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Walkabout

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  1. I find this an underrated album. What I hear in Brainfood is a unique blend of the organic, cosmic sounds of old school goa with the tropes of Scando/forest psy: breakneck tempos, crazy sample work, and a focus on atonal lines, repetition and drones. It's warmer and more harmonious than fr'ex BOTFB (the closest thing I'd compare it to), with an almost New Age sweetness at times. But at the same time, it's kinda gnarly, with beats and synths that drill into my mind. IMHO, rather than sounding out of date, this is something so unique, weird and fresh that it's timeless.

     

    Best tracks: Paradized, Hear The Air, Tranceformation.

     

    8.5/10

  2. This set was recorded live at the old-school Goa revival party "Bring That Beach Back". It's composed of nearly two hours of 1983-89 techno/edm/proto goa trance.

     

    The first half is the 'sunny' mix; melodic, mostly 4/4, and clearly trancy. The midsection and second half go into dark synthpop and industrial territory a la Ministry/FLA, with a heavy dose of cold war paranoia; late night jungle freak out music. The last several tracks are melodic again, but darker, further down the psychedelic spiral; and it finishes with one of the most unique tracks you'll ever hear.

     

    I make no claims to historical accuracy! ;P This is merely what I'd play if I was a DJ in Goa in the eighties. Nothing more, nothing less. I hope that oldtimers and newschoolers alike find it amusing, and perhaps, even a little informing.

     

    http://earwallproductions.com/music/raygunyears.mp3

  3. Posted Image

     

     

    On Saturday, July 14th, Earwall Productions and friends are proud to present a special night of retrodelica!

     

    Goa trance has a wild and wooly history, stretching over multiple decades and incorporating many different substyles. For one evening, our DJs will take you on a whirlwind tour of its past; hearkening back to a more psychedelic time, we invoke the tribal rhythms, colorful melodies and tripped out sounds of yesteryear. Come make some new memories with us.

     

    Schedule:

     

    7-8 PM: Groove coalescence; downtempo and ambient trance

     

    8-10 PM

    Earwall (Earwall Productions)

    80s Goa, Proto-Trance, Acid

     

    A goa fan since the mid-nineties, Earwall has spent the last year digging ever deeper into the roots of the scene, back to the days of the analog cassette tape and the re-purposing of electronic pop for early trance dance. Now, he shares his interpretation of the old school Goa vibe, 1984-89.

     

    10PM-12AM

    Steve Eagle (Heavy Industries)

    Trance Techno, Psytrance, Goa

     

    First exposed to trance in 1994, Steve Eagle has since lent his touch to many different styles of dance music, from progressive psytrance to industrial techno. Whatever the music genre, his smooth, yet aggressive and powerful style always comes through. Expect a blend of goa and classic trance, from a master weaver.

     

    12-2AM

    Barakuda (Psytribe)

    Psytrance, Goa

     

    As the founder of L.A.'s longest running psytrance collective, Barakuda needs little introduction. For this event, he's digging through the crates in order to bring us a history lesson in 90s goa. We are honored to present a full power midnight mix from this psychedelic veteran; get old-schooled!

     

     

    Beach Snax: fruit, chips, bottled water, homemade cookies

     

    The Obscure Bazaar: snag some Goa CDs and records at our booth!

     

    21+

    No illegal substances

    No loud stereos/outdoor noise (for our neighbor's sake :))

    Please keep the space clean

     

    Located in a private studio about 1 mile from the city center. Please send me an email at paul@earwallproductions.com, or send a Facebook message, on the week of the event for directions.

     

    This is a free event with no cover charge; donations to help offset the cost of the rented space are very much appreciated. Look for the tip thermos :)

     

    Also, we can always use additional decor. If you have something visual that you'd like to bring to the party, you're more than welcome to.

