Filteria ‎– Heliopolis

Every one is going to kill me for saying this, but here it is: this guy is like way overrated. Filteria is as echoey as scooby doo in a cave. I mean thats what he is all about, at least in my opinion, he sounds echoey. The production of his music is like unbelievable and thats it. His music is so superficial, I cant stand it. Though he seems to be getting better, not in this ofcourse, but I mean in Sundrops. I prefer his other work as KOB.

Just listen to the Crop Cirle remix, it sounds exactly the same but more polished. At least Sky Input had a few good tunes but this one, even Sky Input to be frank, is...It lacks story telling I guess. It is just a combination of random pieces. I hope his next album will ba way better, which for some reason I see a promising release coming soon.

This album is simply awesome, over the top, blast from the past style goatrance. If you thought Pleiadians was heavy at times then your head will surely explode with some of these tracks. Let's hope this ignites a spark in the party scene.

Favourites: 1, 2(!!), 3(!), 4(!), 5(!), 6(!!), 7(!)

Kaleidoscopic goa waves…

Swedish producer Jannis ‘Filteria’ Tzikas has fast become synonymous with the recent resurrection of modern goa trance. His first album Sky Input released in 2004 was a tornado of fresh air with its highly melodic, multilayered, climactic and cascading goa trance sound, whereas his output on the 2005 Suntrip Records compilation Apsara showed an even deeper, more edgy side to Filteria. And now the second album is ready, with the help of a few outside contributors… I’ve been drooling for this ever since it was announce and now it’s finally time to take another trip down Filteria Lane…

My main gripe with Sky Input was the intensity level… When I reviewed it, I used an analogy from the American Beauty movie; ‘Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in!’… Basically, that’s still true… This *is* a very intense album it can be very overwhelming… But by now, you should know what you’re getting into when listening to a Filteria album… And with that in mind, this album is a little masterpiece in its own right…

It’s not exactly a quantum leap since the first album, but Jannis has indeed matured his sound in many aspects… Especially when it comes to story telling and structural improvements… Picking the best among the two albums is not an easy task, but if you point a gun at me, I’d say Heliopolis is slightly better… But they are both gargantuan albums in their own right!

The cover art by Ukiro is by far the coolest I’ve seen so far on Suntrip Records, and it pays homage to the classic Matsuri covers… It’s beautiful! All in all, this is an amazing album – there are no bad tracks here, and there are a handful of instant classics that kicks the shit out of everything full-on released since Sky Input… A benchmark album that will crack smiles in several years to come! It gets my highest recommendations! …Enjoy!

Favourites: 1(!!), 3(!!!), 4(!!), 5, 6, 7(!!), 8

Long awaited follow up album to Sky Input from Filteria!

Well, let me start by reassuring, intimidating, scaring or whatever your attitude is towards Filteria, that the guy still has NO breaks whatsoever !! Sky Input left me flabbergasted and Heliopolis picks up the stick exactly where it was left: Intro and then from 2:12 in Unfiltered we enter melodic goa "Pleiadians IFO" style trance land. Dozens of layers, back to back melodies & climaxes taking over after climaxes. Jannis is loaded with ideas and, seemingly, all are carried out.

For one track it's still wonderfully put together, great sounds, great melodies, and a bigger-than-life-in-your-face frontal attitude no other artist, I know off, even come close to rivaling. For a full album, however, I'm afraid it's somewhat over the top for me. I would just love if the whole thing was taken to pieces and rebuilt during a track. At least on some of the tracks. Or maybe one layer deleted every now and then for a couple of minutes. For now, this is so much in your face, that even if it's obvious Filteria oozes talent, there were a couple of times during the first days repeated listens it became almost ... dare I say it ... border cheesy? No, I retract that. Sorry! But, you know ...

Hmm, I guess I'm very aggressive critical here, but Filteria is the only artist around in this niche and I NEED him to give me exactly what I want since no one else is releasing what Jannis is. And since it's so obvious he has all the talent I will await the day he makes an album a little less eager to impress.

For now, still, nice going! 7/8 tracks here have got to set any dance floor mayheem and a full concert must be absolutely awesome if the crowd can stay atop this second to none frontal eardrum attack.