Released! Battle of the Future Buddhas - Songs From a Forgotten Memory (Suntrip Records)

[Anoebis]

Battle of the Future Buddhas is back with a second, very old school, CD-album on Suntrip!
David Tingsgard from Sweden was formerly known for his crazy melodic forest trance in the 90s, but in the mean time his style evolved to a slower, warmer back to the roots type of old school goa-trance! His last album on Suntrip, "The light behind the sun", already gave a taste of this. His new album went even a bit further. More old school, groovy, deeper, a bit more hypnotic, experimental, repetitive and filled with warm melodies allover! If you want to feel the vibe of the Indian beaches in the 90s, where the magic was happening, close your eyes, press play and have a nice voyage!

Now available on following bandcamp link:
https://suntriprecords.bandcamp.com/album/songs-from-a-forgotten-memory

Tracklist:
1. Collidoscope 
2. Go Gently Into Space
3. Pitchbend (Into the Light Remix)
4. The God Particle (Catch 22 Rework)
5. From Nothing 
6. Into Heaven
7. Mugwump 
8. Interstellar 
9. Blurred, Calm, Warm, Hazy

Artwork: 
 

[Paul Eye]

This one definitely goes on my early January music shopping list

[Drosophila]

Bought  First couple of listens has been interesting! I love the rare down tempo BOTFB track!

[vv303]

I don’t usually comment here because I don’t want to create disturbance plus it weighs on me putting anything on the internet at all. Bob Dylan said everything he created is a curse because it haunts him and follows him around. I think that’s also why Filipe Santos puts music up and then takes it down on bandcamp. I feel that way too so I try not to say much

But I just wanted to say that the first time I heard this I was utterly blown away by this all-time classic. As I’m listening I’m thinking this is up there with the all time great goa trance albums from Etnica, The Infinity Project, and Pleiadeans.  The last Battle Buddhas album from suntrip was very good, this is an utter masterpiece. I listened a second time and still had the same feeling

Ive heard just about everything relevant (not bragging) since the 90s, and I would say it’s at least top 5 all time. I know some others here have heard a lot more than me but usually anything very good finds its way up and you hear it so I doubt I’ve missed anything outside previously unreleased stuff like Tranquence or Psylent Buddhi that comes out

I think it was great idea to add Pitchbend also to this since every other track also is an all time great classic

From Nothing stands out and maybe the top track on this but all the other tracks are just as good

Maybe I’m in the heat of the moment but at times I’m thinking to myself, “I’ve been listening to goa since the 90s, and quite possibly this is the best album I’ve ever heard”

So anyway, I know very little about the technical aspects of making goa or music theory. I did fiddle recently with caustic and cubasis making goa but I don’t think I have that type of natural expertise to be able to make it or understand it very well

This is why I don’t really comment much. I used to live at a Buddhist monastery and I have studied and practiced Buddhism, and I can do that, but (sadly) I doubt I could ever understand the technical aspects of making music to comment intelligently on it, or make music 

I don’t know if this makes everyone cringe or if they like the feedback but I thought I’d put it out there anyway. I usually see most music (that isn’t terrible) as “all good” in its own unique way and obviously each person has their own preferences

Now off to worry about what type of impact or disturbance posting  this makes on people or on goa

 

[Anoebis]

Well, its lovely what you say, and the producer was very happy to read your feedback too!  It would be lovely if we could post it in the review section as well

[vv303]

38 minutes ago, Anoebis said:

Well, its lovely what you say, and the producer was very happy to read your feedback too!  It would be lovely if we could post it in the review section as well

Thanks! It means a lot to me that the producers like to hear feedback. Goa is maybe not as popular as other genres of music so unfortunately they don’t hear as much feedback and maybe it feels like they’re doing everything for nothing 

Or, they rack and crush their brain for years trying to rework the music to get it right and all they hear is “well, it’s not good” or something like that

Im terrible at it, but I experimented with caustic and cubasis and I know you have to crush and rack your brain to get it right. One note that is out of place that you can’t get right no matter what you do

And then an album someone spent three years crushing their brain to make comes out and someone just says “it’s not good”, when really the music is  very good but there were one or two bars that you couldn’t get right no matter whatever way you reworked it 

I know nothing about the technical aspects to make any intelligent or in depth review of music and it would be basically “this is good” or “I really like this” every time, so thats why I dont really ever comment on it

But I see very good music come out and there’s absolutely no feedback or someone just says “it’s ok” or something like that

Thats maybe somewhat demoralizing so that’s why I had to say something this time I guess 

Yes! If you want to post my comment in the review section I would feel good about contributing something 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Scenery]

What to say someone for milestones like this, gratitude & grateful for listening something like this that it seems totally like the absolute sequel to the cornerstone 'Twin Sharkfins' after almost 25 years...

