Blue Planet Corporation - A blueprint for survival

[TheTreeTribe]

I caught that as well the first time I heard Midian. I would have to guess that CS ripped the melody from BPC, since their album was released much later than BPC's tracks were "allegedly" made.

[murphythecat]

the only reviewers from all site reviews that i like reading to, are the one'S a little bit biased. Just like teachers, you want them to tell you what they think about a subject, not being politicaly correct.

 

and seriously, you know after the first good listen, if an album is good or not, it dont takes month, neither 10 listen. and now some people will say, well, for ishq, i had to be on a beach, drinkin a amaretto sour, and then BAM, i understood ishq, nigga please.

[JonCrow]

the only reviewers from all site reviews that i like reading to, are the one'S a little bit biased. Just like teachers, you want them to tell you what they think about a subject, not being politicaly correct.

 

and seriously, you know after the first good listen, if an album is good or not, it dont takes month, neither 10 listen. and now some people will say, well, for ishq, i had to be on a beach, drinkin a amaretto sour, and then BAM, i understood ishq, nigga please.

 

What I was standing up for was the guy who did the work and paid the money to get this released. I'd be a bit irritated personally if the first person to review it took points off and even questioned the validity of my work because he was in the minority of the population that already owned some of the tracks in hard copy. I think that people who are behind projects such as DAT records are doing a good thing. It deserves some support for it to continue in a market that isn't very CD friendly anymore. That doesn't mean just giving positive reviews no matter what.

 

After listening I do agree with some of the appraisal here given by Frozen. Even though there are tracks of varying quality, it's made up for by the resurrection and modern release of a feeling from the past that isn't readily available in hard copy. That in my biased opinion should be taken into account when reviewing. As a person who had never heard any of Blue Planet's work before, I very much appreciate the chance to own this on CD when alot of other material by this artist is hard to get nowadays for a reasonable price.

 

Jon

[murphythecat]

What I was standing up for was the guy who did the work and paid the money to get this released. I'd be a bit irritated personally if the first person to review it took points off and even questioned the validity of my work because he was in the minority of the population that already owned some of the tracks in hard copy. I think that people who are behind projects such as DAT records are doing a good thing. It deserves some support for it to continue in a market that isn't very CD friendly anymore. That doesn't mean just giving positive reviews no matter what.

 

After listening I do agree with some of the appraisal here given by Frozen. Even though there are tracks of varying quality, it's made up for by the resurrection and modern release of a feeling from the past that isn't readily available in hard copy. That in my biased opinion should be taken into account when reviewing. As a person who had never heard any of Blue Planet's work before, I very much appreciate the chance to own this on CD when alot of other material by this artist is hard to get nowadays for a reasonable price.

 

Jon

 

i agree

[Cielspacing]

Ok, thanks for the reviews + a rather personal request for BPC appreciators.

 

Some Context:

Back on early days, I liked the "Tribute" track, only it could barely fit my sets because it was too fast. My take was that its melodic nature pointed it more for middle or heart-area dance times... at 95, it was rare to find pitch sliders outdoors to solve the missmatch.

Anyway, that track was more than enought to keep us attentive for their releases. And then, what came next took us unguarded.... Prana's Black Rain(Blue Planet Corporation remix). This was high, high above most else. Dark and fully psychedelic, with a complexity only matched then by Pete Martin + Kriss Kilven UX's sound and a few other acts.

 

Then we heard the totally-coherent-news that BPC was preparing a full album release on Flying Rhino, we HAD expectations for this one...

But of course 1998 and 1999 came full of radical changes in everything; style, labels, personal issues, grupal, global, what not? and thus BPC album release, albeit being a fine one, lost all that "Black Rain" depth (and no, Prana's original wasn't deep, BPC's remix treatmet put it there).

 

FFWD 2009 and I've lost track of BPC releases since(and also lost the french CD with the mentioned remix) and judging for the reviews above no track in this compilation goes to par with that rather elusive release...

Hence the question; have I missed something? Is there somewhere a BPC track resembling their Black rain remix sound???.

