Penta - Horn Please (2007)

[CERBERUS]

Artist..............Penta

Album............Horn Please

Genre.............Psychedelic

Label..............Auraquake

Hyperlink.......http://www.auraquake.com

Catalog..........AQCD004

Release.Date..2007-03-30

Tracks............09

Playtime.........72:38 min

 

01. Perfect Sunday…..08:30

02. Aerobica…………08:02

03. Stag Party……….07:50

04. Foggy……………08:56

05. Olympia…………08:19

06. Take Two………..07:16

07. Non-Profit ………06:31

08. Why Not?.............09:46

09. Here We Come….07:28

 

 

For intro I’ll leave the publishers words put on paper because I think there can’t be no better introduction of Penta’s new album “Horn Please” (off course there will be some comments from me  ) “Endless travelling, constant noise of the parties, life in hotels, as well as a considerable dose......of couch-surfing, has accumulated in Penta's head into something that resembles the chaos of Indian street traffic. Horn Please - the message that is written on the back of the sub-continent's trucks in India (who has been in India or watched the documentary “The Last Hippie Standing” knows why  ) could never been more appropriate to describe the desire to bring order to trance musician's life. This album, executed in the style of a Mumbai taxi, is a dedication to the crazy party life in the form of a collection of morning and night psytrance tracks, sometimes written in headphones in different parts of the globe, and already successfully tested on the biggest dance floors of the planet. Faster BPMs than in his previous albums, as well as the use of the latest technologies, makes 'Horn Please' one of Nikita's most psychedelic works to date.” . Soo our story begins… as I said before the introduction of the album is it mirror… Nikkita tried to bring us closer to a part of his life share it with us, which makes this album even more unique … because I don’t know there may be other but this is a first time for me that an psy artist shows his intimate, inner looks on the world

 

 

#1 Perfect Sunday

It’s a Sunday morning and you are wakening up there are some unclear voices coming from the TV you left on the previous night…after that crude awakening the real thing begins the spite bassline with the twisted FX bring you the fast morning life (getting up, shaving, getting dressed) but from moments you get the flashes from the previous night.. and start to wonder “what happened?” … You continue get out take a walk on the fresh morning sun and everything goes so fast around you, you’re heart starts to pump faster and faster, those strange, twisting FX start again to f**k you’re brain up and the bassline won’t stop pumping blood to your heart and brain.

 

 

 

 

#2 Aerobica

The day has started and you face again the great world around you. Here we have even more spite bassline then the previous track but and even more mind twisting FX’s, the new technology is working damn I never encountered such trippy and twisting FX … you can’t even hear yourself.. as a fact no one can.

 

#3 Stag Party

You’re back home the sun starts to set and the only thing you want to do is flush that tension in your brain. Your thoughts travel to a distant place, a place of happiness …. You turn to the TV and see Marge and Homer talking “Is this is some kind of stag party? No Marge it is going to be a classy party” …And you recall the party, it comes to you in a blurry vision from the bassline it’s in a way calm and blurry and with no so aggressive FX that were attacking your brain previously

 

#4 Foggy

So you are still foggy in your mind lifts and you’re back there, where? On the dance floor. From here on stars the dark, strange voices and FX, are those monkeys I hear? What the f**k? The bassline is so dark and when I say dark I mean very dark, no spite but pure darkness coming from it building up the tension preparing you for the next level, the next step.

 

#5 Olympia

Now this is it the ultimate pleasure. Something so psychedelic the dark bassline from the previous track builds up some spiteness the FX are more consistent and the bloops and blips are so deep and trippy. This is definitely my favourite track from the album. The psychedelia Is building up and you’re hitting the dance floor hard and you are starting to loose your self, it fills you up with energy and you can’t stop moving even if you want to … soo don’t stop, don’t ever stop.

 

#6 Take Two

So you’re so worked up till now and suddenly here she comes like an angel from the fog … she is offering something to you and says: “Take two”. It almost morning it’s about 2-3 a.m. the early birds star to sing you hear their singing. The track continues where the last stopped with almost the same bassline and combined FX, trippy sounds from the previous tracks it’s the cream of the night the point where you start to melt .

