HolyLight

Sweden, Israel, UK, would be the countries from which I have listened to the most artists from, and as a bonus I pick Italy. I only know about Etnica/Pleiadians/Crop Circles from Italy. But they sure made an impact, which is still evident among a lot of the next-gen goa artists. There is of course a bias since I'm from one of the countries I voted for. So I was most likely exposed to a larger degree to the domestic artists and labels here. There was of course good stuff from many more countries, and I definitely think that Germany, France, Japan and Greece deserves some honorary mention as well. Not every country flooded the market with hot releases, but I think each made a lasting contribution in their own unique way.

Greek Art and Archaeology https://www.amazon.com/Greek-Art-Archaeology-John-Pedley/dp/0205001335 A great book, which leaves very few stones unturned. Quite literally.

Makes for a good read while re-listening to some old classics, as well as discovering stuff I've somehow managed to miss out on before.

Still great, I love the timeless quality of Marmion - Schöneberg (Man With No Name Mix), Man With No Name had a very good sense for melodies, which had a dreamy and hypnotic quality to them. This remix in particular stands out, because the harmonic content on offer is imbued with such summery delight and nostalgic feelings, of the highest order. And if that's not enough, it's paired with some excellent beats. Which still feels relevant to this day, such was the quality of Man With No Name's studio skills. This stands as a testiment to the enduring quality of the old school goa era. The track selection is very good indeed, my only gripe with this compilation, as others have pointed out already, is that the second disc is mixed. It's a good mix tho, but the tracks it contain are best enjoyed in their unaltered entirety. I would have much preferred if the second disc would still have been mixed, but with a more complete duration kept of each track. I remember loving Kox Box - Fuel On, but the shorth lenght of it on this compilation, made it feel more like a teaser. What the second CD does well however, is to showcase how goa trance was mixed back in the day. Since there wasn't the type of reliance on auto beat matching and other features, such as harmonic help with the keys of songs analyzed, as we find on todays DJ-equipment and software. The DJ's had to rely on skills and good ears. The limited edition of this compilation is beautiful, I adore the holographic artwork on its cover and on the CD itself, and the yellow/green-coloured transparent jewel case is a nice touch as well. It sure gave a luxurious impression when it was released and still does today.

Phenomenal compilation, for anyone new to the genre who wish to learn more about the classics, and for the people who want to revitalize the memories of a golden era. I love Phoenix - Into The Desert, a very good take on the downtempo goa trance genre. And I absolutely adore Shakta's track Micronesia, what an epic kick drum! They don't make em like that anymore, that's for sure. Because all the recipes are lost, it would be awesome if some people who were active back then in producing this music, would share some lost knowledge! Enlighten us, how on earth did you guys manage to make so big kick drums? What was the secret tool? Everyone will say something like yeah, a bent sinewave, soundforge etc. But I wanna know the entire process, what was the preferred synthesizer to do the work? SH-101? Juno-106? Or just a sampled, processed and heavily distorted kick from the TR-909?

P. Cok - Brightness is a stellar track! No doubt one of the best in the style.

Love Space Puppy!

https://youtu.be/r-ccynKKbsM Psychaos-Dense Dawn Brilliant kick and closed hh or perhaps a shaker programming/patterns.

Thanks will look into

Yeah MFG sure had some of the best ideas out there. The intro to New Kind of World also still gives me goosebumps when played in the summer.

Some classic Acid Trance, gotta love the mysterious lush pads.

The beauty of simplicty! And the enduring quality of pure melodies. This album has a lot of nostalgic feelings and that unmistakably characteristic vibe, only found in early Israeli Goa Trance. This album, and a lot of Mystica's and Powersource's music, makes for a really pleasant listening experience. Airy lightweight layers of sun-blessed melodies, sometimes contrasted with a foreboding mystical undertone. In that sense it also shares similarities with MFG. Just take a listen to Over Seas, it has both divine angelic pads, as well as a general aura of unease evoking a sense of mystical experiences. I think that a hallmark of any great artist, be it within music or the visual arts, is the balancing between light and dark. It's imperative for any painting or track that wishes to convey feelings, that the equilibrium of those is fine-tuned. I sometimes wonder why this album isn't mentioned more often alongside the other giants of the era from Israel. Could it be perhaps because of the difficulty to memorize two artist names and surnames at once, and the rather simplistic artwork? Imagine if this album had the type of artwork that Astral Projection's albums had, and a short/memorable project/group name instead of their real names. I think it would have been a more clever choice from a marketing/advertising perspective. That this album has had zero comments between 2002 and 2014, and only three comments in total since 2014, speaks volumes to it's underappreciated status I think. A highly recommended album for anyone who enjoys, California Sunshine, Mystica, Powersource and MFG, among others.

