psychedelic_mustache Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Artist: Radical Distortion Title: Regenesis Label: Unicorn Music Catalog: UMCD010 Format: CD Released: 2006 Tracklist: 01. Regenesis 02. The Battery 03. Message (vs. Mendark) 04. Mission to the Moon 05. Feeling of Power 06. L.F.T.A 07. Traveller (vs. Mendark) 08. Universe (feat. Radical Project) 09. Alien Nation (vs. Visible Noise) 10. India (Side Liner Remix) Radical Distortion Is out with his debut album on greek label Unicorn Music. My past encounters with the duo has been rather plesant and I ceirtanly had some expectations before digging into what I expected to be yet another attempt to get som wind in under the old Goa-banner... Let's check it out! 01. Regenesis As expected the album opens with an Old-School sounding Goa track the way they were made back in the old days. The round Bassdrum, the uplifting, shifting and multilayered melodies as well as the hectic and frenetic feeling that we used to enjoy so much. It's a lovely track indeed - it's nice to still hear that a few artists out there focus on the good ol' melody... 02: The Battery We continue this album with more of the same. The track opens with som mystical melodies combined with a playfull bassline. The melodies all work well, and there is also a sense of variation, even though alot of the synths, sounds and effects used sounds rather simular. There is also a clear sense of building, and the track seems to grow in intensity from beginning to end with the occational break in between. Solid - the battery is fully charged!! 03: Message (vs. Mendark) "Message" is made together with fellow melodic trancer Mendark. The two did the first installment of the "purple energy" series on the same label a while ago so they should be no strangers to eascother.... This track opens in much the same way as the two previous tracks did, with mystical and atmospheric melodies. When the bass kicks in however this shifts perhaps a tad more into the full-on'ish direction. Don't worry though, the melody-work and the general "feel" of the track is still largely rooted in Goa. And as the track progresses the full-on elements more or less disappears. Another nice track! 04: Mission to the Moon This track opens in what might be the coolest intro of the album. Some alien melodies fuse with some marvelous ambience to create euphoria in the mind of an old hippie such as my self. Unfortunately the track doesn't really deliver what the intro promises. Where the tracks som far has seemed to have a clear direction this to me feels more random - less coherent. Even so, there are moments here that provide great joy and it's ceirtanly not a bad track, just less great than the three previous. 05: Feeling of Power With this track the mood shifts somewhat. Where the melodies so far has been of the spaced out and mysterious sort we now shift gear and end up a tad more on the dark side. The bass also has a more 'modern' feel to it - more stomp-stomp-engine-stuff and less playfull. Even so, this isn't really dark in the sense that the term is often used theese days. It's just that the Goa part is toned down where I'd like to see it kept up. 06: L.T.F.A A long metallic sweep kicks off this track which is perhaps the track on the album is dislike the most. I'd describe it a melodic morning full-on. It's not bad, not at all - infact it sounds better than most music operating within this terretory. The problem however is that it doesn't really seem to fit very well in here and it to som degree breaks the great feeling of this album. 07: Traveller (vs. Enerkaz) To my disappointment the album continues on the path it started with "L.T.F.A" on "Traveller". This track is made together with someone called Enerkaz. Unfortunately I can't provide any more info on the fellow. On the bright side this track has a tad more feeling and groove than the last one, but again - this is essentially full-on and allthogh not being awfull it's not very interesting either. 08: Universe (Feat. Radical Project) "Universe" follow somewhat in the footsteps of the last two tracks. Luckilly for us, though this is excecuted much better, and even though I think it's safe to say we still lurk in full-on waters, this harmonizes much better with the albums obvious flirtations with goa-trance, as it's melodic in "that" way. I recover somewhat from the two previous tracks and regain hope in the albums finishing tracks.... 09: Alien Nation (vs. Visible Noise) Alas, It was not to be..."Alien nation"turns out not to be very alien at all. Infact it turns out to be some sort of generic funn-on mush that I'd excpect to find on the more comercially oriented tranceefloors around the world rather than on alien worlds. Not for me - Next! 10: India (Side liner Rmx) Side liner released a rather impressive debut earlier this year, and here he remixes the for me unfamiliar track "India". After a few dissapointing travks towards the end of this album we're served a nice pot of electronic chillage here. The track has tons of space, lush melodies and a slow but hypnotic groove that will make you forget about all that full-on you just forced yourself through. Nice way to finish the album! Final Remarks: All in all this turned out to be a 50/50 thing for me. I really enjoyed the beginning og this album, and I believe that if Radical distortion had made an album with as great tracks as the first three on this installment it could have had the potential of being the best goa-album since Khetzal, or perhaps even since Ra's "to serious". Unfortunately it was not to be. My advice is to listen to the first five tracks and the skip to the last one. Tomas (Psychedelic Mustache) Buy it here: psyshop Saiko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Cocco Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 Nice review psychedelic_mustache. My Impressions/feedback... I remember Radical Distortion from the Apsara album. I also remember considering the last track they did on Apsara one of the few less strong songs on the comp, but solid enough for me to consider pretty good. So did they get lazy here? I mean, was it not possible for them to take the time and make it all goatrance?, because the first four tracks sound very good. At this point I'm about to order a copy for myself until.. The goatrance feel changes at track 5 and surprisingly goes into that Full On sound that doesn't go over well with most goatrance lovers/listeners it