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Artist: Sab Kuch Milegator Title: Shantimatter Label: Ektoplazm Date: July, 2015 01 - Cupcake Rainbow (123 BPM) 02 - Arigates & Sayosnares (126 BPM) 03 - Triptooth's Tribal Reboot (116 BPM) 04 - Massive Silly Cones (126 BPM) 05 - Vocal Volcano (128 BPM) 06 - One Love Dub You So (85 BPM) Donald f*cking Duck? Seriously? Both named Donald, both counting stacks, but I'd rather have this one as my president. What the hell is going on here? I found out about this from the forum which told me that this was our very own Oopie! So anytime one of our own has the courage to put their art out there (hell he may as well have used the bat-signal with that post) I'm only too happy to hear it. This thing saunters. It oozes toxic liquid. Groovy as hell, but don't turn your back on it cause it might f*cking stab you and run away laughing. The layers are deep and hypnotic creating a dark dream that's very psychedelic. The melodies go in directions that at first take seem dischordant and not very pleasing to the ear...almost chaotic. Like he's putting two things together that don't belong together. It's not often one finds true love...your money's on the dresser, chocolate. C'mon...we were all thinking it I just said it. There are only six tracks so they are of the longer variety and I know that I lost my way a few times. It has this progressive tempo, but is psychedelic in nature. The sound is great having been mastered by veteran masterer Deimos. Clearly this is something different and it pushes boundaries for those more accustomed to having their trance in a tidy little package. It might be a lot to take in on straight through listening, but there are some very good moments here. Free at Ektoplazm

Artist: UX Title: Audissey: Live & Beyond Label: Anjuna Records Date: July, 2015 1. Slide - Waking Up To Chaos (Live Remix) 2. Pure Intellect (Live Remix) 3. Third Eye (Live Remix II) 4. Dominion (Digital Frontiers Live Remix) 5. Millennium Generation (Live Remix) 6. Cyberkrist - Crossworld (Götterdämmerung Live Mix) 7. Master of the Universe (Epic Live Remix) 8. Chrysalis (Judgement Day Live Mix) 9. Audissey (Excerpt) "Boundaries are good...They keep things separate." Ahhh...I remember when this was first announced. Everything was golden. Rainbows and unicorns. Cotton candy clouds and pixie stick joy that one of the masters of dark goa trance was going to release an album that we had been craving. Kris Kylven and Pete Martin made up UX back in the day and their debut album release Ultimate Experience is a classic foray into the dark and industrial side of goa trance. Understandably hopes were raised that this would be a return to the sound of greatness and bring back that rich, layered sound that we crave. Who knew that it would be accompanied by a monkey throwing sh*tstorm? From accusations of fake crowd noise, oft delayed release dates, anger issues, rumors, posted social media screenshots, the label turning on the artist whose album they're trying to release, anti-semitism...whew! So much drama y'all needed Dr. Phil on speed dial. But f*ck that I couldn't care less. You wanna dive into the mud go read the locked thread or the 11 page one. I'm sorry that friendships were ruined and bad feelings saturated the atmosphere of this release, but the only thing that matters is the music seeing the light of day. Which it did. Eventually. Finally. I'm a reviewer. Impartial. Switzerland. I love UX and I loved a lot of the music from Anjuna Records, but I don't know either of them so I'll focus on solely the music thank you very much. In 2012 we got a remastered and enhanced digital version of Ultimate Experience that really got the juices flowing. So fast forward to this release and now we get live versions and remixes of classic UX tracks and a mix of one by Slide and one by Cyberkrist. The artwork is beautiful (from Samuel Farrand from New Hampshire USA!) and the sound is impressive. Truly immersive and I pretty much love everything about this release from its dark acidic goa sound to its futuristic and aggressive atmosphere. The tracks are true storytellers constantly evolving with frequent twists and turns. It's layered madness with sinister sonic tsunamis that are just...unrelenting. The Waking Up To Chaos remix is a brutal assault with screaming leads (original by Pete Martin of Slide). Pure Intellect is just a wave of concussive force that hangs with the original. And that's a common element in all the remixes found here. While I wasn't fond of the Third Eye Remix on Tribal Encore the one here was raw and unapologetic with a dark techno base. This is how you do remixes expounding on music of which we are all certainly familiar. It's as if all the tracks have been given a shot of adrenalin becoming great companions to the originals. he brings the same industrial fury to Crossworld (a track I've never heard) with a deep guitar crunch and bubbly electronics. I'm not sure what Antic is listening to, but this sounds awesome in my car, on my headphones, and on my computer. I'm certainly not an audiophile (and don't doubt what he detects), but if he feels he cannot get joy (he might get joy, I don't know) from the sound quality of this release than all I can feel is pity. I agree that the volume level of Masters of the Universe sounds a bit lower (and if we're being honest it's not as brilliant as the original), but it's certainly not a deal breaker. Also, I would love some clarification on whether this mix is the same as the one found on the Ektoplazm release. The final excerpt raises hopes that perhaps a dark industrial tinged downtempo goa album (did I check enough boxes?) may be in the future. If you're a goa fan then this is an absolute must in your collection. The quality far outpaces all the drama that unfortunately went with it. Although to put a bit of a positive spin on it the drama certainly assured that it will skyrocket in value. Suntrip Shop

