Drosophila Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Tottem - Natural Mystic EP Goa Records (goaep171) - Geomagnetic label group Released: April 15, 2015Tottem is Christoffer Totte from Sweeden (had to find his soundcloud account to find any information on the artist, haha, pretty low-key) and for me his music was a totally unknown until last year when I stumbled upon his EPs in the vast catalogue of Geomagnetic label group... But what a pleasant meet this has been, without any doubt my favourite new artist to appear in 2015, hands down! Already his sound is very mature and complete, so I cannot wait to hear what will be in store for the future.... and I am surprised nobody else has reviewed some of his work to this date on Psynews (this and another EP called Proactive Runes... which I probably also should review), so for a starter you will have to make do with me Let us just get down and dirty, well first things first, overall the tracks have a very ritualistic feel to them, with deep grooves and panoramic soundscapes that swirls around "the room". As a simplistic approach, this could be defined as foresty Goa trance with most emphasis on the Goa part, yet the bottom sound-floor is based on the deep drive and bass-scape often found in (good) forest trance. I can only imagine how it would rip the dance-floors when played on good sound-system, yiaks! 1. The YogisAn epic opener, the track slowly builds up (and not in a hurry) to open up into swirling alien melodies, perfect panoramic "views" The way the melodies are build makes me think of Trold, but I wouldn’t say they are alike, but some kind kinship exist with the non-linear evolution the melodies undergoes... like the continues stream of the subconscious... very psychedelic 2. Buddhas From the Past Present and the FutureThe tribes move in... here we're moving into fire-dance territories. And then the melodies start.... underplayed and subtle, but suddenly you realize that you are embedded in a multi-layered cake of soothing melodies, very well made! Still the drive and the evolution of the track is very slow and patient (a good thing) with dreamy samples dropping in now and then... a trip!3. VishnuNow its getting darker and more foresty, the groove is deep and mystic (fucking amazing if you ask me)... The top-layers are still dream-like and floating on top of the deep vibrations underneath, very interesting combination! I have to hear this on a big sound-system with dancing people around me... Woah! This mix of deep grooves and dream-like melodies is very unique and very interesting, very epic sounding Mystical trance!4. Natural MysticFor the last track we are back in the jungle to begin with but soon we are going to space... A nice closing track, with a little bit of sentimental note it. It is less involving than the previous tracks, the last bit of the track on the other hand takes you straight to the stars with laser-guns and aliens floating around, finishes too fast, or gets there too late though All in all, this a very very interesting contribution to the scene, and I hope this means that we are in store for even more from his hand... a very fresh take on the Goa scene, love it!!! Highly recommended!!! 5/5 Listen to it and buy it here>> Bandcamp << Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trance2MoveU Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Great review, you really brought out how the album made you feel. Tottem eh? Eyebrows raised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkraver Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Wow! Those Buddhas from past present and future were really flying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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