Shakta - Out Of Sight

[Jeto]

Shakta - Out Of Sight

 

 

Artist: Shakta

Title: Out Of Sight

Label: Dragonfly

Date: 2001

 

Track listing:

 

01. 05'44" Amazon

02. 08'40" Threads

03. 08'08" Next Stop Kawaguchi

04. 08'28" Dirty Bouka

05. 09'21" Questions

06. 06'24" Too Close (Digitalis)

07. 07'08" Quiet Science

08. 05'38" Answers

09. 06'03" System 16

10. 06'33" Out Of Sight

11. 00'39" Bonus Track

 

Review:

 

Ok Seb Taylor gives us something totally new.

 

A long awaited album.. First track starts of kinda groovy

 

Just warming it up for us... The second track goes more into it.. with dark

 

subtle melodies building the groove slowly..and the he drops that kickdrum..

 

it just grooves along totally...I started this review with describing this

 

album. I'm not gonna spoil it. Buy it /// Or hear previews.. I definatly

 

think this is such a drastic change from Shakta's style.. A fucking truly

 

talented artist

[Basilisk]

It's not a masterpiece but if you like that mildly funky UK style (Cosmosis, etc) then perhaps this will be all right.

[Guest Silicon Triptastic]

I like it, but the tracks aren't long enough, generally - best track is Next

Stop Kawaguchi, which has kind of nostalgia value for me.

[Guest agibson684[at]earthlink[dot]net]

A nice departure from the prior two albums. If you're looking for melodies go

elsewhere. If, however, you want top notch production and in your face

percussion coupled with excellent warmth, then look no further. The rhythms

are good and the atmospheric/industrial sounds are top notch. This album is a

hall of fame entry into recording technology, the likes of

(Spicelab,LSG,Oliver Lieb) and Yello, to mention two other greats. Oh, did I

mention it has a dark side/feel to it. This is not full on nor is it cheesy.

It definitely has a groovy feel at times. Questions is Psy-House and I think

it's great to have someone really explore this avenue and do it with such

class. The artists on Spiral Trax should dabble here. It works for me. If

you're a numbers person: Careful measurements yield a value for NA =

6.0221367x10^+23. This is an incredibly large number - almost a trillion

trillion. For example, if we stack NA pennies on top of one another how tall

would the stack be? The answer is it would be so tall that the stack of

pennies could reach the sun and back almost 500 million times!

[Guest Goa Spirit]

Wow!!!! what an album... seb does it in style.. right from the start we have a

great album.. my fav here is next stop kawaguchi... shakta creates more than

just sounds.. and this is no exception.. amazing feel in this whole album and

those hooks always work... one of the better releases so far this year imo..

great work and good to see experimentation.. although his old style was just

as good..

[Guest rx7style]

What a great album. Quite different from what you'd normally hear from Shakta.

This is truely unique music, and is quite trippy. The deep, yet slower beats

are quite enticing, and a pleasure to listen to. This whole albums is filled

with funky sounds, and rhythms. It still retains some of the old Shakta

"style" while making quite a different statement, and that's what I like.

Great album.

[Guest Gibra]

This album was a total waste of money. I can't even compare his first two

albums which were excellent compared to this minimalistic crap. The trance is

becoming too commercial.

[Guest Rumz]

Hmmm Gibra..someone willing to slate a well known artist, The album is pretty

good, but Under the name shakta I expected more "shakta" style, its not goa

its not minimalist.. its kind of in the middle a wierd no-where unclassifyable

zone, I preferred the older albums and the older style which have amazing

little melodies. not bad but not great.. not on my CD player that much 5.5/10

[Guest theone666[at]sol[dot]dk]

Amazon RULESS!!! Great album 7/10

[Guest Dr Rhythm]

Fantastic CD, more cohesive than 'Enlightened Ape'. Full -on, percussive and

funky late night music - I'll give it 9/10. Could have done without the

Digitalis track though and the bonus nonsense.

[Guest [Anonymous]]

It sounds a bit like progressive house in some moments (That's not a criticism,

but an observation)Out of Sight is a good album that covers alot of ground

7.5/10

I love the hidden track, it's all cartoon music and mario kart! I love the

trumpet sound in it!

[Guest Tolrak]

Gibra is perfectly right: it's sooo bad. Mr Taylor shouldnt have changed his

initial melodic style, because now he's beginning to suck with this new album.

Dont buy that. Just download it.

[Guest msb]

0nce you get a standardized idea of what to expect, for example, "real goa"

whatever that means, things stagnate and stop growing. If you got your wish

for 1996-97 style melodic twisty goa trance in every new album, pretty soon

this music scene would shrivel up and disappear. The greatest thing about goa

trance in years past was that it was so NEW, so fresh and young. And I feel

the same way about what we're seeing right now in the rhythm and

timbre-focused, less melodic sounds we hear from Atmos, Ticon,

Spirallianz/Midi Miliz, MOS, Noma, Planet BEN, and others. Music itself and

what we like about it is being picked at and dissected.

For thousands of years, before we had electricity, people had to resort to

hitting, blowing on, or plucking material objects to make sounds. These sounds

were as inflexible as the instruments themselves, and hence, an acoustic

instrument basically can only make one sound but at different pitches. With

pitch being the only thing one could mess with, a whole school of perceiving

and writing music grew around melody as the center of musical composition...

and when I listen to classical and other music all I hear is a bunch of note

pitches changing tediously on otherwise dead sounds. Now that we have

electricity, we can explore all sorts of ways to make sounds come alive and

grow and change, and a new approach to music-making is coming out of the

psychedelic trance scene as composers are exploring all sorts of new musical

concepts other than melody.