Same as for me, I've noticed that it really enhances the listening experience to write a review, since it forces you to listen more carefully, and repeat certain sections. So it really opens up the music in a new way. Like putting the music under a microscope, and it more often than not sends you on some explorations, to either compare with other music or do some research on discogs and what not. So it really broadens your horizon. And hopefully as a consequence, can be of use and interesting to the reader of the review in question. And I do believe that it can open some paths and specific interests in music which you perhaps wouldn't have discovered while listening more briefly to the music. So in summary, reviewing music is an analytical process, very useful for contrasting, reflecting and systematizing your musical interest. A means by which you can greatly improve your memory capacity, language and writing skills. And I agree, reviews shouldn't be forced, They should always be the result of a genuine interest and fascination with the music. Of course if you work as a journalist or get paid to do reviews, that's a completely different story. This of course opens up for some logical bias, since most people will review music they like. It's harder to dedicate a lot of time listening to some music you perhaps don't like as much. On the whole I think it is mitigated somewhat, by a forum having lots of different reviewers with differing preferences. I myself for example like the challenge of reviewing music, others might not care about. To put a spotlight on music I think deserves it. Of course it can be super interesting as well, to listen to bad music from an artist who has previously made great music. To see what went wrong and compare to their best works. There are multiple ways to approach both good and bad music. In fact I think the most entertaining reviews, sometimes are those that reviews horribly bad albums.

Thanks gonna check him up

So while listening around on youtube and soundcloud to the more Uplifting/Nitzhonot sides of Greek trance music, I got curious about what New School Goa Trance there is from Greece nowadays. And I came to the conclusion that I'm either completely out of the loop, or that there seems to be only Radical Distortion, and Omegahertz. Atleast Omegahertz did make Goa Trance, last time I heard his music around 2006. When I check his discogs now it says psy trance in the genre description. So perhaps he moved on from Goa Trance? Are there any others to check out?

There is another one I liked a lot back in the day, but I don't own the CD anymore. It's on Astral Projection In The Mix: Flying Into A Star (Ast-Roid Remix). Really hypnotic remix. And to me atleast a more psychedelic vibe. What we can learn from this track, is that you can have the same pattern/main lead on repeat for almost the whole duration of a track, without problems. And in that aspect it harkens back to the origins of the genre, for example Acid/Acid-Trance. In which a 303 line often was on repeat for the entirety of the track. On the dancefloor a track goes by so quick, that the crowd don't even take notice to how repeating it is, and on the contrary it can help in prolonging the trance-induced state of the crowd. Floating into the long seamless stream of tracks played during a night. Another track that does this extremely well is Maximiser by Oforia, which also employs another classic trick, by transposing the track in the final section, elevating the experience.

Any chance to see a live set from Artha released as a live album? I'm thinking in particular about his livetset at Aquatica. Which is very memorable. With some proper mastering that could really be something special, a really powerful acidic journey.

Hehhe yes btw hope Draeke is OK? Italy was hit quite hard by Corona after all, and he hasn't been too active here lately.

This album popped up randomly on youtube via its autoplay feature, after I had listened to some other goa. Really nice drive in Taboo, lovely pads and oriental melodies. It's a really hyper-oriental variety of goa. Perhaps influenced by their Balkan roots? This album has a very good blend of cold sci-fi layers, paired with warmer oriental melodies. Which gives it a nice balance, Goasia's use of reverbs and delays is also very much a part of their signature sound. If I was to pick a weak point, it would be that the kick drums, that are a bit on the thinner side, I prefer big chunky kick drums. But that's more about personal preference than actual critique. I remember listening to this album quite a lot on release, but for some reason I never felt the urge to revisit it afterwards. Could be because there was such an increase in Goa Trance relases after 2007. When I do happen to stumble upon it like recently on youtube, I'm reminded of the era. Good times indeed.

