DoktorG

I empathise with the discomfort of being forced to choose a side. No one should be forced or pressured into narrowing their sympathies (though I see no evidence of such coercion here). Nevertheless, I feel it is very important for us to understand that throughout human history art and creativity has attracted censorship of various sorts by those who see innovation as threatening and who are upset by the power of art to bring people together. Deviant artists must be controlled! I think of Shostakovich nervously smoking and fidgeting every night on the ground floor so that when Stalin's KGB came to take him away they would not take his family sleeping above. I think of attacks on the supposedly "red" and "communist" scriptwriters in McCarthyist America. There are so many other examples, it is hard to know where to stop. Unfortunately, this is true of trance culture too. Do not forget the UK's 1994 "Criminal Justice Bill" which attempted to outlaw any gatherings to "repetitive beats". The police have shut down many outdoor parties and "raves" in many different countries. Now trance culture is once again being attacked by those who are threatened by its dangerously sensual and decadent and free aspects (though they are superficially from the other side of the political spectrum). I wonder if they targeted it precisely because it is colourfully multicultural? Goa trance attempted to bring together east and west. I am sure you can see which "side" I am on. Along with my deep condolences for the many victims, I want to express my solidarity and support for music, art, creativity. I feel it is important that we never forget that there are those who will seek to turn the music off. We must not allow them to do that. We can use this dark hour to bring us together in a reaffirmation of beauty, inclusivity, and creativity. I believe that this is what our fellow dancers and dreamers who are no longer with us would want. Can we all agree that the drums don't stop? ~*~ PS - "Drums Don't Stop" is the title of a fabulous Atmos track...

There's dashcam footage of these terrorists looting bodies and rooting through bags: thieves as well as mass murderers, they hide their greed and jealousy behind resentment (for which, no doubt, many of them have good reason). Make no mistake this was a planned attack on music, just like at Bataclan in Paris not so many years ago, just like the Taliban burning guitars and drums and pianos as though a bunch of wood and wires is a threat. The self-styled pious, the self-declared righteous, the extremists, the fanatics, they all hate music because it gives joy to people without ideology. We should feel sorry for them in their silent hell. These extremists driven by hate can murder peaceful dancers, but they cannot stop music. THE DRUMS DON'T STOP!

Apparently the Israeli Defence Force are reporting over two hundred dead at the party - a massacre. This must be the darkest day in the history of trance music. Rip and condolences to all the survivors, family, and friends. 😭🙏 They will never stop the music!

Thanks Tsotsi. I probably should have mentioned "Human Control", which is for sure great, though in the past I preferred the first album for its infectious fun and spontaneity. I think this third album is the weakest so far, which is to say that it is still a solid work. I strongly agree that Triquetra is a talented act and I look forward to their future creations.

Haha hilarious! 😅 We know that the great Bernard Hermann, who composed so many wonderful film scores and was thoroughly immersed in the "western" symphonic tradition, was influenced by Holst and Berlioz, amongst others, especially in his work for Hitchcock. I don't immediately recognise the "Gamma Goblins" chords, but I'm almost willing to bet that they come from the symphonic and/or folk traditions. I personally am of the opinion that if you discover plagiarism it is best to say nothing as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. For every finger we point, there are three others pointing back at us! 😉

What about Enya meets darkness? https://music.youtube.com/search?q=lustmord+karin+park+alter You won't like this if you are in the mood for upbeat music, but these glacial drones are like Dead Can Dance being crushed by tectonic plates colliding in slow motion, like Katie Melua drowning in molten lead, like the music of nature meets an impromptu blues church service, like Lustmord vs Karin Park...