This might be rather off-topic, but surely adds context to some stories behind this release.

Thanks again

[frozen dream]

This might be rather off-topic, but surely adds context to some stories behind this release.

like what?

[piginspace]

FFWD 2009 and I've lost track of BPC releases since(and also lost the french CD with the mentioned remix) and judging for the reviews above no track in this compilation goes to par with that rather elusive release...

Hence the question; have I missed something? Is there somewhere a BPC track resembling their Black rain remix sound???.

 

listen to the following BPC tracks which go in a similar direction as the beforementioned track:

- Generator (Blueprint for Survival)

- Antidote (Blueprint for Survival)

- Intrigue (Pulse 4 compilation)

- Xoco (different current compilations)

- Cyclothymic (Blueprint for Survival)

- Suffocate Bullet (with Planet Slink on the Black Rhino compilation)

 

FTW you can listen to them all on youtube...

[draeke]

Ok I must reply to this thread, at least to clarify some things and argue on some opinions.

 

1st: I accept critics when they are constructive and I also accept the fact that the music may not be liked, but i really DON'T tolerate the invitation to piracy. Have you got an idea on how much in terms of time, passion, dedication and money there is to release a cd? Not to mention the fact that you can listen to previews around and decide if you want to buy it or not, nobody force you to do so. This release took me a long time to complete as there were many technical troubles. It was supposed to come out last year on another label and the material I got was not complete (neither the artowork nor the mastering) and was damn complicate to deal with the artists involved (exluding Gabriel which was incredible and helped in all the possible way..) but I had to deal with a graphic relocated in New Caledonia (take a look how far that is..) that just changed job, and had some troubles to finish the graphic + I had to make myself many adjustments and complete the graphic of the CD themselves with the nice help of mars of SunTrip. We then had troubles also with mastering as it was done longe before in Bali by Mr Valkenburg and was not all perfect so I had to ask Gabriel to find another musician to finalize the mastering and completely remaster some tracks.

 

2nd to mr above who commented these:

Things to question:

- Those dumb intro tracks

> That's the artist choice, i don't see why you should debate, you like them ok, you don't: just skip them.

 

- Putting shitty unreleased tracks that should have stayed that way on disc 2 and ending with 3 well known and well available classics.

>Shitty unreleased tracks your ass. You simply don't like the style, that's another story. Please be polite and say you don't like the sound eventually, and be sure to know that i consider Hemo Static II and Telekinetic 2 incredible tracks, treasure founds, we do have different taste over the world, hello!. 3 well known tracks have been remastered and cyclothimic appears complete and not cutted for the first time ever, that track alone is a reason why this cd exist for many goa trance fanatics, you may say you don't like it, again your opinion.

 

- A "limited" version with 3 download tracks that should have gone on the CDs at the end of CD2 to start with! I hope someone leaks these tracks for free soon, though judging from the other unreleased stuff there's a good chance they probably suck the worst.

>The tracks won't leak free, i give the link to people i trust and that buy the limited edition supporting my label, that's what counts, and hereby you are again promoting piracy and offending me and the hard work i do on DAT records since last September. And I choose to put 3 classics that were greatly remastered instead of 3 tracks that really didn't fit the album and since it seems you only wanted to hear spiraling mind-blasting goa you would have been highly disappointed by these 3 tracks that are given to who supports my work. These are all but goa trance in the terms you mean, they are refined tracks but on the edge of progressive and even downtempo.

 

- No info about it put onto the DAT records website??

 

>That's because the website is under construction, i had many things to do and the release was really exhausting, with tight times, a very cool website is almost ready and will have all the info you need

 

- The motive? Quite clearly to suck some last drops of money out of BPC, since there was not really any unreleased tracks that needed to be heard here, it was mostly false hype.

>Yet again this is YOUR OPINION and thank god not everyone thinks the same. And by the way this release was aimed to people who were dancing in 1993, not kids wanting to hear another pleiadians cd, there is more sound than just that. I received dozens of thanks by more open minded people or just people that lived the goa phenomena in a more complete way. Some people danced to a music you don't like from 1988 to 1993 and then it slowly evolved. You should have just avoided the release if u wanted goa trance of the 96-98 era.

