"V/A - ZNA Gathering - A Retrofuturistic Compilation

[Trance2MoveU]

Artist: Various
Title: ZNA Gathering - A Retro Futuristic Compilation
Label: Dance N Dust Records
Date: August, 2017

1. Bus V.s Slide - Everyday, the Belsize Mix (1998)
2. Orion - Frenzy (1997)
3. Dragon - Resurrection (1998)
4. Shazbatt - Organic Deflection (1998)
5. Little Blue Men - Ace of Space (1998)
6. Atmos - Devine Hex (1997)
7. Noma - K3 (1999)
8. The Mato Project - Asa Equals Goddess (1997)
9. Sarolta Monspart - Slowdown Action (1996)

 

"That was f*cking trippy!"

Was is though?  I purchased this compilation sound unheard because of FOMO.  That's fear of missing out for those that didn't know.  You say, "Yeah, I'll get it later",  and then it's gone and goes for hundreds on the second hand market.  I mean sh*t I had Ethereal's Anima Mundi in my hand and sold it for cheap!  Therefore I vowed to never make that mistake again.

First let me say that I don't go to festivals.  I'm middle aged with young kids, they happen far away, and from the videos I've seen it seems like a dirty experience.  It's a younger person's game.  I'd rather sit on my porch and yell at the kids to stay of my f*cking lawn.  I mean, I would like to do that, but my neighborhood don't have no kids.  So I have to yell as if there were kids on my lawn.  Anyway, I'm not familiar to this label, but as I mentioned above it's not integral to the story.  I just didn't want to miss out and this wasn't really advertised that much.

So ZNA seems like a big festival and this compilation has a bunch of unreleased tracks that were nonetheless played for close to 20 years.  Impressive.  You'll recognize some names, but personally I haven't heard of any of these tracks.  Cool, new discovery!  As I await my copy in the mail, the FLAC version sounds great!  Full, rich, bass that demands to be played loud.  The next thing you should know is that this isn't in the style of Etnica or Astral Projection.   There are no epic melodic monsters.  It's more an eclectic mix of  "the other side of goa trance."  The not so shiny side.  I liked The Ace of Spades by Little Blue Men which was constantly changing direction with lots of bubbling and screechy sounds.  But then you have tracks like Frenzy from Orion which sounds like a bunch of tracks he started and then stitched together.  Devine Hex by Atmos shows his progressive chops, but the track plods along and doesn't go anywhere.  Rather boring.  Speaking of boring K3 by Noma shows him at his minimal best (worst?).  The last two just don't measure up.

So yeah...I would've left this party.  The one thing this compilation does is drives home the point of listening before buying.  Cannot stress that enough.  Some tracks that weren't released weren't released for a reason.  For those who like different styles of goa trance then this might be a gem for you.  Happy I bought it to support goa trance, but for me the FOMO was hardly justified.

Dance N Dust Bandcamp

[Anoebis]

The Dragon track is the big hilight for me on this comp... Sounds like Technossomy  

[Trunksan]

I got the CD at the fest... I have to agree, it's so so....

[U.F.Orb]

I Love this compilation, happy some of those gems finally seen the light of day after

all those years.

With all those puny re-issues and uninspired psytrance/neo goa we had this year from big lables, so far, this is one

of the only releases i enjoyed this year in the goa/'retro'/psytrance department.

2017 is a dull year so far, filled with boring releases, this compilation is not one of them imo.

 

[technosomy]

have to agree there, got that vibe just by the samples

but doesn't sound all bad, i guess with me culling my collection i gotta be selective

[masen023]

Bought this one at the ZNA fest.

This one is really good (maybe im biased by living in Sweden, Scandinavia)

as i love the early tracks/sound.

LBM,  Wierdo Beardo, Sarolta, Noma, Atmos etc...