VA - Floating Between The Moon & The Sun

[Bill]

VA - Floating Between The Moon & The Sun

Goa Madness Records

 

Tracklist:

1. Proxeeus - Ramayana (Original Mix)

2. M-Run - Sons Of The Temple

3. Artifact303 - In Your Mind (Nova Fractal Remix)

4. Trinodia - Distilled Illusions (2014 Edit)

5. GoaTree - Syslit Joint

6. Ephedra & Imba - Cosmic Harmony

7. JIS - Zero Gravity

8. Crossing Mind - Iridium Zone (2014)

 

A pretty good compilation featuring a star-studded cast of who's who in today's goa world. It's almost a compilation of thirds - a third of these numbers are beautiful and warm, a third are groovy and off-beat, a third (obviously, one overlap so that the math works) are intense and true goa madness.

 

Of the finest, I'll go with Ephedra & Imba's pairing on "Cosmic Harmony," a beauty of morning goa that offers up some unquestionably good keyboard melodies underneath the pumping, but tastefully measured, energy and effects. Perhaps a bit on the repetitive side as it gets deeper into its 10-minute run time, it will depend on how much you enjoy this one as to whether that repetition will become hypnotic. I happen to be entranced by it.

 

As near as I can tell Crossing Mind's "Iridium Zone" is previously unreleased and it ranks as one of the better moments here. From the moment the momentum begins to slowly build, just a little under a minute in, there's no question this is a Crossing Mind track. The Frenchman has a very distinct flavor in his frequencies and this one has his signature sound all over it. I, personally, adore that style, his morning-time grooves in this one are excellent and it serves as a very tasteful conclusion to the collection.

 

Proxeeus' subdued but charming "Ramayana" is a very good opener but, alas, there is just a little bit of magic missing that prevents it from being a truly great one. M-Run tap into some delightfully odd grooves with "Sons Of The Temple," a track that seemed to work better the second time around than it had on the first go. GoaTree's "Syslit Joint" is half dirty funk and half go-for-it goa madness, a real good package of sound.

 

My least favorite here would be JIS on "Zero Gravity." The synth work is tuned to sound like it was lifted from an 80s rock band, so much that at any second it feels like "The Final Countdown" may creep into the melodies.

 

Nova Fractal and Trinodia are bombastic and intense on their offerings, an overwhelming showcase of full-bodied goa performance, high-flying effects and euphoric levels that keep rising and aiming for the stars. Nova Fractal tackles a remix of Artifact303's "In Your Mind" with crazy good results.

 

Trinodia is simply not fucking around on "Distilled Illusions," he does everything great that is expected when one hears his name, he packs in a ton of sound into a tight space and makes sure all of the levels have enough space to breath. This one is intense and overwhelming in the finest ways possible and when he shoots you out to the stars with his insane levels of effects it never becomes a nose-bleed affair, nothing that ever makes you feel beat up afterward, but instead makes you feel delirious, exhilarated, out-of-breath with the goodness of the journey. And that melody, so sweet but oh-so fucking tough... great track!

 

"Floating Between The Moon & The Sun" is a bit of misnomer, perhaps, as this one is more on the energetic side, a bit more of flying at various speeds through the black matter of space, really. Still, it is a good collection, not groundbreaking stuff at all, but just about what you should expect by taking a quick peek at that very stacked group of producers printed on the tracklisting.

 

http://www.goamadnessrecords.com/releases/

[astralprojection]

This is a very decent album to the Newschool genre.

But I just have to mention the album covers of many many of these Newschool albums.

They are very very similar, and almost always has the same font and glow on the text, and the fractals and art are almost identical. Seems like every album should have more unique art, is it like one guy who does most Newschool releases lol?

 

Most specifically Neogoa label and its parent and daughter labels. I just found it a bit interesting and perhaps a bit boring.

 

I think especially the font and the glow effect used on the text - these could at least be more unique, to whoever makes the art. Use maybe more futuristic fonts (dafont.com) and use different glow effect so the albums look more unique.

 

Also I wouldnt mind going away from the whole fractal design theme.

Example is Nova Fractal - Lost Souls EP. Minimalistic and cool.

The new Koxbox album is also pretty damn cool.

 

I also think Suntrip can step it up a bit. Look at InnerSpace - InnerSpace, VA - Shaltu, VA - Aurora Sidera and alot more. They are indeed not good.

Just my two cents and maybe this is not right thread to put it perhaps it needs an own topic.

I dont want to be negative, but instead promote change for more innovative and perhaps a more minimalistic approach to the album covers.

Thanks.

Bye!

[Aspartic]

About the compilations music: Nova Fractals remix of In Your Mind is fantastic! Nova, you da man bro!

 

About the art: Not very interested in that. I have to admit that the Innerspace album has terrible cover art (that Arial font messing it up totally!), but I like Shaltu, Aurora SIdera and this one.

[Ormion]

The M-Run track is one of the best newschool tracks ever.

[Alek]

Expectations were high from this compilation just by looking at the track list, but after 2 listens nothing really stands out for me.

 

I think "In Your Mind" is the best track by Artifact303 and even though both the Nova Fractal and E-Mantra's remixes are nice, it's hard to come close to the original... so I have to wonder what's the point.

 

Memories From Goa Madness and especially Ephedra's album were a blast! I'm sure this label has more good stuff up its sleeve

[GoaPal]

ramayana <3