Blissful feelings...  

[Paul Eye]

A no-nonsense, shining beacon of light in a sea of overproduced polished modern goa trance. This one goes right back to the roots while not sounding outdated at all. It does have a few annoyances (particularly that vocal in "Into Heaven" that also appears in a far better context on Banco de Gaia's album "You Are Here") but overall it does its job at sounding like "proper goa trance" (yes, I know that's a bit of a silly term to use) far better than most albums out there.

There aren't may *trance albums I bother listening to anymore these days. This is not one of them.

[DoktorG]

David Tingsgard has created one of the only albums, apart from E-Mantra’s Arcana, to rival the greats of the golden age of Goa trance in this latest record Songs From a Forgotten Memory. Really love what Battle of the Future Buddhas is doing on this and the previous album Light Behind the Sun. Quite slowish, spacey Goa with deep beats and wonderful melodies.

One of the things I really like about both albums is that BotFB shows restraint. He does not go straight for maximum velocity from the outset. The tracks and album as a whole can thus build, and build they do. Take "Collidoscope" for instance - at the 5.35 mark the track breaks into huge pillars of rising and falling modulations - this really takes the listener on a disorientating psychedelic trip because it has not been constant throughout the track which builds up to this peak gradually. This is the mark of a mature and talented artist who understands that drama comes from restraint, not throwing everything and the kitchen sink at the listener all at once. Moreover, by avoiding manic layerism and the straitjacket of 16th note bass and drums, when he decides to use a sawtooth or a flutter effect, it is effective. Not constant fluttering, which has little effect but to put you in a flutter. Lots of his melodies do have this fractalised or fluttering effect, but because he doesn't do this all the time it is not tiresome. Effective, like I said.

"Go Gently into Space" (obviously a riff on Dylan Thomas' famous "do not go gently into that good night/rage, rage against the dying of the light") is not only a space hymn to the "future space travellers" (thanks to Miranda and Prana for that phrase). It starts off with a spoken manifesto to all future space travellers, the kind of thing that you might hear in Starship Troopers: “It’s really the next stage in the evolution of mankind, out here amongst the stars lies the destiny of mankind”.  Hehe, c'mon Goaheads, let's send this track to Elon Musk; he can make it his anthem. Seeing as I mentioned Prana, this track features the juddering, ascending 303 melodies that Prana mastered. It also features one of the best snare sounds I've heard, and placed with pitch perfect accuracy. The track goes all Astral Projection at the end with sugary melody. This really is a space anthem if ever I've heard one. And without going over the top. Everything in total control, but without becoming predictable or zombie automaton. There’s not even a hint of the dreaded shiny plastic sound that psytrance has become. AWESOME!!!

"Pitchbend (Into the Light Remix)" does exactly what it says on the tin: it ends with incredibly positive, life-affirming, sunny vibes that also happen to be delightfully psychedelic. Starting off pretty intense, this ends up being a lighter track than many on the album, but just as excellent.

"The God Particle" makes it clear that this is a scifi themed album. There's such an awesome bass warble at the start of this track - honestly, this is totally addictive. Imagine holding a big sheet of roofing zinc and being able to shake it like a blanket - a metallic wap sound not far from a didge is what you'll get - and this sound goes on throughout. Infected Mushroom wish they could create just one sound as cool as this across their entire discography. A special shout to the snapping snares on this track too; faster than a cobra, as insouciant as a saddhu. As for the super trippy little elf melody at the end... I'm actually at a loss for superlatives. Could this be the best track on the album?

"From Nothing"?? Nothing comes from nothing, so they say. Is this track describing the radical dissociation of a strong trip? Is it just a hymn to "empty" space? I don't know. But from the start this one goes heavier (I said the album builds not so?). At 5.00 there comes that unique little BotfB melody that sounds like the weird siren song of an alien elf at the window of your spaceship, luring you off track to the Triangulum constellation when you were supposed to be flying to Ganymede. Who needs Startrek when you have Goa trance like this?

