ZNA 2022 was DIVINE!

[Trunksan]

I've been to many fests in the past 20 years including a few legendary ones (Samothraki DF 2002, Solstice 2002, SUN 2014, ZNA 2017).

It was a close battle between ZNA 2017 and SDF 2002 for the number 1 position and I had given it to ZNA 2017. A lot of people were making the same comparison, some gave it to SDF others to ZNA.

I can say without a doubt that ZNA 2022 crashes both EASILY!!! The music has PHENOMENAL, the organisation had improved (unlike 2019 when they exceeded capacity and the majority of the ppl got sick.... all of my group got sick), the dancefloor energy and the friendliness of everyone is something that I haven't found anywhere else. Even the old-school Portuguese that have gone to many BOOMs since the beginning said that this year's ZNA was something out of this world! 
The sound system quality overall was very good except for the Goa Guardians night, which for the third time has an awful sound.

Not so many Psynewers this year: Goa constrictor, Staffan, Joske (who was also playing) and I. These are the only regulars that I met.

Concerning  the music:
Andrew Till played the best DJ set I've experienced EVER, dethroning Queen REE.K. It was 3 hours and I wish it was 3 days! It was weird, funny, powerful with amazing mixing and variety.

Sandman enters the pantheon of Demi-gods along with Hallucinogen and Graham Wood' TIP as the best live sets (now called producer sets) I've heard. Staffan was with me and can attest to me losing my mind. Can't describe it in words!

Other SPECTACULAR sets:
Cydonia (Steve and Dinos): I was actually on the dancefloor drinking beers with Iain Rive (also Cydonia) and Mark V D Flungt amongst other ppl.  Iain was very happy and was telling us about who had done what at most tune.

Texas Faggott: Spectacular stuff, not too SuomiSaundi. I will make another post about a Hallucinogen remix he played that was a massive surprise

OOOD: Acidic fast & groovy party magic!

Nervasystem: Such an underrated artist. Amazing production, compositions, very groovy and rhythmic. Since he played at a tough hour (4-6 in the morning) he opted for a mellow/slower set and it was PERFECT.

Prana: Very nice to hear all the hits live and with all 3 members

RA: The biggest surprise of the fest. Better than Prana IMHO. Old-school and new-school stuff, kept everyone dancing for 2 hours

Ray Castle Vs Nick Taylor: Aussie weirdness + Ray's collaborations

X-Dream: top notch as usual

Laughing Buddha: Another great surprise, played a lot of Cosmosis too (as he was part of the group at the beginning)

Skizologic: The new-school strikes. 

Hypnoxock: great variety and mix of styles, very original compositions (we knew about that) but he made it work on the dancefloor

Anoebis: I knew that Joske wanted to play a lot of unreleased and rare stuff. The first hour was OK, it's hard when there are so many unknown/strange/alternate tracks BUT the last 1.5 was a total bang.

Filteria: Great as usual

 

This fest, totally rekindled my passion for this music. It's the fest I've spent the most time on the dancefloor. Hardly any time at the Chill and a little time at the Market (Techno) stage, which was a great addition.

Honorable Mentions and Weird stuff:
- Der Dritte Raum at the Market stage: Hale Bopp  of course!!!
- Emok at the Market stage: Great mix of prog and techno
- Gabriel le Mar at the Market stage: Really liked it
- Jaia at Chill: Only listened a bit but was really good
- Technossomy: Their equipment was stranded at customs because of Brexit so instead we got a 1,5 hour average DJ set + their big hits at the end
- Marc V D Flungt + Ian rive + Steve Ronan at the market stage (Marc was very stressed during all his sets since he hasn't played on the big stage in many years)
- UX: Either there was a problem with the drum machine or I don't know... it was out of beat all the time. Really struggled to stay, couldn't stand it, left quickly.
-Synchro: The organizers said he had COVID so he didn't come, I doubt it.
- BOTFB: Totally wrong time slot and I believe he had technical problems that he didn't even realize (probably the monitors were OK so it was only at the main PA)
- I still have no idea who the surprise act was. Wasn't there and didn't care to ask
- Chakra had a great reception from the crowd, not so much my cup of tea so just heard them from the lake
- Infected Mushroom FINALLY played something that resembled and old-school set because every time they've WERE SUPPOSED to play old-school in Athens, it hasn't been so. Strange that they didn't play Bust a Move (or maybe didn't hear it because at some point I was bored and went to the lake).

