California Sunshine / Har-El* - Dark Side Of The Brain

Surprise, after years of absence, California Sunshine reappear from nowhere with a full length album of unreleased material. Well, almost out of nowhere, since they appeared recently on a Suntrip and Ultiva Records compilation with 3 (presumably old) tracks.

So how does this album sound? If you know California Sunshine you'll instantly recognise their sound - never obscure, usually very cheery, simplistic yet always upbeat and winding. This album is no exception to that sound. Some tracks here are claimed to be from 1993 and you can hear that some parts are very ancient. The mastering job has done a good facelift though and certainly the tracks don't sound too much dated soundwise when compared to the current new-school Goa .

One thing I don't like about this album are the voice samples: a couple of tracks have repeating voice samples ad nauseum. Considering that most of these vocal bits are classic samples which have been used on countless tracks from all electronic styles in the '90's they tend to become boring.

So to whom does this album appeal? Is this album worth buying?
If you are generally a "modern" psy-head and not much keen on classic trance and/or the new breed of Goa from labels like Suntrip and Phototropic I don't think you will like this album. It will probably sound too simplistic and dated for you. If on the other hand you are a devoted old Goa fan, my bet is that you will fall for this. It's none less than California Sunshine after all. If you liked the recent Blue Planet Corporation album then you'll probably like this one also. Both albums are music from the same era and the style is very similar.

While probably this will not pass as one of the best albums of 2009, I recommend at least to the oldschoolers to check it out at the moment.