From nothing we find ourselves "In Heaven". This is the most classically Goa track on the album, featuring Indian singing, and it could easily be an Astral Projection song. Utter bliss, with some of the most textured riffs you'll ever hear. This is clearly the spiritual heart of the album. Om mani padme hum. Om namaya Shiva. Bom Shankar!  

The comedown commences with "Mugwump" which has a totally cool wurlitzer fairground horror melody. I love this forest elf twisty weirdo black metal goblin shit. We don't see enough of this tokolosh spiritualism in psytrance even though we have subgenres like twilight. Sheesh, BotFB invented twilight. Clearly BotFB is winding back from the hypnotic bliss of "In Heaven" and we go a bit darker and more foresty here.

“Interstellar” is a more mellow track starting with a techno beat and tweaky noises, but soon accompanied by a whimsical and simple melody that repeats. Another one of those charmingly simple but minor key little melodies that BotfB specialises in. A little drop of unaccountably strange and otherworldly stardust. At the 5.45 point we enter another world with bigger riffs that are nevertheless restrained and subtle; nothing too loud here, but pulling you in with texture and intrigue. This is some beguiling shit!  

Finally, we come down to earth with “Blurred, Calm, Warm, Hazy”, just how you feel after a good toke. This is a fully ambient track, so of course there are some sitar sounds, Asian scales, along with tabla, and wailing melodies. BotFB set you adrift on deeply relaxing waves of calm and bliss.

 

David Tingsgard, take a bow bro. I will probably never meet you as you live on the opposite side of the globe from me, but I wish I could shake your hand. In my opinion, you've created one of the all-time great Goa albums. I thought The Light Behind the Sun was good. Well, you've upped the game with this 10/10 record. You've shown Etnica, Pleaidians, Miranda, Transwave, Simon Posford, et al, that Goa is a genre capable of more than we dreamed. Technically it seems better than many of the classics. Imaginatively it is really out there. But it is also just so mellow, so musical, such delightful fun, as well as being dark, serious, and prophetic. If spiritual could be bottled, this is it. Yet this is very much a BotFB album; no one else could have made it. It has a unique peaceful calm understatement combined with crazy Loki inventiveness.

The dust has long settled on the dirt roads of Anjuna. If you avoid the tourist areas you will only hear the lowing of sacred cows and temple bells at night walking near Chapora fort. The insects are loud in bamboo forest and the rice paddies glower in the gloom. But decades later, one who kept the faith has left behind a relic as valuable as anything made at the time. I feel privileged to discover it.

Album of the year, and it is only January!

This is deep trance plateau music - if you're a Goa fan, this is a must. It is begging for a vinyl release! Anoebis, do you hear me? Do not delay - crowdfund if you must, but do the best possible vinyl mastering and pressing of this classic album. I would be surprised if this album is not selling for thousands in decades to come! ~*~

[Anoebis]

Such great reviews! Please post them in the review section... moderators? And make a 2022 as well  

As for vinyls, we have some stuff in the pipeline with at least 1-2 tracks of the album  

[DoktorG]

On 1/24/2022 at 11:48 PM, Anoebis said:

Such great reviews! Please post them in the review section... moderators? And make a 2022 as well  

As for vinyls, we have some stuff in the pipeline with at least 1-2 tracks of the album  

Great news Anoebis; we look forward to more information on your plans as and when... 

[Anoebis]

7 hours ago, DoktorG said:

Great news Anoebis; we look forward to more information on your plans as and when... 

Thanks! And your review was picked up by David Buddha and he was even emotional about it (he writes on his fb)  

[DoktorG]

16 hours ago, Anoebis said:

Thanks! And your review was picked up by David Buddha and he was even emotional about it (he writes on his fb)  

Ah thanks for letting me know Anoebis; I'm glad he is happy - credit where credit is due. That review was written objectively; I have no affiliations, nothing to gain, no axe to grind.

Huge credit is also due to you for supporting the artists, for releasing some good music, and for keeping the faith! 

The year has started off really well for Goa trance; I hope it continues on a positive trajectory for all!