Tsotsi

Artist: Various (Many various artists) Label: Global Sect Title: Terraformer Release: 2017 Tracklist 1. Centavra Project - Terraformer 08:44 2. Celestial Intelligence - Words of Wisdom 07:48 3. Alienapia - Night Train 07:34 4. Centavra Project - Strange Object09:09 5. Psy-H Project - The Essence of Bhagavat-Gita 11:40 6. Alienapia - Are you Mad? 08:49 7. Mindsphere - Enchanted Land 09:07 8. Javi & Skooma - Fucked Up Beyond Repair 07:21 9. Omnivox - Pangea 08:14 10. Sykespico - Edge of Infinity (Part 1)12:02 11. Median Project - Mad Space 07:27 12. Atlantis - Sacred Mantra 10:32 13. Fiery Dawn - Searching For UFOs (Median Project Rmx) 08:34 14. Clementz - Conquer the Universe 07:16 15. Omneon - Indian Walk 09:00 16. Atlantis - A Journey Out Of Your Mind07:31 17. Median Project - The Third Element07:38 18. Skarma - Cianendeon 08:30 19. Fiery Dawn - Vibrating Universe 06:16 20. Zopmanika - Message to God 09:13 21. Raving Universe - Ascension 07:17 22. Psy-H Project – Gaura Nitay 09:43 23. Centavra Project - Journey To Another Worlds (Mix 2017) 09:19 24. Atlantis - Space Mantra 08:37 25. Man With No Name - Posessed (Cosmic Dimension rmx) 07:43 26. Mindsphere - Hidden Depth 07:24 27. Artifact303 - Contact 08:18 28. Psy-H Project - Krishna or Maya 15:54 29. Fiery Dawn - Magma 03:51 30. Liquid Flow - Event Horizon 06:18 31. Katedra - Evolutionary Stream 09:03 32. Fiery Dawn - Starlight 06:35 33. Slow Reflections - In a Rain Drop 10:07 34. Artifact303 - Delirium (Downward Spiral) 07:37 I owe it to Global Sect to review this piece. Least of my reasons being that I accidentally bought this album twice...Not a cheap album, but Tsotsi must have assumed he hadn't bought it and just panic purchased to listen to on the plane to Thailand. Another reason this review had to happen was because I just had to tell the world how much I loved some of the tracks on the compilation. The best of which I believe was Sykespico's, the arrangements, change of acts, power, melodies. The entire composition blew me away. followed closely by Javi and Skooma's utter chaos of a track. Holy shit, there is a very fine line between over doing it, and frivolously swaying on the edge of that canyon. Javi & Skooma just created brining the edge with them as they jump across that line. This song is absolute madness from start to finish and probably one of the biggest risks on the compilation. Psy-H went balls deep in Gaura Nitay. Although a little repetitive at times when the peaks of the track hit they are good. Atlantis comes out with some proper beauty. Following the theme of the album of floaty dreamy space trance, I could have had more of that mantra but at the same time it broke me out of my daze when she came in, I didn't realise how deep in the track I'd fallen. Centevra Project do their job of introducing the theme of the album. Nothing amazing but the perfect opener to get us ready for more. They follow the theme of the album as they continue to pop up in other energised space acid tracks across the album...Obviously, they fit the composition perfectly (Maybe they even picked all the tracks ). Alienapa come in strong with 2 tracks. Are you mad being my favourite but only because I listened to 'night train' so many times when trying to figure out if I would pre-order the album or not and they new melody was appreciated. 'Ascension' by Raving Universe does just that, Ascends me to planets far beyond the terraformed inhabited planets of this albums. The track takes it times but it definitely gets you there, space travel aint fast my friends. Cosmic dimensions remix of Man With no Name's 'possessed' was the first track I listened to when I purchased this (The first purchase). Once again I haven't done my homework. I just finished Uni thats why Mom! So na, I aint heard the original, but the way people talk about MWNN I gotta assume he was special. I can imagine this back in the day, fucking amazing I'm sure. Well, Cosmic D has Done the old fliparoon on this one. Yes mam's and sir's he nailed it, by all rights I gotta assume he placed the old 'we are in space now trance dancer's' on top of it and I loved it. Awesomely produced and a great song all round. <---- Not true, there were no showers, this compilation is long Lets make it shorter to get me into one though. The rest of the tracks, and the entire albums is the sort of compilation you can play at anytime to get that particular style of trance. I'm starting to associate Global Sect with it, although I know the style aint new. Play it on shuffle at any point when that you feel like travelling to outta space, when you wanna get away from this goddamn planet and go see some funkier terraformed ones. Where the people will go in the year 2632 living a life of dance on the planets around what is, in that part of the galaxy, known as the trance dancers cluster. The grooviest section of outer space. . . Pick your planet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thats it, thats the review. This is an 'Album' review not a 'Every song on the album' review. It's good my friends. Its not groundbreaking or challenging the genre, but it is cementing and defining it. A good compilation by all means. Listen in sections if you have too. But I promise, each song has its thing and stands apart from the others if you pay attention. Call it what you want, this is Goa, the greatest orchestrated arrangement of modern times and Global Sect have gone to a lot of work to collect these for us. Well done and thanks. To Javi, Skooma, & Sykespico. I potentially have another 79 years of life ahead of me, maybe more, would appreciate you continuing your crafts for the 50 years of that, that I'll be able to hear for. Ive taken the advice of Gfp1 and started blasting music on the newly acquired Bowers & Wilkins 600 series 3 stereo speakers and 2 subwoofers, on level 3 off an apartment. . . Fuck the neighbours . . . When they complain I'm telling them that 'someone on forum said I should'. https://globalsect.bandcamp.com/album/va-terraformer