Triquetra "Access Denied" 12" ep Suntrip Records 2023 Access Denied 12:32 Heliophobia 8:11 Out Of Reach (Alternate Mix) 6:55 The Reinartz twins return with a vinyl ep on Suntrip Records, a kind of accompaniment to their Myriad Vision album on the same label. I didn't find that album all good: I just don't think the Reinartz brothers are as good at the dark minimalist style as they are at old school acid Goa. Luckily this ep is in the latter style, so how did I find it? Access Denied The title track is excellent. Quite a long, epic track in truly old school acid Goa style; indeed, this reminds me of pre-1996 Goa in that the rhythms are quite straightforward and there isn't massive layering. The track uses the notion of access as the gateway to a new rhythm. The first half starts off with an "access granted" in the usual vocoded computer voice before the bass kicks in. The same conceit opens the doorway to the faster second half of the track, which goes in a more acidic and intense direction. So a clearly structured and signposted track that is fun and bouncy, reminding me of an old video game. The word I would use to describe this track is "kinetic". A- Heliphobia This is more straightforwardly psychedelic, building to a single melodic climax and then falling off from that. Starting off with a stomping beat and itchy noises, it evolves quickly via a stuttering bassline - wonderful bass, so different to the done to death single note bass characteristic of psytrance today, and for the last twenty plus years. Then gyrating synths create a swirling vortex and we are sucked in. This is a faster, darker, more psychedelic track than "Access Denied". B+ Out Of Reach (Alternate Mix) "Out of Reach" is a track from the second "Live" cd of the second Triquetra album Human Control. On Human Control the track is 13.44 minutes long and features angelic choirs and gently bubbling 303 - an epic outing indeed, suggesting precisely something very very far away and hence out of reach. The "Alternate Mix" offered here is much shorter, with wobbling bass and epic synths that interlace with gentle bubbles before the acid 303 melody kicks in. A frenetic and profoundly pleasing melody that lifts the track and couldn't have been done better in 1995. That is basically the highest praise that can be given. A So for me this is a more successful ep than the album. There were tracks on the album that just didn't suit the Reinartz style to my ears, but that is not the case here as we have only old school acid Goa tracks at which the twins are demonstrably good. A note on the mastering by Tim Schuldt: Super! Velvety sound is the result. Recommended. ~*~

One track to rule them all, one track to find them, one track to bring them all... 😅 But if we take the concept of "the best" seriously, is it too fanciful to imagine that most of the Goa heads would have experienced a transporting moment under the Anjuna stars and therefore a "stargate" track (like Etnica's "Astral Way") would be archetypal of that experience? Some might say this is too fanciful because what the Goa trip was all about was the long plateau of trance that was the all-night ritual and not really a peak moment. Or the third way, which is to say that there are too many best moments to count... 😉

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=G8I7neMUsRI It is a ridiculous question, but this is the way to the stars - from 5.25...

Triquetra Myriad Vision Intro 3:01 Waking Bliss 8:56 Dystopia 9:07 Escape From The Withered Temple 8:35 Astrophobia 7:01 Shadows 9:32 Cloud Gatherer 9:51 Metal Serpent 7:37 Myriad Vision 9:52 The twins Reinartz return with their third album on Suntrip, Myriad Vision. Darkness! This is apparent from the off with an ambient intro that could be an interlude on a doom/stoner metal album. Distorted guitar sounds wind in a dark ambience with spacescapes hulking in the background. From there we encounter a Triquetra we didn't know, or didn't quite know. This is quite a bit darker, less melodic, less acidic than their prior recordings, only gradually becoming Goan towards the end. One general comment: Triquetra have upped their production game and this is a good sounding record. Intro The intro with dissonant doom metal guitar echoing into the gloom announces the dark atmosphere of this album. A moody and intriguing introduction. Triquetra has left their acid Goa roots behind it seems. Waking Bliss It is a strange title for a restrained and dark track that is quite hypnotic and trancy and not full of blissful melodies. I like it, but this is more minimalist than their prior work. B Dystopia This track announces its heavy techno intentions from the outset with sweeping minor chords, becoming more and more acidic as it goes along. Lives up to its title, this one does. B Escape From The Withered Temple This charmingly named track has a really nice stumping beat and bass with more tribal and didge sounds than the prior tracks. Really good sound in this track, it can indeed suck you in to a temple in the jungle at night. Excellent drones in the background and nice percussion. A all the way for this track. Astrophobia What's with the names on this album? Astrophobia has heavy techno residue in its distorted bass and kick and stuttering eerie keys. One of the heavier tracks from the twins. B Shadows Shadows goes more Goa with propulsive bass and trippy warbles. Fluttering flute comes in later to delightful effect. I can't help it, I think Triquetra are better at these tracks than the heavier ones, though "Shadows" is a bit repetitive. A- Cloud Gatherer "Anticipated, exterminated" goes the sample in this track - another dystopian vibe. The track, however, later goes more Goa with some building pads and acid melodies - it ends up a bit more energetic and uplifting than most of the prior tracks. It reminds me a bit of Sandman or Green House Effect. Nice track with a beautiful ending. A- Metal Serpent This track is more traditional trance - ok, but a bit predictable. B Myriad Vision Probably the best track on the album for me, this is Goa all the way and has a beautiful epic lead melody that could play on all day and night. A+ Let me make it clear; for me Triquetra are one of the best things to happen in Goa trance in a long time. These guys channel the creative but atmospheric spirit of Goa like hardly anyone else today. Indeed, in terms of acid 303 frenzy, they are in a league of one. On this third album Triquetra challenges their audience with several dark and heavy tracks, before their love for Goa takes hold and the album ends on a classic Goa note. I personally think that Triquetra are better at the Goa stuff, but perhaps that is just me? For me, this album is a bit of a mixed bag. I salute the experiment, but I'm not sure it is fully successful. There is a clutch of good tracks here nevertheless: "Escape from the Withered Temple", "Shadows", "Cloud Gatherer", and "Myriad Vision" are all worth a listen or twelve. On a whim I put on Triquetra's first album Ecstatic Planet and was struck by the relative freshness of the more melodic and inspired tunes on this first album; I definitely preferred it, even if the production was not as slick. There's not a single track on this latest third album that compares with the epic "Gargantuan Tribes" from the first album to my ears. This does not mean that this third album is not good; it is just that here Triquetra embrace darkness. There's more - Triquetra have also released a vinyl 12" called Access Denied which I will review separately. ~*~

