Tracklist
| Speed Freak | 9:57 | |
| Excursion | 10:32 | |
| Phased Transition | 8:11 | |
| Spectra | 9:22 | |
| Nexus Plexus | 9:39 | |
| Irrelevant Elephant | 10:09 | |
| 1 Ohm | 9:12 | |
| 0G | 9:04 |
Versions
| Title, Format | Label | Cat# | Country | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spectra (CD, Album) | Flying Rhino Records | AFR CD 19 | UK | 1999 | |
| Spectra (2x12", Album) | Flying Rhino Records | AFR LP 19 | UK | 1999 |
▸ show all 2 reviews
Reviews & Discussion
referencing Spectra, CD, Album, AFR CD 19
I enter nearly all my cd's into my pc so I can hear them via Itunes and my Ipod. I know, very cheesy :o( You are supposed to carefully select a cd from the shelves, perhaps enjoy the luxury of taking the cd-case out of a cardboard box (the splendor !), place the cd in the player, press play with held back breath and wait for the music to soothe your mind. Call me a lazy sod, if you will. I enter them in my pc so it's all available at the tip of a finger. This also enables me to categorize my cds for improved shuffling if I'm in the mood for that.
All this just to say, that Darshan's "Spectra" - in line with the description on discogs and my expectations - was categorized as trance on my pc and, hence, in my mind.
Perhaps therefore this album puzzled me for a long time. I expected trance, but this is not trance. Some sort of chill-out rather, so if you are looking for dance madness, I suggest you look further.
As for me, it helped realising that I should enjoy this album as a chill-out album and not psytrance. Except for track 6 all trax are straight or border chill-out. Still, even with my mind set for atmosphere more than energy, this album doesn't do it for me. The tracks are going nowhere to the point of boredom. Surely, if I wanted chill-out, there's so much more, so much better out there. And if I wanted semi-early goa, there are so many other albums from this period that are way more interesting.
Two thumbs down, I'm afraid, from SkeletonMan on this one. Would love to see other reviews of this album, though, as I understand it's considered a rarity and sought after. And I have no idea why ... :-0
All this just to say, that Darshan's "Spectra" - in line with the description on discogs and my expectations - was categorized as trance on my pc and, hence, in my mind.
Perhaps therefore this album puzzled me for a long time. I expected trance, but this is not trance. Some sort of chill-out rather, so if you are looking for dance madness, I suggest you look further.
As for me, it helped realising that I should enjoy this album as a chill-out album and not psytrance. Except for track 6 all trax are straight or border chill-out. Still, even with my mind set for atmosphere more than energy, this album doesn't do it for me. The tracks are going nowhere to the point of boredom. Surely, if I wanted chill-out, there's so much more, so much better out there. And if I wanted semi-early goa, there are so many other albums from this period that are way more interesting.
Two thumbs down, I'm afraid, from SkeletonMan on this one. Would love to see other reviews of this album, though, as I understand it's considered a rarity and sought after. And I have no idea why ... :-0
Most of reviewers thought the new one will be similar, with lots of layered acid lines, high tempo and sci-fi samples. Well, they were wrong. And I think it is a good choice for Darshan to change their music, because - to some extent - most of the tracks from Awakening sounded similar, and if they would do another album like it, then it would just be too much. 'Spectra' is more chilled (though not slow at all), more focused on atmosphere, background sounds and effects rather than on leads. While 'Awakening' was full of hits you could play in a DJ-set, this one should be listened and considered as one, 76-minutes long tune.
The album starts with a very strange, heavily distorted, slow techno-like track, that speeds up in the middle to over 160BPMs. 'Excursion' & 'Phased Transition' are both similar - they're based around steady kick, deep bassline and complicated drum loops, sent through all possible effects one could imagine. There's no melody there, just some chords and atmospheric pads in the background, with occasional short acid-lines here and there.
'Spectra' is a down-tempo, melodic, mysterious tune with incredible sounding break, wicked drum work and some fine tweaks along the way. With 'Nexus Plexus' we come back to faster music - first part is very similar to tracks 2 & 3, with straight rhythm, detailed drums & acid tweaks, but the second part is completely different - the track slows down and a beautiful, melancholic melody appears.
The 'Irrelevant Elephant' (what a title!) is a very fast, drumloop-driven tune, that evolves into a dark, acid-laden monster in the second half. The last two tracks '1 Ohm' & '0g' are similar to 2, 3 & 5, but a bit more melodic and crazy, with some cool ideas and transitions.
To sum this up - it's not amongst the cream of psy-trance albums, but it's definitely worth having.