Stuff that I missed that I wanted to hear, but had to rest: Morphic Resonance, Intact Instict (really bummed for this), Holeg (Would have stayed if UX was acceptable) 

Obviously there were a few that disappointed. Won't go into that. No need.

In the following days I will post tons of videos. Haven't started yet. Will add the channel link later.

It's also the first time in my life that I feel the festival blues..... I want to go back there NOW!!

[astralprojection]

Who disappointed you? That's the most interesting thing to me cause I assume everyone does well and when they don't that's interesting innit 

[kicma]

@TrunksanThanks for sharing some of "inside" information (Technossomy, Synchro). 

 

I wasn't able to hear everything of course but for me number one set of the festival was Holeg vs Spies. Amazing music, perfect transition from UX to Ray & Nick (and from  night to day). And his interaction with people on the dancefloor was something special. 

After him, there are few that I could put on number two: Nervasystem (agree with everything that Trunksan said), Nick Taylor vs Ray Castle, Andrew Till, (Australian weirdness mixed very well) Sunborn (unreleased darker stuff) but I like weirder and darker stuff. 

After that: Zen Paradox, X-Dream, OOOD, Intact Instict, Bus vs Gus Till...

I saw last 30 minutes of UX and didn't hear anything out of beat, it sounded very well. 

 

 

 

 

[Trunksan]

20 hours ago, kicma said:

for me number one set of the festival was Holeg vs Spies

I really wanted to hear this but I just didn't have the patience to sit through UX. Until I left they hadn't played any of their hits so maybe when they played them towards the end it was better. 

Zen Paradox I "Sacrificed" for Der Dritte Raum at the Market stage. Not such a wise idea but you don't get to hear such a legend often (but then again, Zen Paradox is also rare). Most people said it was fantastic and fit great for King Andrew Till afterwards.

20 hours ago, kicma said:

Intact Instict, Bus vs Gus Till...

For both I was at the dancefloor but too exhausted, so I opted to go to rest.

[technosomy]

sounds amazing, where are the videos of all this????
 

[Trunksan]

21 hours ago, technosomy said:

sounds amazing, where are the videos of all this????
 

At youtube Astral Fairy (Despina, the famous GOA Mama and coincidentally neighbor in Athens) has a lot of videos.

I will start uploading next week. I am so busy this week after holidays, that every day that I wake up I feel like I've been hit by a train.

 I have a lot of videos, but it turns out i'm a shitty videographer. The better the performance, the worse the videos because I wouldn't stop dancing.

[staffan]

Haha, yes. Mind losing confirmed. =)) That's Sandman, absolutely brilliant. Third time I hear him play now so I was expecting that. I've always been a big fan of his music, all the way back to mid 90's. Natural Born Killer, Nostradamus remix and then the album in 98. He is one of the best.

Some pictures. Not that a took many, as usual. Not many videos either.

 

Juno and Dino started the main floor in a good way. But Cydonia and Deedrah was insane. =)) My feet was not in a good shape the morning after, lol. But i was stupid not breaking in my new shoes before the festival. Anyway, Lightning Rods, Freakshow, Animals and some tracks from other projects than Cydonia. It was amazing.

Solitare did a great job as usual. He is one of my favorite DJ's and he played Back to Earth. =)) Fantastic track.

Nervasystem, wow. I didn't have much energy at the time he was playing, but I'm glad I went to the dancefloor when he started. Second time I hear him now and he delivered big time.

Younger Brother/Prometheus was also one of the best this year, playing for 3h. Benji played Clarity From Deep Fog, a big big favorite of mine. Also he did his and Raja Rams remix of The Beatles - Because. Amazing track. =))

Triquetra at the after party was so amazing. They can really deliver, Impact is such a great track. =)) Third time I hear them live and they are just getting better and better.

All in all, I love ZNA. =))

[Trunksan]

On 9/3/2022 at 9:29 PM, staffan said:

Clarity From Deep Fog

How did I miss that, what was I doing? I love the track and we have an inside joke with the Goa Constrictor about it. We weren't expecting it to be played.

Dada was also good but I left half-way through to catch my mate DJ QSES at the chill. Did he play any Synthetic? Because the first hour was Transwave and old Deedrah.

