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Michel Cleis - La Mezcla - 11-Jul-09 12:28 AM
The original version starts out with a djembé rythm and then other drum layers start adding up progressively then around 2:30 comes a break and a VERY catchy flute melody (I ended up whistling for days). Then all the tribal rythms pick up again, making you at least nod your head in rythm, if not actually getting up and dancing. Around 4:30 comes some spanish singing that kindof ruins the feeling for me, although Ive found that the more I listened to it, the more the voice part made sense. That said, I would've much prefered an instrumental version identical to this but without the singing...

The dub version is purely instrumental, it doesn't have the voice part, but I also found it a bit more flat and less catchy than the original. Oh and in case you were wondering, the dub influences are really minimal, it has the same ethnic house feeling as the A-side.

Overall I'm pretty impressed with this release (although like I said, I could've done without the singing part). My main interests in music are psytrance and psychill, and I find that if people like ethinic psychill stuff like Shpongle, they'll like this a lot as well.

Various - Boom Bolenat! - 31-Jan-09 03:58 AM
Destination is indeed VERY cheezy, actually reminded me of some Robert Miles.

Sphinx up next with a track that is pretty good actually. Some interesting melodies in there.

Kailash has a nice climax, it wouldn't bother me to hear this in an oldschool set.

Iceman up next with some typical Nitzhonot... don't really like this one as it sounds a bit too childish.

Ananda eventually made a name for himself later on in the psy scene. This isn't bad actually, reminded me of some oldschool MFG.

Kailash up again with another track, and again pretty close to the "serious" oldschool sound. Again, it wouldn't bother me to hear this in an oldschool set.

Trivia which takes some time to build up but has a killer climax around 5:00.

Shidapu & Duvdev up next which most people judged just by the name aparently. Ah yes it's funny looking back at the scene back then: people only looked at the name and if it was an artist with good reputation they'd instantly say that it is a great track, even when it was shit (as it was the case here). And when you see the turn that Duvdev got in the late 2000s it makes you realize that he always was into crappy commercial stuff from the beginning...

The closer is another track from Trivia which again is a pretty decent effort with a great climax.

Conclusion: It is funny to see how much the secene has evolved since this was released. Many die-hard goatrancers would have thrown this drectly to the garbage bin because it was "cheezy nitzonot". But by today's full-on standards this is quite decent. Indeed this is nitzhonot but compared to today it sounds pretty underground and there are some pretty interesting ideas explored in here.

Aquila - Aqua Divae - 31-Jan-09 02:34 AM
AM is an extremely dreamy downtempo track. It's so beautiful it brings tears to my eyes. I must've listened a million times to it and I'm still not tired of it. It reminds me of RA Wilson's saying that Beethoven somehow transcribed impressions felt with the 5th brain circuit into feelings perceptible by normal human beings with the 3rd brain circuit. (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, read Cosmic Trigger 1) If such a thing were true, than this track does exactly that.

Roof of the world is a repetitive track with a sample of a digeridoo, very hypnotic, very trance inducing.

Positive has all the ingredients of old acid techno (stuff like Armando): that tinny 303 line (not the kind you're used to in stuff after 96) and the overall moody feeling of the track (definaltey not positive as the name would suggest). It's basically a more complex form of acid techno with atmospheres added to it

My Secret Garden is another one of my favorites. The slow trance-inducing progression is simply incredible. Again, this is one I've listened to many many times and I'm still not bored with it.

I find Phyouen less enjoyable, The Awakening is a nice ambient track.

Sunshower is the track with highest BPMs. One of the first morning trance tracks? It has 303s and a nice myserious atmosphere to it, but I found it less good than the other stuff here.

Turquiose again has a very nice mystical melody, I like this one a lot as well.

The title track Aqua Divae is beatless ambient, it has 303s and a lot of nature samples in it. Although it isn't really for relaxing, the whole track has a menacing feeling, sortof like a message saying that soon these wildlife animals will be extinct due to mankind's greed and stupidity. Gotta be a genious to send such a message without a single word in your track.

Conclusion: This is great for homelistening! Of course the production sounds dated (especially those very tinny 303 lines) but it is very good. I wonder how geniuses like these just faded away and have been replaced by mediocre talents who copy-paste music that's already around.

Aquila - Observations On The Loss Of Culture - 31-Jan-09 02:29 AM
A while ago by sheer chance I dicovered this guy's first album Aqua Divae and was totally blown away so I wanted to try out some other stuff from him. Anyway, fast-forward a few years later and I got this one which is his second album and was... dissapointed. This one is on the experimental side of things, I can't really say that any tracks here are trance (classic or goa).

Culture starts out with some... breakcore! Wierd, I know, then it goes on like some sort of experimental IDM crossblend.

Museum is a track that sounds like some tribal techno and is the one I like best here. There are some interesting ideas and a very slow buildup. It sounds a bit too repeptitive but at other times I found it to be quite enjoyable when in a certain mood.

Identity goes back into breakbeatish dark experimental territory. Not really my cup of tea...

Knowledge is some beatless ambient. It sounds very mysterious and a bit dark. Not really my thing but I can imagine that under the influences of certain substances this could be pretty interesting.

The Impossibility of Isolation is some techno made with loops from shaman singings. Again, some interesting ideas, but too repeptitive for me.

Ritual is some more beatless ambient with a lot of nature sounds and a bit of a sinister feeling to it all.

Progress could be best described as tribal hardcore... very repetitive, a lot of nature influences but an overall distorted sound and kick. Again, interesting but not really my cup of tea.

THE GOOD: If you like wierd experimental stuff, especially IDM you might like this

THE BAD: My biggest issue with it is that compared with Aqua Divae, it doesn't seem to have a "soul", the tracks just sound like he's experimenting with various sounds.

CONCLUSION: Pretty forgetable album unless you like wierd stuff. Otherwise, get Aqua Divae instead, it is MUCH better.

Doof - Disposable Hymns To The Infinite - 31-Jan-09 02:04 AM
This one is the first ever released by Doof and it kindof shows: musically speaking he was still searching his way back then. There are some interesting ideas but overall it isn't really anything special. B1 is my favorite here, but even that one isn't really classic material. So again, for a collector this is of high value since it's Doof's first release but musically speaking don't expect much...

PS just a repy to jazzliscious: indeed this particular EP is kindof the border territory between goatrance and the acid scene, after all most UK artists took massive influences from the acid scene before making their own sound. But check out Doof's later releases (Double Dragons for example)and you will clearly see the difference with techno :)

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