Jump to content

Taika-Kim

Members
  • Posts

    382
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    8

Posts posted by Taika-Kim

  1. To bring the discussion back to topic

     

    Psysutra: Nice, a bit 80s space, a bit 90s german acid, a bit goa... And I like those airy backgrounds.

     

    Trinodia, Astrancer: Sometimes you can hear from two consecutive notes, that you won't like it. This exactly the kind of neo-sound that I don't like. Too tense, and those faux-eastern scales make my ears bleed. But then again I never liked that Israeli style so much...

     

    Skarma: That live set on Soundcloud is again over the top and tense. But the track Allanum show promise, I like those Hallucinogen influences, altough the whole thing doesn't quite hang in balance yet. And gets a bit out of and towards the end.

     

    Tomocomo: I like the loose composition, but I have a big problem with this style where even the long melodic lines are so much out of tune. Of course it's all subjective, but I think mixing melodies and this kind of almost atonal approach takes more skill than she has. But there are definitely good moments here and there. Also I never was a huge fan of the Japanese sound.

     

    Jikooha: OK, but again it's this almost completely hard lead and arpeggio led style pitched all the way up.

     

    What I'm really looking for is the sound with a bit more nuances and subtle variety. Before it went all 1998 though.

     

    I think it's almost two different styles. I think a big part of what I'm talking about came from the UK.

     

    I'm not saying that this is the only style I like, only that it's curious there's no following and no artists? Are newschool

    artists limiting themselves on purpose on some innovation to carve a niche? I was listening to Terrafractyl today for example,

    and really liked that... But I guess some neo-goa fans will say that his sound is too "modern".

     

    Did somebody of his contemporaries accuse Mozart that he used too many notes? So maybe I'm looking for Debussy instad here?

    Romantic instead of baroque, or let's say symbolist even :)

     

    Portamento: Technically good, and there's variety and movement on the tracks. It's not just going forward full speed all the time, there's time to play around with the sounds too. Much more my kind of sound, but still gets too much out of hand at times with those detuned saw leads and stuff. Tone down this sound a bit, and we're close to what I'm looking for. Would be happy to hear this live.

     

    Erta Ale comp I remember trying to listen to when it came out, but didn't like it that much, too many annoying tracks again.

     

    Aurax: I really like this kind of dry acid sound, Hummus for example growls pretty nicely. The tracknames make my brain hurt :D My basic gripe: gets out of hand at times with those melodies.

     

    Ufomatka: Too broody and depressing. But I can see he has a style.

     

    Dragon Twins: Technically superb, lovely dry sound, and the acid and filter sounds sound are exceptionally good. Again gets totally out of hand with those silly high pitched arpeggios and stuff at times. Good tempo. Too bad the melodies ruin this for me, this is unlistenable :P I think with time these guys (gals?) might mature into something quite classic.

     

    I think writing good melodies is very hard, and that's where a musicians true skill is weighted. There are a lot of good engineers on the scene, but making classic quality stuff takes a rare gift that sadly not everybody has :/

     

    Arronax: boring, again all the tracks sound too similar, and there is zero innovation on the melodic side.

     

    Amanians: Good oppressive hard sound, I quite love this. Could use a bit of restraint at times, but still manages to keep the balance most of the time. Definitely some of the better acid stuff I've heard recently. Just a bit tasteless with the melodies occasionally, minus that, and this would be near classic. Let's Meet on The Other Side is really good, the rest variably weaker.

     

    Proxeeus: Handsome guy :D Did I say, hmm, again gets out of hand a lot of the time with the high register stuff. I like his production style though with the sounds so clearly defined, I think it's good to take a clear stand instead of just throwing delays, reverbs and stuff on everything out of habit... Or then do the spatial stuff properly. But excellent, excellent melodies occasionally. I quite adore that clear legato style (Tyca Tyca for example). Refreshing approach to bass mixing compared to most modern stuff with the bass pitched so high and clearly defined. Needs some sense of originality, nuances maybe and a slight smoothing of the sound, but very promising. Would work well on an outdoor party. It's good to see his productive too, and open with sharing the tracks.

     

    Psychowave: Nice mix of the festival sound with goa. Sometimes annoying faux-eastern melodies and too much arpeggios, but mostly I would be happy to party to this. Moon Bindi is great! ¨

     

    Imba: Sometimes OK, nice smooth sound, but again the same thing that turns me off almost all neo-goa: all those high pitched silly arpeggios all around, my ears are hurting :P But definitely some good moments here and there.

     

    Ethereal - Anima Mundi : Listening now again to this for the first time since it came out. Compares actually quite favourably to some of the neo stuff out there. Some of this I might actually listen for fun at home :) Like Flamedancer, nice. I think if this album had some memorable Man With No Name etc style leads, this could have been a real classic. I love the atmospheric sounds here. Just a bit featureless, but then again a good soundtrack for space exploration or something like that :)

     

    For some reason I'm reminded of Torakka's Far Out Express here, an album that for some reason sank without much notice, altough it was lightyears better than what was usually produced in Finland at that time. I mean... Nice:

     

    Elysium's Ride the Snake remix: Good, altough could use a bit of colour. As I said earlier, experience brings a sense of nuances, there's an effortless quality to the track that's easy to like. Ah, and the old collaborations, I like Sheyba, Kaaya and Kailash a lot! Especially Sheyba is just fantastic... It's funny how some artists turn out fantastic collaborative tracks bring out stuff that's better than either artist's solo efforts. (The only solo album I've heard is Monzoon, which was mostly just too boring for me)

     

    So, the search goes on :) Thanks for the suggetions so far!

