Miranda - Phenomena

[Children]

Miranda - Phenomena

 

 

Artist: Miranda

Title: Phenomena

Label: Koyote

Date: 1997

 

Track listing:

 

01. 11'03" Step To The Stars

02. 07'56" Subtropical Forest

03. 10'53" Andalgalornis

04. 08'37" Labyrinth

05. 08'24" Green Man

06. 08'52" Phenomena

07. 07'23" Weightless

08. 09'39" Concorde

 

Review:

 

GOOD album :-) Best Track is Track 9 : Concorde !

Other Tracks are pretty good (except the Ambient one : Track 7, Weightless),

and I think you can't be disappointed with this album ...

Rating : 7/10

[Guest Tequila]

great album!!

Miranda succeeds in associating melodies and slowness.All the tracks are quite

good, especially the fourth, Labyrinth.

7.5/10

[Guest Ubik]

Quite good album, but it's a little too predictable. My favorite is Labyrinth.

No bad track.

[Guest Stam]

If you own this album, be proud of it, it´s one the

greatest trips you will have.....it´s a journey through

space....and time.......

[danger]

One of the best goa albums ever. Lot of melodies ll take U to the outerspace,

far far away. But my cover looks different. 10/10

[unit_]

This is a nice album. Some really fine melodies and a pleasant atomsphere.

There's isn't what you could call a bad track on this album, I like most of

the tunes. I find "Weightless" to be very nice listening to while trying to

sleep or releax. Even though this isn't one of my absolute favorite albums

it's quite up there. You won't be dissapointed if you like the "older" Goa

style.

[Guest djonanis[at]hotmail[dot]com]

This is the best mirandas album, although I do not like it that much, I feel it

a lot flat and without a good instrumental work.4/10

[Guest lagoatrance]

Very very good album..."Subtropical forest", "Labyrinth" are very intersting

and "Steps to the stars" is fantastic !!! Don't miss this album...Superbe

album avec des classiques comme "Steps to the stars", a ne pas manquer ! 8,5/10

[Guest [Anonymous]]

Miranda, i falling in love with you ! this album is one of the most important

goa trance album. I particulary like the 6 and 3 tracks. Very very good goa

album !

[Guest zale]

best goa album ever!10/10

[Guest [Anonymous]]

great 8,5/10

[Guest Ubik]

Since this album is right now highlighted as a "classic", I thought I would

update my opinion. I think that this is crap. Not a single track that is not

spoiled by a cheesy predictable israeli melody. Beside that the rest is rather

good, nice effects, intros and clean production, but since I can't listen to a

full track, 3/10

[Guest Kapten Fruktkaka]

This is probably my favourite album of all times.

The music is very interessting, intelligent and psychedelic. I get the feeling

Miranda has got a 'real musical education' like many swedes do, cause I can't

find one thing on any track that sounds stupid in the way that lots of

home-educated techno producers often do. The music is evolving in every track.

[Jeff]

A great dark yet-not-too-much album. One of my first buy in the Psyshops. Best

tracks for me : Labyrinth, Phenomena and Concorde. hmm, only 8/10 because of

tracks 2 and 3 that I don't like at all.

[Guest Diepeveen]

Very good album... Nice melodies allover, however sometimes i think it becomes

boring and sometimes i think it's great! - Best track is for sure "Steps To

The Stars" - Fantastic track, it's like two tracks in one! - Very old school!

- So i'll give this album 7,5/10

[Guest The israeli powerful, magical Ev]

This album is indeed dark and inspiring...Within the unfolding momentum of it's

alluring aura-You truly get a realistic sense that, just maybe, there may be

someone or something else living with us (or maybe even within us) somewhere

out there...Because this album is a landmark in trance music (and a success in

Israel)-I give it 10/10...A true monumentum in Trance!!!

[Guest Le Lotus Bleu]

very nice melodic goa album.Bad tracks are 5-7(a bad attempt of ambient) all

the rest is good, favourite one is Concorde.

rating:7,5/10

[Guest Jason - Los Angeles, CA]

One of those CD's I bought a long time ago, because it was a must have. I

listened to it before and liked it, but never paid attention. I recently

dusted it off and listened. Great Cd. Bad attempt at Ambient?? How do you

figure. This CD has great melodies and beats. Can't expect it to thump like

the trance acts of today. Totally different times and styles, but this CD

still is worth getting if you like great melodies and build ups

(Israeli/morning style).

 

P.S. I know she is not Israeli, so save your comments.

[khogg]

Umm, her best? Whatever, I appreciate this for what it is. I want an original

copy!! Most of these tracks made it on to compilations in the day. These days

she gets a licken' for not being cutting edge. Again, whatever. If you want

old school goa, look no further, because here it is. Okay already, now

re-release it.