     

    Official event page: http://www.facebook....11754765580463/

  4. Mid-late teens is the magic period for getting into this music, it seems... I was a weird kid, didn't really listen to or pay much attention to music until I was twelve or thirteen, and then it was mostly prog rock and video game soundtracks. When I was 16 I heard Juno Reactor and was instantly picked up and thrown around the room by it; it was everything I had been looking for in music, aggressive, pensive, atmospheric, melodious and most importantly, futuristic. I was already a fan of Prodigy, Shamen, Orbital ect. but this took electronic music to a completely different level. After learning that Juno were a psychedelic trance group, I started getting more albums: TIP - Feeling Weird, Concept In Dance 1, Made On Earth, Hallucinogen - Twisted. I can remember learning about Total Eclipse - Delta Aquarids through a computer search kiosk at a big record store, and special ordering it since it wasn't distributed in the US.

     

    The internet and WWW were still very new back then (1997). I remember visiting the Getty museum in L.A. and walking into a big room full of the latest computer equipment and Web browsers for their visitors' recreation. The very first thing I looked up was psychedelic/goa trance, and I found myself on some sort of database/forum called "TRIP" (I think this was Jason C's site?). I was amazed at the volume of information available and how hardcore people were about the music.

     

    The following year, I learned about DJ and dance record stores; I had some money to blow through from a Social Security allotment, thanks to my dad, and blow through it I did, visiting all the choicest shops in Southern California. By the middle of 98 I was a Goa fanatic, and I hadn't even been to a party yet... they were all age restricted and I wasn't old enough! A lot of my snobbish attitude towards the scene can probably be blamed on this. :P The first party I /did/ go to kind of sucked; the chill area was too loud to relax in and the dance floor sound was so unbalanced that 90% of the time all you could hear was the kick drum (Infinite Frequency's party... they got better, but they never had all that great sound). A couple of months later, I gave it another shot with a different promoter and a new act (S.U.N. Project) playing live, and really enjoyed it. The DJs played great tunes like Acid Rockers - Messages From Jupiter, Hallucinogen - Magik, Sandman - Spawn, and the live had tons of energy, enough to even get me dancing.

     

    What I liked about that 1999-2000 scene was that there was a sense that anything could happen, that genres, aesthetics, and styles were constantly blurring and blending together and that you might see and hear anything at a psy party. There seemed to be a constant stream of new sounds and discoveries and all for the express purpose of making people freak out on the dancefloor. I loved all the Matsuri, Psy-Harmonics, Exogenic, Edgecore stuff, the crazier the better. Tangential to the music, everything seemed to be moving forward, everyone seemed to be on a mission and were trying to make the world a better, more interesting place (or at least paying lip service to the idea). That's what keeps me going, that 'mission' that I originally perceived in the culture.

  5. 1. Astral Projection - Aurora Borealis

    2. MFG - Sunshine

    3. Transwave - Biolab (Epilogue)

    4. Etnica - History

    5. Total Eclipse - Bad Data

    6. Hallucinogen - Spike

    7. Koxbox - Doctor Mesmer

    8. Pleiadians - Family Of Light

    9. Shakta - Cosmic Trigger

    10. X-Dream - Live Fast, Die Young

    11. Prana - Indigo (remix)

    12. MWNN - Parallel Universe

    13. Psychaos - Soundbeams

    14. GNOTR - Thunder Thighs

    15. Infected Mushroom - One Absolute

    16. Electric Universe - Sunset Skyline

    17. Chi-A.D. - Moonart

    18. The Infinity Project - Cybertropic

    19. Cosmosis - Higher Access

    20. Oforia - (as Solaris) Extra Mundane

  6. Spirit Zone's old compils are great, particularly if you don't have an extensive album collection. I found a lot of great artists through the "Tathata" and "Global Psychedelic Trance" series.

     

    Also:

     

    Prana - Cyclone

    Blue Room Released - Made On Earth

    Xerox & Freeman - Human Race

    Sun Project - Macrophage

    TIP Singles 1-3

    Fill Your Head With Phantasm 1-5

  7. I vote Peace And Freedom Party:

     

    http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/

     

    Libertarian socialism is a more consistent fit with my principles than libertarian capitalism. I'd like to see the foreign occupations and drug wars of the US ended; I'd also like to see the TSA abolished and a return to dignity and respect for our health when we fly. On these issues, I agree with Ron Paul. But I'd also like to see the root causes of war addressed, along with our high rate of incarceration and our high rate of unemployment, underemployment and poverty, which we can't do by shrinking the government. IMHO, what creates a high level of personal freedom is better government and more, not less regulation of powerful interests.