Good ep here from the one-off collaboration between Sandman and Chakra. "Magic Frequencies" has a Man With No Name bassline and then itchy little swirling melodies - a good, swirly track. "Whale" also features a Man With No Name bassline but goes more epic and features some choir pads and uplifting, climbing melodies as it builds towards a superb intense almost prog rock climax after the six minute mark with what is meant to be whale-song sounds. An outstanding moment in the history of Goa trance. What a pity these two fine artists didn't do more collaborations in the golden era because this is excellent. ~*~

S.U.N. Project "Crazy Stories" 12" ep vinyl Suntrip Records 2022 Crazy Stories (1996 Mix) 8:41 Space Dwarfs (1997 Mix) 8:49 Casio-Paya (1998 Mix) 8:14 Out Of My Brain (Acid Remix) 6:39 "Crazy Stories" was the first ep from German outfit S.U.N. Project, coming out on Spirit Zone in 1996. This first ep also featured the tracks "The Suburbs" and "Pink Bubbles", alongside the eponymous title track. In those days, up to and including their first album "Drosophila" which also came out on Spirit Zone the year later - 1997, S.U.N. Project were a Goa outfit. After this, they tended more towards psytrance and became well known for the relatively unusual use of guitars, often with a heavy metal flavour. "Crazy Stories" and "Drosophila" are both Goa classics and highly collectable. The problem with the "Crazy Stories" ep is that it was not very well recorded and/or mastered - heavy, booming bass and a lack of focus and clarity characterise the sound on this 12". In 2022 Suntrip Records re-release "Crazy Stories" on vinyl, remastered by the ubiquitous Tim Schuldt with different early S.U.N. Project tracks. According to Suntrip: "in 2021 Matthias discovered never before released versions of many of his tracks on old DAT tapes. This resulted in a digital only release on Classic Goa Trax. Because many people kept asking for a physical release of the best ones, we made this very old school looking and sounding vinyl! We took the 3 best ones and added 1 never before published track on top: the acid 303 version of Out of My Brain! Enjoy". Let us see how this ep performs. "Crazy Stories" An all out stone-cold classic in my opinion. From the epic washes of synth at the opening to the churning deep bassline and propulsive bass 303 to the ripping leads, this is hypnotic stuff. More importantly, this track really understands storytelling - a winding journey in set stanzas that builds to a storming climax. The sounds are quite simple, but they are sewn into a series of plateaus that really understand restraint and how that can lead to drama. A very, very well orchestrated track. Happily I can report that the remastering is great - the deep bass is retained but it is more defined and less of a mush than before. For me this is the best track on the ep and certainly one of the best tracks that S.U.N. Project did. A+ Space Dwarfs A more straightforward acidic track, which is nevertheless quite gonzo. It has a big and simple lead melody that goes into full acid frenzy after the 7 minute mark with shredding 303 that sounds remarkably guitarish. I didn't love this track at first listening but it has really grown on me and now I rate it. A- Casio-Paya This starts off with a stumping techno vibe that reminds me of X-Dream, even using some classic scratching X-Dream type sounds. Very nice tribal percussion comes to the fore after the 3.50 point and then we go into the heavy, ripping, shredding guitar-like leads that characterise this outfit. Good track. B Out Of My Brain Another acid stormer of a track, this time with guitars as well as 303. Intense! It could drive a dancefloor to frenzy, especially with the wailing guitar solo after 5 minutes. A love of metal is obvious in this track. Guitars don't always work in trance, but they do in this track, which is excellent all round. A S.U.N. Project were never going to win points with subtlety and intricacy. Rather like Green Nuns of the Revolution this is full on, in your face, intense Goa trance, with the emphasis upon INTENSE! For me this is a must-have ep because of its rarity, containing remixes not found elsewhere. Most importantly, the best track "Crazy Stories" appears here with better sound than the original. Indeed, the sound throughout is super and does not betray its age. "Drosophila" never came out on vinyl. Unsubtle hint to Suntrip records: please release it on vinyl! ~*~