[Trunksan]

On 9/2/2022 at 3:36 PM, technosomy said:

sounds amazing, where are the videos of all this????
 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE7cF2btpf2Za78j3sKLTNg/playlists

I'll be uploading videos of each day... Every day.... 
It's a lot of work (I have so much content). Took me 3 hours for day 1 and it's the smallest one.

[technosomy]

awsome, thanks much appreciated for us who couldn't be there

[Trunksan]

Day 2  playlist

 

[Trunksan]

On 9/5/2022 at 2:17 PM, Trunksan said:

How did I miss that, what was I doing? I love the track and we have an inside joke with the Goa Constrictor about it. We weren't expecting it to be played.

I must have been a bit fucked up.... I was there I even have it on camera...

[staffan]

On 9/7/2022 at 2:44 PM, Trunksan said:

I must have been a bit fucked up.... I was there I even have it on camera...

Lol, that happens.

I think Dado played some harder stuff at the end, but I haven't herd the Synthetic tracks in 20 years. So I'm not sure and my memory is a bit blurred the last hour.

[staffan]

DJ Solitare has uploaded his set, almost the same as he played it at ZNA.

 

[the goa constrictor]

Dado very much played Synthetic "Time Bandits" from 100% Pure.
Absolutely one of my favorites of his and I was stoked to hear it (and Deedrah's "Wizard Demo")

Not the best set of the weekend but still a good time =)

[Trunksan]

Clarity from deep fog

 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE7cF2btpf2Za78j3sKLTNg/playlists

Each DAY of ZNA in playlist

 

[Gluon]

On 9/3/2022 at 8:29 PM, staffan said:

Juno and Dino started the main floor in a good way.

Dino's tracks were good but the mixing was awfull!
Suddenly he even accidentally stopped a track right in the middle of te song and MWNN teleport started playing 10 bpm too fast...

[Gluon]

I missed a lot of stuff at night bacause it was basically the only time you could sleep there with that heat...
But I did see a lot of great music, this year did have most goa-heavy line-up so far I feel!

My top 5 in random order:
Technossomy, Triquetra, John Phantasm, Laughing Buddha, Solitare

 

[the goa constrictor]

Favs (in no real order)

Producer Sets: Texas Faggott, Nervasystem, Sandman, X-Dream, Prometheus (both sets), Prana, Psychaos

DJs: Andrew Till, Nick Taylor, Tsuyoshi, Solitaire, (and that Goa Guardian who played a grip of Platipus tracks)

 

[Trunksan]

16 hours ago, the goa constrictor said:

and that Goa Guardian who played a grip of Platipus tracks

 

That's probably DJ Fluxo

[staffan]

On 9/19/2022 at 1:41 AM, Gluon said:

Dino's tracks were good but the mixing was awfull!
Suddenly he even accidentally stopped a track right in the middle of te song and MWNN teleport started playing 10 bpm too fast...

Yeah, now that you mention it I remember a strange break. But these things happen, so I don't care too much about it. Dino is a very good DJ, I've herd him play a few times. That old Twisted t-shirt he was wearing was awesome. I regret not buying one of those. 

[staffan]

On 9/19/2022 at 5:49 PM, the goa constrictor said:

Favs (in no real order)

Producer Sets: Texas Faggott, Nervasystem, Sandman, X-Dream, Prometheus (both sets), Prana, Psychaos

DJs: Andrew Till, Nick Taylor, Tsuyoshi, Solitaire, (and that Goa Guardian who played a grip of Platipus tracks)

 

Not doing a list here, but you was going to see Sean Williams in Germany? If my memory is working correctly. How was that? And most importantly, did you convince him to play at ZNA?

[the goa constrictor]

Sean was great. He is really vested in the stockhausen music.

He has heard me gush about how great the fest is, I have no idea if anyone has even approached him to play, but I would like to hope that it will happen

[staffan]

On 9/27/2022 at 1:09 AM, the goa constrictor said:

Sean was great. He is really vested in the stockhausen music.

He has heard me gush about how great the fest is, I have no idea if anyone has even approached him to play, but I would like to hope that it will happen

Nice. =) Yeah, he would be perfect for ZNA.

Sadly not many guys play his tracks. This year I herd two, Clarity From Deep Fog and Back to Earth. I need more Process. =))