 

#7 Non-Profit

And now the party is over you are not at the same place anymore there is a very mean, spite bass line followed by a drum sound. I personally don’t like drums in a psy-track but this is something different, they give a special colour to the track when you hear them the adrenalin starts too pump. From Nikkita’s point of view “The night is hot as hell, it’s a lousy room in a lousy part in a lousy town” it’s all about love for psy-trance.

 

#8 Why Not?

As you plunder on the bad and the momories form last night overvelm you the fillings are coming back to you more intense, clearer. Again with a very deep and dark bassline Nikkita strikes your nerve system. You are awake but still dreaming or are you awake in the dream all the pictures of the past pass by you all the things you did even the things you gonna do and you say to you’re self “Why not?”. It’s a great track when you want to soak up every moment of the sunrise.

 

 

 

#9 Here We Come

This track ends it all or does it.. do you get the feeling you’re spinning around and around, the bassline and the FX in this one sure make you feel like that. And you star to wonder did I experienced all that or am I going to experience all that. The circle can never be broken “Here we go” again

 

 

What can I say I did my talking travelling throgh the tracks, it’s a master peace from Nikkita and could we expected anything less from him. For me personaly the experience was a story like the life of one person was put in one day, and in that day, in that life we find our selfs or some of us do, some more, some less … ok I think it’s time for me to stop and rate this beaty and I give it 10 out of 10 the best peace of art a heard so far in 2007

 

Favourites: All!!!

 

Don't forget to support artists by buying their CD'a and 12" visiting 'em on parties and festivals

[Jon Cocco]

Pentafiles IS one of the best dark psytrance albums of all time. It was warped, like traveling or being sucked through a dark hole in the Universe. In all honesty, I think the reason why many people love, admire his debut is because it wasn't as accepted by the general mainstream because it didn't sound mainstream even if you could dance to it. It had its own innovative style, spirit, and sound. Penta's first album is considered a cult-classic in dark psytrance because enough people believe it is. Regardless of the artists intentions or desires, this debut was "felt" by enough listeners. It has strong lasting appeal for what it is. B+

 

Funraiser, the second album I was not as impressed with. Past Holidays, Inverter, and Eater of the Worlds were good followed by the opening song "It is done" and the closing one Flash Forward, but why not make an album with all songs as good as the good ones and several excellent/superb ones too? The second album is above average, sure. Bigger on dancefloors, definitely. It was also better than most dark psy releasing that year and in general. There were some cool touches here and there, although the "YES!" sample in the opening track had been used before in other dark psytrance albums like the opening track on Talamasca - Beyond the Mask album for instance. Funraiser felt less powerful, far-out, gripping, and memorable to me compared to his debut even with it's several good songs and melodies which are essential to say the least! The weaker tracks initially gave me the impression that Funraiser was a shadow of its former self although some would disagree. It was a pretty good album, just nothing great in my opinion. B

 

Horn Please has many psy and strange alterered, tweeked sounds around a kickdrum. There is some cool combos of catchy noise, melodies, and atmosphere. However strong melodies seem further away than before. Also, female voice echoes go a long way for effect when done right and Penta seems to do that well on the final track. More evocative sound would be cool. It does have some nice melodies, good ambient notes and atmosphere. I like the stomping, powerful beats and rhythms accentuated with booms at times. Some songs don't stand out so much. He continues to mix in cool, chilling, ambient, atmosphere sounds, and voice samples (the latter kept minimum) which compliment. I simply wish more was done in creating thicker, more layered rhythms. It would be cool if Penta added more layers, development and depth as the track moves forward. Theme songs like Foggy are good but few and far between. If this guy wants to improve dark Psy-Trance he needs to get more "visual" with his sounds and create some serious soundscapes. Sounds like the brooding ambience from 2:57-3:30 into Foggy are effective; they're eerie and dark but that's one good sound creating a wall of disturbia, distress. Overall I feel like more could have been added to engage us into the world created. The album is good overall.

 

I opened a review thread for Penta's Pentafiles album in the 2003 section... any comments or reviews are welcome.

[Drosophila]

After my first listen this album is very impressive... more night'ish than Funraiser.

 

But when u hear it u are not in doubt that this is Penta.... Its still in the same vain as the other albums.

 

If you liked Penta's earlier stuff, I will suggest u get this one asap!

