V/A - Goa Head 16

[DeathPosture]

V/A - Goa Head 16

 

 

Artist: Various

Title: Goa Head 16

Label: Nova Tekk

Date: 2002

 

Track listing:

 

CD 1

01. 08'03" Ticon : We Are the Mammoth Hunters (MOS Rmx)

02. 09'19" Tarsis : Evolve

03. 06'49" Electric Universe : Solylun

04. 09'35" Cosma : On My Way

05. 07'16" Emou : The Summer Is Old (Space Safari Rmx)

06. 07'35" Genetic Spin : Jazzman

07. 07'14" Massimo Santucci : Profunk

08. 06'09" Nerve : Channel 269 (2002 Remix)

09. 08'19" Quarz : Schichtwechsel

10. 06'59" Hattler : Delhi News (Deep Dive Version)

CD 2

11. 08'02" Space Cat : Power Up (Oforia Remix)

12. 06'36" Noosphere : Vector

13. 08'56" Space Buddha : Granulate Fungi

14. 07'59" Skazi : Let's go to Mars

15. 07'13" X-Dream : Thorazin

16. 07'29" Hujaboy : Save Ass

17. 07'50" Talamasca : Psychedelic Knights

18. 07'31" Lemurians : Shinning With You

19. 07'38" Psychonaut : Witchkraft

20. 06'18" GMS : Shrek

 

Review:

 

The once so great series Goa Head has made it to volume 16 now... Usually I

don't care much for these commercial compilations, but I came across this one,

and gave it a listen...And I think this deserves a review here 'cause actually

there are a bunch of good tracks here... Right, let's go through the tracks

now... I'll try not to make this too long. cd1#1 is the new MOS rmx of the

well-known Ticon track... MOS made this even darker, but I like that here...

cd1#2 unreleased from Tarsis here... I've never been a big fan of his... And

this track doesn't change that! Forgettable! cd1#3 one of the weaker tracks

from Unify, but still pretty nice and nice fluffy melodies! cd1#4 another

unreleased from Cosma and I really like this one! ;o) cd1#5 one of the faster

tracks from Emou... With vocals! Fairly good, but easily forgotten! cd1#6

unreleased from Genetic Spin here, and this has nothing to do with jazz as the

title suggests, though there are a bit of saxophone-samples and even a female

vocal singing "music"... Hmmm... Not a fav'e of mine either! cd1#7 Ahh... This

is funky! I actually never got a chance to listen to "Al Dente" but I will

now! I like this funky progressive sound! Nice! ;o) cd1#8 The old Nerve-track

from '00 in a '02-version... The original was awesome, but the remix sure

works for me too... You can hear that Nerve is a MOS-sideproject... Great,

smooth track! cd1#9 I've not yet had the chance to listen to the new Quarz

album, but here we have one of the tracks from it... This is deep, yet

progressive to some extent... I fairly like this actually! cd1#10 is a track

from the new Deep Dive-album and apparently this was made by the group

Hattler. Never heard of them before. But this is a nice chilled track in the

usual DDC-style... I like the whole India-feel they've got going here...

Pheew... Right, time for CD2 now where things are really picking up... cd2#1

Oforia-remake of the great Space Cat track... Great melodic Israeli stomper!

;o) cd2#2 this is a X-Dream side-project and it shows. Nothing happens for the

first 2 minutes, but then things start to happen, and this develops into one

of the better minimal tracks. cd2#3 One of the best tracks from Stigmata with

great guitar-riffs. Very good! cd2#4 a dark Skazi-bomb here... Scary shit, but

I like to get scared sometimes! ;o) cd2#5 even darker from X-Dream... One of

the best tracks from Irritant... Very, very dark but in a sophisticated

manner. cd2#6 Another minimal track from Hujaboy, but one of his better

minimal tracks from Hujajoy. Not as good as the 2 previous tracks though!

cd2#7 Another well-know track here from Musica Divinorum and this is also

great - and a welcome style-change from the 3 minimal tracks... Though this

fuck up the flow of this CD, but hey - Goa Head was never known for it's

amazing flow right!!? cd2#8 one of the better tracks from Crystal Mind IMO...

I like their experimental style... cd2#9 another unreleased track. This time

from Psychonaut which I guess is a standard Goa Head-artist. They are on

nearly all the latest Goa Heads. This track is nothing special, though it has

it's moments. Perhaps it will grow on me. cd2#10 first time on CD I believe!?

Anyway, you can say what you want about GMS, but they sure don't take

themselves too serious, and I like that. This is a fun, full-on track from the

masters of happy-psytrance. This always puts a smile on my face! ) Right,

that was a long review, although I promised it wouldn't be... Anyway, to

conclude, this is one of the better Nova Tekk compilations to come out over

the last couple of years, and actually this is the first Goa Head, Tantrance,

Pulse I've listened to for a LONG time, but hey, if this is the standard from

now on, I could get into these again... There are drawbacks though, but they

are obivious: You prolly have must of these tracks elsewhere... and there is

NO flow whatsoever in the selection of tracks! But it's been like that for

ages with Nova Tekk... Final rating: 7/10

[Guest zyrkonus[at]yahoo[dot]com]

Dear mister Death Posture,Noosphere has never been a side prooject of X Dream.