 

 

I personally thing this release was conceived and realized for an historical reason, there is a bit of goa trance but there are also some of the tracks that planted the roots of the music that drove you crazy years later. And there is so much good energy in may of the tracks that you should really find some tracks appealing your taste.

 

If you want an hallucinogen/pleiadians/green nuns acid alike cd, look elsewhere

 

PS: to answer to frozen dream more specifically: i like the music and many different genres, i do plan to release many goa trance classics and trust me if i'll ever make a repress of etnica first cd the second disc will contain some historical tracks they made that sound like electro music but that i find damn interesting. So check previews wisely if you intend to buy more releases of my label.

[Penzoline]

Sorry offtopic but draeke could you please clear your private messages, I can't send you anything. =(

[PKS]

Seems like Draeke covered most of my thoughts. But anyway, here it comes anyway:

 

Dear on10

 

I have no idea of who you are, how long you have listened to psychedelic trance or how long you have been ”in the scene”, but I felt like explaining a couple of things after reading your review. It’s not meant to make any conflict or bad feelings, just a try for an explanation, because it seems to me like there are a few things you haven’t realized/understood in this case.

 

First of all, the music. For those of us who have followed the trance scene from the early beginning, we know where it comes from. We know who the pioneers were who started all this. Everything that came after this, you can thank these pioneers for. It has grown naturally from what they started, long before everybody could make a trance track in one day. These were true artists creating something new, never done before, and creating a classic trance track wasn’t done in one day back then…. Back then, there wasn’t any clear difference between the various categories of trance. All these terms, such as hard trance, full on, progressive, Goa etc. came later… Blue Planet Corporation was one of these pioneers and one of the first ones to explore psychedelic elements in hypnotic trance music. Endless of artists after him picked up inspiration from his music. These tracks are extremely hard to find today. You have to be rich to get hold of any of the vinyl releases on UFK. Unlike you, there are a lot of people out there who where there in the early beginning, and yes, we have nostalgic memories from back then. Many of these people also have a nostalgic feeling about having the physical copy in their position. We are not grown up with finding everything on the net… For us, the early trance from the pioneers, such as BPC, is important musical history! Our way of documenting musical history for the future, is by releasing something like this. Like a history book you can find in the library, this album is a history, an important history that means a lot to many of us, that we document by creating this release for those who cares (where it all started, where it comes from, how it sounded back then etc.). Which brings me over to another point I wanted to tell you about regarding your review;

 

Respect is one of the words that often come to mind when I think about the trance scene. Respect other human beings, the people that you celebrate life together with, the celebration of trance and dance. One of the important words in the scene of peace, love, unity and respect. This is something that used to be very important in the scene from the beginning and many years after it all started. This might have faded a bit away by the years. The entire scene has changed drastically since the 90s, and ended up obviously pretty far away from how it used to be. Everybody is offcourse entitled to have their own taste in music. No one is forcing you to like this peace of history, but the word respect for other human beings is something I strongly think should remain in the scene, even though I don’t personally participate in the scene much anymore. Several of the sentences and words you use in your review totally show that you have missed some important factors in the scene. Telling people to pirate download this music is just one example where you obviously pay no attention to my words above, P.L.U.R., the main key in the trance scene. Writing something like that has nothing to do in a music review, simple as that. It’s no problem for any of us that you dislike the beginning of psychedelic trance, but when you write a review, I would suggest to check some background information before writing insulting, punching words to people who use a lot of their money, time and energy to create a piece of musical history for the generations to come. Thinking that this project will lead to extra income is as far away from the truth as it can possibly get. Gabriel who made the music and Draeke who released it on his important history learning label is true music lovers who NEVER had money in their mind when deciding to release it!

 

So, on10. I have to underline that I don’t write all this to insult, create harm or any kind of conflict. I wrote this to you because I hope you will realize a bit more why projects like this are being done and that you maybe could think twice next time you want to write a review. So let’s keep it a bit friendly around here, write our opinions without insulting and hurting each other. And hands up to all of you who understand what it’s all about.

