Templar Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 Psysutra - Gamma Phoenicis Cronomi Records, 2014 1. Planet Of Illusions 2. Acid Rush 3. Air Trance Corporation 4. United States Of Mind 5. Lost Universe 6. JetMan - Female Animals (Psysutra's Male Perspective Mix) 7. Postcard From Goa We Poles are not lucky when it comes to the political class and many other things, but we cannot be denied an exceptionally strong and individualized group of psy-artists. In contrast to many other countries (let's stick to the obvious example of Israel and its large group of disposable musical clones) we can boast of a team of people, where each and every one of them developed his own easily recognizable style. Thus I will smell Artha's tracks from a mile, then there is this specific vibe of TLG etc. Things are no different with Psysutrą, one of the new wave of young artists who, along with his music, is also an autonomous being on our psychedelic map. After many hardships Łukasz finally lived to see the release of his debut album under the Cronomi Records banner, a label that focuses on new talents in the field of goa trance. The label definitely stands out from the crowd, which in this case is only an advantage. In the end, why repeat the theme of sweet, ultra-melodic goa over and over again, when this music has so many faces? Psysutra thought the same, providing a record full of different shades of old school and strongly acidic psytrance under the goa banner. After listening to all tracks a lot I found out that actually I have nothing to bitch about. The sonic design of tracks is great. Łukasz easily takes anachronistic ideas and themes of the past and showers them with new layouts, owing to which we end up with seven intense landscapes from the land of goa trance. A land, let us add, that has many names. The tracks are not monotonous and there is always something going on, a thing one cannot say about many other productions of this type. In the field of creativity Psysutra leaves the competition far behind thanks to his lively ideas. Various trance artists of all latitudes flood us with their music, which technically is great, it has the punch, but as far as ideas are concerned it is presented in a bland and flat way. Their main idea is to move the crowds on the dancefloor, as well as to wiggle the playing person's index finger - and that's all. Luke has not forgotten an important element of juicyness, color-play, oldschool audio-corridors and sharp, almost three-dimensional acids in opposition to foreign cookie-cutter, over-produced boredom fest, seasoned here and there with a touch of catchy sound to break the routine. Another advantage of the album is the length of the tracks, specifically four of them: "Planet Of Illusions", "Air Trance Corporation", a remix of "Female Animals" and "Postcard From Goa" all oscillate around an impressive time of 11-12 minutes. Works for me. I've always been of the opinion that with such time at one's disposal one can build and communicate a coherent story. The album starts with the high-octane acid cyberpiece "Planet Of Illusions", which is a proverbial bullseye when it comes to this track being the opening one on this CD. The chameleon-like "Acid Rush" highlights just how far the music of Psysutra is from his milder colleagues from Suntrip Records. The more uplifting and cheerful "Air Trance Corporation" will serve as a proper musical tool for many open air parties during the more oldschool-oriented moments. The banging "United States Of Mind" with its batch of distinctive acids smells of old Transient Records compilations, which is only a good thing. A bit playful and laidback atmosphere is introduces by "Lost Universe", a track aimed at early morning hours of outdoor frolicking. Track number six is Psysutra's take on a tune by my colleague JetMan from Psytrance.pl. This mesmerizing track with Posford-like qualities spread over circa 11 minutes is certainly an interesting tune aimed not only at trancefloor workout, but also suitable for elemental breakdown at home. It is worth looking up the original version at SoundCloud to compare it with the version created by Psysutra. At the end we will not fall asleep with a "let's throw in a chillout lullaby at the end" routine done by so many, because the last track is also psytrance, albeit a bit calmer than its predecessors. This is achieved by a flowing, slightly magical atmosphere illustrated by the sound of the flute, which given an impression as if good ol' grampa Raja Ram is sitting somewhere in the background. It is impossible not to mention about the colorful design adorning the album's cover. I send words of appreciation towards Psara (a Portuguese DJane named Sara Constance), who interestingly underlined the album's musical atmosphere with her butterfly-wings-on-acid graphics. Given that it is the seventh release by Cronomi Records, the CD itself is marked with a cheeky nod to James Bond movies ("My name is Wu, Łukasz Wu. CronomiCD007 Licence to Dance!"). Speaking about the cover, despite a musically and graphically strong album, it fell victim to minor editorial mishaps associated with evident laziness at Cronomi Records. I'm saying here about the typos on the album's back cover. However, looking back at the history of trance releases and cases of this kind, one needs to admit that if this is the only flaw of "Gamma Phoenicis", the album is really good. The father of "Gamma Phoenicis" can be proud of his child. Through its spontaneity and inventiveness the album has a good chance not to get lost in the crowd of goa-productions of modern times, which at the time of them coming to life are prone to anonymity. This album is recommended both for someone who plowed through a whole lot of albums, as well as for those who just put their first baby steps in the psytrance realm. TLG and Space Element: your turn. https://shop.cronomi.com/?page_id=571 http://cronomi.bandcamp.com/album/psysutra-gamma-phoenicis http://nobient.pl/index.php?products=product&prod_id=2717 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desysko Posted August 23, 2014 Share Posted August 23, 2014 FINALLY! Someone finally did a review of the album. I've been waiting to see what