acid being

I feel like I have become much more critical of music - all music - and harder to please lately which probably says something about my outlook on the world in general. This has nothing to do with Xamanist: I don't believe I will ever fully tire of Goa trance but in the short term I am certainly at risk of tiring of any generic and mediocre sounding bits of it (and those are to be found even in some of the very best albums and tracks). I listen only at home these days and much prefer midtempo and downtempo stuff most of the time. The point to all this is that when I read this album has full-on and progressive psytrance elements and started listening to the first minute and a half, I wasn't expecting this to be to my taste at all. But once the great Goa melodies and sounds came in, I started to enjoy it and having listened to the whole thing, it was very pleasant to have in my ears as I went about my day. Every track is creative and lively and just when I start to think it is going to become predictable or generic, another beautiful unexpected organic sound or captivating melody comes in. Great work. 7.5/10

For me I think it has to be Snakey Shaker. Other tracks like Deranger have more going on but the simple yet beautiful and urgent acid lines of Snakey Shaker are surely what you get when you distill Simon's talent into its purest, most concentrated form. That square wavey sounding choir of synthesized voices is so cool as well! It helps that I had not really heard any Goa trance (with the possible exception of a B side released under Paul Oakenfold's Perfecto Allstarz moniker) before buying Lone Deranger on sight, so the second track was by far the hardest, trippiest thing I had ever heard and left a lasting impression. After that, I would probably say Horrogram for the great melody, followed by Deranger and LSD.

Yes I must admit I just listened to Sky Input again and it was better than I remember. I enjoyed it. So mood and expectations play a huge part in the appreciation of this music and it definitely has its time and place.

The melody of one of the tracks on Daze of Our Lives reminds me of Ebeneezer Goode by The Shamen

Do you know if there is going to be a third album from Artha? I really hope so, or even an EP. I see there are a few clips and remixes on his soundcloud. He really has an amazing sound.

Just to follow up from what I wrote above, I listened to Lost In The Wild for the first time and my initial impression was that the sound felt just a little warmer and a bit more reminiscent of old school Goa, at least to me. So his next album somewhat improved things from my perspective in that regard. That is not the whole story but I will save it for a possible future review. Thanks for the recommendations. I will check those others out. There was enough in Daze and Lost for me to want to come back for more.

Hey man, good to see you still posting here as I really like your reviews and recommendations. Another big fan of RA - Unearthly

Background: I have never been a Filteria fan. When he was a new artist I assumed it was kind of new school stuff but when I read all the amazing revews here from Goa fans and the comparisons to Pleiadians, I tried a couple times to listen to Sky Input, but I had a similar reaction to most of the other handful of negative reviewers: there are good Goa sounds and melodies but once the tracks get going it becomes a sort of wall of monoculture, like, I love chocolate cake but I don't want every space in my fridge and cupboards squashed full of only chocolate cake. (I should also mention incidentally that IFO is not one of my most favorite albums, though I do like it and listen to it quite a lot. I feel it has more color than Sky Input). I read that Daze of Our Lives is considered by many an improvement on the earlier albums so I have given it my first couple of listens. I am trying to let go of my biases, but that is hard to do, but I do need to say that the best bits of this album are really good and there are certainly moments where there is a really interesitng and unique sound. For me the really good bits are when he goes more ambient / downtempo and lets the music breathe a little. My favorites are the first and last tracks. I think he should try a whole album of downtempo. The other stuff, I like it OK, and I will give it more listens. It's technically good; the melodies are good; the effects are really good, but I honestly have to say that for most of it I don't get that really magic feeling that I get with older Goa or something like RA. It is hard to put my finger on it and it may be down to preconceptions. It might be something to do with the mastering or just Filteria sliding back into his tendencies for a relentlessly constant level of energy in a track. There are colorful melodies and organic effects yet many of the tracks for me feel a little on the flatter, less colorful, more homogenous kind of side in terms of their overall impression. This is just my subjective personal preference. I should mention this album does have quite a few Posfordlike elements that are done quite well, the warping chords and bright arpeggios. He has also nailed the weird, stuttery vocal effects although I do wonder if these were verging on being over-used here, though that's a minor quibble. This is no Hallucinogen 3 for me though, unfortunately. I award that title to Artha's incredible Influencing Dreams. I give tracks 1 and 9 9/10. The rest, I would have to give it more listens to really rank it fairly but my current feeling is if I was just rating the technical achievement it would probably be about 7 or 8/10 but in terms of my own enjoyment, 6/10. So for the whole album: 7/10.

