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Etnica - The Juggeling Alchemists Under The Black Light


Guest Deku81

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This album is luminous, nostalgic and shimmering downtempo-ish goa if there's any! :)

 

Could Etnica ever go wrong those days? This album is filled with emotional slowly building soundscapes that will tranquillize into dream-like state where you just flow in a timeless state. When the trip is over you feel all around good buzz in you. This is a perfect way to start a day too if you have time for some mesmerizing music.

 

Can't pick any favourites either, this is a journey if there ever was one. Something that after 10 years still sounds so alien made and probably nothing like this will be made again. So get this! :)

 

ps. I'm quite sure this belongs to 1995 section.

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I think they didn't put the attention to details they did later. Sure, the first track has an awesome melody, but that's about it.

 

(And what's up with the keychanges? It just goes up and down, in everysong.)

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I think they didn't put the attention to details they did later. Sure, the first track has an awesome melody, but that's about it.

 

(And what's up with the keychanges? It just goes up and down, in everysong.)

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It took few years for me to realise what's so beautiful about this release. I thought it just wasn't on the par with later Etnica.

Now I just adore this so much. It's simple yet elegant, and creates moods later, more aggressive, Etnica possible couldn't.

 

Have you actually listened more than the first track? I think every track carries a splendor melody. :)

 

Ah well, different tastes. If you don't like this I can buy your copy even if I have this already. That's how good this is.

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  • 10 months later...

Luvly stuff. One of my favorites. Brings back good memories... actually I am not sure if it´s so good because of all the good memories or just the music and it doesn´t really matter. I still love it :)

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Well, 3 posts about this gem in one day calls for some urgent retrospection from my part!

 

While not as musically accomplished as "Alien protein" or the "Plastic EP", and not as insanely in-your-face as their side project Pleiadians releases, "The juggeling alchemist under the black light" is a superbly atmospheric and well rounded off piece of music. It takes time to build, it really doesn't rush anywhere, nor does it pretend to be the most off the chain album you'll ever come across. It clocks in at a little over sixty minutes, but it's the nicest way I prefer to spend a "lazy hour", acting like a couch potato! As a whole this album more than delivers, even though I have two standout tracks, which I will get to later!

 

While anyone would have a hard time arguing that these tracks don't sound simple when confronted to some modern razor sharp production, I don't see how that effects the overall undeniable mesmerizing music throughout this album? Does complexity mean quality? Hell no. Rather than complain about the lack of layers, sit back and relax to all the spacey and dreamy sounds, effects and melodies... When you have a track called Infinitive Dream, what else can you expect? And damn, those melodies are sweeeeeet!!! Just listen to that part at 02:45! Tese guys were really on to something back in the day. I mean, if you wanna be persistent and look for details, just listen to the interlude from 03:58 to 04:50 on Gili's Voyage (Ketu remix), and hear for yourself that they could do it even back then, if they felt like it! And the melody they rip on the same track from 06:50 on... Hell, if this ain't Etnica we all learned to love, then it's like they never existed. Threat to burn down my house and I'll come straight and say the melodies on this album are not as memorable and epic as on their later work. That is until the album's closing number, a track that really needs no introduction, Mystical Appearance In Goa! It has got to be my favorite Etnica track ever, with everything you ever wanted from 'em and then some: a long, atmospheric & moody intro, the "howling wind" background effect, those amazing butterfly effects Etnica pretty much made a trademark out of, a groovy bass kick, which eventually completely succumbs to one of the most insane and emotional melodies they ever ripped on any track!!! What a way to go out and end an album! This track alone makes it worth the purchase, given the possibility you ever stumble across it for a reasonable price, as it's a highly sought after item nowadays, being sold for absurd amounts of $$$...

 

Yessir, anutha one uv those ol' skewl class kix B)

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  • 2 weeks later...

:wub:

 

Production

 

Sound is soft. It isn't smooth as nowadays production, using

rougher waves and effects . Pads are discarded in favour of more

cascading bubbling synth and picked arpeggiators.

Few layers, but in every one they really know what they are doing.

Drum layer may sound minimalist at the beginning, but it is plenty of

good ideas.

 

Melodies

 

Very good. Wonderful patterns, melancholic, gothic, chilling.

 

Mood

 

IMO the concept is : how far can you put a goa track without

deranging into psy or progessive ?

They touch the limit of goa ... sometimes they seem to prepare an

explosion, but no, the song goes on without climax ...