Good point Technosomy. Black vinyl is sometimes recycled, but mostly not. Recycled vinyl does have a bad reputation as quite a bit of dirt, even labels, can be part of the melt and result in noise. However, whilst that used to be the case as recycling was often slipshod, done for economic reasons, that is less the case today where recycling is taken more seriously and is not just to press as cheaply as possible. These days some bands make a green point about recycled black vinyl - King Gizzard and Brian Eno, for instance. My copy of Brian Eno's "Foreverandevernomore" which boasts about the recycled vinyl is pristine and plays perfectly. Further, whilst coloured vinyl is less likely to be recycled, the dyes can be sonically troublesome, especially if several are mixed together as in the marbling, galaxy and starburst effects popular now. I love my coloured vinyls: most play fine and some are literally awesome to look at, but my ear is a bit different to my eyes. In my own collection of several thousand lps, I would say that black and clear vinyl is less likely to be noisy than coloured. So, as always, the devil is in the detail. What remains true is my statement that in audiophile circles, with which I have a 40 year acquaintance, black vinyl is regarded as king. I stand by my attempted support of Goa Constrictor; sure coloured vinyl can be pretty, but once you go black there's no going back... 😁

Don't be too frustrated Goa Constrictor; black vinyl invariably sounds better. Some theorise that it is the small amounts of carbon mixed into the pvc to make it black that lubricate the stylus as it travels through the groove, but as far as I know definitive scientific evidence is yet to be established. Nevertheless, it is consensus in audiophile circles that black vinyl generally sounds best and has the lowest noise floor. Of course there are many variables. The coloured pressings that are fashionable today do sometimes have collectibility factor, especially if the run of that colour is limited. Nevertheless, whilst they are often pretty to look at, they do tend to have slightly higher surface noise and other imperfections. I personally am in no hurry to get coloured vinyl pressings of "A Flock of Bleeps"; my black one sounds just great to me.

Thanks Draeke and Parasphere. This isn't my request - just one I received from Discogs. It is very frustrating to me as I know the track, just can't place it. I also thought of MWNN and Transwave, but then I thought Har El and California Sunshine - it is definitely an early track. I even searched for the sample "teach you to dance" on Psydb, but nothing. The crowd sounds seem to be in the track. Thanks again

Can anybody help identify this track? https://we.tl/t-hPVNlKtQPD

From the 1860s Wilhelm Bleek made a valiant attempt to transcribe the lifestyle and beliefs of the San people of Southern Africa, the so-called "bushmen", the oldest indigenous inhabitants of the cradle of humanity (according to current science at least). The Bleek and Lloyd archives are in a special collection at the University of Cape Town. According to these archives, the San believe that nature is female. That is right, the San believe that everything is female, including men. In their worldview, men are merely specially adjusted females, rather fragile and delicate creatures who need to be treated with kid gloves. I find it hilarious that so much contemporary science confirms intuitive traditional wisdoms, and this seems to be yet another case in point. PS - that "Into the Light" track is magnificent.

I have the Hallucinogen vinyl originals (which will be hard to improve on), but "The Mystery of the Yeti" is of course one of the psydub classics (alongside "Mystical Experiences") and has never appeared on vinyl before. Oh frabjous day! Awesome news! Let us hope the mastering engineer and pressing plant do us proud. ~*~

Thanks for sharing - Artha demonstrates his class again with this very good remix of the Hallucinogen classic. ~*~

Thanks so much for alerting us to this Technosomy. I also listened to the first two Pitch Black lps, which are also available on vinyl from Dubmission, but I didn't think they were nearly as good as this third Ape to Angel lp.

