Ethereal - Anima Mundi

[DeathPosture]

Updated ~ formatting

 

Ethereal - Anima Mundi

 

Artist: Ethereal

Title: Anima Mundi

Label: Tranceform Records

Cat. #: TFMCD002

Year: 2003

 

 

Track listing:

 

01: 11’50” All Systems Are Go (Expand The System Mix)

02: 08’08” Cosmic Lobster

03: 12’02” Distant Lights (2003 Mix)

04: 08’14” Cosmic Lobster (Dreamweaver's Infinite Space Remix)

05: 11’47” Flamedancer

06: 09’53” Radiator

07: 10’35” Elysian Fields

 

Review:

 

Back to the old school!

 

Break out your ganeshas, glow sticks & other weekend-Hindu artefacts and light up some incense - this new release from Tranceform will take you right back to 1996… And that’s a good thing! ;o)

 

Ethereal are Carl Larsson & Fredrik Haglund from Sweden. They had two great tracks on the Blissfull Moments compilation released by Tranceform earlier this year. Now they are ready with a full album of highly melodic, infectious old school melodic goa-trance…

 

Anima Mundi is Latin for ‘Soul of the World’… “A pure ethereal spirit diffused throughout all nature” as stated in the promotional material… Woow… Sounds fancy indeed! ;o)

 

#1: Full on from the get-go… Highly melodic, fast paced, multi-layered, complex… Pure old school bliss! Towards the end there are some subtle voice-samples… Reminds me a lot of AP’s “Searching for UFOs”… Come to think of it, that same voice sample was on the Ethereal-track “Fireflies (Remix)” on the Blissfull Moments compilation released earlier this year… Well, a good sample is a good sample I guess… If you put a gun to my head, and force me to find flaws, perhaps this tracks is just a little too long… But hey, when it’s good, it’s not a problem… What a fine first track!

 

#2: ‘Are you free?’ If you like seafood and psychedelic trance you’re in luck: Cosmic Lobster is on the menu! Darker, more distorted than the previous track, but the melodies are still intact… This track has a kind of hypnotizing feel to it… I can’t really describe it, but damn this is good… The “Searching for UFO-samples” are still there… What gives Carl & Fredrik? We’ve heard it already! Hehe… Nah, it doesn’t spoil the track at all…They are well-put, and by no means cheesy! Fine track!

 

#3: Holy smokes, it gets even better now… We go even faster now… I don’t have a bpm-counter, but this must be above 150 bpm’s… Smashing bass line on top of no-nonsense straight-forward melodies with twirling acid synths thrown on top… Does it get any better?… Crank up the volume on this baby and let the memories fly… Instant classic! Amazing track! Best so far, hands down!

 

#4: A remix to #2 … How do you remix a lobster? Well, Dreamweaver did it… This actually bears very little resemblance to the original… The sound seems more mature, more modern but unfortunately also slightly more boring! Well, this is not a bad track; it’s just not as good as the rest… Decent track!

 

#5: Flamedancer… Yeah, one of those guys you see at festivals looking cool, dancing with fire-sticks… The tempo is slower, but the melodies are strong and the bass kicking hard… This track is very old school Israeli-like in structure… This could easily have been on one of the early Trust In Trance compilations… This is as old school as it gets… Good stuff, though tends to become just a little bit boring towards the last couple of minutes… This could easily have been 2 minutes shorter… The ending itself is great though – Is that a pitched down Twin Peaks theme I hear? Sounds good! Nice track!

 

#6: Woow, this is one tripped out radiator… Once again the melodies are in focus, tangled in between twirling synths, kicking bass lines and random, yet structured psychedelia…This is where it’s at… So damn tasty… Amazing track!

 

#7: In keeping with tradition the last track of an album is slower, and this is also the case here… It is not an ambient track as such … It’s just slower than the rest of the album… Ethereal also did the last chilled track for the Blissfull Moments-compilation which I liked very much. This track is pretty good… Dub-elements here and there, bouncy relaxed bass line atop simple melodies… Very nice ending indeed!