And you relax, feel softness, but at the same time the kick keeps you

moving ...

And there is this costant presence of something really magic here, it's

like a background radiation filled with sleeping power ...

 

Rate

 

You love it if you :

like old dream progressive, pleiadians,

melodhic goa with sad melodies ,

old synth sounds.

 

You like it if you :

like chilled atmospheric music, backgound music with a very

dark magic feel.

 

You dislike it if you :

are fan of high budget productions or an addict of warped layers

and noise effects at any cost.

 

You hate it if you:

are Skazi.

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Yeah, it was definitely made before Alien Protein and you can even hear that.

 

Very rusty mastering and more simplified melodies. It exactly sounds like 1995 trance music while Alien Protein feels like 1996 in its core. :D

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Yeah, it was definitely made before Alien Protein and you can even hear that.

 

Very rusty mastering and more simplified melodies. It exactly sounds like 1995 trance music while Alien Protein feels like 1996 in its core. :D

beh, sorry, i byte my tongue - i meant alien protein was composed before jautbl :)
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agree, tho no with that sad melodies thingie, they dont sound sad to me atleast :P

Yes, sad isn't the correct word . To render the feel I should have written :

melodies have a melancholic echo, not sad in the sense of a sad rock ballad, but neither sunny in the

sense of morning trance ... being talking about alchemy, they really hide inside a feel of nigredo (the

alchemistic depressive phase which preludes to enlightement ) , but they are also uplifting , bu in a

magic/gothic/crowleyan way ... some thing like unconscious/trascendental :ph34r:

or at least they feel in that way for me :D

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  • 1 month later...

ETNICA - JUGGLING ALCHEMIST

1995

HIGH SOCIETY RECORDS

 

Posted Image

 

 

Track listing:

 

01. 09'04" The Gili's Voyage - B

02. 07'45" Infinite Dream - A-

03. 08'23" Vicky's Dream - B+

04. 09'09" The Gili's Voyage (Ketu Rmx) - A-

05. 07'16" Moon Influence - A

06. 08'06" Spheric Concept - B+ / A-

07. 11'07" Mystical Appearance In Goa - A

 

 

Wow.

 

Juggeling Alchemists Under the Black Light is indeed one of the best, most underrated Goa-Trance albums. As far as Etnica's Goa style is concerned, it's Juggeling Alchemists and Alien Protein. Alien Protein is the Etnica album people raved about for so many years. Personally I think more people would rave about this one if they heard it. Unfortunately Juggeling Alchemists hasn't been available to order or buy for nearly a decade unless you manage to find some other way, or pay a fortune via Ebay or Discogs whenever it pops up.

 

So why the few reviews and attention? For starters "Juggeling Alchemists..." is only arguably the most sought after album in Goa-Trance history next to Dimension 5's debut which isn't anymore relative to its 2007 Re-release. Very few albums come this close to the desire to obtain a copy as this and at onefor a very long time, Dimension 5's debut.

 

This album makes me want to put 1996's Alien Protein in right after, and so I did and just wrote a review for that too. I think its difficult to pin point flaws because of the mastering or producton on either Juggeling or Alien. Both did come out some time ago so production and mastering clearly is in their time. You'll even notice an improvement with Alien over Juggeling but let's discuss Juggeling. This is an album from 1995 and the music itself is excellent. Why was this this thing kept from being re-released. There's always reasons but wow they should have re-released this one. This for me is one of the best albums of 1995 after Hallucinogen's Twisted. Twisted (read my long awaited review on Twisted now up as well!) released in a year when Juno Reactor released Beyond the Infinite. Dimension 5 released their hugely underrated debut. The Infinity Project released "Feeling Weird," and very few other great Goa albums not mentioned here.

 

What I like most about this album isn't the obvious that it has that classic, old-school sound. No. It's several songs that are musically so excellent by todays Goa-Trance standards, you must hear them for yourself. I generally love the more serious, driving and "moody" melodies throughout. Example? Moon Influence. I love this song. I can name several others too but Moon Influence is currently my favorite along with Mystical Appearance In Goa which just gets better the more it progresses. Never on this album do the melodies get cheesy or happy in a sense, but if driving, motivating, aggressive, and inspirational sounding melodies within melodies and great leading melodies combined is your cup of tea... they never seem to get sad either.

 

Juggeling Alchemists is provocative in out time now.