 

Never forget the 90’s and where you came from.

 

PKS

[frozen dream]

i'm from the eighties, i'd rather forget that

[draeke]

The reply of PKS explain everything perfectly.

I suggest everyone to read it

[seraph]

Completely as expected, nothing short of brilliant... not all of the new stuff are that great, but HEMO STATIC II and TELEKINETIC are truly great 'new' old tracks... Telekinetic does sound like pre-Antidote track, but it's still great. DNA sounds like ARCANA but it doesn't matter. I like to hear proto tracks, in any form, especially this perfectly remastered. For me, whole release is one delicious proto trance and goa collection, and I agree with whole choice of remastered tracks, I could only exclude HEMO STATIC/OVERBLOODY FLOOD track put together and change it for INTRIGUE. BAROCCO and RESTORE HOPE are also very interesting unreleased tracks, RESTORE HOPE being so dark and weird, and BAROCCO so light and cheerful, like complete opposites. Overall, great ! 92 %

[abasio]

I am loving this. Blue Planet is won of most prized possessions and an album I never tired of. I have a lot of Blue Planet Corporation tracks on compilations, EPs and of course Blue Planet but there is more than enough material on this album that I have never even heard making it a great buy and something I am really happy that I bought. I especially like CD2 but I am still getting to know everything.

 

I don't understand people complaining about the tracks, this is a double CD released at single CD price and personally I think there is 2CDs worth of good to great stuff here. Definitely worth the money. Thanks to Draeke @ DAT records for making this a reality!

 

I was a little miffed about the 3 tracks available if you bought directly from the label as I didn't know this and got it from Saiko Sounds. Now I am without those tracks Are they any good?

[frozen dream]

i included them in the review

[Penzoline]

Holy god this album kicks ass. Extremely old sounding tunes but having that early experimental GOA-magic in them, something I've wanted to own. Quality material.

 

I own only a handful of albums, and only from a couple of labels, but which of all are something that need support, unlike old albums which from the only one getting any money from is the used cd seller - a'la you're buying for the sake of collecting, which is fine, but I personally don't have money to waste. DAT-records is one of those labels that need and deserve that support, they give us classic tunes remastered and more importantly, available. Something that is quite rare to see, especially in this scene as I'd imagine it's hard to make a small profit, if at all, from just album sales.

So thank you DAT-records(Draeke) for making this double album possible, I will gladly support all efforts for making stuff like this possible!

[the goa constrictor]

[here's my review taken from: http://www.goaconstrictor.com/blue-planet-corporation-a-blue-print-for-survival/ ]

 

A new album from Blue Planet Corporation.

A new double-album from Blue Planet Corporation.

A new freshly remastered double-album from Blue Planet Corporation.

A new freshly remastered double-album featuring classics and unreleased material from Blue Planet Corporation.

 

Honestly, I am a bit short on words to describe and praise this monumental release.

 

Blue Planet Corporation has always held a special place in my heart of hearts, and they always will. [editor's note: I am well aware that Blue Planet Corporation is now only Gabriel and that Christophe has not been involved in a long time, but I am still going to refer to BPC in the plural form throughout this review]. Blue Planet Corporation is one of a rare breed of artists who can walk the line of squelchy psychedelic power trance with that of blissful soothing morning progressive trance.

 

The fat well-rounded bass lines. The driving melodies and various tempos. Some songs are quite fast, others are quite slow. The pacing changes and drives. There are stabbing synths. Harsh feedback squelches. There are swirling layers running back and forth, leading you on various journeys down the corridors of tranquility.

 

It’s all here.

 

Music that is simultaneously driving and fast, while being calming and peaceful. How they pull this off is beyond me. Very few artists can strike this balance. Normally it is one or the other, but Blue Planet Corporation have managed to do the unlikely and have blended the worlds perfectly. And they have been doing this since 1993.