 

as for chis goes.... :lol: Do u really think people will take u serious with lame statements like that?? If u do... then I feel sorry for u!

[Time_Trap]

Well I also didn't find this new Penta album any spectacular.Just decent. Better than Funraiser though.

However his first one, Pentafiles , is very good, and Chis, you should check this one maybe.

[Pandemonium]

I just picked this one up today. After lighting up a fat ass bowl of the sweet chocolate I listened to it. There are so many different feelings I experienced when listening to this. A few to words that would describe this one would be scary, dark, nightmarish, suspenseful, twisted, raw, spooky, creepy, chaotic, insane, psychotic, hard, eerie, trippy, and mysterious. Sounds ranging from a washing machine to robotic monkey noises.Sometimes it feels like your in some sort of circus or carnival in the deep dark forest. Lots of crunchiness. I love the samples that they used in Non Profit, they are from the movie Sin City. And FUTURISTIC. This is the futuristic raw dark machine sounding, cutting edge music with robotic melodies and electronic atmospheres that will take over dance floors all over the world in the near future. (I hope ) This is the best Dark sounding psy that I have heard since Derangos Tumult. This one is about to get alot of play in my house in the near future. I would reccomend this album to any type of psytrance lover.

[Methodic Marble]

Great Album LOVEE ITTTTTTTTTTT

[Jeller]

yeah this album is very niceee, way better than Funraiser

[alleycat]

yeah this album is very niceee, way better than Funraiser

+1

 

I never got a copy Funraiser, every time I heard the samples I was kinda turned off... I love his compo tracks, especially the one on Chew on This. Horn Please is more like that, IMO. Still got the same Penta polychrome synths and clean as hell sound.

 

And, as I said on Isra, this album helped me to avoid dying driving in a snowstorm the other day. Helped keep me awake and aware, after already driving for a long time...

 

Thanks Nikita!

[Lepton]

without doubt the best penta album till so far !!!

very intelligent and dancefloor friendly !!

 

9/10

[amphiton]

without doubt the best penta album till so far !!!

very intelligent and dancefloor friendly !!

 

9/10

indeed

[Time_Trap]

without doubt the best penta album till so far !!!

very intelligent and dancefloor friendly !!

 

9/10

 

Well I disagree I think his best one is PENTAFILES, and to be honest in my opinion he kind of lost it after that....

[Goa Bill]

I still don't understand what Penta has to do with Dark Psy???

It's pure Psy.

[exotic]

I still don't understand what Penta has to do with Dark Psy???

It's pure Psy.

+1

although the bass does have something nocturnal about it.

 

This one is way better than penta files also IMO.

[ocelot]

this album is great stuff.

his night time sound makes other night-psy look forced and lame-

his stuff is just so sexy...

 

good basslines, tasty percussions, atmospheres are nice.

and the mix is just right- always phat and always good timing- not too much of anything or any part...

 

i recommend it

[SeaFeel]

Well im not so close to the dark psy sound, but i have hear this disc!!! It has very good structure, and the quality is perfect! I also liked the "Pentafiles" album!

My Rating: 7/10

[Jeller]

Take Two has a verrrrry good part in the middle of the track which is so spastic that it even becomes uplifting

(3min 22 - 4min08)

only Penta can make such stuff

 

by the way, sometimes it is easier to make a track good with some melodies, cuz then it is more than catchy and easier to apreciate than to make a track with just crazy sounds and rhytm, because than it is way harder to make it catchy

 

but off course a good melody isn't easy to make, so it is both pretty hard

 

there is a difference between random noise and the things that Derango and Penta make

[filitico]

whoa lots of bitching on this one. I gave Horn a go and I didn't get it. Don't get me wrong I don't mind Dark Psy (although I did vote it as the genre I usually can't stand because of so much generic stuff), but I felt like there was something missing. Not melody per se (since this isnt a priority i darkpsy, but maybe some more winding escalating power? or funier samples Pentastyle!