Noosphere are : Niels Paschen & Eberhard Schulz.

If Marcus Maichel (from X dream) have co-written some tracks with Noosphere as

Vector, it's simply due to the fact he's a next door neighbour with Noosphere.

[Guest transphere]

A rather good Goa-Head volume, but not as good as volume 15. The first CD

features smooth tracks with steady beats and nice atmospheres. The second CD

is more full-on. All tracks are well-produced, but they're not that special.

After two listenings I think Space Buddha - Granulate Fungi is the best track.

FV 7/10

[Guest Candlejack]

How come all of these guys that review stuff here don't like progressive

trance? I mean, aren't you sick and tired of all those full on GMS / Alien

Project copycats?

I am, and that doesn't mean I don't like some good full on now and then, I'm

just saying that maybe you people should start opening your ears more! And if

you don't like the way the goa trance scene is evolving (hence the name

Sebastian gave to his new track & album) then please don't start any of those

useless discussions here about how the goa trance scene is so getting to be so

f***ed up nowadays... Anyway, back to the music (since that's what this page

is for) I like both of these cd's and there's not one bad track on this! The

best Goa Head I've heard in a while anyway.. Even 15 wasn't as good as this!!

So, 9/10 here and I hope the compilers keep it up this way for part 17!!

[DeathPosture]

Right Zyrkonus... You are right! I stand corrected on the Noosphere-question!

Doh!

[Guest Lightmatch]

THIS IS NOT GOA. THIS IS TECHNOTRANCE IF WE EXCLUDE TALAMASCA AND GMS.

[Mergi]

#16... right. Pretty good though. The original Channel 59 from Nerve is way

better than this remix of it, don't get me wrong it's still a good dark

pumping track but it won't be able to compete with the original masterpiece.

Solylun, the mighty melodic opening track from Electric Universe's Unify is

real good actually, and I like it damn much, but I think there is a bunch of

tracks on that cd which is much better. Profunk from Massimo Santucci is funky

indeed, with a nice flow that sustains interest, it's very repetitive, but I

still think it's a good track. I actually do not think this Cosma track is

very interesting, it's pretty slow with noises rebounding a little now and

then, ambient at times, but still, I don't think there's very much that is

sounding good. First track on the cd is not that good either, it does not

develop at all, I tend to like Ticon's original We Are The Mammoth Hunters,

It's just as repetitive but it has more pressure. Last track feels more like

chill, quite ambient with some guitar sequences, it's quite ok. Evolve from

Tarsis is nice to listen to, I prefer to listen to this track at high volumes,

not low because then it just feels empty. Schichtwechsel is very bad IMO, the

Quarz track is one giant loop of repetitive and boring noise, if this is

minimal I've heard much better. Space Safari's remix of The Summer Is Old is

pretty ambient, repetitive, it's pretty ok, nothing I would like to listen to

for long though. Jazzman, is what I would along with Delhi News call undefined

music styles it just doesn't sound like the average psy/goa/minimal/ambient

track IMO, not that I don't like it, quite the opposite actually I find the

change interesting. Jazzman is a dark track, which I kind of like, just it has

vocals and saxophone(?) sounds which just does not fit into the track. So that

makes about 6.5/10 for the first CD which includes a few interesting tracks

along with a few quite uninteresting ones. CD 2 opens with Oforia's remix of

Power Up, which is a very good track IMO, nice psychedelic melodies

accompanied by a heavy beat and twisted effects, though I still would prefer

the original Power Up. Shrek is a pretty useless track, I find the track

opening very promising but then it just spirals way out of control, nothing

very sophisticated only a simple beat with some very boring sound effects

throughout. Vector is interesting, filled with well crafted effects and dark

melodies, good track. Witchkraft is a dark track, mystical atmosphere, lot's

of twisted noises, ok track from Psychonaut. Granulate Fungi is a psychedelic

track at it's very best, Space Buddha combines guitars, ambient song, and

psychedelic frequencies into one very twisted track. Shining With You, I find

it darker than the track title implies, it's a decent track repetitive, melody

emerging later on, which makes the track even more darker than it was before,

ok track from Lemurians. Let's Go To Mars is a slow mover, filled with lot's

of scratch noises and heavy beats, Skazi track is pretty good. Psychedelic

Knights is pretty full on, decent track, but there exist lot's of tracks from

Musica Divinorum which is much better than this one, so it's not one of my

favorite Talamasca track. Thorazin is effectful, powerful track, but I don't

find it very good, there are some better tracks from Irritant IMO. Save Ass

sounds a little like Skazi's track, slow and effectful with a bunch of heavy

twisted scratching noises, ok track. CD 2 get's a 7/10. Goa Head Vol. 16 get's

a 6.75/10 from, slightly better than Vol. 15 IMO.

[seraph]

Well, this volume got a bit better than the previous volumes cause they add

some psychedelia and some goa trance...Less minimal here but still

present...Various styles combined on one place...Best are : WE ARE THE MAMMOTH

HUNTERS, SOLYLUN, ON MY WAY, CHANNEL 269 from CD 1 and POWER UP, VECTOR, SAVE

ASS, PSYCHEDELIC KNIGHTS, SHINING WITH YOY, WITCHKRAFT, SHREK...Second disc is

rather better...CD 1 : 6/10 and CD2 ; 8/10