seems. It also seems to have Full On songs for the rest of the album, or until the last track, which sounds good. Hmmm...it's not bad for Full On but when you place it next to something so beautiful, melodic, etc...I get disappointed. I wonder what happened? While listening to track 5, I'm thinking that hopefully this will be just a cool filler track before returning to the goatrance songs again.. So why are they trying to eat their cake and have it too? Why are they doing both goa and full on psy? Why are they splitting up the album? Most goatrance listeners may instantly recognize this shift, and question or be turned off by it...and most Full On people may not get hooked when sampling the first several initial songs I'd imagine. Track 5 is OKAY, but loses that goatrance feel and seems to be the transistion track of the album, from goatrance to Full On. The last track seems very chill, melodic, catchy....a good way to end the album that seems like it would have been great if they continued their goatrance (first 4 songs) style throughout and added at least 3 or 4 more solid goatrance songs. One or two full on songs I could live with, but half the album??! Bummer...I find some people including myself will have more difficulty buying this when only half of the album is what is liked. I am not against all Full On, but please guys...not on an album that makes you believe its GOOD goatrance until the 5th track. Why? And to prove I'm not against all Full On, I like track 8, Universe (Feat. Radical Project). It's a pretty cool song and it would have been very cool if the other Full On tracks matched the catchyness, melodies of this and/or better. We as listeners are taking a detour from something great (the goatrance songs) to hear the songs in a sub-genre (Full On) that are usually very basic and typical, so it's even nicer when the non-goatrance songs are [at least] pretty good like track 8 seems to be. It's like they're trying to appeal to both sides but giving each side half of what they want. I respect the good goatrance songs on this and wish the whole album followed that goa direction because that could have been awesome. Tracks 1, 2, 3 sound really good and/or great!, the best on the album. Track 4 sounds "pretty" good. Track 8 seems like a relief after hearing tracks 6 and 7, which I find very disappointing/below average. Track 9 also sounds very lacking, your typical dance trance, Full-On stuff I've heard a thousand times and find boring and tedious to listen to. The final track 10 sounds good, very cool. I wish there was more of those "great" goatrance songs and/or at least the full on songs were better. Track 8 is cool but the other full on ones take up half the album and will contributing to stunting both sales and appreciation of this album. Track 10 sounds good, the chill song is one of the best on the album. Damn I wish there was more good/great songs between tracks 4-10...(!!) I would have so bought this. PS: I noticed they [basically] have another album, just released last year. It seems more psy with goa influences than half and half like this album seems to basically be...regardless, it seems to have some very catchy, good songs on it too and it seems more consistent in what it's going for than this one, which would have been great if they continued it like the first three songs (all the way through) and kept the last one of course. Oh well. http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/umc/umc1cd007.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headbot Posted August 10, 2006 Share Posted August 10, 2006 thank you all for your feedback, always welcomed. kind regards, Unicorn Music / Cosmicleaf Records Review by Freeze Magazine Greece ============================ If you watch them live with Astral Projection (05.05.06 Underworld club) you will understood that they love retro sound and that they transfered you 10 years back with the feeling of the timeless melodic goa trance madness which had seize our dreams and reality....Travel with them and goa trance godness would be happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time_Trap Posted September 6, 2006 Share Posted September 6, 2006 Good production, nice sounds and fx used .. my favourite tracks: 1,2,5,9 The rest sound a bit too samey and not that interesting, not bad though. Generally all the tracks seems like they could use a bit more variation and maybe more climaxes & remarkable moments. I feel like after the first 3-4 minutes they have nothing more to say and just recycle. The chill-out track is really nice btw... Overall a decent album.. ! 7/10 ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headbot Posted September 7, 2006 Share Posted September 7, 2006 thanks time trap for your feedback, take care Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trance2MoveU Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Jon and Mr. Mustache covered this ground in depth so I'm won't to go into the same detail that was clearly explained. Here's the way it made me feel. You're out late, it's last call and the lights come on everyone is looking for someone to take home that won't incur the ridicule of your boys. Then you see her. Long black hair, deep blue eyes, and sexy legs that seem to go on forever. And she's looking at you. Only you. You approach each other and after a minute she says, "Wanna get outta here?" Back at your place the lights are low and you're naked in the bed getting ready to watch her come to you. She pulls off the blouse and it's starting to get hot in here. Then she removes the wig and what was long luxurious hair is replaced by receding hairline. She reaches for a glass on the nightstand and promptly removes her teeth. Just when you can't take it anymore, she pulls off her right wooden leg and braces it in the corner. I mean how do you escape? It's your f*cking house. You could kick her out and throw the leg out the door after her, but that seems kind of dickish. So you just do it and never. Speak. Of. It. Again. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit. I would love to hear from the artists themselves about why the album took the turn that it did. The good news was of course that they made a complete goa album in 2009 called Psychedelic Dreams with Suntrip and a slew of great compilation tracks so, you know, they got that going for them. Mdk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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