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Artist: Night Hex Title: Viziuni Nocturne Label: Suntrip Records Date: November, 20015 1. Night Visitors 2. Sleep Paralysis 3. Distorted Visions 4. Nineve (Remix) 5. Katharsis 2015 was a superb year for goa trance with labels like DAT Records dropping the Pleiadians 3-disc holy grail, a 2-disc Doof release, as well as the Opale EP (seriously, check it out it's awesome), Neogoa released so many good albums for free that I'm just gonna give you a link to their treasure trove, and last but certainly not least Suntrip. They made a big splash in the old school pool by turning out classic albums by Asia 2001, Denshi Danshi, and a disc of Prana Remixes not to mention an album by superstars Celestial Intelligence and a legendary compilation called Aurora Sidera. Not one to rest on their laurels they deliver an EP from an artist that rules the goa kingdom. E-mantra threw 5 tracks together as his self described darker, more progressive goa trance project Night Hex. His style is instantly recognizable as the tracks delve into a hypnotic reverie. It's slower bpms which makes me wonder how you're supposed to dance to this. Pretty sure that's, uh...that's just f*cking awkward. Maybe you aren't and I sure didn't, but I can tell you that I had to listen to this over one hundred times because Mr. Melodies has the ability to make the mind take a vacation. His music is seamless and slowing down the bpm is akin to slowing time as I drift from one lead to another. The remix of Nineve is downright sinister. Fans of his music will not be disappointed as the attention to detail and atmosphere creation is what you would expect from your goa overlord. Suntrip Psyshop Beatspace

Artist: Shift Title: Phoenix Label: Spectral Records Date: November, 2015 1. Surface Detail 2. Fkn Awsm 3. Doorway to Infinity 4. Phoenix 5. 2 Doesn?t Ants 6. Inversion 7. Go Low 8. Null & Void "Today's drugs truly work miracles for young and old alike." Get some from that guy. Looks like he's got plenty. Now I would never advocate someone taking drugs, but perhaps he could maybe start with some Red Bull. The first two tracks sound like a very sanitized version of the music he used to make. Gone is the barely restrained chaos and thundering kicks and in its place is this commercial sounding music. This doesn't sound like Shift...This sounds like he lost a bet. Or he's trying to put his music in a box and it just doesn't fit. Thankfully it's not all like that. The title track is a bit of a smasher as is the Ants one. Get Low has some of that Nexus Media magic he used to display so effortlessly. A mixed bag really, but since it's a digital release on Beatport you can choose the good ones. Welcome back Mr. Hoy! Beatport

Artist: TRD Title: Lucid Dreaming Ep Label: Chaitra Records Date: November, 2015 01 - Drip (145 BPM) 02 - Scripture (144 BPM) 03 - Lost Rite (105 BPM) 04 - Kingdom Within (115 BPM) 05 - Koloss (144 BPM) 06 - Lucid Dreaming (144 BPM) Swede Par Carlsson has done it again. His debut back in 2014 Apostles of the Universe hit all the right notes with me and with his latest he's continued down that path. Super atmospheric layers and thumping good psytrance. Bubbly and melancholy, Lost Rite snakes along at mid-tempo speed dark and brooding. Kingdom Within does the same starting off slowly then eviscerating what you think you know about progressive/psytrance. The whole thing is a deep journey that one can truly get lost in. Highly recommended. Free at Ektoplazm

Artist: Masa Title: Son Ov A Seed Label: Hypnodisk Date: November, 2015 You may have noticed that I didn't provide the track list. Well, I had to listen to this nonsense so I felt that actually typing the titles would send me into a post-Vietnam PTSD rage that some of you might not survive. There are 19 tracks and I'm sure that I said "What in the unholy f*ck?" at least that many. Masa is Masayuki Kurihara from Japan and he's been around a looong while. You might recall his album Inside from 1996. I don't, but you might. He's had some tracks that I liked on some compilations, but this... First off it's broken up into two discs and contains stuff done as Masa and his alias X-Tron. A few of the tracks are previously released, but put out again as live versions. It's got that gritty, raw feeling to it that sometimes veers into pretty noisy territory. This feels like a collection of tracks scooped up from the cutting room floor that weren't able to make any album cuts. And there's no mystery here. Straight ahead all the way. It's not all turds and kidney stones though as tracks like Nu Experience and Master & Margarita (Live At Rainbow 2000 '96) bounces nicely with some twisting layers. But over 20 bucks for maybe two tracks I'd really enjoy? Hypnodisk Bandcamp