I got some new headphones which means I am back listening to a lot more Goa and psy, which hopefully means I will get round to writing some new reviews.

I like them. Good choice of color and shading and you've nailed the 90s flyer look.

I finally found a bit of time to finish off my first acid techno track. It is heavily inspired by some of the hardest acid house tracks so a lot of the time there are only drums and two layers of 303, but I added more modern effects and a few other sounds to give it a more psychedelic feel which also makes it sound a little like some 90s IDM tracks. One kind listener even compared it to Infected Mushroom which was unbelievably flattering - this is certainly more simplistic than their stuff!

The Gen Eris Device is my first complete Goa trance track. It has a space theme, hints of ambience and darkness and a few little surprises in the later stages of the track. It is called Gen Eris as I was originally aiming for something a little closer to generic Goa trance than my earlier output but it ended up being very much of its own style, I think.

I have moved my music into this thread as I am not on a label and the tracks can currently be freely downloaded from Soundcloud. I like to make Goa and acid techno, preferably with bits of darkness and ambience and usually on the more experimental side. I am a new artist who is constantly learning and evolving.

I hope to get back to writing new reviews but am extra busy at the moment.

This really is tricky. At the moment mine would be something like: RA - Unearthly Dimension 5 - Transdimensional Hallucinogen - The Lone Deranger Rita Raga - Mystic Melodies Elysium - Dance for the Celestial Beings Astropilot - Diary for a Restless Mind Astral Projection - Another World MFG - Pure Energy RA - To Sirius Shpongle - Nothing Lasts But Nothing Is Lost The last one was difficult because for me NLBNIL is kind of tied with Celtic Cross - Hicksville and Blue Planet Corporation and Etnica's first album as well. They all deserve a mention. Also it's a shame we're only restricted to albums because otherwise Sheyba and actually Mantis would be up there too!

Phew, thanks so much @RTP and @mars for keepin' this wonderful place alive! And there's me thinking it was CrowdStrike!

Wow thanks. Review updated

Oh wow, he DID keep making music! I only just found out! https://infinitevortex.bandcamp.com/ https://soundcloud.com/infinitevortex And he has remastered some of his classic tracks: Stunning.

You're very welcome. I will do, sooner or later. About Fiery Dawn, I must admit I was just parroting Suntrip's own writeup where they meant he was a newcomer to their label. Still 2014 feels like only about five years ago to the likes of me

I guess that's one area where we may differ. The use of the 303 and similar acidic sounds made with other synths are the core part of what I love about Goa trance and I still listen to quite a bit of acid house where there's nothing more than wild 303 textures and an 808 beat. For my tastes, I am not sure it is possible for someone to go over the top with a 303. The more bold and outrageous the acid lines, the more I love them. It can still be done badly if it's not mixed well or the melody or effects aren't right, but that's not what I would call going over the top. The SETI Project track was for me an example of the acid being a bit too sedate and I would have rated it lower but that huge beat redeemed it.

