Aspartic

01. Proxeeus - Non-Euclidean Geometry 02. Triquetra - Ecstatic Planet 03. Denshi Danshi - Brain Chemistry 04. VA - Shambhala 05. VA - Lotus 06. Ephedra - What The Future Brings 07. Median Project - In The Depths Of Space 08. VA - The Call Of Goa Vol. 3 09. Lectro Spektral Daze - Infinitely Unfolding Kaleidoscope 10. VA - The 50th Parallel Aauuwwww!!! Such amazingly super dooper stellar goa trance!! :D

Bandcamp notified me of Tsotsi bying a new release a while ago, so I checked it out. And what do yo know? This is one of the strongest compilations of 2018! Very slick review above. Here's my short view on these pearls. Masters Imba and Ephedra fire it off with a solid pumping track. Perhaps a bit lazy on the bassline, but the rest does the trick. From time to time I stumble on a rare Hypnagogia track. And they are consistently addictive. No intense or dense mixing, but sounds that breathe and that take you on a journey. Tracks that remain in my memory. This one rumbles on and sucks you right in. Goasia delivers with an up and down bassline. Crazy old school sounds fly around. A lighthearted track for in the morning. I'm on another level with Tsotsi about the Omegahertz track. It's just too weird for me to enjoy it. Many sounds are out of tune, deliberately, but it hurts my ears and brain. I cannot grasp it. Omnivox and Hand of Demaru present a bubbly deeper track. Lovely laser synth lines and a chord chance in the end make this a stunning track. And then the killer basskick from M-Run. The bass slices deeper and harder than a butchers knife. No nonsense goa follows with some screeching synths to get crazy. Fantastic. One of my favorites here. I'm a big fan of Jikooha. Huge fan! They like to thrive on detuned sounds, but not as weird as the Omegahertz track on this comp. On Indigos they keep it hypnotic without much detuning. The track is a steady journey. Like a big fat locomotive squashing everything on its way. I love how Tsotsi phrased it: "very cruisy"". I'm gonna use that expression too from now on, if permitted. Back on speed with Via Axis. Lovely floating modern goa trance. How else to describe it? A nice balance of sounds, a pleasure for the ears and feet. To finish we have Nebula Meltdown with a hypnotic trancer. Slowly the addictive groove sneaks into my brain to completely infect it. What a lovely compilation is this! It has light tracks and energetic tracks to fulfill everyone's needs. Hypnotic goa without too much noise or decoration. Plain, strong, solid compilation. Will stand the test of time. Perfect to finish the incredible 2018.

Happy birthday to all of us!

