Prānā* – Cyclone

Mōretsu (Indigo And Baraka Mix) and Mōretsu from Future Space Travellers E.P (MP 11) is the same track.

Deserves its classic status. Also, maybe a good album to show people who don't like goa for its perceived stereotypes; it has them all but in probably the least cheesy way possible. In goa trance, a lot of eastern religious terms are haphazardly used for titles and names ad nauseum, but this is a case where these guys lived by their name. That's what this music is--it's pure life energy, which is in fact self acknowledged with the sample on Starchild.

The tracks that make up Cyclone have a very punkish attitude from how the synths sound, riffs are phrased/arranged, and how it's mixed. Yes, this is a raw album and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's certainly a lot clearer than lots of their earlier works, some of which sound like they cut the master takes onto analog cassettes. The sound of this album has a great balance of grit and clarity though, and sounds very consistent.

The tracks are basically built on straight up saw riffage. Thess riffs are usually used in place of a proper bass line too, but the sheer vitality of these lines (maybe bc the very wide eq range) make it work. What keeps this album interesting is the killer drum programming which is very upfront, sampled effects, and melodic leads that are programmed in almost a fuguelike fashion with waveforms that nicely contrast the riffs. There are some nice surprises thrown in along the way too, like the 808 drums and synth kick on Future Space Travellers with Miranda. I'm not sure how that track sounds so in place with everything else even though the sonic roots had been changed up, but leave it to Tsuyoshi I guess.

Awesome cover artwork and sleeve design too. From that to the raw punkishness of the music, Cyclone oozes an untouchable "cool factor". I think this is an album almost anyone should enjoy. From very "comfort zone" goa fans, to fans of expereimental and millennium psy, to people who don't even listen to goa much at all.

Hard to pick a fav but I'll go with Moretsu. I think it might be the peak of the album, with the peak of the track being the screaming synth solo diving into what sounds like a sea of roaring robot cicadas.

I totally agree with chrichton’s review below. This is a great album. Funky, energetic, melodic and the synthwork is great. A very funny album to listen to. Great stuff.

Mine is housed in a generic white sleeve with holes on each side, has PRANA “CYCLON” handwritten on one side, as well as on the inner sleeves. Labels have some strange handwritings as well, with titles apparently crossed out by a black marker, and added “B0: Chill out” for the missing third track title on that side. Side B and D also has “SP2 (B+D) written further down, with the B side having “1 2” added under “(B+D)” in a different color than the rest. Will post images, and possibly add as separate version, depending on whether it can be verified if this is different or the same as the existing post for the white label version

Not sure what's going on with some of the reviewers below me but this album is pure psychedelic goa trance. It might be even better than Prana's next album, Geomantik. this is really where its at, no fluff.

If you don't like this I would suggest you check out the 12' for the song "Message for Eastedge" [trance mix] because for me that is an essential song from 1994 and a song I like a lot. Longer mix than what is found here as well.

super boring ... pfff what a waste of time ...

Yes :)

Proper tribal trance, where the drumming is an integral part of the music and not just its accompaniment. Out of the entire mid-nineties Goa era, I find Cyclone uniquely funky, uniquely non-Western in its emphasis on percussion and cross-rhythm. The tribal samples are well done too, never overstaying their welcome or making me cringe with the clichedness of it all.

Of course, a Goa album lives and dies by its synthwork, and I'm happy to report that Cyclone excels in that department. Insectile analog synth chirps, complex lattices of melody, unusually fluid and long lead lines (check out the almost jazz-like ride on Indigo). These are real compositions, made by musicians that can actually carry a tune when they want to and that take you somewhere by the end of the track. It may not have the flash of Geomantik, but it's a better album, written to warm the heart, entertain the mind, and move the feet.

Production is fine too, barring a couple of overly loud beats. Quite raw sounding, but that's part of the charm here.

Perhaps I have my nostalgia glasses on too tight to see its flaws, but keep in mind... this is goa from 1994-95, before it became overly clean, DJ-friendly and studio-massaged. Putting this record on, I can almost smell the incense. 5/5

If there's one first album from an oldschool master which could never make it as a favourite of mine and which I will probably never file under "essential" or "classic" then it's Prana's debut. Sad, I don't know why, especially when I remember that this album contains one of my favourite tracks ever, Scarab.

This album is a collection of previously released singles and EP's, only track 9 seems to appear first on here. I think when it was released this album already sounded dated which is no wonder when considering that some tracks are from 1994. Production is also not top-class, even when making allowance for when the material was originally released.

The total opposite of what I said above goes for his second album, Geomantik.