When I first heard this I had the urge to skip catching the tram to a friends house and instead walk an hour and a half with no shoes or shirt through the parks and city of Melbourne. Didn't have a care in the world. Beautiful moments, beautiful album.There was a time when I thought that this style was Goa (due to earthy organic nature of it) and this is probably one of the albums that got me to where I am now.

Title: Altering the Synaptic Controllers Artist: Ufomatka Label: Sentimony Records Release: 2 January 2018 Tracklist: 1. Multiplexer 2. Alien Controlled Human Exterminator 3. Fornax Cluster 4. Warper-mutator 5. Weird Species Sentimony records really summed this release up better than I ever could. "The release name came from nowhere and the dick knows what it is, but it will all fuck us out Get it now and have fun! " It fucked me out the first time I heard it. It's nice to see Goa artists step outside of the comfort zone of traditional 4 on the floor structures and just let loose with their tools. only 3 songs here are really Goa, the other 2 are more Break Beat, sloa styled fuck knows what (Like the track titles).... But they're interesting to say the least. Oh and quite good. 1. Multiplexer - Our journey begins a pretty radical baseline, simple but radical. The track plods along nicely reaching what we could call some sort of climax around the last act of the song. This EP is clearly gonna get points for standing out from what has been released recently. 2. Alien Controlled Human Exterminator - A bouncier track with analog leads pumping out at us as it goes along. The intensity builds quite nicely as random squelches and sounds keep things interesting. Ufo doesn't over use anything and keeps it fresh. 3. Fornax Cluster - The most melodic of the tracks so far. Funky baselines, pure analog shooting us into the unexplored dimensions of dirty space. What? you thought space was all magical and pretty. Well Ufomatka proves us wrong here. Acid drenched planets wizz by as our spaceship wipes grime from its windows. Beautiful in its own way. 4. Warper-mutator - Our hyperspace intergalactic travels have flown right down. Stuck now in the grease dripping, uninhabited bogs of another world, Ufomatka continues our journey. Very trippy track, the pa rum pa rum rum of the percussion really stands out for me. Analog AF. 5. Weird Species - The strangest of the tracks, about as alien as it can get. I feel myself floating through the final canals of our journey. As soon as it appears as though I might make it through to the other side I end up where I started. Looking at this weird species that managed to find itself here, altering synaptic controllers. Thats it folks. A truly wild and weird ride through Ufomatka's soundscapes. His creativity really stands out here and those of you that love pure rough analog, boy oh boy get a taste of this. While rough around the edges (I believe it was meant to be) you've got something here that really does stand out from what I've heard not only Ufomatka release but other artists in this genre. Keep it up amigo. https://sentimony.bandcamp.com/album/ufomatka-altering-the-synaptic-controllers

