acid-brain

As a relative youngling and goa newcomer who only discovered the genre slightly over 10 years ago, everything that was said above rings true. Sandman - Witchcraft is an excellent choice for an album that sounds more fresh and engaging than other goa releases. Most of the other albums that caught my ear in a similar way are probably better classified as psy: Pigs In Space, Koxbox Dragon Tales, COP, late 90's X-Dream. A track like "Fairy in The Dragonforest" sounds like a more evolved version of classic goa trance, with much better rhythm section! Ultimately it leads to a debate into exactly where "old school goa" ends and psy begins, and nobody wants another one of those. A lot of stuff that gets rave reviews here, took me years to understand because of the dated production. Early Juno Reactor, Etnica, Koxbox - Forever After (especially compared to Dragon Tales). Over time I've come to appreciate it all, it just took perseverance. And then there's the stuff that just sounds "of it's time". While I enjoy MWNN or Power Source's tracks for instance, most of them really do sound like mid-90's trance hits. Which seems like a dumb thing to say, because that's exactly what they are, but compare to a track like Tandu's Alien Pump or Sandman's G-Force and there's no contest. Somehow, there's a small number of goa tracks that just stand out as electrifying today, and when I play them to my electronic music loving friends, they can't believe the date they were created.

Thanks for the tip, this artist is great.

Absolutely agreed. Reading back through the reviews of this album, I'm surprised to see different tracks highlighted by people. Most tracks on this album are great, but Zero Barrier is the absolute standout. Like you said it's not repetitive at all, but dances around a couple of key melodic ideas which are developed until there's a huge payoff at the end. It's hard to think of another goa track which is structured as well as this. Moonart is also fantastic.

Zero Barrier is my favourite track by CHI-A.D., the track structure is just so complex and incredible. It only unleashes the melodies after 7:00 minutes of build-up, and when they come crashing in with huge psychedelic energy. What a track!

It's definitely a total masterpiece of the Ambient genre. The tracks send you into a deep meditative state and it's difficult to explain how they are so effective at doing so. I remember reading a few years ago that the artist had disappeared off the face of the earth, has there been any trace of him since?

Glad Psynews is back online, it was down so long I wondered whether it was coming back

For some reason I never checked out this early project from Krys Kylven (UX) and RX Heaven, perhaps because the EPs are lower rated on Discogs. But some of the tracks but this artist absolutely rock! They pay a ton of attention to rhythm and visual textures and are clearly inspired by industrial and EBM but combines with goa melodies. It's just a shame the mastering isn't always so good - whatever, it was the mid 90's. Best is Tripperspaced, with its a classic swirling goa bassline, spooky main hook and perverted rhythmic melodies. Lots of breakdowns and the melodies build in intensity each time they come back. The different elements are layered so well, you can feel the incredible psychedelica unfolding around you. It reminds of Sandman/Witchcraft's early work. My next favourite is Limited Access To The Files. Love the hihats here. This track is dark, intense and totally unhinged, heading directly into cyberpunk apocalypse. It keeps getting crazier until 8:00 when a beautiful 303 breaks out, the pressure lets up and then suddenly the foot comes down onto the pedal and evil melodies engulf the track for a very memorable ending. The last one I want to call attention to is Lost World. This track is particularly damaged by poor mastering with an overloud kick drum, however despite this you can hear the raw talent in the track. The melody clocking in at 2:45 is tribal madness, sounding similar perhaps to a Miranda/Athena melody, but there's this massive reverb behind it, with submelodies emerging and swirling around it. It's very danceable yet poignant like the best trance music. Oh also there's Morphogenesis, which texturally sounds like MFG's Project Genesis, with thick bubbly acidic sounds, it has some great moments but unfortunately doesn't develop and tell much of a story. In summary, I've always thought UX - Ultimate Experience was fantastic, but it's possible these tracks are better even than anything on that album! Syb Unity Nettwerk tracks go 100mph into a different universe and are trippier than 99% of stuff that came out in the same time period. This artist deserves more credit for producing such ahead of its time music -and he gave away his remastered Ultimate Xperience album for free. Legend.

