Tsotsi

It's big, it's beautiful, it's Median Project - Constellation Artist: Median project Album: Constellation Label: Suntrip Records Release: May 20, 2019 Tracklist:- 1. Antidote 2. Mission Adept 3. It Is Not Possible 4. Infinite Space 5. On The Edge 6. Pandora's Box 7. Sand Of Time 8. Sunrise 9. The Constellation Of Aries This review is about what is in my opinion one of the most extraordinary release of modern Goa to date. An Album that encapsulates the cosmic tone of the genre in it's own unique and captivating way. Personally I can honestly say that only 3 or 4 other albums have ever granted me this much excitement, and none of those have been been in this style and this style is by far my favourite. This album is not another level, it is the level. If your brain converts sound into colours and shapes then this is going be one vibrant journey of electricity. The album art by ShivaOMArt really says it all as far as the spectrum of colours that you are going to be blasted through goes. You're going to experience warm rust pyramids filled with gold, strokes of amber splashed across azure temples and gas giants of cerulean creating reactions with scarlets. You might even spot some periwinkle In the distance. 'Yea yea, it sounds amazing but it's not a game changer' 'Sorry huh? What did you just? Not a game changer for whom good sir & madam?' It is certainly a game changer for Sergey who has advanced his skill to another level. The layers are as balanced as a spirit level placed by Vladimir Shukhov himself, the leads rip through the other sounds and at times dance around in prisms of energy above your head while at other times zip through your head taking you to star nebula's. Vocal samples nestle themselves neatly into tracks where they are placed, but it's really the other elements that make these tracks stand out. The dial tone in Mission Adept, the boombastic roar in It Is Not Possible & the unforgettable screeches for the first 4 minutes of Sand Of Time, my god even a 4 second sample of that track gives my brain dopamine thrush. The melody of Sunrise & The Constellation Of Aries make me drive exactly 4 kilometres over the speed limit with a huge smile on my face. It's all cosmic Goa, but not like you have heard before. Median Project has placed more emphasis on the moments that really make a track stand out, the introductions and outro's have been given more detail, the tracks have been filled with 'Bigger' sounds and more effort has been placed into introducing periphery sounds that make every listen unique. I have had this album since it's release, so I have had plenty of time to listen to it, the honeymoon period is over and I can with all certainty say that this production of art is up there with the greats of the genre and the broader spectrum of Psytrance. What Median Project has done is find a way to take cosmic goa up to the next stage of its evolution, I can consider this album an advancement towards the style that others (Hopefully) will build on. It does have all the NeoGoa elements that some people (Not Tsotsi) often find tiresome but the arrangements are what keep this exciting. For those of you that think that this genre has nothing new to add, crank this up when the sun goes down and prepare yourself for a visit to solar systems far away. As always I would like to thank Sergey for taking the time to deliver this masterpiece to us and making the world that much more colourful for it. His hard work really does pay off. Thanks to all others involved in the project including Suntrip for an interstellar addition to their catalogue. One Final word. The description of the album calls this Astral Projection meets Mindsphere, but I think we can surely agree that from now on this is pure Median Project an artist unto himself. https://suntriprecords.bandcamp.com/album/median-project-constellation

Welcome to the future

Well my first album was RA - Earthcall and then Artha - Dream Telepathy, before that I labelled the album Loud - 5 Billion Stars as Goa. I didn't listen to any old school until about 2-3 years into my experience and didn't like it until one special night with me and Hallucinogen. How about that for credentials? There are pretty big differences between the two. But I think we already know what they are. Old school had a sense of play about where you can almost feel the artists on the other side of the track. The good albums certainly feel like they come from artists with a broader musical range who loop A LOT LESS, probably due to hardware. The tracks have quirks and more subtle changes that are a result of live knob twisting and all that. The looping that does go on gets tweaked so it doesn't sound so same same. Also the tracks have room to move, much more space in oldschool. HOWEVER, Kick drums are often weak and even if a good melody is present, having starting from heavily layered music I miss the craziness and extra psychedelia present in Neogoa layers. Some Old school blows my mind and I love how nothing is placed in a track without a purpose, but the real eargasms, increased heart rates and jumping around comes from Neogoa. While I hear the creative genius behind the classic old school albums, I get far more lost within modern classics.

@Anoebis im interested to see if N.D.M.A has stood the test of time? Thanks for resurrecting this post actually.