That's OK. You didn't undermine my review. I agree Golden Era is better, by the way. If and when I get around to writing the review, your thoughts have helped me and provided a bit of context I didn't have. Would you mind me using what you wrote in my review? Yes I see what you mean. I find the first two tracks the strongest of the compilation, with Golden Era probably marginally the better of those two over all, though I really love the climax of Heavens Gate. I think Suntrip put those first because of the slower tempo, with the idea that things would warm up to the faster tracks from there. Also, Golden Era did a great job of grabbing my attention. If it had opened with a poor track, I might not have got around to listening to the rest of it so soon. But in terms of overall flow I would agree it could be improved. It is a minor thing from my perspective though as I greatly enjoyed most of the tracks, really happy with a whole compilation of 303 focused Goa.

We're agreed on our favorite tracks on this compilation. Have you heard Etnica's UnIverso EP? I was going to write a review of that soon as well. A couple of the tracks on that are listed as remixes so I am unsure when they were originally released, but it has some of their classic Goa vibes I think, sort of halfway between Goa and psytrance maybe, though not quite as good as Golden Era.

Various Artists - Acidum Influxum Suntrip Records – SUNCD77 What an exciting gem of a compilation we have here from Suntrip Records! If you love old school acidic Goa trance you may have been frustrated by a dearth of quality tunes from the big names in recent years. If so, I am pleased to tell you Suntrip and the artists have exceled themselves in putting this compilation together. My mind was blown by acid lines the like of which I had never imagined before. 1. Etnica - Golden Era 08:53 2. InnerZone - Heavens Gate 09:46 3. Hypnoxock - Magma 08:13 4. GoaD - Slayed303 06:35 5. Fiery Dawn - Fluoro Acid 07:20 6. Antidot & DICA - Soulbinder 07:50 7. SETI Project - Psychedelic Acid 08:08 8. Battle of the Future Buddhas - Tenderlion (Anthem Remix) 08:01 9. Binary Bliss - Analog Ascent 09:36 1. Etnica - Golden Era A stunningly good and hard track and it delighted me that Etnica are still releasing such classics today! 9/10 2. InnerZone - Heavens Gate We have eastern singing with a lovely wobbly acid line that goes great with the hard kick and bass. Then the acid goes wonderfully crazy, even more so towards the end where we get at least 2 or 3 acid lines simultaneously with lots of delay yet somehow it all fits together perfectly! 9/10 3. Hypnoxock - Magma This is very old school, hard acid with a slightly technoish feel. 8/10 4. GoaD - Slayed303 Another hard, driving track from a Danish newcomer to Suntrip. As the acid lines combine, this has a somewhat rougher, almost cacophonous feel which is nevertheless enjoyable. 6.5/10 5. Fiery Dawn - Fluoro Acid This one, from another newcomer to Suntrip but not to Goa trance , has an intriguing, hypnotic and quite dark beat with some wild, urgent sounding acid. 7/10 6. Antidot & DICA - Soulbinder Suntrip tells us these acid techno artists have recently been making Goa. This one is really trippy as synths wash over your ears in waves and some awesomely mean sounding croaky acid is let loose on your brain! 9/10 7. SETI Project - Psychedelic Acid Suntrip found an unreleased 90s track here. It sounds good now but remember what kind of impression this kind of music made back in the 90s! The acid is back to basics but nice, but that manic beat is fantastic. 7/10 8. Battle of the Future Buddhas - Tenderlion (Anthem Remix) I'm a fan of Battle of the Future Buddhas and really like the extra 303 treatment they gave this remix. 8/10 9. Binary Bliss - Analog Ascent Quite melodic acid here to end with a track which builds and builds and feels uplifting and yes euphoric as Suntrip wrote. 8/10 This is one of the best compilations I have heard in years. Well done, Suntrip. More of this kinda thing please! 9/10 https://suntriprecords.bandcamp.com/album/acidum-influxum

I've just been listening to this guy's music and it is amazing! Some of the most exciting psychill I've heard in a long while. I will hopefully try and find some time for a review soon.

RA - Blood Moons This unreleased track posted on soundcloud in 2019 deserves an honorable mention. This is upbeat classic Goa trance. At just over 2 minutes it is a nice demo of an unused idea. 8/10