 

1993. Listen to Hemo Static 2 or Telekinetic and tell me that if you heard that in 1993 you wouldn’t have be blown away. Knowing when the music was made gives it even more class, but nothing on here is dated and nothing on here is given a pass simply because it is old. Using age to defend music is not a good defense. The music wins because it is that damn good.

 

Luckily, I have been listening to most of disk one for years, as it is all old released material. I’ve been able to enjoy these energies and these worlds, but many of you haven’t. And the newly remastered versions are bloody wonderful to listen to as well.

 

Then there is disk 2. Chock-full of unreleased material by Blue Planet Corporation, and the 1997 Flying Rhino ‘Cyclothymic’ 12″ too. Wow. It’s hard to believe that this much excellent music never got released back when it was written. It is all so good and still as timeless as ever.

 

Damn. This album really is very good and my lacking ability to describe it is starting to frustrate me. How do I convey the energy and sounds within this massive double-album? How do I remind you that simply because most of it is 15 years old, doesn’t mean it sounds dated? How do I express that you should BUY this album and support this concept and this music? It’s hard to do.

 

I’d say check out the Blue Planet Corporation MySpace page for some sample tracks, but MySpace can be a pain in the ass. I guess I can just reaffirm, again and again, that this is worth picking up.

 

If you’re familiar with anything BPC has done, rest assured that all the new unreleased stuff on here is just as stellar and high quality as the released stuff that you know and love. And if you own the previously released 12″s as well, this is still worth picking up for the nice remastered sound and for the ease of having the music on one convenient digital format.

 

I suppose if I had to find one fault, problem, complaint, it would be that I kind of wish that this was also released in a nice DJ friendly 10-vinyl edition. An all nice and remastered, thick gatefold record pressing would be totally sweet.

 

Blue Planet Corporation has always ranked up there with the likes of Slinky Wizard, Process, Prana, Green Nuns of the Revolution, and Juno Reactor. There was always something unique about these artists that most others have never captured. None of these artists really exist anymore and that is sad. But we do have this new BPC release now and hopefully DAT Records will continue to pull items out of those DAT bags for a longtime to come.

 

And maybe this release will motivate Gabriel to make some new trance music and put the chill-out music on hold for a bit. We need some new energy from the Blue Planet world. I think it is time.

 

xoxox

-A’damn

[Djuna]

3/5, the goa tracks are great, but the trance tracks are a bit too simple to my taste. But I can understand why most people think it's so good, it's got a special sound and feeling. Looking forward to their/his live set in a couple of weeks! (he was great at Aurora this summer!)

[Veracohr]

I just got this. I'm only about halfway through the 1st CD so far, but I'm liking it all.

 

Is this CD really copy protected? iTunes won't let me import it. I don't 'share' music or anything, but I put all my CD's on my computer to listen to at home and make MP3s for my iPod, and put the CD in my car. I also listen to music a lot when I play a game that I have to put a DVD in for.

[Penzoline]

I just got this. I'm only about halfway through the 1st CD so far, but I'm liking it all.

 

Is this CD really copy protected? iTunes won't let me import it. I don't 'share' music or anything, but I put all my CD's on my computer to listen to at home and make MP3s for my iPod, and put the CD in my car. I also listen to music a lot when I play a game that I have to put a DVD in for.

 

I copied it just fine with EAC on my hdd.

[Veracohr]

Actually I think it's just my DVD drive is dying. It had problems importing the last 2 tracks of another CD and keeps spinning up and down.

[Trance2MoveU]

 

 

1. Intro
2. Overbloody Flood
3. Midian
4. Genetic
5. Juno Satellite
6. Psychonaut
7. Lubianka
8. Hemo static and overbloody flood
9. Generator
10. Aquablue
11. Intro
12. Hemo Static II
13. Telekinetic

14. Sub Sonic Underground
15. Barocco
16. Goa Disco
17. Restore Hope
18. DNA
19. Antidote
20. Cyclothimic
21. Crystal

 

 

 

It's pretty interesting to revisit this thread. You guys are funny. But I know what you're thinking...

 

 

This review needs more boobs.