Artist: Fabio Fusco Title: Therapy Label: Spin Twist Records Date: 24 November 2017 Tracklist 1. Be with you 2. Hologramm 3. Therapy 4. Distorted reality 5. Travelling lights 6. I see the future 7. Forget about everything 8. Neelix - People (Fabio Fusco remix) 9. Freakquency 10. Out of control When it comes to progressive clubby trance Fabio Fusco does it best. I've had the pleasure of seeing him and Moon in Melbourne a few years ago, my friends still weren't sold on psy trance, I assured them Fabio & Moon would change their mind. Of course Tsotsi was right. Unlike some prog out there which is made to sound like prog, Fabio uses the same instruments and sounds to make tracks to set the dance floor alight. A dj could play each of these tracks without having to touch the decks once. each act of the song changes quickly enough that you never get bored of a repetitive 128 bar 'dugga dugga'. The breaks come quickly and the builds are just perfect. The album has an atmospheric darkness to it that like everything else in each of the tracks, makes it perfect for a club dance floor. As I said I've seen him perform live and I can tell you that the set was 100% fun from start to finish. Therapy is no different, with the albums title track 'therapy' being my favourite (Beatports too for a short while) 'be with you' 'I see the future' and 'out of control' 'Travelling Lights' coming up close behind. If you like clubs, if even a little bit of you likes prog, or if you like music that sounds like its been spun by a top dj, this album might tickle some part of you. I rate it 5 red bull vodkas. https://www.beatport.com/release/therapy/2154820

No digital at the moment but perhaps one day ....? Put this on last night as I dozed off. Awesome music.

Turns out my IP was blocked on chrome. Works fine on Mozilla or phone.

Edit: Same issue as above, although im using my laptop on an Australian network and it's never happened before this week

Lately i get a giant 'Banned' banner on my screen when i try to access the site. I can refresh past it, but seems like a 50/50 chance of happening. Anyone else?

I feel like RA is the closest you can get, or maybe Triquetra's Gargantuan Tribes, although im guessing you've heard all of those already.

Got this on the preorder. Listen to it every morning as i wake up. Suduaya has such a diverse range of styles that you can almost be certain you'll be getting something different. BTW your track on the Liquid Regen remixes was killer. Worth a purchase for anyone wondering.

Haha. All the signs are telling me not to give this a listen. I've always been terrible at reading signs.

Artist: Saurus Album: Fresh Release Date: July 31st Label: Beat On Records Tracklist:- 01 - Echo 02 - History of a Dinosaur 03 - Tiempo 04 - Sex & Drugs 05 - God's Speak 06 - Fresh & Tropical 07 - Ragga Bass 08 - Maya Journey 09 - 12 Pack 10 - The End I don't know what it is that attracted me to this release. Probably the album cover and song title 'Fresh & Tropical'. It was a sunny hot day in Melbourne, I was drinking a mango smoothie weighing up the pro's and cons of adding bacardi (not a lot of cons really), it was hot and I couldn't think of any sunny tracks to play from my collection. Along came this little number. It's not often that a prog album will have a range of styles, bpm's and rhythm that can keep me listening to it. Bits and bobs here and there maybe. Saurus's first release has got us sorted, there is even a little progressive Hitech in there for those of you that absolutely must know what that sounds like. While i'm not gonna mark this with the Tsotsi boi seal of originality, Saurus has a sense of playfulness that comes out in his tracks, The Mr.Hyde track is pretty neat as well as Ragga Bass. Luckily the aforementioned Hitech track is only 4 minutes long. Long enough in my opinion. If you don't mind a little prog and you like dancing by yourself on your courtyard throwing back iced waters, this then is for you. Well there we go, who said everyone here is a Goa-head. 1 prog review for 2017. That should just about be enough. https://www.beatport.com/release/fresh/2065412

I find the Reddit layout and commenting system annoying. Psynews was the first forum I found with a layout that makes complete sense.

Well shit i didn't even realise DG4 got released this year too. DG5 for sure takes the cake for me. Like you said the melodies are a lot more prevalent and I found the tracks differentiated themselves from one another in a lot of areas, basslines, structure, all that jazz. Also I was out at a deep techno club when i checked my phone and saw that Neogoa released a new VA. Almost lost my mind and had to get talked out of rushing home to listen to it by my friends.

I do headphones, not sure how good they are, a pair of Ultrasone dj1's. I'd use a rig but that consists of a sole Marley bluetooth speaker.... I'm an apartment dweller. Thanks indeed, these guys bless us time and time again. I feel like the release has a great range in the music. Compared to, (for example) some Global Sect stuff (Which is amazing) but often feels like none of the layers really jump out at you.