 

Favourites: 1, 2, 3(!!), 6(!!), 7

 

To sum up, this album is a breath of old air… But that’s a good thing! Melodies are too often forgotten in most releases nowadays… But on this, they are in focus… Anyone, who likes old stuff like Astral Projection, Dimension 5, Pleiadians, Chi-a.d. and the likes should appreciate this… It’s great to get some variation from the norm these days… Even the coverart is old-school with beautiful multicolored, trippy fractal-psychedelic art… This will look great on your shelf! Some of the tracks are just a bit too long and Carl & Fredrik need to update their sample CDs, but besides that, this is album is a real gem…

 

Recommended for anyone who misses the good old days! ;o)

 

8/10

 

DeathPosture

 

 

External links: [sound clips available....]

 

Tranceform Records

Wirikuta Distribution

Edited October 20, 2005 by DeathPosture

[Guest PK]

And another review here:

 

http://www.trance.net

 

PK

[Guest Kristian]

I'm looking forward to this album! The oldschool sound is coming back!!!

 

For all of you guys in Sweden (and elsewhere) - Don't miss Ethereal at THE oldschoolparty -MIDWINTERMOON- the 31st of January 2004!!!

 

Check it out! -> www.spaceport.nu

Alternative URL: http://palsson.net/spaceport

[Lemmiwinks]

OLDSCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!

 

 

Now can anyone explain me why the HELL do new artists have to come up with this (brilliant) stuff and you have oldschool artists that were in the scene from day 1 making crap these days (ie. Tsuyoshi Suzuki, Astral, MWNN, Bilbao, Chrpistophe Drouillet, Dado, Bill (cosmosis) etc. etc. etc....)???

 

SMI²LE

[Guest Kalle / Tranceform]

Hi everybody!

 

Ethereal- Anima Mundi is now available for ordering at following online stores:

 

http://www.streetbeat.ac/

http://www.trance-shop.com/

http://www.wirikuta.de/

 

 

Atleast Street Beat and Trance-shop accept all major credit cards, I'm not 100% certain about Wirikuta but probably they do it aswell. Get your copy now :-).

Finnish trance lovers can buy their copies from Tranceform Webshop (http://www.tranceformrecords.com/), at the moment we don't have the possibility to deliver abroad, though.

 

 

PS. Do also check out Tranceform's webpages at http://www.tranceformrecords.com/

 

 

 

All the best,

 

Kalle! / Tranceform

[Guest Scadufax]

Here in Brazil, "Anima Mundi" is the name of big cartoon gathering/expo !

 

LOL!

[Guest Scadufax]

Here in Brazil, "Anima Mundi" is the name of big cartoon gathering/expo !

 

LOL!

[Lemmiwinks]

it's also the name of a chill-out album by Time Warp ;-)

 

SMI²LE

[Guest DT]

You guys are going to look at me in a trippy fashion for what I'm about to say.

 

If any of you know about computer graphics, then this should not be a problem with what I'm going to say.

 

When I listened to a sample of track 1 over at psyshop, Everthing on the cd cover begin to move at 60 frames a second. EVERYTHING!!!

 

And the the purple smokish looking shit begin to change to a rainbow colorish looking color.

 

-The I heard the monster sample which is known as track 3. When I listened to this track sample, the woman on the cover(which was still in 60 frames a second animation), took me into her world. Her psycaheldelic-goa Universe. And there was so much stuff moving and flashing rainbow lights. With that one song still playing. Then I just floated closer to her, and the next thing I know she kissed me on the lips.

 

I tell you guys. It was just hypnotic bliss.

[Guest DT]

You guys are going to look at me in a trippy fashion for what I'm about to say.

 

If any of you know about computer graphics, then this should not be a problem with what I'm going to say.

 

When I listened to a sample of track 1 over at psyshop, Everthing on the cd cover begin to move at 60 frames a second. EVERYTHING!!!

 

And the the purple smokish looking shit begin to change to a rainbow colorish looking color.

 

-The I heard the monster sample which is known as track 3. When I listened to this track sample, the woman on the cover(which was still in 60 frames a second animation), took me into her world. Her psycaheldelic-goa Universe. And there was so much stuff moving and flashing rainbow lights. With that one song still playing. Then I just floated closer to her, and the next thing I know she kissed me on the lips.

 

I tell you guys. It was just hypnotic bliss.

[Manuser]

Track 1 is AMAZING, the rest is good too, but for sure track 1 is the best! Listening to it for the 1st time I thought Ethearal was a new Dimension 5!

[Scryden]

I listened to it yesterday and yes , track one is definately the best , despite of little quality drop afterward , it's a very nice album.

