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Artist: Goatma Title: Sword In The Darkness Label: Neogoa Date: December, 2015 1. Sword In The Darkness 2. Cosmic Consciousness 3. Spiritual Chanting 4. Shabatayom As a final farewell to 2015 Neogoa presents a short 4 track EP by GoAtma or as the Google likes to call him...Goatman. His real name is Eylon Kadish and I cannot comment on whether like the fine gentleman above he likes to steal socks and take them to his snowy homeland. Doubtful. Pretty sure I could count the number of snowblowers in Israel on one hand. They have more important things to worry about over there. That's terrorism. First I'll say this is pretty powerful. Driving the whole way through as he weaves between goa and some more uplifting style. That said it's all pretty homogeneous. The first track doesn't have a lot of variety and I found myself getting bored with it pretty quickly. Cosmic Consciousness sounds a lot like the title track even if it is a little more aggressive. The final bit of that one is like an explosion so I liked it a lot. Spiritual Chanting sounds like it could be Cosmic Consciousness Part Deux. Only now with more chanting. Which brings me back to the homogeneous point. Another thing I noticed is that the sound palette is fairly limited and that really takes away from the listening experience. Kinda like I could step away from it and come back at a later point and not feel like I missed anything. Or every episode of Friends. So you guys didn't even know one black person? In NYC? Riiiiiight. Shabatayom is the one track that I feel comes closest to it's inner Nitzho without throwing bowls of cheese at the listener. The EP itself isn't bad at all, but in a time when we have heard it all the shortcomings I've mentioned don't allow it to distinguish itself. Free at Ektoplazm

Artist: Vedama & Spies Title: Photonic EP Label: DAT Records Date: December, 2015 1. Vedama - Photonic 2. Vedama - Scanate 3. Spies - Ceremoniak 4. Spies - Backwash 5. Spies & Space Dimension - Ritual Rise 6. Spies - Backwash (Space Demon Remix) DAT Records have had an awesome run with nary a misstep haven't they? They just keep bringing back music that people clamor for and most times making it even better. Yeah I.F.O. was great...but a 3-CD I.F.O? NSFW *choir sings Hallelujah! Hallelujah!* Draeke could probably release his nephew's 6th grade piano recital and rack up sales. Not saying that he would, but *yells at nephew* "B flat! That's a B flat f*cker! We'll stay here all night! All f*cking night! You don't think Antic can't tell the difference between a B flat and an A sharp? Think again!" So I bought this EP with the Pleiadians and Opale (f*cking awesome by the way) EP and I'd never heard of these projects. Of if I had it went to the memory graveyard swimming in a pool of bong water or Doritos crumbs. Did I need it? Did I even give it a listen? Nope, but it's DAT so your just do it. Where the Opale EP was powerful melodic stuff that could've come from the mind of the Pleiadians or old Astral Projection, this is more of a crunchy style. Somewhat dark that blurs the line between goa and psy. Perhaps experimental where chances are taken with quality results. Backwash throws some tribal elements into the mix, but it gets truly psychedelic with the ever changing Ritual Rise and the Backwash Remix. While not my favorite DAT Records release (how could it be?) it's a solid psychedelic journey and might appeal to those who need a break from the classic goa sound. DAT Records Psyshop

Artist: E-Mantra Title: Raining Lights Label: Altar Records Date: December, 2015 Part I 1. Starlights 2. I Shall Not Care 3. Veiled Clouds 4. Kaleidoscope Clouds (Main Sequence Star Remix) Part II 5. Gethsemane 6. The Darkest Hours 7. Resurrection 8. Fiat Lux For me this gif sums up the latest album by our dear Romanian friend Mr. Carpus. First off let's say that he has been one of the greatest producers of goa trance in the modern era. His three goa albums not to mention the stuff he did as Eleusyn are some of the most drifting and beautiful goa trance that you will find. This is his fifth foray into the downtempo/progressive arena and I'm of two minds. One, it's good music just like his previous efforts with this type of music. He gets all soundtracky with The Darkest Hour and that is easily my favorite. And that cow sure seems to dig it. But... I think our cup runneth over. How many times is he going to milk this cow with extremely similar music? I'll liken this to Cybernetika's recent output. Yeah his drum n bass sci-fi storytelling is awesome, but he's beating that horse to death. If he releases another one in that vein I might go to the pet store, buy a cat, and then drive home so I can throw it out the window. *Mr. Kelly Peta on line one" "Edith we talked about this. Say it." *sigh* "Mr. Fox line one." "That's better. Line one you say?" Look, I can take or leave the progressive tempo stuff and the downbeat is good, but it sounds similar to a lot of his output. While pleasing to the ear there wasn't anything that made this album a must have and to be honest I think it was the weakest in his catalog. I mean, I still bought it because I'm a completionist and I have problems, but normal folk may come away from this disappointed. Altar Bandcamp Psyshop

Artist: Opale Title: Anaconda's Dance Label: DAT Records Date: December, 2015 1. Anaconda's Dance 2. Kundun 3. Twister Sound 303 4. Hackers Is it possible to love a label more than DAT Records right now? Like the rest of you it was Christmas, Han...Chanu...Kwanzaa all rolled into one when my brand new copies of the Pleiadians arrived. It's been a long time coming, but the piece de resistance was finally realized. The biggest question I had was how is DAT going to top this? IFO is arguably one of the greatest goa trance albums of all time and the 3 CD version from DAT? Well I don't mind telling you that I may be a little bit gay for Draeke right about now. Now I ordered the two EP's that were ready at the same time because there was no extra shipping and I also wanted to support a label that has given so much. Didn't really know who they were or give much thought to it. Like Tom up there I think I'm in love. Opale is Greg Bailay from France and was apparently a music producer in the mid 90's. This music was made in the early days of goa trance, but you would never know from the sound quality. According to Draeke the mastering was so good they just left it as is. Remarkable. And the music...twisting melodies and leads scream through filtered strangulation. Anaconda's Dance opens things up with shimmering melodies and cochlear popping leads. Kundun builds the tension until the last moment while the 303 gasps for air. Twister Sound 303 has the full throated madness that sounds like Daimon's Codex from Suntrip's Temple of Chaos, but with more layers. There's a weird part near the end when it sounds like a new track sprung out of the mix. Don't mind it, but it's really noticeable. The last track Hackers is another rapid whirlwind of melodies full of fury. It's a great EP from an unknown artist from back in the day. Perfect for those who love their goa trance to be of the storming variety. I hope he is still producing goa trance so that we might see a full album one day. So...don't worry about your Pleiadians hangover. Your boy Draeke has the remedy. DAT Records Psyshop Beatspace