Artist: VA Title: Dimensional Gateway 5 Label: Neogoa Records Date: December 2017 Tracklist:- 01 - Sun Sith - Arrival 02 - BlackStarrFinale - The Scattering 03 - Lectro Spektral Daze - I Ate Seven Of Them 04 - Xamanist - Star Forming Galaxy 05 - Maan - Field Quanta 06 - Third Eye Channel - Katarza 07 - Proxeeus - Nyarlathotep [Short Mix] 08 - Dragon Twins - Shattered Sense 09 - Negan - Wäwära Well wowie, If ever a compilation could fit into the theme of 2017 (Quality over quantity) this is it. Neogoa Records have released their 5th in a series of Dimensional Gateways. Unlike the dark portals of this world, defined by stability and assurance, dimensional gateways are like tunnels bored with unstable magic that can lead to bliss, new worlds or eternal imprisonment. One thing is for sure, the gateways will always be a journey. As a newbie to the genre it would be foolish of me to say something like ‘This has been quite the year for Goa’ But i’m young and foolish so. This has been quite the year for Goa. We’ve seen some pretty remarkable releases that have been top notch in terms of either production, originality, or nostalgia. While the review section for 2017 has been pretty empty most of what is here is gold. Sun Sith: … Holy shit. Sun Sith are Lunar Dawns Kristijan Ilisinovic and Sasa Precanica. Two lifelong friends who have dedicated themselves to absolutely blowing our minds with music. This has gotta be the darkest work of theirs. And i’m going to peg it as the track of the year. Blackstarfinale: Oh no, how is this melody going to work? Am i about to listen to pure aged chedder? Nope, you better not believe it. The scattering is a mix of uplifting twisted chopped and screwed bliss. Pretty freaking awesome how they work this track. Lectrop Spektral Daze: Yea you did LSD, you ate more than seven didn’t you? You ate a whole bag! Whats that? Only seven per bag? Oh well yea, you ate seven then congratulations! Some of us are too busy studying to just go and eat shrooms in Mexico. Great track, if you like drug references in your songs you’ll like this. Also if you like good songs, well this is one for you my friend. Beautiful beautiful track. Xamanist - Star Forming Galaxy: Every now and then i come across a track on a comp that makes me wonder why i passed that artists album up when i came across it. Progressive trance must have been the flavour of the month when i came across 7, but I tell ya, i’m going back to right my wrongs right after this review. A banging track and another one of my favourites. Aaaaah i love rolling basslines. Maan - Field Quanta: A nice driving bit of trance that starts with subtle bits of acid getting tossed around, easy to dance to though not the most unique track floating around with not much to differentiate it from other producers. The builds are all pretty fun though. Instead of leading to explosions of hysteria they end in slightly disappointing returns to the bassline. Katarza - Third Eye Channel: A less exciting track that gets points for being trippy, though without endless amounts of energy pulsing through it. More of a floating track then an arm flail enducing stomper. Instead of keeping your attention with hard melodies Katara mixes the beat up by skipping kicks and messing around with the basslines. Dragon Twins - Shattered Sense: Some spooky throat noises (Singing? chanting?) starts our journey into what is a remarkable track. The melody is insane, but then it disappears? I could have easily had another 6 minutes of that penetrating my cranium. Man i’m bitter about that, the lead was incredible. I guess that’s how some stories go. Proxeeus - Nyarlathotep (Short mix): We are lucky it’s easier to dance to Proxeeus’ tracks than pronounce them. Everytime i try I end up with a deep and very bad Estonian accent... The track is what you would expect from this wizard, awesomeness. Edit: Holy heck Proxeeus! That final 1.5 minutes. Negan - Warawa: Whats that? Fun basslines? Negan (Did Negans lose part of himself) has got us covered. The track is madness from start to finish, the acid lines are all over the place in the best of ways. Hare Krishna would have indeed been a bad boy. And we made it out the other side. Dimensional Gateways aren't so bad are they, 5 down and we are still kicking. I'm starting to think these things are more stable than i've been told. Wizards and their bullshit friends, just like politicians. https://neogoarecords.bandcamp.com/album/dimensional-gateway-5

Looks like you're about to get real dark. Like darker than you already are. Like 100 metres underwater in a biotite chamber painted in vantablack.... Fuck yes.

