goa VA - Shambhala [Global Sect Music]

[Aspartic]

Title: Shambhala
Label: Global Sect Music
Date: October 2018
Format : CD and Digital

Tracklist:

1. Fiery Dawn - Magic Mirror 07:31
2. Skarma - Cianendeon ( Median Project Remix ) 08:53
3. Goasia - Hidden Waves 06:46
4. Median Project - Heaven and Earth (Omneon rmx) 08:10
5. Zopmanika - Namaskara Mantra II 08:58
6. Сentavra Project - Shambhala 09:18
7. Median Project - Scarab 07:26
8. Mindsphere - Floating in a Widescreen 12:11
9. Astrancer - Neighbor 10:14

 

DJ Adept's latest offering from Russia. Here we GO!
For those who follow Global Sect music, you know what to expect.

And they deliver more than that. Shambala is the bulls eye shot of Goa anno 2018.

Opener is a down to mid-tempo track by Fiery Dawn. It has a nice groove, but I find it out of place on a compilation that is otherwise filled with space fuel.
But ok, it gets you in the mood slowly.
And then we're off for a goa rollercoaster without any disappointing tracks. Really, they are all fantastic!

Median Project is back with a stunning remix of Skarma to crack the goa case open. Sweet melodies!
Goasia in full force with a rolling bassline without pauses.
Omneon takes on a remix of Median Project. Heaven and Earth gets a more acidic and raw facelift. Dance muttha's!
I took an aromatic bath while listening to Zopmanika's belter Namaskara Mantra II. Good lord, kamasutra, India, spiritual lifting, and all that! It does it so well.

Then we're off to space with Centavra's title track Shambhala. What great mixing in this track. Wonderful goa. Up and down we modulate.
This disc is unstoppable, man.
Median Project slams with his very own Scarab. This man only produces quality tracks nowadays. Scorching acid and goa synths flowing around from left to right. Amazing.
And then, Mindsphere! Mindsphere treats us with a 12min(!) long goa odyssey. The lengths fits the quality. It's so good. A pleasure for the ears.
His arpeggio's are back, and they are hot!
And look who's back? Astrancer!
Astrancer blesses us with the last track. He takes down the energy from the cd a notch, so we can all have a smooth comeback to earth in style.
Great melodic easy listener.

Conclusion: Don't hesitate to get this one! From start to finish this is what modern Goa is all about. Talented artists with a wealth of inspiration and skills. Goa lives!!

Buy link (CD and Digital)

Global Sect bandcamp

[Padmapani]

agreed. it starts out ok with fiery dawn, but gets better with track 2 and stays that way until the end. we get a new goasia track (long time no hear, and i'm glad this one is better than the last ones released), solid tracks from mindsphere, centavra and median project. astrancer (again, long time no hear) fits very well onto here. he often likes to dance on both sides of the cheese border, but stays well on the right side this time. the surprise here is zopmanika (which i had filed under "average goa trance" up to now) with a modern bassline, well crafted melodies and of course the mantra samples in the end. if you're looking for a tasteful transition from "big room psytrance" (the stuff with mantra/eastern-singing samples, kick/bass and not much else) to goa this is your track.

as criticism you could say that it's yet another typical global sect compilation and you'd be right. but just as with the latest e-mantra, i will gladly listen to a lot of music in a style i like. so, all in all, this is nothing groundbreaking but instead more of a good thing. if you enjoyed previous global sect compilations you will enjoy this one too. it's a bit shorter, but to compensate there are no filler tracks here.

[Jaza]

This one is a gem. Admittedly it's hard to compare a 4 CD VA with 1 CD... But I think it trumps Terraformer in quality.

Yes, it sits right in the Global Sect comfort zone, but this is mostly proper top quality modern psytrance.

The Zopmanika, Centavra and Median Project tracks are all bombs. The Omneon remix of Median is very worthwhile too.

The Goasia and Astrancer contributions are also very worthy. The Mindsphere one drags on for me - I love >10 min tracks but this one doesn't quite grab me - but it deserves its place on the CD. In the end it's only really the first track from Fiery Dawn that doesn't grab me.

An absolute bargain at the price. Well played again Global Sect.

[Aspartic]

Exactly. One disc full of gems without fillers seems way better than a 4CD with mixed gems and fillers.
WIth only 9 tracks I can focus more on each track and listen to them again and again. That's harder with 40 tracks.
This is a quality release with real goa stormers.