Too bad this interview was made before this request, it would have made a funny question to Draeke "on behalf of the psynews and discogs community, DO YOU HAVE, THE LEGENDARY PIECE OF SACRED PROMO PAPER?" I bet it's in a shrine dedicated to Pleiadians in a private Italian museum.

The wait is real btw this reminds me of a rather cool/interesting sales sheet I stumbled upon. Not sure if it's the same type of promo material. It was more of a curious read for anyone interested in new school goa really. https://www.suntriprecords.com/media/releases/SUNCD18/SUNCD18_SalesSheet.pdf Was the promo sheet requested in this thread something similar in nature? Or just some cool graphics? (not that anybody seem to know lol, besides Draeke and the Pleadian boyz).

Would have been great if Simon Posford had made an entire album in this Egyptian theme.

Agrabah ‎– Pharaohs Of The Galaxy Tracklist 1–Agrabah Visitors 2–Agrabah Pharaohs Of The Galaxy 3–Agrabah Endless Sunshine 4–Agrabah The Freeman 5–Agrabah Destination Moon 6–Agrabah Schrödinger's Camel 7–Agrabah A Tale Of Blue And Orange 8–Rayavana, Agrabah Inside The Magic Lamp 9–Agrabah Cyclamen [Review in progress] I was introduced to this album today by none other than Nitzho-Goa maestro Agneton of Sita Records fame. And I'm very happy about that, because this had passed under my radar completely. Agrabah is an artist from Israel by the name Amit Fisher. I don't know anything about his age or previous merits. And would like to know more, it's very impressing indeed if this is his debut album. The style here is very reminiscent of old Mystica, if you've heard one of Mystica's best tracks ever, namely Ashes To Ashes from the Age Of Innocence album, then you know what to expect. It has a lot of both classic Goa Trance and Nitzhonot influences, I would say it's a 50/50 blend. With the more hypnotic/psychedelic approach to melodies found in Goa trance, paired with the sometimes more victorious tonal elements found in the Nitzhonot and Uplifting repertoire. The kick drums and the programming of them is usually the main distinguishing factor if you want to analyze how much Nitzhonot a track contains. As the programming and pattern styles found within Nitzhonot are unique, they work equally in goa as well of course. But there is usually not as much variation in the kick drum programming in classic Goa in comparison. There is a playfulness which is accentuated by skipping beats to create a stumbling feeling, and lots of glissando type effects and the characteristic use of laser kicks, ala 80's TR-808 breakdance beats. If you consider that Mystica-Ashes To Ashes was featured on Destination Goa - The Ninth Chapter, then you understand how the fusion between the two genres can fit in within the Goa Trance sphere of releases. Another good example would be Shiva Shidapu - India Spirit, which is a very Nitzhonoty track. But still feels like a part of the classic Goa Pantheon as it was released on multiple Goa Trance compilations. It's because these two genres are quite unseparable actually, since they are so closely related. And at times I think the distinction between the two genres in some cases has been a construct invented afterwards, It was most likely just called Goa Trance back in the day. Nobody would say ooh Mystica - Ashes To Ashes, that's not Goa!Then there were of course the wave of artists which developed a much more refined sort of Nitzhonot which was less psychedelic in some cases, but not exclusively. I'm thinking about Luminus, Holymen, Eyal Barkan and many more. What the artists original intentions or inspirations were with their Nitzhogoa/Nitzhonot back in the day is difficult to grasp today, perhaps they felt part of something else? A subgenre to Goa? What I do know, is that many elements of Nitzhonot can be found in wide range of classic old school Goa Trance releases. A prime example beeing the huge kick drums used by Miranda in her tracks Real Rush, Groom Lake and Eyedentify among others. She also often utilized the same type of melodies characteristic for Israeli Nitzhonot like the ones found in her track Eyedentify. Which contain melodies that are very similar to those found on Mystica's Age Of Innocence album. Who inspired who is a difficult question to answer, since both albums where released in the same year, and people where influenced by a lot of the same artists and tracks at the time. Astral Projection's People Can Fly, is another one with a very Nitzhonot sounding kick drum, as well as Transwave's Land of Freedom. So with that in mind