Haha 1st track is definitely my favourite. My taste is all over the place though. The whole album has this clubby feel to it that I just can't bring myself to dislike, Music that I could dance to just about anywhere.

The whole comp is full of some pretty unique tracks. Starting strong with Hex Hard and finishing strong with Heliocentric was a good choice. Every track in between has its own confident style that separates it from the others. New Born's track is probably not the best track here but follows that style of his that im sure plenty of people must enjoy, similar to 'Universal Bus' with that strong single melody. Another album from this year that isn't finding it's way off my phone for a long time.

It's a shame. Psynews has such a wealth of reviews and information on it. But forums in general are becoming less popular, so maybe its not trance exclusive. 2017 has been a great year i thought. For Goa, we've seen some pretty unique releases that touch the old and the newschool. The hypermelodic albums have been shadowed by the bass heavy strong kick dance floor blasters that have come out. Only a handful of prog and full on releases that i can recommend. Overall 6/10. For Goa im going to go for an 8/10

Goddamn these guys are talented. New direction is awesome. Got a note on their soundcloud saying NeoGoa album release planned for late 2017. DG5 is NeoGoa's last for the year though yea? An early 2018 release would be a sweet way to start the year.

Hoo fucking Rah! Such a relentless pounding track. Is Sun Sith a side project of Lunar Dawn?

Damn i'm glad you reviewed this. I was put off by the Mahabharta remix: The intro was hot but the rest of the track didn't make a lot of sense to me, I'll keep trying. Nevertheless I decided to pass the rest of the album up (Big mistake). I've spent the last 2 weeks listening to Twisted for the first time and honestly wasn't sure where to go from there. Do i keep listening to old school classics? Do I continue lying in bed daydreaming about the Goa parties that i'll never experience? Or, do I somehow find my way back to the new? Well Jaraluca buddy, you got me there. Track 3-8 are absolute banging madness. 9 is as as Aspartic said, hypnotic and a sweet comedown from the rest of the songs. I pretty much only say positive things about Goa, you producers have yourselves to blame for that and this album continues that trend. Great work, will buy later this week.

I reckon you gotta take them to a festival. It only hit me when i got to see the culture surrounding the music and what it all meant.

Artist: Gubbology Title: Anachronism Label: Troll N' Roll... Ektoplazm release Date: 20/9/2017 Track list 01 - Time Is On Our Side (143 BPM) 02 - Bronze Age Youth (143 BPM) 03 - Communicative Zone (145 BPM) 04 - Dark Arts (148 BPM) 05 - Space Junk (147 BPM) 06 - Primordial Soup (145 BPM) 07 - Ultraviolett (143 BPM) 08 - Amber Archives (143 BPM) Ok it's late night so bear with me. I don't know where to begin. I've been going through threads learning everyone's perspective on Goa music today. A lot of it the discussion comes down to originality, a sense of playfulness, and artist skill. Well. The folks over at Troll N' Roll records have teamed up with Ektoplazm to deliver, to you, Gubbology - Anachronism. I won't go into individual songs as that would take far to long and I have a lot to say already. The relationship between dark psy and forest has always been apparent. While I've noticed aspects of it in some goa releases it's never the defining feature. No more, Gubbology has shown how beautiful the two, three, four?? genres can dance around in a twisted display of respect for one another. Gubbology keeps each aspect away from one another until like a magician he brings them all together in beautiful climax's. For that reason I can't really say that we should label it into a genre as it's just Gubbology's unique take one psytrance. Every song bounces around playfully, going from light happy energetic dance floor destroyers to deeper darker twisted funk. Each track is original from the last. Each track is fun. Each track is a challenge for you to keep up. If it was easy to do this I imagine I would have heard more like it before. I can't believe this is given free to us via Ektoplazm, that generosity is twisted in it's own way. Well i don't know what else to say. Can you tell I think this album is worth everyone's time. And it might not blow you away the way it has me, but i think you're all going to like this. Regards, http://www.ektoplazm.com/free-music/gubbology-anachronism Edit: I completely disregarded the Suomi influence up there. Oh the Suomi! I love how the suomi style of 'i'm just going to do whatever the fuck i feel like' really pays off here. I can say this album is a gateway into atleast 4 different genres. Would love other peoples take on it