V/A - The Secret Of The Thirteen Crystal Skulls

[traveller]

V/A - The Secret Of The Thirteen Crystal Skulls

 

 

Artist: Various

Title: The Secret Of The Thirteen Crystal Skulls

Label: TIP World

Date: 2003

 

Track listing:

 

01. Eat Static : The First Revelation

02. Cyberbabas : The Second Revelation

03. Alien Project : The Third Revelation

04. Astrix : The Fourth Revelation

05. Talamasca : The Fifth Revelation

06. 1200 Mics : The Sixth Revelation

07. Shpongle : The Seven Revelation

 

Review:

 

Since the process of writing those ”details over everything reviews is pretty

boring task and I as a reviewer don't really feel like I'm truly expressing

myself while writing them, nor do I feel like I manage utterly to capture the

inner core of the album's spirit I felt like it was a time for a new,

different kind of approach. This time I will not fail =) Track 1. And so it

beginns. It being somekind of distant, but approaching heavenly wave. Simple,

soft, yet interesting kick intervines the intro. A little later some other

bits of data are thrown in. Track keeps on being undancable, which is just

fine for me, since I find this the true essence of music. It's clearly made to

sound good, not just to work good on the dancefloor. Suddenly a familiar

sample from The Mystery Of The Thirteen Crystal Skulls is presented,

followed by an another a few seconds later. Then it's time to dance. Kick

becomes strong, finger picked guitar is doing the rest. A flute? A little

later the bassline backs everything up. Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp. STOP! Just

for a little while, cause this is the part. The Part? Yes! It's the part!

Still following me? Guess not, well you might, once you listen to it. Then

that hey this is actually psychedelic thingy hits me. Well, the track sure

is 100% joy. It's hidden complexity is just beautiful and only highly

concentrated mind will find it. Being high just might also do the trick,

though it's not necessary. Track 2. It's the 80's. That's what the beginning

makes me feel like. True 80's synth pop beginning. Then something, that tries

to, yet in my opinion fails to, recreate the psychedelic athmosphere is mixed

in. Will the psychedelic athmosphere be gone for good? Doubt it. At 2 minute

mark it feels like that monster bpm + bassline combination is about to hit

us. Suprisingly, it's not as monstrous as expected. Still a few minutes later

it feels like something huge is about to come. Then, somewhere in between of

time and space I realize what it's all about. Once again, it's not made for

dance floors, but it's the incarnation of psychedelia, that many though was

lost for ever. Beautiful flute ends the track. Track 3. Everything goes

nicely, until a certain sample can be heard. A sample that has absolutely

nothing to do with the theme of this compilation. I just wonder why the hell

there's a sample about LSD in this track? Do LSD and Crystal Skulls have

something incommon? I don't think so! Well this track fits this compilation

like a cock fits a male's ass, it's just simply wrong! Big mistake by Tip.

World to include this track! Track 4. After the huge dissapointment of track 3

I was expecting this one to be even worse. Why? Cause I'm just prejudice on

Astrix's material and felt so strong on track 3. So anyways, this morning I

was waiting for my bus at the bus stop around 7 o'clock in the morning. It

must have been about 22 degrees celsius, and I wasn't even noticing the

coldness. So this track was playing, and I assumed there was no way in hell

that somebody would see me, I mean jesus christ, 7 o'clock on saturday

morning. So I was sort of like dancing. Actually more like 60% dancing and 40%

standing, more than likely looking really cool. Shakeing a little, moving my

hands, cigarette on my right hand, feeling so good, music playing really,

really loud. So then I turn my head. There's this maybe 50 yo dude behind me.

He said something like you sure seem to enjoy your music, and I'm like

yep, and blushing. So then this bizarre thing happens, there's a sample now

that's not supposed to happen. Smiled because of this the whole day. This

track is awesome. It's pretty much made in the same style than 1st Revelation

in The Mystery of The Thirteen Crystal Skulls. The ending is really fast

though, atfirst I found it cheesy because of the fast bmp, but then realised,

that it just has to be like that. Track 5. Listen to the beginning carefully.