Not as psychedelic as downtempo huxflux but.. Nibana does very synth heavy melodic and beautiful music. Earth from Above & disc 1 of Shumatsu Nu Tani (free on ektoplazm) are just unreal.

Oh what about Psysutra? Any one got a line on him?

I've been listening to old and new techno and find the difference to be much less space available in tracks. New can be the true wall of sound effect, annoyingly they also like to fill tracks with wash over like sweep fx. There's some good stuff too but I don't hear many people complain about modern techno despite the similarities between it and modern Goa. Ah fuck it let's just call it Neogoa. Also the popular hiphop of today sucks, it feels like people only like it because they are told its cool. Good underground and less popular stuff everywhere. Production wise not as much has really changed. But cooler influences from other genres are seeping in keeping it pretty creative.

For me: Celestial Intelligence, Arronax, Artifact 303, Ephedra, Fiery Dawn & Median Project are all most recognisable as new school. The MOST new school sounding out of them... I couldn't say, so let's just pick Artifact 303 or Median Project.

+1 Fabulous Idea

Good topic, I heard Ypsilon a year into my Modern Goa exploration and instantly labelled it as old school I still do really. In the beginning I defined old school by the sound. Softer kickdrums being the main distinction. Now I can't honestly say that I can tell the two era's apart (Unless it's some of that sexy cosmic goa). If I had to define the the two I would just define by year. Produced Goa after 2004? Sounds like Old School? Sorry mate it's just Goa. NeoGoa on the other hand; I would only really call Timewarp, Global Sect, Comsic styled goa 'NeoGoa' and even then I think it's a stretch to label it as such. I prefer 'Goa' although I do use a bunch of other labels when i talk about it.

I'm going to come out to Europe for some parties in 2020. Unfortunately Australia's terrible weather, nasty citizens, shocking festival culture and disgust in psytrance keeps the Goa Artists away . Looking forward to more Xamanist and hopefully will here from the rest shortly. Not that 2019 releases has left me wanting.

A review! I saw this release week ago but forgot to save it, then Mad Fusion EP came out and I got confused as to which was what. Wouldn't have found this for weeks if you didn't serendipitously make this review. Ohm Mind's sound becomes so distinct in collabs & I love it. A real mover of an EP with distinct layers that dance around each other. I don't normally buy EP's (for no reason in particular) but I'll be picking up the latest two with Ohm and looking into some more work from Laughing Space Devil.

This is certainly the most patience I have ever exercised.

Sounds very Merkaba-esc

Baah! I was wondering what you were up too. Saw this on Bandcamp 2 days ago and wondered where the promo was. I haven't listened yet but I'm super excited for some new Ohm Mind material.

What's happened to our dear producer friends? Has anyone heard from them? Lectro Spektral Daze Psy-H Project Alienapa Xamanist Arronax Antares Where's the gang? What's the deal? What's Happening? Who else is MIA?

I used to reach it when I had just woken up and in my near slumbered state thrown some earphones in, I would generally end up getting sent through galaxies and lucid dreaming things like flying and space orgies ;). This doesn't happen anymore, I've either grown to familiar with the styles structure or lost some part of my younger self that could do that. Some songs still trip me out and fill me with euphoria, so Yes I would say psy certainly produces altered states of consciousness.

Haha. Na that's what I thought for ages. The track is 'step to the stars'. I'm guessing Miranda had one called 'second step...'

Most research has found that pirates of music were never going to purchase that music in the first place. Pirating progressive psy and my first two goa albums (not knowing what goa was) is how I had the opportunity to fall in love with it. Now I'm Mr Purchase Everything only. Point being, it sucks, but maybe your music had the chance to trip someone the heck out and make them think 'what the fuck just happened to me?' 'I want that to happen again' Anyway this is my favourite album of yours and for me the best yet. Its like the amalgamation of all your best styles rolled together. Will absolutely be purchasing on the next paycheck.

Hi Oscar South and welcome in. You've come at a hell of a time for this forum but good to have you here all the same. The psy influences in the track are pretty neat, as is the entire track. Nice stuff.

On the first track and hot damn. Pretty unreal.

Genuinely thrilled for this release. What a beautiful cover as well. I'll be making this the 2nd CD of Goa I have purchased.

Every time I see a comment on this thread I think that it could be THE moment.

Oh heck, what's the goss on the new album?

So true Edit: And somehow despite how good Alienated Hallucinations might be, it still isn't the best on the album. @GS Concept isn't wrong about Nagual.