V/A - Cosmic Guide"

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: Various

Title: Cosmic Guide

Label: Goalogique Records & Ezel-Ebed Records

Date: December, 2013

 

01. Guide's intro - Burak Malçok - Didgerdo & Ney
02. Travma - Son Nefes
03. Imba vs K.U.R.O. - Uchu-Jin Deaimasu
04. Somnesia - Pyrotechnical Project
05. Shidartha - Tetalidrocanabinol
06. Ephedra & Goarama - Spiritual Sunday
07. Mindsphere - Chosen One
08. Astrancer - Hercolubus
09. Ogo - Kobejada
10. GoaTree - Goaliens

 

 

"Since I was a child I've seen some very strange things in the sky..."

 

 

 

"It's still good, it's still good!"

 

When a friend tells you that he struck out with the head cheerleader it means two things. One, there will be no awkward fondling in the back seat of mom's minivan and two your friend has no game. Strikes are bad. Garbage man goes on strike and you're knee deep in banana peels and disposable diapers. I suppose a strike in bowling is good, but then again you're a bowler so you've obviously failed at all the sports that actually matter. Having reviewed this label's previous two releases I was less than impressed and gave them two strikes. One more and they'll be having lunch at the chess club table.

 

The powers that be have clearly consulted the Cosmic Guide for answers because this is the best thing to come out of Goalogique Records since...well, ever. You can debate the cover art quality (no you can't even though this was clearly their best effort), but the music is head an shoulders above Up to Next Step and Astronot. Now they joined forces with Turkish label Ezel-Ebed Records so at the very least those guys deserve an assist. The Goalogique sound is characterized by an amateurish, raw feel and some of that is still here. But nothing like the previous compilations. You have good tracks like Son Nefes, Tetalidrocanabinol, Hercolubus and Chosen One. It's a very good compilation, but it still doesn't tell me if Goalogique has turned a corner or just relied on Ezel-Ebed to do the heavy lifting.

 

Beatspace

 

Psyshop

 

Mdk

[Penzoline]

It's a shame what happened to the background synth pads on Travma. Those synths are why the track has such a swooshing atmosphere and here they sound peculiarly quiet because of the emphasis on the kick as it drowns it out. I actually prefer the muddiness of the unmastered brick wall mp3 you can find floating around because of that sole fact. You know for some reason this same thing happened with Travma - Tesla; the bassline on Space Of Power sounds too loud(bringing out the mud it had anyway) again in comparison to the unmastered version. Sometimes you can leave the basslines in the background, guys! Some tracks are just meant to be tinny like that! Also I think Travma's tracks have had generally the worst luck when it comes to representation. His other tracks were on such belovedly wonderfully mastered albums like.. Alternative Colours... Pyramidal Trancendence... Suncokreti... really what is up with that?!? That's like the holy trinity of brickwall.

It's a great track though, very metaphysical-era-balls-to-the-walls kind of goa. I was hoping Travma would have continued to put out such masterworks but his last release was.. full-on-oh-well.

 

Rest of the comp is pretty good too. It has a lot of styles from the new school formation. From darker goa of Shidartha to a super bright track like Astrancer and even a little crazy like OGO. Actually for some reason I'm starting to grow fond of OGO's sound a lot. It's super silly, but it works! It sounds fun, like it doesn't give a crap. Another good track he did was a downtempo track on Galactic Discovery called Mystical Forest. Really weird but good stuff.

 

Wish they'd give a break with these covers thou, I mean damn!

[Richpa]

One artist featured on Goalogique V/A told me that (besides horrible mastering and artwork) they changed the BPM of his track. I mean dude...c'mon you can't do that shit.