VA - Blue Sangoma Sounds

[Bill]

 

VA - Blue Sangoma Sounds

Label: Sangoma Records and Blue Hour Sounds

 

1. Crumble Juice
FAGIN'S REJECT

2. Blacklight District
ETNICA

3. Circles (Psilocybian rmx)
BRAINCELL

4. Next Decade Of Acid (Android Spirit rmx)
KALUMET

5. Dance Ritual
KALA

6. Bong, James Bong
HOTEP

7. Stoned Lions
ARJUNA, SAMADHI

8. The Viral Spiral
HOODWINK

9. Zombie Grrrl (Gaspard rmx)
PUNKPIRATE (GASPARD AND TOTO)

10. A Long Story (Virtual Light and Manipulation rmx)
ELECTRYPNOSE

11. Fiction Games
ONCE UPON A TIME

12. Tetra India Express (Via Axis rmx)
GIDO

13. Deep Blue Skies (Blue Sangoma Sounds Edit)
GAIANA

14. Magnitudo
PEYO

15. Elasticity
SPROCKET

16. Amphibian Council
EVOCATONE

17. Bioport
IANUARIA, MUSCARIA

18. Liquid Modulation (Mark Day Re-Modulated rmx)
IANUARIA

19. Bindmoggling
FLOOTING GROOVES

 

 

On a two-disc set of dark stomping tracks it is pretty cool that this collection has an "as-is" approach. Quite a bit of dark psy, twilight and full-on is contained within this one but avoiding the approach of other labels that segregate these sometimes varying styles "Blue Sangoma Sounds" treats them all as equals. A dark psy track leads into full-on that leads into twilight that leads back into....

 

None of these tracks stood out as truly remarkable but that is not to say that the compilation does not have a solid overall quality. After all, it is difficult to assemble such heavy hitters as Etnica, Electrypnose and Braincell in one place and have it go terribly awry.

 

Many surprises and some very solid tracks come through with Etnica being the most pleasant and most durable. Barely a touch of their trademark goa mastery is present on "Blacklight District" and such is usually the way when these legends appear on a non-goa comp. The usually wild Etnica-isms of effects are present but the wild range of their artist albums is not - instead this is great, direct, focused, drive-forward full-on excellence.

 

Interestingly, "Circles" by Braincell and "A Long Story" by Electrypnose are given the remix treatment but both sound as if they are original offerings with the distinct flavor of both artists coming through seemingly unfiltered. In all fairness, however, PsiloCybian adds more layers to the Braincell original and makes it more interesting and far less repetitive.

 

Where the remixes work wondrously are with Android Spirit and Via Axis bringing forth great work. Android Spirit's twilight weirdness works unexpectedly well with Kalumet's nearly-indefinable psy style on "Next Decade Of Acid" and Via Axis owns "Tetra India Express" and completely makes the Gido track his own with his trademark atmospheric and beautifully understated full-on psy.

 

Hotep departs the more progressive-minded style of his artist album "Transformation Of Light" and goes dark and angry on "Bong, James Bong," a very intriguing change in style that is almost as captivating as the cover art for this album.

 

With "Amphibian Council," Evocatone throws a hat in the ring for best track, a wicked twilight production that only gets richer with each listen.

 

"Blue Sangoma Sounds" is dark and it is captivating. It is also surprising how quickly these nineteen tracks seem to fly by. Even if none may be classics, at the very least, it cannot be said this giant collection is ever boring.

 

Listen to Etnica "Blacklight District": https://soundcloud.com/sangoma-recs/etnica-blacklight-district-sangoma-blue-hour-sounds-out-now

 

Listen to Electrypnose "A Long Story" (Virtual Light & Manipulation Remix): http://beatspace-bluehoursounds.bandcamp.com/track/electrypnose-a-long-story-virtual-light-manipulation-rmx

 

Listen to Evocatone "Amphibian Council": https://soundcloud.com/evocatone/evocatone-amphibian-council

[Trance2MoveU]

Ooh I wanted to hear this one! Good review.

