JBC Arkadii - White Tiger's Empire (Hado Records)

[antic604]

Track list:

1. Heartbeat Of The Universe

2. Galactical Hurricane

3. Forgotten Tales

4. Gravitation

5. Lotus Kisses

6. Purple Galaxies

7. Secret Place

8. Unreal World

9. Illuminative Jellyfishes

Review:

Hado Records always sat on the borderline of the scene, being mostly known for re-releasing Zirrex' seminal "Lost In Time" in a 3CD package. Since then there was a so-so follow-up to that album, a chill-out and two trance compilations. One of the standouts there has always been tunes from JBC Arkadii: deep, fast, acidic, melodic and imaginative. I don't know much about the guy (Arkadii Tronets) other than his roots apparently are in Nitzhonot scene with his 1st album out on Sita Records in 2013. To my relief - I hate Nitzhonot, sorry... - there's very little trace of that style in his new album "White Tiger's Empire" released in March '16: a high-pitched kick or bassline here & there or the "triumphant" / happy melody, but otherwise it is very solid to say the least. Most of the tracks follow a similar formula: a far-eastern melody in 1st half, followed by crazy / acidic noodlings in 2nd half. The best tracks include "Heartbeat of The Universe" which is eerily beautiful and contains some marvelous melodic work, lush synths and emotional twists, reminiscent of genius Delirious Noon "Launch For Lanctus" and the Goasia-like "Gravitation" and "Purple Galaxies" with face-melting acid-dripping segments. But all of them are good to great, so it's an enjoyable listed throughout, even if some parts or buildups are too stretched for my taste. The whole package is attractive, with very good mastering and beautiful digipak cover painting. On that note, I'd be curious to find out more on that White Tiger reference, because - judging from track names - it's more space-themed than wild life, but I digress...

All in all, a very solid 4/5 release that should please anyone liking their goa/psy-trance bright and colorful, with a bit of eastern-flavored melody and healthy portion of acid.

[recursion loop]

Re: White tiger. Arcadii is from Ussuriisk, a city in the Russian region which is often referred to as a home of Siberian tigers (they are called "Ussuriisk tigers" in Russian). Maybe the tiger reference comes from here (however White tiger is a breed of Bengalian tiger, not Siberian tiger).

 

Re: the album. Sounds like someone is trying to make "the most goaish goa in the world". Well produced (however to my ears these acid lines are too ear-piercing sometimes) and has all the right elements but for me it seems a bit too predictable and formulaic. On the other hand, I think most "true to fom goa" fans will feel right at home with this album

[antic604]

Re: White tiger. Arcadii is from Ussuriisk, a city in the Russian region which is often referred to as a home of Siberian tigers (they are called "Ussuriisk tigers" in Russian). Maybe the tiger reference comes from here (however White tiger is a breed of Bengalian tiger, not Siberian tiger).

 

Wasn't aware of that, thanks!

Re: the album. Sounds like someone is trying to make "the most goaish goa in the world". Well produced (however to my ears these acid lines are too ear-piercing sometimes) and has all the right elements but for me it seems a bit too predictable and formulaic. On the other hand, I think most "true to fom goa" fans will feel right at home with this album

 

I'd have to disagree here... The albums is far from formulaic goa (that is Suntrip's territory, no offence...) and it follows the recently observed trend of including folk-influenced Balkan / Slavic / Turkish / Arabic melodies, popularized by Lunar Dawn, Goasia, etc. Being Polish I find it a welcome departure from phrygian (Indian / middle-eastern) scales so prevalent in classic goa.

[Richpa]

Good point Antic, I agree with mentioned above, the trend is slowly shifting towards more non-conventional melody-wise territories and it feels great to see more and more artists going into that direction, which will grow more in the future and I'm saying that since I'm in talks with many artists who are recognizing the same issue of the safe-zone and general overload of formulaic Astral Projection-wannabe type of music.

Oh, don't forget him as well.

Example 1

Example 2

 

On topic - I really like Arkadiy's music and on this album he improved his sound and production very much, however I still feel and think that his full potential and musicianship has been fully unleashed through Shamanizm Parallelii works with Pavel. I know it's not Goa trance music and can't be compared in that term, but it brings a lot more tiny details and unique moments, at least for my personal taste.

[jbc-arkadii]

Thanks so much for review) Really like it.

[antic604]

Thanks so much for review) Really like it.

 

Thanks for the music!

[Anoebis]

I'd have to disagree here... The albums is far from formulaic goa (that is Suntrip's territory, no offence...) and it follows the recently observed trend of including folk-influenced Balkan / Slavic / Turkish / Arabic melodies, popularized by Lunar Dawn, Goasia, etc. Being Polish I find it a welcome departure from phrygian (Indian / middle-eastern) scales so prevalent in classic goa.

Just wondering, what do you mean with that? Last 5 releases were all so different... Toi Doi, Morphic, Mindsphere, Denshi Danshi, Aurora... So i'm wondering what that means... We focus on all stuff with the label so i'm very surprised to read we are formulaic, and i'm wondering how people see this

[antic604]

Just wondering, what do you mean with that? Last 5 releases were all so different... Toi Doi, Morphic, Mindsphere, Denshi Danshi, Aurora... So i'm wondering what that means... We focus on all stuff with the label so i'm very surprised to read we are formulaic, and i'm wondering how people see this

 

Well,Toi Doi and Denshi contain some very old material from those artists, so I don't consider them to be proper, contemporary releases. Mindsphere and Aurora Sidera are "the same" - floaty, dense goa. Morphic Resonance is - again - pretty similar to those, because the darkness is only achieved by using more distorted, acidy instruments - but style is the same. Sure, there's sufficient variety between the artists, which keeps me coming back for more, but let's not pretend Suntrip's catalogue is as eclectic as Blueroom's, Flying Rhino or TIP's was. I can' tell whether this is because out of the promos you receive you only pick that floaty goa, or maybe there's nothing else in there?

 

But that's off-topic here.

[Starkraver]

They did release Ka-Sol. :P JK

On topic - Ah! Sweet release. 4/5 it is. Way to go Hado & JBC. *thumbs Up*

[Trance2MoveU]

Good review Antic.  Head meet nail.  The second album from Arkadii Tronets is quite the blaster isn't it?  Whereas his debut Sounds From Tomorrow (which I thoroughly enjoyed) was firmly rooted in the nitzhogoa sub-genre, this is a pure goa assault.  Powerful in your face kicks and high tempo melodies are everywhere.  There are plenty of breaks here to catch your breath and like Antic said nary a whisper of nitzhonot silliness.  A very underrated album methinks.