Yeah, an extremely talented band for sure. I did want to highlight Maya Moon though as having such an insane intro that the rest of the track doesn't live up to it. Etnica - Spheric Koncept is another

Maya Moon by MFG

^^ what astralprojection said

It's been ages since I listened to Magick Universe. One of this albums where it sometimes sounds really dated, but other times it has moments of brilliance so good it convinces you it's among the best trance ever made. Dreamstar has elements of a crossover into Oakenfold uplifting trance but then drops back to the acid depths of Dimension 5, before suddenly pulling off the uplifting melody again - a beautiful gem. I'm surprised the album wasn't more popular, the style sounds perfect for the dancefloors of the time.

Fairy in the Dragonforest is the best track here, starts with a very ear-catching melody and has a fantastic rhythm which stands out among goa tracks!

Tracks with intros so interesting that the rest of the track can't live up to them. The best example I can think of is Darshan - Psychokinesis - very psychedelic and the kick is powerful when it comes thumping in

Having lived in China for a while myself, I'm not sure I'd want to for a longer period. The strong response to the virus comes at the cost of a very authoritarian government and the near-total obedience of the population towards it.

I didn't realise how good the title track Helium was until listening to this album again today. The melodies shimmer and are insanely psychedelic. At exactly half way through the track a very memorable melody comes in that goes up and down like a big sine wave, pulling you in and out. Fantastic.

Yeah, I feel the same way. I can't imagine what it'd be like to be a hospital nurse right now, or a restaurant worker in the US already living paycheque to paycheque. Rough times, and I'm hoping it will lead to positive political change. Meanwhile some sectors of the economy are weirdly unaffected or even doing better than normal right now.

Just realised that I haven't spoken to anyone face-to-face in a week now. I work in software and the transition to working from home hasn't been too painful. Been listening to a select few goa artists who really help get into the zone, chief among them Darshan. It really does feel like living in the future, I wake up shower and have breakfast and then I sit at my desk for the rest of the working day producing some code, and corresponding with my colleagues over Slack and telepresence. Read the news once every few hours and try to come to terms with how suddenly this massive uncertainty has come over our society. In the evenings I drink some beer and whisky. Rinse and repeat.

Children of the Night is an incredible previously unreleased track. It's most of the elements that make UX great fashioned into a psytrance torpedo. From 4:35 it really takes off. I can't believe more people haven't talked about this track here.

Such a sweet album. Reading over the reviews again here I'm surprised that Neuroscanner doesn't get more love, the last 3 minutes of the that track are a highlight of the album. Agreed that Darshan creates a unique atmosphere. So deep that it just sucks you in. Also, my favourite track here is Sun Probe. All the sounds layer on top of the bassline perfectly and it's the grooviest one.

Very underrated album. It's trippy and diverse

My request to goa producers is: make whatever music you want to make, and ignore people moaning on some forum! However there's always room for constructive tips like @recursion loop gave

It doesn't change your opinion on the track at all though does it? In my mind In The Mouth of Madness borrows some great ideas from that track but adds a lot of its own and turns the whole thing into a torpedo that's tighter, more intense and better produced than any source material

Why?

I wasn't sure at first, originally I thought the title track was even better, but now I believe that you're right. What a magnificent track that is influenced by old-school goa masters but actually exceeds them. It transitions seamlessly between moods, building momentum and intensity before dissipating it all in a moment of complte madness. The 303 that comes in at 1:30 is absolutely ripping and already makes this better than the Cydonia track it's based on. When you get to the ending with the hysterical laughter and pitching downwards effect it's spinetingling as you wonder WTF just hit you. At some point you transitioned into a deranged world without even realising it. Phenomenal.