[seraph]

Amazing album ! It is her best...It is old scholl GOA at it's best...I like all

songs, she really manages to twist your grey cells with masterful skill in

producing real essence of Goa Trance...But that only happend on this

album...Until ASYNJA she didn't manage to produce real GOA trance but stylised

Tech - Trance which I didn't like that much...But this album is a

masterpiece...Beside liking all songs I especially like : STEPS TO THE STARS,

SUBTROPICAL FOREST, LABYRINTH, GREEN MAN, PHENOMENA, CONCORDE...10/10

[Guest radar[at]ipx[dot]pl]

When I five years ago first time listened this cd, I thought "Oooooh... what's

this !?!? Miranda is a genius, that she creates this sounds. This is the best

trance material which I've ever heard !". However I get this cd few weeks ago

and I still think similar: hypnotic music dense in beautiful, intelligent,

deep and uplifting melodies, spacious sounds, great rhythm, perfect

arrangement... I've never heard cd, that damn good like this one. This is the

best trance album ever released.

Tr.1,3,4,5-nothing more, nothing less. Respectable tracks, 10/10. Tr2-hmm..., I

think it's most boring track on this cd, although it's very good, 8/10.

Tr7-totally different from other compositions... very ambiental mood, 9/10.

Tr6,8 "Phenomena" and "Concorde"-AWESOME ! Absolutely the best tracks ! There

are no words to describe them... 11/10.

Great masterpiece ! Great psychedelic experience ! If you love old, good goa

trance, you must to have it, 10/10.

[mars]

"Step To The Stars" gives directly a lot of power. Huge kick, beautiful

atmosphere, you can feel all the layers that unfold on the metronome-like

kick. In the middle there is a very peaceful melody and at the end it gets

twisted and happy !

"Subtropical Forest" seems heavy and slow...but it is not. perfect for a

morning, this nice trip was done with a lot of imagination.

"Andalgalornis" has a long intro that kicks simply, and suddenly the track is

enlightened by powerful melodies, several melodies that drives you crazy till

the end. wow !

"Labyrinth" is okay. Between 3 and 4 minutes the music gets stronger before the

main crazy melody. The problem is that there are 2 parts that sound almost the

same in this track.

"Green Man" is also very synthetic and melodic and yet not heavy at all. It's

just clean and simple.

"Phenomena" is twisted, uses the whole psychedelic toolkit, but at the same

time it's not so complicated. The strong point is a perfect musical timeline,

i mean the way melodies are put together.

"Weightless" is the ambient track of the album, ultra peaceful with lots of

small sounds and an intelligent melody after the middle. It relaxes you really

well before....

"Concorde" is...well you must listen to it. Everything is in it, the intro that

climbs till the kicks starts, the beautiful melody in the begining that goes

everywhere in your mind, the trip-inside, the second and third themes that are

more atmospheric and still powerful, the climax melody that climbs and heats

your brain, and after a break the first theme comes back more aggressively to

acheive you !!

 

Favourites : Staps o the stars, Andalgalornis, Concorde

 

Conclusion : I had bought it inthe very first days of 1997, then i had listened

to it a lot. Now in 2002, it souns unreal! You realize Miranda was the first

really known Sweedish artist at that time, and she was also one of the

starters of this typical atmospheric sweedish sound. For example, listen to an

Human Blue album just after this one and you'll realize. Too bad her albums

are almost ignored now.

 

Overall : 8/10

[Guest Dr G]

Miranda has come in for some (pretty unpleasant) stick for her other albums, so

I just want to reassure her if she ever reads this that she made at least one

classic that will stand the test of time. This is a great album and is

certainly up there with other Goa classics from Etnica, Doof, Hallucinogen,

Pleidians, etc. There are several unique elements that contribute to this

classic status. Firstly, Miranda creates a uniquely dark, sometimes even

slightly claustrophic, vibe on this album. I don't know if she used some kind

of noise reduction or filtering, but the background is inky black and the

recording is slightly dull, certainly not bright. This dark atmosphere is most

alluring as it draws the listener/dancer in and gives a sense of space.

Secondly, Miranda uses a very tight, deep kickdrum throughout this album which

ties the tracks together and helps create a feeling of unity. This kick has a

real thump to it, and is very distinct from Etnica's slightly tinnier Goa

kick, for instance. Thirdly, Miranda creates uniquely sculpted melodies - all

of them have a kind of bouncy spring in their step that is hard to describe (I

don't know if she listened to Bruckner, a German classical composer who had

similar little jounces in his melodies). These little jounces give momentum to

her melodies and create the aural equivalent of fractals - lots of small sharp

scooped edges that create a latticework (no I'm not tripping as I write this).

Finally, Miranda does use the classic Goa "storytelling" song structure, so

there is a sense of progression in each tune. I don't think that is worthwhile

picking out any of the tracks on the album as they're all of much the same

standard, so the album gels as a whole. I love this record, and am still going

to love it in ten year's time. Impossible to recommend highly enough. 10/10

[Guest Davidtolsn]

decent old school cd, with not as much cheese as real rush, but also not as

much energy. none of the melodies on here really grab me, but it is a solid

listen from beginning to end. favorite track is concorde, least favorite is

weightless. 7.5/10

[Spiritual Carnage]

I just bought this album used few days ago for about 3 euros!! This is indeed good ol'school goa. Not outstanding but a no-nonsense really good album from the beginning to the end with no disappointments.

Best tracks 1, 3, 8

7.5/10