[Jeller]

the good thing about this is that it is very spastic, but Penta has the spasms under control, pretty paradoxal

 

this makes it so amazing

[Sideffect...]

very good release, I might say the best until 2007 in it's kind...

very motivating and crystal clear

[Jon Cocco]

PENTA - HORN PLEASE

2007

AURAQUAKE RECORDS

 

 

Track list

 

01. Perfect Sunday - B+

02. Aerobica - B

03. Stag Party - B-

04. Foggy - B

05. Olympia - B-

06. Take Two - B-

07. Non-Profit - B

08. Why Not? - B

09. Here We Come - B+

 

 

 

I like Penta. I like his drive to improve upon his previous work and move forward, showing that he has more maturity and experience. Unlike Talamasca, a once great Psy-Trance artist who does not make good music anymore in my opinion, Penta changed his style and in a sense became stronger, stronger for dancing while not selling out to general mainstream crap-shoots. I'd like to quickly take the reader through Penta's previous album history right up to "Horn Please."

 

Pentafiles: I read the artist was impressed with the reception this album has gotten. The reason why I enjoyed 2003's Pentafiles is because it involved songs with more of an identity and fantasy element. It was more traveling, occasionally thought provoking and story-driven. At times the melody work was emotive and the tracks were generally full of character. I could put on my headphones and be wisked away into the dark realms of space attaching emotions to these places by associations of the more emotional waves of melodies at times around the more chaotic, driving tracks. Naturally Pentafiles was less of a strong dance friendly album per say, but you could dance to a handful of tracks if you wanted to.

 

Funraiser from 2005 was a departure from the more visual (traveling), sometimes epic and story-telling sound. It joined the more dance friendly realm of Full On but Penta modified his style. He kept his unique sound to a degree. This follow-up had some very good tracks along with some weak ones too. Honestly I never bought that album because the samples turned me off everytime I heard them too. To me it seemed less mentally traveling and emotive. It lacked having a twisted dark element that made Pentafiles so engaging at times and seemed more intended for dancing, not "exploring."

 

Horn Please from 2007's follows up the more Full On(?) approach from Funraiser but this is a stronger, more satisfying style and sequel. The album to me is similar in concept to a fast paced action movie, [in the sense] there's many cool special effects, mixing, and pumped up parts but it lacks depth and heart. There's alot to stimulate the body and mind energy-wise but less intellectual or hidden elements in the music to my hearing. When the album ended I didn't feel any emotions or attachment other than it sounded cool in the moment. It's a fun dance album with consistent aggressive, (dark) driving sound and style throughout. The songs are generally good. The production is strong as expected. His sounds seem more crisp than ever. It's the mixing I also enjoy.

 

This artist gets creative with virtually hundreds of metal, metallic, melodic, industrial, and other sounds. Combined with a strong bassline and kick, the melodies, atmosphere, and sound effects produce a constantly driving, dynamic style and rhythm. Also existent are some awesome stomping moments which work great on the dancefloor but are just fun to listen to. If you're looking for strong melody development and layers gradually deepening and piling up as the song progresses you'll be disappointed. I noticed when one melody is blazing against the beat and psy sounds, sometimes the artist adds more melodic elements. But it doesn't last long. It's soon replaced with new sounds. The song changes up and another melody or wave of combos, via effects and melodic elements are added. The care put into finding locating and altering so many sounds to catchy effect is strong. While some tracks like the first have more meat and potatoes to this selling point, the album has enough taste to satisfy me for the most part. More layers flowing within melodies at times would be great in the future.

 

 

Gripes, weaknesses:

 

- Tracks I find weaker than most if not all others here are Olympia and Take Two.

 

- Next time it would be cool to have atleast one or two super songs. I mean stunning. Many songs here are good. And the album begins and ends strong. I think the first and last track are great. The amount of quality songs is actually better than the majority of Psy-Trance releases. No song to me here however stands out, is really superb. Listen to the song "Structural Failure" on the Robotic Tongue album by Dark Nebula for example. It's one of the greatest dark Psy-Trance songs I've ever heard. In short, masterpiece songs are not on this album. One or two really impressive-as-balls, powerful songs on top of all the great new ones in a future album would be amazing!

 

- Several strong buildups and climaxes would be alot of fun, even if there's buildup and climactic elements throughout Horn Please. The overall style is more stylish and energetic. It involves but lacks setting the listener up for a monster peek (buildup, climax, explosion) in Penta's more intense style, or playing with the element of shock and surprise. Sure there are many unexpected sounds, change-ups, and moments here. I like that! And this style clearly has room to become more complex, wild, deep, dynamic, and engaging yet. Also more charcter development on certain tracks as Foggy has (Seems like Foggy is a horror character about to cause chaos!) would be cool.