Proxeeus, aka Jerome Lesterps from France, has been elucidating the goa scene for a while now. His free debut album At The Mountains of Madness was a raw interlude of his potential. The second statement Weird Tales surprised many of us with a fantastic progression in song structure and production it its entirety compared to the debut. He was getting better and better. After that Proxeeus appeared on a number of compilations with stellar tracks such as Cthulhu Lives (Lotus) and Me, myself, and a Gnop-keh (Elan Vital). These tracks unveiled the new sound of Proxeeus where he far supersedes what he has done in the past (and that was already very good). We got more melodies, more travelling and more energy. On december 21st 2018 his 3rd album was released, Non-Euclidean Geometry on Goa Madness Records. Many goa fans were looking forward to this end-of-year climax. And .... Proxeeus delivers with a bang! Title: Non-Euclidian Geometry Arist: Proxeeus Label: Goa Madness Records (Belgium) Released: December 21 2018 Format: CD and Digital Tracklist: 1. Liber Ivonis 10:15 2. Ephraim Waite 10:25 3. What the Red Glare Meant 08:42 4. The Hounds of Tindalos 10:02 5. Down the Six Thousand Steps 08:27 6. The Unnamable 09:55 7. Old Keziah 11:13 8. Yog-Sothoth is the Gate 09:23 9. And Madness Followed (BONUS TRACK) Proxeeus' tracknames are influenced by the fantasy stories of author H.P. Lovecraft. He wrote about other worlds and aliens so much bigger and smarter than humans, we couldn't even begin to understand it. No soft mellow intro here, Liber Ivonis immediately gets the goa vibe going with so much melodies and kicking bass. It's a train that never stops. If you are looking for acid, just leave the album playing, because the second bliss Ephraim Waite is all that and more! Acid, more acid, and even more acid!! Intertwined with lovely warm synth melodies this track is a blaster. And the clarity of the sounds, wow, I can almost touch them. What the red glare meant thrives on a sort of hollow sound and starts a tad darker. But the majestic synths are back to take over. As a treat Proxeeus creates a metallic acid sound, Emmanuel Top like, like techno on speed. Very night-ish psychedelic stuff right here. The finale is super trippy. Proxeeus means business, and continues this bulldozer of an album with The hounds of Tindalos, a synth loaded and darker sounding track with acid blips in the back making you crazy. Hell, there is even an epic melody finishing with synths/acid mixed together to give an unforgettable dancefloor experience. Down the Six Thousand steps begins lighthearted but transforms rather quick in a dark monster where Proxeeus decides to take the aggressiveness up a notch. Next up is the liquid track The Unnamable. Liquid because of the sounds and the organic feel of it. Each minute we hear a new journey, but they flow flawlessly into each other. From warm to harsh and back to warm. Old Keziah is total immersion in Proxeeus land. Pulsating synths and acid fly around. How he creates the screaming climax is pure genius. The last track of the physical cd is Yog-Sothoth is The gate. Futuristic goa trance with sweet and banging melodic synth lines. The progression throughout the track is great again. Nothing feels monotonous, not predictable at all. That's the catch. And the fact that you know you're getting a great ending is so rewarding and pleasant. A joyful bonus track And Madness Followed is granted in the digital version on bandcamp. A 10 minute long odyssey to get all those goa brains melting on the dancefloor is the cherry on the cake. What a demolition track. We made it! Sooooo: The album is extremely coherent sound- and structure wise. You can listen to one track and be blown away, but the whole album is such an experience that you have to listen to it in its entirety. And appreciate it in its full length. The production quality is superb and not one single sound is out of place. Every track takes you on a journey to a parallel universe. Proxeeus is at the forefront of goa trance and this album is his magnum opus. Well, maybe until the next one. Who knows what comes next?? Jerome has much more to show us, I'm sure. Art like this only comes along once in a while. E-Mantra's Arcana, Artifact303's Back To Space, and now Proxeeus' Non-Euclidian Geometry. You nailed it, mister. Hats off. Buy link: Goa Madness Records Bandcamp

This one came up in my feed on bandcamp. Beautiful chill piano music from a Ukranian artist. It's like every song goes where you want it to go. Recommended for background music or just easy listening. https://antonbelov.bandcamp.com/album/piano-works-i

Wow, you chose some transitions at the last moment?! Well done then. Your set was indeed not that hard, but after slayer Proxeeus this was a welcome treat. I really enjoyed the melodies and lush trance breaks. A party for the books.

I can confirm that Imba's tracks set the trancefloor on fire! Without mercy, Imba, amongst others, pushed the limits of our dancing endurance. His set at Dreamwaves II (Belgium) on 22/12/18 was amazing. I think the whole album was presented to us. The beats and rollercoasters took us to another world. His b2b with Ephedra was the cherry on the cake. Well done, Imba! And nice talking to you and Ephedra outside.

I honestly never had the impression. I only hear Proxeeus having his momentum.

I think YES.

Pfff, right now, this one will knock you down on your knees:

Air quality is fine as far as I know in Belgium. I haven't been too a lot of parties yet. It can get a bit warm, but I love to sweat, so that's fine.

Mm, a bit of a downer. I pre-prdered the album from https://goamadnessrecords.bandcamp.com/album/non-euclidean-geometry Which seems to be affiliated to arabesque. They still have 21th december. So I can't get the release today. Well, I'll have it by friday then.

Too bad the bonus track is a sample of only 2 minutes ... EDIT: sorry, this has been converted to the original length now! All good.

Really strong compilation, Joske. Totally in love with Cosmic Dimension at the moment. :-) Will review later of course.

As a goa enthusiast, but not knowing a lot about the past, this is a welcome review and recommendation. I really like what I hear, so keep em coming, T2MU!