  8. I'm with Penzoline here. Something about the way Juno tells stories with their music just rubs me the right way. And in terms of production, I still find that Beyond The Infinite and the rest of their 1994-98 material rates highly... it may not be as slickly mastered as today's music but there is so much depth and layering. And they still have a lot of dancefloor punch IMHO.

     

    Also, how Juno used to make their tracks is something I wish more artists would do; borrowing from rock and EBM for the rhythmic backbone, while keeping the morphing melodic characteristics of acid trance. And when you add in the highly developed texture/timbre that each and every sound has, it's pure sonic art to me. i.e., Razorback has a melody sequence that sounds like an extraterrestrial gamelan; Mars has reversed voice that sounds like glass talking. Probably only Posford and Koxbox took sound design further, and their approach is totally different; less narrative and cinematic, more abstract. I have trouble comparing Juno to Koxbox for the same reason; Koxbox is much more cerebral and 'make of this what you will', while Juno is sensual and emotive.

     

    I disliked Shango and Gods And Monsters. As albums they're pretty good, but as Juno albums they're poor, with too many gimmicky tracks and an inconsistent musical direction.

     

    And Koxbox hasn't been interesting since Ian Ion left, IMHO. Maybe their greatness came from jamming together?

  9. Here's something a little different.

     

    http://soundcloud.com/earwall/dark-orpheus-improvised

     

    Feat. tracks by Cosmoon, Deviant Species, Distortion Orchestra, Doof, Eat Static, Jocid, Kris Kylven, Lords Of Destruction, Manmademan, Mind Warped, Mushroomman, Nervasystem, Radiation, Recycler, Tamlin, The Nam Shub Of Enki, Total Eclipse, Savage Scream, Youth, Zabra.

     

    http://soundcloud.com/earwall/marble-chocolate

     

    Feat. tracks by Carbon Based Lifeforms, Electroslide, Fila Brazilia, Gump, Kay Nakayama, Kid Loops, LTJ Bukem, Medicine Drum, Photek, Ronnie & Clyde, Shine.

  10. Joske summed it all properly.

    To make it a bit funnier, I wouldn't really see girls spending hours in the studio when they have to do so many things such as cooking, cleaning, making themselves beautiful (hairdresser/spa/beauty salons/nails and whatnot..) ahah no just kidding %) (now i will receive flamings from all the girls in the forum!).

    Beside stupid jokes I really think musicians can be both male and female but I would easily see a girl playing (probably much better than a man) a classical instrument such as a Violin, or a Piano or even an acoustic guitar and then female are just ideal for singing, there are some angels out there with a voice that can give you chills and make you feel like heaven, and that rarely happens with men.

    So the best are cooperation with a girl singing and a man making the electronics behind such as I've heard in many chill projects.

    ;)

     

    I don't know ANY women working as hairdressers. I think a woman might have cut my hair once. C'mon, hairdressers are gay men, know your stereotypes. :P

     

    The women I know are: programmers, statisticians, IT workers, computer artists, rivetheads, hardcore gamers, science fiction authors, fantasy authors. My mother introduced me to Philip K. Dick novels. The host of the last rave I went to was a woman. Honestly I find this whole discussion bizarre.

     

    And about singers and 'angelic' vocals. I'll take Frank Sinatra's vocals over Siouxsie Sioux' any day.

  11. The melody was in my head, ever repeating, such as if the track title was just about to reveal, but it never revealed itself, it just stayed like that. It haunted me. It was so damn annoying.

     

    Any other sufferers of such things?

     

    I've experienced something similar to what you describe. With certain tracks I get a feeling of deja vu, as if I've heard this music years before. But of course I haven't and the music just hit a sweet spot in my brain... it's like seeing a beautiful woman and being reminded of a happy time from the past.

     

    The repeating melody thing is called an "earworm". I hadn't thought about it this way, but it makes sense that obsessing over who made the song would reinforce the earworm.

     

    The good news is that my earworms went away after I found the track in question, so yours should too.

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