Artist: Particle-X Title: Ion Space Label: Submoon Records Date: July, 2015 1. Atomic Light 2. Eden Evolution 3. Future Unwritten 4. Solar Zone 5. Ion Space 6. Magma Wave 7. Goa For Happiness 8. Passage To Blue Heeeeeeeeeee's Baaaaaaaaaack! Kinda looks like him a little doesn't it? Filipe Santos is an artist that generates strong feelings and as many opinions as his artist names. Some hate him, some love him, some don't care. After a long absence the newly married Filipe is the driving force behind Submoon Records and this guy hasn't missed a beat. I mean that literally and figuratively. With all that time away it seems he has been uber productive with so many simultaneous releases that exploded onto the scene. Particle-X is another of his projects and while the names may change (I can't tell most of them apart) the quality of the goa trance does not. Super high energy goa with acid from here to Timbuktu. This should be dance floor approved and with all the layered melodies he is known for you cannot help but move. It's just one power track after another on this Cd-r and maybe they do sound the same after a while, but whew...I'll take it. His leads are screechy beasts as bass lines cycle tirelessly underneath. I didn't care for the happiness track, but that's because I like it dark. This was Taffyta Muttonfudge sweet. You heard me. The album starts off really strong and gradually becomes less heavy, maybe more uplifting and...shiny? No matter where you stand on the Filipe issue, I have to say that the quality of the goa music scene is better with him in it. He is one of the best music producers our little corner of the music universe has seen in a long time. I hope he doesn't ever say another word on this forum. He doesn't have to. The music speaks volumes. Submoon Records

Artist: Afgin Title: Old Is Gold Selected Tunes (2006 - 2015) Label: Goa Trance Music Date: July, 2015 1. Ray of Light 2. Old Is Gold 3. Old Is Gold (Part 2) 4. Amanita 5. Astral Experience 6. Shine On 7. Fly With Me 8. Violet 9. The Sound of Goodbye 10. Aden Prayers (Part 2) Afgin. How can you not like this dude? From the beginning when we found some of his goa trance mp3s on the web back when the goa resurgence wasn't even a thing yet. Then came the Astral Experience from Suntrip which was great goa that forced sunshine out of every pore. After that were a few EP's and the Emotional Peaks maxi album. If you didn't think it was possible for his music to become more euphoric and melodic, those last releases put that notion to bed. So here's how I see Afgin. Talented as hell, good lookin' guy that seems to always have chicks around him, and I think he kick boxes too. On top of all that have you seen his FB feed? Dude roams the mountains of Israel in a sweet blue rig. Do you know anyone who has this much life win? I wish this fool would run for president. I'm not making this sh*t up people. There are those that think Afgin has sold out. I suppose the sign that you've made it is the cheesy album cover. It's already been memed so I'm not gonna post it here, but he's been doing his thing for a long time. Even if you perceive him to have sold out (which he hasn't) you have to respect his contribution to where goa is today as well as the volume of quality material he has produced. I've never spoken to him and I don't know him, but it feels like one of us made it to the top. Now I would lose my credibility as a reviewer if I didn't mention the copious amounts of cheese in Fly With Me. It's euphoric melodic trance at it's most epic. Real Paul Van Dyk stuff. But even here, he cannot resist throwing a little 303 at you. The music is the classic, full Afgin melodic sound. Don't dismiss it as soft though because some of these tracks also pack quite a punch. You get tracks from his albums and ep's as well as some unreleased and some never before released on a proper CD. Even when he goes all euphoric on you he always leaves traces of his goa roots. He really understands how to structure a track so that it's not just a collection of sounds but a dynamic, fluid tale. Respect. The music is well done, sounds great, and will not fail to put a smile on your face. Psyshop Beatspace