 

More layers of melodies, super leading melodies, and stronger melody development and structure (building) would be cool too in a future album. I think the latter is more challanging to pull off relative to the style which involves many change ups in sounds throughout the track which I also like. It's a 50/50 thing I suppose. Is it possible for Penta to build and develop some great layered streams of melodies together, driving the wider rocket (the thicker stream) forward throug the debree, the sounds and cool yet short lived melodies? I don't know. It would be interesting to see if the artist with this style could buy enough time in a song or two to really build that dark, atmospheric kingdom of eleborate, driving melodies along with the sound texture he has going on around it. He's good when it comes to melodies!

 

 

In conclusion, fans who were more into the darker, more Full On approach of Funraiser should generally like this. I'd say the tone is generally dark because characteristics like "intensity" and "aggression" is often not associated with light and positive sound, i.e: the morning. Is a lightning storm dark? To me it's cool, sometimes intense looking, and best to catch at nighttime. That's how I'd describe Penta's general style. It isn't THAT dark but I understand why some people call it dark psytrance. As someone said above, there's many crisp, crunchy sounds and melodic elements, some melodies. The storming, driving sound keeps the green light lit throughout, the ignition held down. Sounds like wind echoed and a door slamming are present, mixed in over the kickdrum to give it a more sylish, hynotic depth to the beat and rhythm. I like the mixing, the sounds, and the chopping and mis-matching of words from voice samples to create quick melody sentences. This is a good album for driving to at nighttime, working out, and especially dancing. Horn Please tops the majority of todays repetitive, noisy Dark Psy. Ghreg on Earth is another quality post 21st century dark psytrance artist I also currently like. Ghregs more dark and sinister. Penta's more playful and driving if I were to compare. Both know how to create strong melodies and are generally good for dancing. By the way, I've lost count of the many cool parts on Horn Please. I like losing count because that means there's many cool things going on. For example, the thudding BOOM part from 1:35 - 2:35 (repeats again in the end) in Track 7, "Non-Profit" kicks ass. He created many cool parts and a wide variety of catchy sound to mix in over and around the kick and basslines, more so than in previous albums it seems. There are no bad songs on this album. None I find superb either but none are average either IMO. Many of the songs here are in the good range. Overall this is the most solid, fun, and well produced dark Psy-Trance album I've heard in 2007 to date. It's a fun ride even if it won't stay with you long after it ends. So start it back up! It's fast-paced, atmospheric at times, and generally races by in a stylish, high production blur.

 

 

Best tracks: Perfect Sunday, Foggy, Non-Profit, Why Not?, Here We Come.

 

 

B

 

 

Samples:

 

http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=6443

 

http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/aqr/aqr1cd004.html[/size]

[buzzman]

No doubt the greatest album this year, in my book.. Love Pentas crazy mind manipulating, overpitched twisted synths and fucked up vocal samples, deep rolling basslines and crazy sound effects, i mean who ells but penta puts a floshing toilet in the middle of a track?? And the worst thing is that it works... BOOM!!!

 

 

11/10 from here.

[Sawfly]

I didn't really get into this one. Portuguese Abduction is quite nice though.

[buzzman]

I didn't really get into this one. Portuguese Abduction is quite nice though.

To bad for you, this is (IMO) much better than Portuguese abduction

[Sawfly]

To bad for you, this is (IMO) much better than Portuguese abduction

Hmm, I have to say that when I listened to this one yesterday I can swear that it started to make more sense to me as Portuguese Abduction has turned a bit boring. Well time will tell, in the meanwhile I have to upgrade my score to 6/10

 

e. Yeah, the atmospheres got me :clapping:

[buzzman]

Hmm, I have to say that when I listened to this one yesterday I can swear that it started to make more sense to me as Portuguese Abduction has turned a bit boring. Well time will tell, in the meanwhile I have to upgrade my score to 6/10

 

e. Yeah, the atmospheres got me :clapping:

Don't know if you do any psychedelics, but if you do, next time try to listen to this.. It will eat you up like nothing you've heard before