let's dive into this album which according to me, is the next logical step in the evolution of this style. It picks up where the heroes of yesteryear left the torch, and carries on the production tradition and standards set by those legends in the past. The album starts of with the Downtempo Breakbeat Goa track Visitors. Which is very similar in style to Astral Projection's Downtempo numbers, which often ended their albums. This sounds very classic indeed, and I could've easily been fooled if you told me it was from 1997. It has the same type of blissfull nostalgic emotions found more recent Neo-Goa staples as well, It reminds me a bit of a Downtempo Goa track by another Israeli artst, Afgin. We are introduced to some very nice trancegated choir pads in the background. There are very soothing and smooth synthesizer arps swirling around in the upper parts of the sound spectrum, supported by ping pong delays. Giving the listener time to let the sounds sink in, as they reverberate slowly in the stereo image. The bassline is enhancer by a very fat chorus or unison detune, also similar to Afgin's approach to sweet unison basslines. It's a smart choice to start the journey with this track, as a way to slowly start the climb towards the higher levels on this pyramidal voyage. It's a smooth hypnotic ride, and before you know it, the track is over. As with all good things, they usually end too soon. Not because it's too short or anything, but because times goes fast when you're enjoying the music. The next track in the playlist is Pharaohs of The Galaxy, which starts smoothly with what I suppose is white noise on a synthesizer, which creates the illusion of the sound of the wind blowing. Underneath the windy sounds, is a choir pad and a synth pad. Which are sustained for a while in the same key, to create suspense like a drone. After a while the key changes and the bassline is introduced, by then the choir pad becomes trancegated, which is the classic stuttering effect which has been a staple in goa and trance since the 90's. More sounds are introduced gradually, before the kick drum enters the scene, and your feets starts to move in anticipation. The bassline in this track is very nice and deep, more reminiscent of the deep subby bass utilized in Miranda's track Gnocchi. One could argue that the track has two basslines, one lower subby one and a higher melodic bass part as well. Which was very common in the old school era. The kick drum is solid and never feels overwhelming, it's there doing its job. Giving the rest of the sounds space to fill out the aural palette. The melodies are short and trancey, It's almost like an uptempo ambient track in a way, which makes the transition from the introductory Downtempo track very seamless. There is a very controlled sensation in the track, it's taking its time to do its thing, and carries a very dreamy and nostalgic sentiment. Next we have the track Endless Sunshine, in which the energy level is raised a couple of notches. As the name suggests it's a sunny emotional piece. This track reminds me a lot of early Yahel and Eyal barkan. It reminds me of Yahel's Waves of Sound album. It has those piercing solar powered synthesizer leads, that are only found in sunny Israel or Greece. The track reminiscent of the track Sun Scream on that album. Which makes me nostalgic, as that album holds a very special place in my heart. It was a great era for this genre around the turn of the millenium. I got the Waves of Sound album as a gift from a friend who had been on a holiday to Tel Aviv, and purchased some CD-R copies which someone sold at the beach there with photocopied cover artwork. Like a perfect postcard carrying a sun-drenched message from a beautiful country far away, from ice-cold Sweden. A very good track indeed, and gives me hope for a bright NitzhoGoa future, this is the first album of this artist, so I'm looking forwards to see the artist develop his style even further. The Freeman, picks up the energy level once more. This time, we are introduced to the full glory of this Israeli morning style. It's the most euphoric track so far. It has very nice oriental percussions in a bridged section of the track, underpinned by beautiful choir pads which emphasize the emotional tone of the track. The melodies are dancing around in a total state of bliss, this would be really cool to play in the desert in Israel, or at a beach party. This is my favourite track so far, along with Endless Sunshine.

Beautiful cover artwork, I assume by the promo text that it's psybient?