My point is that while there is a lot to like about the sounds of a few years

ago, we should all remember that there is a completely new breed of music

being born, and 2000-2002 is the time period in which these "minimal"

stripped-down psy-tech-trance etc. people are experimenting with many new

forms and ideas, and I know in a couple years, when we've seen all sorts of

new avenues and directions taken in this minimal vein, the colorful goa

goodness will return atop a much more sophisticated, advanced, and rhythmic

trance structure. So don't discourage these people such as Shakta from

wandering off for a bit from the traditional goa trance sound. They'll be back

soon, and goa will be better than ever.

[Guest shmurgle]

the above review is intelligent,well thought out,and right on.but enough ass

kissing ere's my take.funky as all hell,not brain-twistingly psy,but there's

enough noises and snippet samples in most tracks to fill in the blanks.at

times it almost feels bare bones,but thats prolly due to the focus on

percussion which is excellent.

like dr rhythm above,i coulda done without the digitalis track which sticks out

like a sore thumb.and please stay away from the hidden track if youre on any

helper substances.its abrupt and abraisive enough to send even those with a

good sense of humor down the wrong paths of thought under the right chemical

circumstances.no number score,but i dig it.these guys are breaking new ground

by way of percussion.

 

laters

[Guest ICQ#: 99077712, Sex-Tazi]

Definitely not the typical pure melodic goa style that we used to hear from Seb

Teylor in his last 2 albums but still the quality and the goodness are still

listenable like the old days.

 

Amazon is first while we can hardly notice any melody, only tech elemets with

cool bass-line - a great opening which is strictly connected to the next trax,

despite the fact that a mixing between the trax is deeply lacking!

Threads continues the same tech/unmelodic style of Amazon which is so un-Seb, i

doubt if I asked anyone of you: who made that track, you would say: Shakta.

Next Stop Kawaguchi starts strongly with this rythem and this vibey name of it

- a very good sampled dancefloor hit but again no certain melody.

Dirty Bouka presents us tribal drums combined with the first trax style.

For some reason I found Question as a clubby tune - not too clubby though but

absolutely not a psychedelic gem and absolutely not the wanted stuff from Seb

imho.

Too Close (Digitalis) is a chill out/techno track, and a very quality nice one

with the typical euro-techno samples.

Quiet Science is weak in dancefloor terms - no hard bassline or kick very

disappointaing.

Answers is not the best tune here for sure features some samples from Genetic

Eyes by Alien Project & Astrix released on the fifth Israels Psycedelic Trance

- very average track.

Coming up the best track here with very uplifting bassline and tech-melodies

integrated with strict changes and powerfull rythem.

The title track is tech-trance with a lower BPM than the other trax with kinda

dubbed elements.

 

All in all, as a goa lover I say this new style of Seb is kinda fresh but not

as good as his old style.

Some will say it's a part of the progression the scene is going through from

the melodic spiritual goa-trance to the minimal futuristic tech-trance but on

the other hand, some will say that Seb is just too exhausted from his old

style.

 

IMHO, new style or not.. Seb could do it much better in some parts and couldn't

in another:

7.5/10

 

What about the bonus track? hmmmmmmmm.. U have to hear it first.. a masterpiece

[Guest xb]

great cd one of the best thise year

very intersting one

[Guest shank]

Not only is this cd weak and boring, it sucks. Get the other two Shakta albums.

[Guest GeozaB]

I think this is the best shakta's album after the "silicon trip" album.tracks

3,4,6,7,9 totally kicks ass!!!

[seraph]

The woman that was working with him on this album actually cut his balls off

that he had on his first two albums...Not a chance that Shakta AS Shakta would

ever make this album without her "help"....So, Shakta actually regressed which

is SUCH A SHAME !! There are some goodish tracks : 3,6,7 but the rest is

really just an Amazon fishing music......

4/10

[Guest niels_knigge[at]ofir[dot]dk]

ZZZZZZZZ...... Wake me up when the melodi begins eh?

Amazingly boring, I'm very dissappointed that everyone is walking away from the

original Trance and Goa. The Europeans is getting far too dark, without melodi

and fixed on the bass. On the other hand the Israliens are getting way to

cheesy (Who said Yahel??)... I don't know what to choose, cause sometimes GOOD

albums appear in the crowd of both...

[Guest Krsman]

Goa is dead...

Out Of sight best song

[Guest Maï maï]

There is a point in saying if the album is minimal or goa. If somebody that i

know is a old school goa freak writes a good review for a minimal album, then

I'd go and buy it even though it's minimal. Because if this person usually has

the same taste in music as I, then there's a good chance that she/he might be

right about a minimal album too. Just my opinion. So why not give us some

clues as to what to expect from an album?

[Guest Psychedelic AllabertA]

I adore this new Shakta's style! But the shame is that it's full potential is

only used in Kawaguchi, Dirty Bouka, Answers, System 16... Other tracks are

also good but not that appealing. But the above mentioned ones rock your mind,

with Answers being my fav. Old Shakta's Goa was great, but new Shakta's trance

is definitely not a degradaton in Seb's musical skills. I hope we'll get

another album in the same style, with more full-on tracks! Overall rating:

7.5/10, but the full-on trax rating is 9/10 from me

[Guest Psychedelic AllabertA]

Sorry, I forgot to mention what exactly do I like in this new style... It's

kinda minimal sounding at first hearing, but this is more than minimal. It's

rich, dark complex and powerful, with a lot of deep, spacey, organic and

metallic sounds which I always liked (kinda Terminator 2 feeling

I can't wait for more from Seb Taylor!

[Guest MG]

That hidden track rocks, I love that dirty trumpet.