.

MDK

[franki]

It's a top album.
Works well as a whole, playing the Sangoma CD first, then the B.H.S.

 

Deep Blue Skies (Blue Sangoma Sounds Edit)
GAIANA

Now that's a quality tune!

[Trance2MoveU]

 

There is a theme here. Obviously these tracks are not identical to one another, but the level of homogeneity is off the f*cking scale. And even if you can find differences within the tracks none of them make me want to pick this up again. Taken one at a time I can enjoy some of them, but when they are all put together like this it's tough to make it through. Love the cover. I see the bear, I guess an elk, perhaps a hawk and a wolf and...

 

 

Is that a duck making kissy face? Seriously I don't know what's happening here.

 

 

I'll just put a little blurb about each track.

 

Crumble Juice is the coolest name for a track. Just my opinion. It's a sold psychedelic opening.

 

Blacklight District by Etnica is one of my favorite tracks by them outside of the goa arena. It's driving, dark full-on that will force you to dance like nobody is something something...

 

Circles (Psilocybian Rmx) is Sasa at his bubbly, flirting with goa best. You can clearly hear the Braincell influence and we are all the better for it.

 

Next Decade of Acid (Android Spirit Mix) is good stuff with its acid and movie samples. One of my favorites here.

 

Dance Ritual has some cool sounds and is bouncy, but it's still lacking.

 

Bong, James Bong is a stupid name for a track and there isn't even a James Bond sample. So my hackles are already...hackled. Not bad, but sounds similar to...well everything on this compilation.

 

Stoned Lions has lasers and more quirkiness. But like a white rabbit in a snowstorm nothing stands out.

 

Viral Spiral sounds like EVERY OTHER TRACK that Hoodwink has produced.

 

Zombiegirl (Gaspard Remix) is a boring bunch of noise. Squirts and farts. Gets better near the end, but sorry that ship has sailed.

 

A Long Story (Virtual Light and Manipulation Mix) ends the Sangoma portion of the program. Odd sounds and effects over a we mean business bass line. Meh.

 

The Blue Council

 

Friction Games begins the BHS contribution and let the forest games begin! It has a steampunk feel for me with quirky sounds and a Dickensian air. Or perhaps an Addams Family air. Yep, I wrote that. Doesn't mean I like it.

 

Tetra India Express (Via Axis Rmx) is a good night time track which bubbles and still maintains that dark feel.

 

Deep Blue Skies had a smattering of goa with its forest so that was a nice touch.

 

Magnitudo is really dark forest and seethes with electricity.

 

Elasticity has that rich, juicy sound that BHS is known for.

 

Amphibian Council is another forest gem. Eerie melodies abound and it never lets its foot off the gas. But seriously, stop me if you've heard that before.

 

Bioport is dark forest sounds to the bone. But ok we get it...forest trance. I can't tell this one apart from the previous three.

 

Liquid Modulation (Mark Day Rmx) was a forest nightmare from which I didn't want to wake. Deliciously layered and psychedelic, but the slow down for the last few minutes was a downer. However, that made it easy to differentiate it from the last four tracks. So...I suppose that's a good thing.

 

Bindmoggling wasn't. The beginning and the end were almost magical. The only problem was he stuffed a huge boredom hole right in the middle.

 

So this release follows the trend of most if not all Sangoma albums. Not bad, really good in some places, but nothing that will have me reaching for this album again and again. It's an album with mostly mediocre tracks set to repeat. The BHS contribution helped, but wasn't without its shortcomings. The problem oftentimes with forest trance (same with darkpsy) is that a lot of it sounds very similar and going through several tracks of the same style can be exhausting. Especially when the same sounds are used, sounding like one long track. Goa has this problem as well, but at least there are different melodies in the forefront to break things up. And the BHS portion of this compilation sounds like one long mix where most of the tracks sound the same.

 

But I'm a member of the old fart club so take that with a grain of salt. As I mentioned with the Universcience Sonic Mandalas review I'm still waiting for them to take that step into greatness. But they ain't there yet.