Sounds familiar? Yes, indeed! Activate self destruct. And so, the stomping

beginns. Very Talamasca feeling, but no wait, something is different. During

this track I discovered that trance isn't dead after all. I don't know, this

track just somehow has that 5-years-back-goa-feeling-thingy. Superb! Track 6.

Well here we go again. A perfect track! That voice, it's so twisted I don't

even know if it's a man or a woman. And that bassline! And that synth! And

that atmosphere! Even the kick is nice! Nicey Nice, don't know what to say..

Track 7. This is the thing I've been waiting for a long long time, a new track

by Shpongle. A new track by the "Skygods", which almost all the samples in

this album keep on referring to =). So, it's all there, perfect bassline (I

really mean perfect). Perfect percussions, perfect absofuckinglutely tight

guitar solo (!!), perfect flute, perfect synths, perfect everything! So they

did it again? A new door to perfection? Nope! Why-o-why did they have to make

this one a stomper too? Just like in the last Skulls compilation, the

beginning is perfection, then suddenly everything goes down. Well this time

the ending isn't that monotone, but more like a great classic Hallucinogen

track, it's actually fucking fabulous, but I want my Shpongle chilled, not

stomped! So what's my final verdict? Well, it's still too early to judge this

album, few spins just aren't enough. Since my expectations to this album were

so, so high, I have to, no, I must dig deeper.... so my final verdict will

follow later..

[Guest Rx7style]

I thought this compilations was nice, but nothing more than average. None of

the tracks truly stood out, whether from each other, or in general. The first

TIP compilation was far superior to this. Good effort though regardles...

[Insejn]

This is not as good as the first one. Shpongle does what they have to ofcourse.

But the other tracks arent special at all. Just long typical TIP-world stuff.

The first one truly delivered awesome and very cool tracks, but this one;

naaah. Final Verdict: 7/10

[Guest Psydark Light]

pretty nice compilation , even I expect for more...

the quality is high for standard most of the tracks.---BUT the whole compil get

boring very fast. some tracks are pretty good on the dance floor.-----------

bottom line a bit boring , but very very high quality !

there are no many compilation with such a great quality and such a great

concept!---non favorites ,not so interesting ,but still very good material!

7.5/10 .

pretty nice purchase.

[pr0fane]

This isn't as good as the first one, but overall it is a pretty good

compilation if you like the TIP World style. Personally i like track 1 and

track 7 best, and I find the Alien Project track (#3) to be the worst.

Speaking of that track ... isn't it the same as the one on "Electronic High 3"

entitled "L.S.D"? This compilation gets a 7/10 from me

[DeathPosture]

First of all... Smashing review from Traveller! Way to go dude! ;o) Secondly,

to review this... Well, at first I wasn't to impressed - it remindeed me too

much of "Mystery", but hey, it's the sequel, so I guess that's alright ... As

always with TIP World the production quality is flawless... Very crisp sounds

here, and pretty much all tracks are fantastic... Just don't expect to hear

anything new or ground-breaking here... It's the same old TIP-sound that we

all know - but when the standard is this high, why change the formula!? Hmm...

Something is wrong with what I just wrote there... Anyway, this is perfect

discman-material... Wonderful stuff! Rating 8/10

[Guest Chroneus]

Pretty compilation! Just open your mind and don't expect anything. It is such

good as the first. Best track 7 - by Shpongle. 9/10

[Guest MG]

