HolyLight

Yeah the similarities between this album and the Ra albums is undeniable. And in all the best ways. And it's no surprise then that one of the members of the Ra project contributed to this album. To me this is a combination of the colder, and slightly scaled back nordic Goa sound, and the hyper-psychedelic Goa approach characteristic of the other albums in the Dimension 5 catalogue. This album to my ears atleast, has touch points with Miranda's Northern Lights and Asynja albums. And of course shares features with the two Ra albums To Sirius and 9th. It becomes immediatelly obvious, if you play Second Phaze and the abovementioned Ra albums in successive order. It is by all accounts also a cosmic themed album, just like the other Dimension 5 albums. It's just another interpretation of this theme and to me atleast represents a refinement of some elements. From a technical standpoint I find this album to be very satisfying, as it has a clean-cut, balanced sound image which I find welcoming after listening to lots of more layer-dense 90's goa. It's by no means minimal, but the layers feel less like they are competing for your attention, and form a cohesive whole where you can select where to put your focus, while not being overwhelmed by the layers. And this also a trademark of the Ra - To Sirius album. At times this album feels more dreamy and nostalgic than the other Dimension 5 albums. Perhaps hypnotic would be an apt description, some tracks on this album display a cold soothing quality as well. Which I think stems from the nordic input on this album. However, instead of a Northern Lights phenomena in the earth's sky, like on the Miranda album, this album greets you with a color display far out in space. Where the galaxies dance around in caleidoscopic delight, shimmering with charged particles and glowing celestial wonders set within a five-dimensional space. One aspect that this album features, that I'm missing a bit on the Ra - 9th album, are the TB-303 patterns. This album makes good use of those acidic flavours so characteristic for the little silverbox. This album isn't as oriental in nature as the Ra albums either, that however doesn't mean that it is completely absent here. There is for example a very nice eastern inspired flute melody in one track. So for me the similarites between Second Phaze and the Ra albums can be subtle, but when you start to compare the albums you'll be rewarded with small hints here and there. So if you haven't heard this album yet and is a fan of the Ra albums. I definitely think you should check this album out. Don't go into this album expecting a Transdimensional 2.0, that way you'll only set yourself up for disappointment. Rather approach this as yet another style and theme, alongside the Transdimensional and Ra themes. Now I'm only waiting for a remaster of this gem. That would be a spectacle worth perpetual celebration not just on planet earth, but elsewhere in our universe as well, where this album resonates strongly with its habitants.

They are on spotify, beatport and facebook as well. On facebook it seems they write introductions to the releases. There's not much info on their bandcamp indeed. Not much info on their discogs entry either. This is what bothers me the most about the bandcamp era, it can be a bit lacking in the finer details.

Fantastic album, can't believe I never listened through it properly before. So dreamy, and it has those hard hitting Ra-style kick drums.

Are there any new emoji's to chose from for the forum admins? That would be my top request. Besides that not particularly important wish, everything floats fine here on my end.

Yes and the penzonews theme also has all the other issues I've noticed fixed. Psynews logo normal size, the standard login is available etc. So yeah changing it to default and temporarily disable the current default one will solve a lot of headache As a bonus it is a very nice color scheme for the eyes. Everything feels more clear and easy to read. This new theme + the forum update I suppose, has the same snappy browsing experience as an app. A bit like the reddit app.

Nice! The new theme "Penzonews" solved it for me. Very nice snappy theme btw.

I use the other login button that is located at the bottom of threads. A good temporary solution. One thing I can't seem to find tho is the inbox, anyone have any luck with that one? On mobile version.

And yeah that rank list certainly explains why it has felt like I've been on the "Impossible Vortex" rank for over 10 years, because I really have been. Wow 1000 posts between this rank and the next one is quite a steep incremental increase. And back in the day I never ever posted in the offtopic section. So the post count rate was kept very slow. The main psynews logo at the top of the forum is super small now after the update, (I'm on the phone version of the forum). It seems as if the ads cover the space where the psynews.org logo previously was. *edit* Now I see the edit button has changed. Found it.

btw I noticed that the forum updated while I was posting, so it gave an update error. I logged out and in and cleared the cache, but I don't seem to be able to edit posts? Hence why I write a new post now instead. Probably a temporary issue. *nevermind found it.

Thanks! And yes I always try to strike a balance I didn't mean spam like in the bad sense where people might create nonsensical threads. But more like as in beeing active overall, and perhaps due to wanting to reach the next rank, participate more in offtopic threads which might lack a structure.

Thanks Jedi! Btw how about this one that I posted in the offtopic, copy pasted it here too: "I don't get it, I've been spamming offtopic nonstop for what feels like an eternity, still my rank is the same as when I took a break from this forum many years ago I think. So anyone knows how many posts there are between the ranks? I'm guessing the required ammount becomes incrementally higher for each level reached?"

Only tea.

Good one

What year? Would've fit right in on the 90's Acid Flash compilations stylewise.

1988 just called.

Good point, that's how I fell in love with this genre. It just felt alien, and truly captured the essence of the LSD-experience. Albeit in audio for most part, and sometimes with nice complementary artwork. It should be a free artform like that with seemingly endless creative possibilites. It must've felt so liberating for the early pioneers of this genre to not feel the need to be restrained by the more restrictive style boundaries within other, at the time well-defined genres. Certainly if we compare the more colorful expression of early Goa Trance, to the mostly black and white spectrum of the Techno and Acid genres of the time. The limitless pervasive nature of the Goa and Psy genres are really its defining characteristics if you ask me. @psytones nice track, the procs one, has a Gamma Goblins vibe going but with a tribalistic touch.

Yes you're probably right It's a bit vague, then again it's in the general psy section. @Tsotsi would you mind explain a bit more what you mean specifically with this freestyle genre-less stuff? I think I interpreted it a bit too literally lol. And went overboard with it. Do you mean like stuff that was featured on for example psy/goa compilations that felt out of place? Or albums/EP's and so on that was marketed as psy but felt like something else entirely?