 

Initially I didn't care the opening track with exception to a melody. Certain tracks took a little longer, over time for me to enjoy them more. Once I awakened to this album, it became one of my favorites in electronica. Etnica was once amazing. This album is the birth of Pleiadians - I.F.O. in a sense because it's the beginnning of Etnica. It's interesting to see where and how they began. The work here is vivid, deep, groovy, soundscapes seem deeply present with the rhythm. After the slower opening track, well... and a great however gentle leading melody, the album becomes more energetic, melody structured, and driving. It slows down a bit with another solid but slower third track before really lifting off never to look back. Strong emotion and melodies are carried throughout these waves of sound. Stand out leading melodies are present, rapped in twisting supporting melodies, effects, and whatever else the Etnica guys could come up with to fuse this classic style that so few people have heard! I was expecting something more quiet and slow actually. Don't let the 2-3 Goa-influenced Chill or Down-Tempo driven tracks fool you into thinking this is less driving or isn't Goa. This is an album well beyond its time. For our time NOW the overall album is superb, a classic in electronica and Psy/Goa Trance.

 

 

Favorite Songs: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7

 

 

A-

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  • 1 year later...

Wow! What is this? I guess goatrance went here on a higher level!

 

Music that is sweeping, clear and bright; and certainly very trancy! As all the tracks starts very gentle, their ending always makes me crazy and "dance like nobody is watching"!

 

As Etnica made this CD, I have to admit, they could not do a better job to define goatrance in a better way! Every tracks is very outbalanced, fluently and takes a psychedelic twist, guiding us to the ending of the track!

 

To me it seems that this way they are capable, as we are used of them in that period of time, to tell us a complete story where one can not only just dance on, but also sitting and relaxing in a comfortable chair and just listen to the geniousness and refined sounds.

 

It surprises me, every time I listen to this masterpiece, that the exact timing of their compositions is what makes this album so strong. This goatrance is not made in a few days, it needed some thinking to me. It can't be done in a few hours. That's why I must admit that the guys who wrote this album where very intelligent goatrance designers!

 

When will they release more off this? Hope to see that happen soon!

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When will they release more off this? Hope to see that happen soon!

Keep dreaming.. like me :P

 

Yeah, when I compare this album to Alien Protein or Equator it's really something different. This is more relaxed and that makes it sound slower but at the same time deeper and more hypnotic. Infinite Dreams and Moon Influence are superb tracks (and I'm not even talking about the godly Mystical Appearance, you should get this CD just for that track)

By the way, am I the only one who thinks the tracknames for #3 and #4 are switched? Vicky's Dream always makes me think of the Gili's Voyage and the Ketu Remix doesn't sound anything like it.

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By the way, am I the only one who thinks the tracknames for #3 and #4 are switched? Vicky's Dream always makes me think of the Gili's Voyage and the Ketu Remix doesn't sound anything like it.

Check this Discogs entry

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  • 5 weeks later...

Ummmmmm...... Dis is simply amazing every track has a story to tell , Mystical apperances in goa is just out of dis world and what a butiful name for a track +100 All tracks :D I love alien protien but i cant compare it with any othr albumb :wub:

 

Y cant evry1 come out with such a smooth goa :(

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  • 5 months later...

Superb, at times magical, stunning; this is one of the best Goa albums. I keep forgetting how much I enjoy this album until I hear it again.

 

INFINITE DREAM (!!)

 

SPHERIC KONCEPT (!!)

 

MOON INFLUENCE (!!!!!)

 

MYSTICAL APPEARANCE IN GOA (!!!!!).

 

 

WOW.

 

9/10 easily.

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a re-release of this one is more than needed! maybe a double pack together with a CD of old tracks like "astral way", "asian code 7", "kumba mela", "moon valley", "fractal gates", "acid shell", "tribute", "chemical trance", "intense visitation"... you know what i'm talking about ;-)

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Yes, sad isn't the correct word . To render the feel I should have written :

melodies have a melancholic echo, not sad in the sense of a sad rock ballad, but neither sunny in the

sense of morning trance ... being talking about alchemy, they really hide inside a feel of nigredo (the

alchemistic depressive phase which preludes to enlightement ) , but they are also uplifting , bu in a

magic/gothic/crowleyan way ... some thing like unconscious/trascendental :ph34r:

or at least they feel in that way for me :D

Your analysis is just as interesting as the music itself :)

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