empty and calculated. One is nuanced, organic and full of small detail, the other is formulaic and feeds you cliches with a shovel. One is varied and constantly surprising, the other is predictable and surprisingly invariable. One stimulates the mind and body, the other is strictly for the latter. One is art, the other is just - good - music. Ticon's "Mirage" is the other in above comparison. It's a good - probably better than average? - progressive trance, but nothing more (IMO). 3/5

Oh, you mean from collector's point of view?! Then sure!

BTW, sorry if you was offended by my comment on bolds & colours, but that really was hard to read - not impossible, but unnecessarily difficult. That's why I was asking if younger people - I'm 40 - prefer that kind of formatting, because it maybe draws their attention more? For me it's quite the contrary. It was a serious question

No, that means it's 1.0 - 1.5x better

Wow, wasn't aware Dakini has it's own store - lots of interesting stuff there! Thanks You know Blue Synergy is 2CD and the 2nd is Blue Energy? Also, the overall package - high quality gatefold digipak - looks much nicer in this release, although I have to agree old tracks are better. Unless you mean some other Jaia album before Blue Energy?

Yes, it seems to be a collage made of sequencer (Ableton Live?) screens, combined into an LSD blotter Anyway, it's really solid and for free there's no reason to not check it out.

Just as a heads up - this release is free for download (mp3/wav) on Nano Rec. webpage if anyone's interested. I've been listening to it today and obviously it's nothing remarkable, but a pretty good collection of full-on / proggy tunes with a distinct South African flavour, slightly more melodic and varied than usual for this label. For me a solid 3/5, leaning to 4/5 for some of the tunes.

Apparently a psy-trance "artist"... I guess the times of mainstream goa/psy popularity were 20 years ago (1997-99) when you could see it on TV (VIVA, MTV) and radio, some films, there were official videos and radio-edits (3-4min instead of usual 6-8min) were being produced, the parties happened in most popular clubs.

Why would I want to do that if you can fix the problem with few mouse clicks?

Oh God, thank you - it's awesome indeed!!!

Thank you! Will definitely check that out

Ok, few detailed observations: - Inhale - the "extpanded" melodic sequence at 2:57 and 3:04, 3:10 is wrong; but overall this melody is very simplistic - if you decide to hit the same note consecutively, then maybe try to at least make the sound itself changing? add an accent, change the volume envelope, tweak the filter / resonance, etc. also, the initial buildup doesn't really carry any energy somehow, though I agree making good intro is difficult, - Extra Terrestrial - the conga at 0:22 is out of tune with the bass, just like the acid at 0:30 and 0:42-0:55 is hard to listen to because of that; then it gets MUCH better at 1:00 onwards, even though I'm not entirely convinced by the melody entering at 1:56 (e.g. the low notes at the end of sequence at 2:02 and repeated further); the strings at 2:52 (while beautiful!) sound as if they were from completely another tune, like a sloppy DJ-mix, the same with the transition back to bass at 3:30 Hope that helps

This is pretty premature, as release of the album is vaguely scheduled for "early 2017" but I'm already excited, because Jamie "DJ Pogo" Patterson is responsible for awesome Wingmakers compilations on Dragonfly and Nano (that were basically his albums where he cooperated with other artists) and for Masters Blasters "Life Changing Experiences", which to this day stands out as one of the best - IMO - full-on albums out there. For now, only single track (a clip) is available... ...but it already shows the difference between him and most Nano Rec. artists: the mix is funkier, much denser and elaborated with lots of layering, subtle melodic hooks and gentle progression. Looking forwards towards this one! BTW, if you can't hear the difference, contrast that with soon-to-be-released album from Future Frequency "Freakuencies" (even the title is generic as f**k):

Wow, that does indeed sound very interesting! Are samples for other tracks available anywhere? How long will be the full EP?