other folks had to say about it. While I am not as talented as you are when it comes to writing reviews, one thing I have to say is that this album is one of the greatest of this year and probably will become a classic in the years to come (well it's already a classic for me). Every tune is recognizable and has a unique flavor to it, which is quite nice to hear since many albums now days sort of similar stuff from each other (not that it is a bad thing, just variety between each song is nice). But man I LOVE that cover. I would want a shirt of that so bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyHorse Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Thanks Templar for your honest and well funded opinion.For the very extended review on Psysutra's music.We need honest feedback to generate new CDs and improve where we can. I think you fully understand what Cronomi's aim is and what we stand for.Our desire is to keep on doing it this way.Thanks for believeing in it and in what (and how) we do (it). Maybe one thing: The typing error is not due to "evident laziness", but again a mistake I will have to appoligise for Believe me, we try very hard not to do this. I even didn't know about it, until you wrote about it.But I'm happy the music isn't sounding bad cause of it Goa lives Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desysko Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Glad that you read his review, very extensive and well written. Keep up the awesome work, I love many of the stuff you guys released. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyHorse Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 Glad that you read his review, very extensive and well written. Keep up the awesome work, I love many of the stuff you guys released. Thx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goa pride Posted September 26, 2014 Share Posted September 26, 2014 This Is The Goa Trance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shpongled247 Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Think this release deserves some more reviews after listening to the full track previews repeatedly. Really nice and somehow mature sounding stuff. Very Cronomi style which I love. About to purchase atm and will get a proper review up once it sinks in. You guys shouldn't sleep on this one though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desysko Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Definitely true. I believe that this will become a very well known and wanted cd in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Cocco Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 I didn't know about this release until seeing the Best of 2014 forum here: Psynews "Best of 2014" poll This is a beautiful, old-school influenced Goa Trance album with a fresh style! I'm sampling the full tracks below. It's great, really. This deserves more reviews, comments, whatever you have time for. Enjoy!Samples:http://cronomi.bandcamp.com/album/psysutra-gamma-phoenicis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Looking forward to hearing this, it's always exciting to hear such positive feedback on an album. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franki Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 It is indeed a very fine album! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alek Posted March 22, 2015 Share Posted March 22, 2015 Woah what a nice surprise! Acidic and bright... this is the sort of stuff I would like to hear at a festival in the morning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyHorse Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 Woah what a nice surprise! Acidic and bright... this is the sort of stuff I would like to hear at a festival in the morning THX He certainly is open for bookings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Templar Posted February 19, 2016 Author Share Posted February 19, 2016 Just re-listening this album after a while and it still does wonders for me. Wondering why there are so few comments/reviews... Regarding bookings, this guy should have more! (currently busy with a gig in Israel) On the side note, we present to you Psysutra live from the We Are Aliens party in Poland. Hope you like it. What you're getting here is almost 50 minutes of pure Psysutra acidic goa madness, so do not miss it out! Enjoy! PS. 36:58 is where you can hear the full "Been Here Before" track from the upcoming "Panta Deus II" compilation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkraver Posted April 17, 2016 Share Posted April 17, 2016 A very nice album indeed. A few days ago he played an unreleased track in a DJ set at an online site. That was an amazing track! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkraver Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 ACID Get it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyHorse Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 A very nice album indeed. A few days ago he played an unreleased track in a DJ set at an online site. That was an amazing track! Indeed, we were in Israel at a party Made live pod cast... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trancedigital Posted June 20, 2016 Share Posted June 20, 2016 Listening to this right now. Loving it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Celaripo Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 sounds like a crossover between hard trance and goa especially with those loud kicklines not too fond of those kicklines actually but overall i like this album - it has a very nostalgic sound and it sounds quite different to anything else produced these days Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyHorse Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 sounds like a crossover between hard trance and goa especially with those loud kicklines [...] - it has a very nostalgic sound and it sounds quite different to anything else produced these days You have fully understood what we ment to do with this album! Thanks and much apprectaited PS the hard kicks might come to you in the end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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