 

An essential album for people who want to breathe fresh air out the overhelming world of full on / new school stuff.

[Time_Trap]

veeery nice album... among the best "new goa skewl releases"... lots of depth, melodies, energy, and quite proper for the dancefloor as well ;}

 

9/10

[Guest Rain]

great album... one of my favourit new schoolers absolum... this is pure telling a story by using trance...

 

a continue of litlle waves coming up and down...

 

very enjoyable to listen at home

 

I reviewed this one in dutch....

[Lost Buddha]

one of the best goa trance albums of all time , this is class.

[amphiton]

Must be my favourite album of all time... really love this.

[Guest Cosmogenesis]

Very wonderful album from the beginning to the end! Anima mundi is on the same line of the novatekk velvet inc releases style (especially Second Phaze album of Dimension 5 and To Sirius from Ra style), but using more savant melodies and beats in order to find as a result more spiritual and sublime feelings, a deeply dimension of the emotion.

Can't wait to listen their second album! Have someone any interesting info about it? Personnaly, I only know that the album is in deep process right now.

[Guest Cosmogenesis]

A second urgent reply from me! Where is the ethereal website? He has totally dissappeared! I hope that they haven't stop to build their second album, and they haven't problems with the cops !!

[Lost Buddha]

in fact they´re still working on the 2nd album but we never know where itll come up... cause theres not anybody to release it...

[seraph]

in fact they´re still working on the 2nd album but we never know where itll come up... cause theres not  anybody to release it...

529765[/snapback]

 

Nobody to release it ? And what about Suntrip ?

[Jon Cocco]

I've wanted a new album for years now. I bought the first one and it's great. Some songs have a same/same feeling to them however. More stand out songs such as Cosmic Lobster, Distant Lights (2003 Mix), Cosmic Lobster (Dreamweaver’s Infinite Space Remix) would be awesome in a follow up. Some tracks are much stronger than others. It's like, many have all the right sounds but lack the higher entertainment direction of the potential regarding the creative, what can be done with the sounds. All Systems Are Go (Expand The System Mix) for instance starts out so catchy and interesting. But as it progresses, traveling Goa sound aside, the song does little to arrest my attention. It lacks zest and dynamics, a more delectable sound and evolution. However for progressive (more traveling) Goa, Ethereal is one of the best their is.

 

I've noticed Ethereal doesn't make aggressive Goa songs. They should try once in a while to go all out, filled with twists, turns, climax, etc. That would be interesting and fun to hear.

[Time_Trap]

Yeah a 2nd Ethereal album would be fuckin' great.

[ritual om]

radiator!

 

simply amazing goa trance track with atmosphere and emotion...

 

enlightening track!

[Goa-Head]

This seems impossible to find.

 

The label seems long inactive.

 

Am I right ?

 

Any re-issues possible ?

[rino]

This seems impossible to find.

 

The label seems long inactive.

 

Am I right ?

 

Any re-issues possible ?

Hard to find, yes. Very limited distribution.

 

I remember that Anoebis once posted how through contacting the label owner, he was told that the (former) owner of Tranceform Records completely lost interest in the goa/psy trance scene, and was more inclined towards the whole industrial sound.

 

However, this remains a great album. The cover art is one of the finest I have ever seen and the music does not fall far behind.

 

I still give tracks Radiator and Flamedancer regular spins, while the sheer energy of the epic and pulsating Distant Lights (2003 mix) still puts my speaker to the test every time! All three are top of the line old school killers, with a straight forward drive, no holds barrel pumping bass lines and melodic wizardry increasing listeners' urge to get up and start dancing!

 

Dreamweaver's remix of Cosmic Lobster still doesn't do much for me, but the rest more than makes up for its eventual setbacks. Since the kick off note, far reaching and deep soundscapes are portrayed throughout the album.

 

It does get samey at places, but it's one of those albums where the music tends to rely more on a continous and uninterrupted quality flow rather than hitting you with break-climax-break-climax type structure. Having been released in 2003, it stood at the forefornt of the whole goa revival wave, and my two cents is that with time its value can only increase.

 

It sounds much older than all the subsequent goa trance albums, but that may just be its calling card. It has the old school vibes many many of us missed back in 2003, so if you were around when this hit the shelves, your head hit the cieling when you placed it in the CD player