New Procs 12" available on Parvati Records: https://beatspace-parvati.bandcamp.com/album/sol-nedupp-g-ngen-sol

Thanks Tsotsi. I like this album because it really does induce a trance - a plateau state of hypnosis - in the listener. I think it also tickles those deep, uncomfortable places in the psyche that are close to, even within, the so-called "reptile brain". There's a Goa antecedent: one of my all-time favourite albums Orichalcum and the Deviant. Here's what I wrote about it back in the day: There was some weird voodoo going on in the studio when this album was recorded... To this day, I still don't know anything that is quite like it. When you have been around the block a few times, you realise how unusual and exceptional that really is. Orichalcum had this swampy chthonic feel that is unique. The sounds on this album are not designed for maximum contrast and crisp delineation. Rather what you get is a deep sound with an emphasis upon the bass - there are no bright cymbals or snare, no pixilated shining melodies. Nevertheless, this murky sound is packed full of detail, creating a sense of a downward journey into the realm of the unconscious. Here be sea monsters, dinosaurs, trilobytes, sea slugs, the great old ones. Orichalcum makes the music of the primal soup. None of this should suggest that this music is not danceable; Orichalcum brings a good percussive sensibility to the savage table. Wonderful, and rare! Now there is another album a bit like Orichalcum and the Deviant: Katedra's We are Not Alone. There may be lots of others, but I don't know of them. Big ups to Global Sect, a label with the courage to put out Astral Projection clones (no disrespect intended - the Centavra Project album is excellent), but also this deeply uncommercial album. I can't wait to hear what Katedra does next! ~*~

Katedra We Are Not Alone 2019 The MoonShip (mix 2019) 7:57 First Contact 10:41 Ring of Fire 8:58 Nagual 10:40 You Are Not Alone 9:15 Alienated Hallucination 10:20 Radiointerference (mix 2019) 9:50 The Edge Of Spaces 9:05 Drone Trance - Chthonic Swampdelica Was I sleeping or in a trance? Why did someone not tell me that there was a new genre when I woke up? Did anyone else notice that drone trance somehow slipped in under the radar and became a thing. Along with all things slo-core like drone metal (Sunn 0 and Bong), dark ambient (Lustmord et al), and drone jazz (Neptunian Maximalism), there is now drone trance, and I name Katedra's We Are Not Alone as a foundational album in this new genre. I don't know which mix I am listening to, but this is interesting and original music. This is Sloa Goa with a relatively slow, measured, unhurried pace. The rhythms tend to the industrial and have a grinding quality to them, which at times seems a bit linear and monotonous; I occasionally wanted more syncopation and percussive drama and different drum and cymbal sounds. However, the simple rhythm section avoids the plasticky psytrance sound completely and does tend to create hypnosis in the listener. Moreover, the simple pounding drums and pulsating bass are well balanced by rotating and whirling Goa melodies full of reverb and echo, often quite quiet and subtle, and most of which do not build to climaxes. This is the opposite of extroverted full on psytrance with its plastic rhythm section and bold shiny leads. Further, the bass is heavy and the sound is quite soft and muddy, almost lo-fi. The overall effect is entrancing - sucking the listener into a deep, dark vortex of murky chthonic intrigue. This album is all about the subconscious, that reptilian soup of instincts, repressions, desires, illegalities, unacceptabilities. Whilst this album reaches out to the stars, it also reaches deep within. So whilst all the ingredients are familiar, the way they are mixed together is unusual enough that a strange new dish is created: introspective swampdelica. Original! Just goes to show that there's more to this genre than we often think; imagination is the main limitation. ~*~ PS - beautiful cover art!

Don't forget 12 Moons and Phony Orphants, along with all the great Prog acts already mentioned above. All tracks by these two outfits are just great, but the earlier and closer to the 90s, the better. ~*~

I completely agree. How many times have you heard "but their first album is best"? In psytrance, it is not refinement I object to; indeed, I love subtlety and understatement. In psytrance, too often "fine tuning" and "professionalisation" = cliched bassline/rhythm section. I object to the same galloping horse or machine gun bassline in every track. In other words, I don't like the hegemony of the dancefloor - it is controlling and limiting too many artists and I feel the need to speak out about that, being naturally on the side of the artist. I repeat that I like Proxeeus' "Weird Tales" and "Non-Euclidian Geometry" - very good albums indeed. But for me, "At the Mountains of Madness" has a beguiling energy and spontaneity that is not so evident later. Moreover, by the time we reach "Perversion and Insanity", we have pretty much the same bassline in every track.