 

 

 

 

I'm with you dawg. I'm with you. Only thing is thanks to Susan in accounting HR has let me know that I'm on a bit of a short leash. One joke about a midget, a vat of mayonnaise, and a soccer mom and now I'm the bad guy? Whatever.

 

 

This was DAT Records second release and all Draeke has become is the Suntrip of the old school. Crop Circles, BPC, Etnica...all wonderful additions for any goa collector. And let's face it this one is a history lesson as sure as if it was taught in a classroom. Trance tracks that laid the foundation for Blue Planet and probably inspired many others. Some of the tracks come off as simple sounding and repetitive, but realize that some of this stuff is two decades old. Probably older than some of the posters here.

 

The sound is delectable to the ears and to get the unreleased and remastered tracks from this iconic project for such an inexpensive price is a real no brainer. People that were in the scene from jump will love these melodic trance gems and for those of us who were late to the party it's a chance to enjoy the quality of their earlier work. Obviously there were those who were hoping for a 2CD collection of goa stormers (always a good thing), but one...that was never promised or marketed and two, sometimes those tracks don't exist. No matter how hard you wish for them. I for one am grateful for what was assembled. This project had a knack for creating hypnotizing deep trance melodies and merging it with twirling goa style.

 

DAT Records has really become an essential part of this scene and I will continue to support them. This thread reminds me of a joke. An octopus, a Jew, and a gimp walk into a bar...

 

 

*phone rings*

 

 

Aw, f*ck.

 

Psyshop

 

Beatspace

 

Mdk

[StratosOZ]

I've had this for ages, but hadn't really gotten into it, until today.

 

Still a lot to discover here over time, but I can honestly say this is some of the most beautiful and stylish goa/trance I've ever heard. I wasn't part of the "scene" until about 2000, but still managed to miss out on blue planet. Until now, that is.

 

One more thing: Barocco.... Holy shit... does soemthing to my brain. The music really is "trance" in the true sense. Deep, hypnotic, repetitive but evolving at the same time. Wow. And how about the bassline? So different from all the stuff we get nowadays.

[Djuna]

One of the few decent mastered goa trance releases of this century, something that hasn't been done since then. Don't expect any smashed and limited goa trance in here, everything sounds splendid and respectful to the dynamic music which BPC made in the past. I wonder what's the story behind this?

 

Together with a fantastic tracklist, varied in a way, this makes it a release for every goa trance addict and audiophiles as well.

[Taika-Kim]

I have not listened to a lot of trance in the last 10 years or so, since new stuff that I like is hard to come by, and the old stuff I listened so much in the past, that I know it from memory anyway

Today when putting the baby to sleep (he falls asleep the best when I have him in a pouch on my chest, and I'm dancing to music) I listened to the first five or so tracks from this. I really loved it all, altough the trancey detuned saw riff in the first track was on the limits of my taste. (I just have a personal problem with them, just a taste issue). 

 

I like the arrangement (that is almost non-existent) in the music. It does not grab too much attention or break the flow. An opposite example is modern EDM and bass music, where the micro - arrangement and constant tricks are over the top, and modern psytrance suffers from this too. 

And considering mastering, sound, etc: I don't have a sub and I was not listening too loud, but I like the sound of this older music. I have a very wide musical taste, and I don't like value judgements about one type of sound over the other. But for certain the way how all psytrance sounds the same, and is too polished and energy-maximised, is one of the reasons I don't listen to it anymore. Also analog synths, hissy and subtly distorting tape, the lack of digital mastering tools etc left the music with an immediate and raw (meaning unpolished, not heavy or grinding) edge. To me that sounds really fresh, even without any nostalgic value, since I didn't really listen to BPC back in the days except for a few random tracks on compilations (this was before the Internet, renember: you had what you found in the shops and had money that buy). 

If people have ideas about modern artists that use this kind of dreamy pads and simple arrangements, and who do not over-master their music, I'm open for ideas! Modern neo-goa or whatever uses often too sharp, saturated and bloated sounds, I think here is a lot to learn for musicians about the meaning of empty space, shadow and restraint. 

Also this makes me want to make at least an EP inspired by these sounds Let's see...