Artist: Various Title: Evolutive Perceptions Label: Goa Madness Records Date: November, 2015 1. Omnivox - A Part of Change 2. Space Elves - Bitter and Twisted 3. Asmik - Shimmering Onexta 4. Ohm Mind & Proxeeus - Shiva Awakens 5. Jaraluca - Illumination 6. Arcane Voice - Infinite Amount of Energy 7. Cosmic Dimension - The Dark Matter 8. Nova Fractal & E-mantra - Butterfly Effect 9. Ephedra - Winter Breaker "My little parties wouldn't be the same without you!" "Man...he's acting like a maniac. What did he take?" "Nothing, he just asked for a Fresca." I used to love to go to parties. Get smashed out of my mind and dance with any lady of the moment hoping to have a story to tell the next day. What a pig I was. Goa Madness is a label that as of yet hasn't had that many releases, but each release has been marked by quality. No exception here. This album is over a year old and deserves it's own review thread. It's melodic and entrancing with names you know and a few you don't. Some of the tracks are lush and atmospheric and most have nimble cat-quick leads that move as if on hot coals. Standouts include the floating A Part of Change by Omnivox and the thick and chunky blaster Illumination by Jaraluca. The latter comes at you in waves and the 2nd half is scorching. The Dark Matter is another take no prisoners rocker while the Nova Fractal / E-mantra collaboration was a little disappointing. Good track, but when you put two heavyweights like them together I expected more sparks. I enjoyed this compilation as it contained zero filler. Nothing groundbreaking (what is these days?) just solid goa trance. Overall another great release by this label and worth a spot in your collection. Beatspace Psyshop

Artist: The Faithealers Title: Until The End of the World Label: Neogoa Date: November, 2015 01 - Spiritualizer (141 BPM) 02 - Welcome To My Mind (141 BPM) 03 - Bio Genetic (127 BPM) 04 - Speed Of Light (150 BPM) 05 - Let There Be God (138 BPM) 06 - Angels & Demons (146 BPM) 07 - Dark Matter (130 BPM) 08 - Until The End Of The World (65 BPM) "Wow, this really is easier than they make it sound!" Jeez lady it's not a f*cking salad. Time for an oil change so before I get out the juice and sprinkle it like vinaigrette, I gotta take my oldest to school. I'm getting my oil changed in a town about 40 minutes away. Sure I could've gotten a local grease monkey to do it, but going this route accomplished three things. One, it's a free service. Came with the car so you can't beat free. Two, the cleaning service is coming today and I didn't have time to straighten up. Doesn't that sound stupid? Why do I have to straighten up before the cleaning people come? Isn't that what they do, you know...clean? Lastly it's a chance for me to be alone and blast this 43rd release from Neogoa all the way to the dealership. The Faithealers are Markku Louhio and Kris Kylven. Yes that one. Btw, Google autocorrect wants to call him Kris My Oven. Suppose it could be worse. Now Kris has put his hands in a lot of pies most notably as UX, part of Juno Reactor, Syb Unity Nettwerk and certainly don't forget the industrial sounding EON Project. This is an anthology of unreleased tracks from 2000-2013. The first half of the album swims in the waters of tribal psytrance. Think Elysium, but more aggressive and less goa. Thunderous kicks and tight percussion rumble underneath driving sounds. The first five tracks are like a long Ayahuascan trip. I've thrown up after too much chocolate milk so I think I know what I'm talking about here. Angels and Demons evokes powerful religious imagery and Dark Matter rises to a cacophonous climax...and then drops away into silence. The final track is a short, but emotional downtempo closer brimming with black magic. The whole thing sounds great and while there aren't any spectacular tracks it is a super sensory experience. Powerful and groovy with nice ethnic touches. Recommended. Free at Ektoplazm