    • Like 1
  2. Oh, I have one example. Ianuaria had a side project, I'm not sure if anything proper came out of that, Purple Rabbit or something like that, the previews he have sound good, something a bit like old Kox Box, Psychopod or some more "liquid" stuff in that style. (on a side note, I heard Kox Box a few days ago, and MY, what a mediocre set he threw...maybe with only Frank E now, the sound is not quite as complex as it used to be... )

  3. Well, then I need to definitely check out your music ;)

     

    (a quick google)

    Ah, it's you. Hmm I hope this does not sound offensive, but I never was so much into your stuff from the mid 90s, I always felt it was missing exactly that feeling of either depth or energy that I like.

     

    But I definitely need to check your new music, I find that as long as the passion is there, people's cooking gets better the older they get :D I think it's just a matter of becoming more aware to nuances instead of just the salt and ketchup.

  4. And another personal opinion: most oldschool sounds also quite dated and boring these days, that's why I'm looking for that special good sound ;)

     

    I don't anyway liste to a lot of electronic music, so I just don't have the energy to check every new release in hopes of finding something interesting. I like good DJ mixes, best of lists etc for this reason.

  5. Hey, wow, a lot of good discussion here. I'm without a soundsystem right now, so can't check the links now. Jikooha I remeber noting as possibly interesting when I gave his stuff a quick check some year ago, Just forgot him in the meanwhile. Good reminder!

    About digital/analog: I have also over 15 years of experience in writing trance, and found that when I started using analog stuff, especially cumbersome modular synths, a tape echo, etc, the sounds I started getting began sounding incredibly much better. Before that I used to be really annoyed by the whole issue, and also believed that software could replace those things. I don't spend a lot of time checking modern analog-style VSTs, but for example even the u-he stuff reaches nowhere near my modular setup in terms of getting good filter sounds, surprises, etc... Like feedback loops, cross-modulations etc, and filters of course. Especially in feedback loops etc the quantum level stuff that happens is incredibly complex, unstable and happening billions of times per second in resolutions that are almost infinite in time and scale... Very hard to nail that accurately, I trust my ears here.

    I like the digital stuff for more creative forms of synthesis, like Alchemy, Omnisphere or Absynth for example... But for pure raw sound that sound like the future used to sound in the past, I often prefer analog.

    Just listen to almost anything that came out of the old Butterfly studios for example... Of course they had the best engineers and producers working over there, but still... Or just listen to how lame almost all releases from the beginning of 2000s sound... Just beautiful sense of life and space in those tracks. But of course this is not the rule. Some Japanese stuff that was made with grooveboxes only, like some of the Tokyo Tekno Tribe stuff, sounded dated already in the 90s I think.

    Well enough about that. And also, maybe it's the interface that makes you work in a different way, and the limitations, which boost creativity often. I work in a very different way if I make a track inside the Computer, or if start to do a lot of sampling etc.

    Sorry, not very much substance here, I'll get back to the music when I have a chance to listen to it :)

    I didn't like Ethereal that much the first time over when the album was released, I recall the sound was drowned in too much flat spatial processing like some ChiA.D. tracks too for example. But then again I'm more into the atmospheric styles these days... So I'll need to check that again too.

  6. Do any of the newschool artists make trance that really sounds like the old stuff? I mean real analog synths and organic loose production and a more lysergic sound like the old TIP, Dragonfly, etc stuff?

     

    I've been trying to listen to new goa tracks for, what, 15 years now, and still I don't find any artists that work the way the best of the old stuff do. Newschool seems so much concentrated just on a hard kick, endless arpeggios and in-your-face melodies, to me the whole sound is generally just a bit undeveloped.

     

    And often the people with the right hardware like Filteria and Radical Distortion make tracks that are basically re-makes or really close copies of another artist. I mean fine, but I do appreciate something a bit more original.

     

    So, any suggestions that would be on the level of, say TIP Yellow/ Orange (both albums do have their weak moments, but in general I like the way the music sounds on these a lot)?

  7. Woow, a lot of good stuff here, thanks everybody!

     

    You can be shiva :D Yeah that's the spirit!!

     

    This is a sound that needs to be recognized and reborn ;) I have been inspired a lot by these sounds lately....

     

    Nice mixes Oopie btw, maybe even better with track start points in the comments?

     

    Those new beat and techno tracks have nice filter sounds (and are replicating that half step octave melody over and over in every tune), but I think the most interesting are the ones that already some more psychedelic influences... It's kind of interesting that after the psychedelic phase trance became kind of disco again with full-on.

     

    More great stuff from Datura:

    • Like 1
  8. Also, we are missing something here: I know psy people around their 20s who don't even download mp3s anymore, they just listen to streaming music exclusively, there's a lot of stuff in youtube only, not to even mention the proper music sites.

    Me too, don't find much point collecting mp3s (stopped years ago in fact) when any tune can be usually found online in seconds.

     

    How to transfer THIS logic into income?

  9. I never took any drugs in my life, I was never even drunk. Not to say, that it can't be great and life transforming to many. Especially in Israel the people just don't seem to get it, and every time I get very shocked reactions when this comes up. Dunno, people seem to think that I'm the worst shroomhead of them all... Must be the dreadlocks :P

  10. Ask DJ Kolibriscope, he's specialised in this sound, I heard his goaprog set last November, and it was just 100% fantastic... I remember some trip with some Finnish musicians with too much time before the party, and we trying to invent the "next thing" in the psy scene for fun... Well that was in 2009, maybe the time is ripe now :)

×
×
  • Create New...