[Tsotsi]

Someone mentioned on another post that 2018 was the year for Goa. When  I read that I thought 'Naw, 2017 can't be beaten'. But I'm wrong 100% the quality and output of albums this year has been next level. Global Sect add another comp into the mix that is going to make it nigh impossible to pick any favourites or a top 10 this year.
 

Magic Mirror - Fiery Dawn brings us into a nice little midtempo something something. Not really in the the same vein as the rest of the album but nice to see Fiery open up the comp all the same.

Cianendon (Median Project remix) - Very classic Median project style. Which of course means delight to the senses. Delicate synths and melodies full of power take us so deep into the cosmos that I can almost hear Carl Sagan.

Hidden Waves - Goasia continues with the space vibes introducing us into a melody and thumping kick drum nice and early. But it doesn’t stop there, the track constantly develops further and further into euphoria with mystical melodies topping it all off. A Fav.

Heaven and Earth - The track where Median Projects album really takes off has been remixed by Omneom. Omneom has taken out some the atmospheric mysticism of the original, pumped the kick and bassline up and just reworked it into his own thing. A blazing THIC dance floor remix.

Namaskara Mantra II - I was super excited for a second edition of the mantra and thought it was interesting to see it on the Globel Sect comp rather than Mamoman one the same week. Share the love baby. I wasn't super impressed by the first half but Zopmanika knows how to deliver and delivers big for the second half of the track.

Shambala - is it a Global Sect comp if Centevra doesn't pop in for a track? And what a track. The short little intro sets the scene for a delightful extravaganza of a track. As always Centevra takes us deep into space with more than hint of trippy psychedelic madness.

Scarab - The goa output machine delivers us a wild screeching banger of a tune. Did anyone else find the intro weird? Never mind that, it all works out and comes together in a wild wild ride. I also I've been noticing a little extra breakbeat through his tracks lately. I must say it works well, I am a fan.

Floating in a Wide-Screen - I feel like the track comes on a little to strong at the start. I mean I know we are talking about music that is ultra melodic, layered and moves at about 145 bpm but still. Luckily the track finds it’s legs after the first little break and turns into a stormer. With over 12 minutes the track could do more to help you get lost in it, but with a little effort it is possible.

EDIT: On further listens this track is an absolute standout. We should disregard my earlier comments, I don't know what I was thinking. Mindsphere has delivered an absolute wonder of a journey to us. The track isn't exactly the deep listening journey we get from a lot of cosmic Goa but finds a balance between that and a relentless dancefloor focused wonderland that simply doesn't let up. The thing about a 12 minute track like this is that every time you think that it might end Mindsphere finds a way to keep it going. I wish could I could hear this on a dance floor. While it is tiring to listen to regularly due to the surprises and structure becoming familiar I would say it has been a very long time since a track has hit me in this way.

Neighbour - Holy Jesus. For real what a track. What a closer, so many tracks on this comp that i thought were my favourite until I listened to the next track. And Astrancer continues the trend. A blasting track that fits perfectly into the Global Sect style and the rest of the tracks.

 

There are simply to many comps in the last two months for me to go ahead and pick a favourite. Global Sect is completely ahead of the space trance game right now and a solid label to turn to when you feel like getting lost.

https://globalsect.bandcamp.com/album/va-shambhala

[Void Mantra]

Great reviews guys! keep 'em coming. 

[Tsotsi]

I had to throw an edit into my review about the mind sphere track after a fresh listen. The secret I suppose is to make it the first Goa trance track you listen to in a headphone sesh. Any way ill repost here just to bump it up.
 

EDIT: On further listens this track is an absolute standout. We should disregard my earlier comments, I don't know what I was thinking. Mindsphere has delivered an absolute wonder of a journey to us. The track isn't exactly the deep deep listening journey we get from a lot of cosmic Goa but instead finds a balance between that and a relentless dancefloor focused wonderland that simply doesn't let up. The thing about a 12 minute track like this is that every time you think that it might end Mindsphere finds a way to keep it going. I wish could I could hear this on a dance floor. While it is tiring to listen to regularly due to the surprises and structure becoming familiar (and it still isn't I just don't want to it become so) I would say it has been a very long time since a track has hit me in this way.

The track is a different sort of journey that is going to mean I need to actually get some Mindsphere albums. I was always hoping I could disregard his music just to cut down on the number of artists I need to dig deep into. I now have anew appreciation for Ali's style and won't be album to stay away from old and new releases for long.

[Kitrinos]

Astrancer - Neighbor is a great morning trance track. He got rid of the eastern melodies and the cheese indeed. Good for him and for us.