I think it's a good compilation, yet I have a few reservations. Fuck off the

AP/Astrix combo. Yes, last time they were okay, this time... I mean, we

already heard one track elsewhere, deprecating what is otherwise a very

creative concept and something of a precedent/revival (Contact by Cosmosis for

example). Despite that it begins beautifully and ends beautifully, Furthering

my anticipation of the Eat Static/Hallucinogen album. I think if there is a

3rd the aforementioned gripes must be removed from the playlist and replaced

with say, Tristan if he ventures down Dark City territory, Nervasystem &/or

Process, Koxbox in similar vein to Lunar Bin, or really go out on a limb and

use Tromesa (They put Beat Bizarre on their last comp, it could happen). Tip

has gotta branch out more, they should've perhaps used Doof again, he rocked

last time. What should perhaps happen is a bootleg remix version where people

whom I have mentioned remix these tracks or write their own and post it on the

net or something for download... Smashing Pumpkins did it, why not? I have

digressed beyond digressions jurisdiction. On the strength of Eat Static,

Cyberbabas and Shpongle I grade this 8/10. Talamasca was okay, but the drums

2/3 way through sounded like cheap plug-in, detracting from the track and

running in ominous congruence to the often cheap clanger that passes for

Psytrance these days, Don't get me started re:Mics.

[PKS]

(TIPWCD026): Raja Ram and his TIP.World is finally giving us the Secret of The

13 Crystal Skulls. This is the follow up after the Mystery Of The 13 Crystal

Skulls. That was a fantastic compilation with no bad tracks on it. It seems

like TIP.World has lost the high quality lately, so this compilation will

hopefully prove something else. Eat Static has suddenly for some unknown

reason started releasing tracks on TIP.World lately. They have bin one of my

favourite bands since 1993, but they have mostly released music on Planet Dog

and on their own label Mesmobeat. Eat Static give us the first revelation.

Merv Pepler has made this one alone. It starts very beautiful with floating

ambient sound scapes. After a few minutes, some hard banging rhythms starts

pumping. Interesting to see how Eat Static suddenly has started making

psytrance like this. But Eat Static has already shown their talent in many

different music styles, so it doesn`t come as a big surprise. A good track

with a lot of tribal voices. Track 2 is by Cyberbabas. This is a very

interesting collaboration between Raja Ram and Benji Vaughan (Prometheus).

They have released some really good tracks together already. This one starts

slow and relaxing the first two minutes. Then we get some pumping rhythms

which reminds me a lot of Hallucinogen! A melodic and varied track with guitar

and synths by Benji and flute by Raja Ram.

 

Then we get a track by the new Israeli super star, Alien Project (Ari Linker).

But, this track is not new! It is also released as LSD on the Electronic High

3 compilation released on Japanese Solstice Music. One of the better tracks

Alien Project has made so far, but if you are getting tired of the same stumpy

Alien Project style you have got from his three albums released in one year,

this might be too much. Astrix is the other Israeli star these days. Playing

live all over the world every week. He has about the same style as Alien

Project, but maybe a little fluffier. The track we get here is a lot better

than most of the tracks on his album released last year. Very varied all the

way. Reminds me of the Alien Project track on the Mystery Of The 13 Crystal

Skulls compilation. Down tempo rhythms and shpongle like voice samples.

Talamasca are one of the few psytrance artists who still release really

melodic trance. He give us track 5. Heavy banging rhythms and drifting

melodies. Not among the best Talamasca tracks I have heard, but not bad. Track

7 is a new track by 1200 Micrograms, which is a collaboration between the GMS

guys, Raja Ram and Chicago. They released an album on TIP.World last year with

different kind of drugs as a theme. The track we get here is a little better

than most of the tracks on the album. A lot of tribal effects, flute and

voices. But you get some of the noisy GMS drift after a few minutes in this

track too. The last track is the one I was really looking forward to. A new

track by Shpongle! As usual, we get a voyage into sound. We start off slow

with tribal sound and flamenco guitars. After a few minutes the track develops

to an almost full on trance track. Sounds a lot like Hallucinogen. As usual

you get some really twisted voice samples. Not among the best Shpongle tracks

I have heard, but good. After this track you get some sort of hidden track

where a weird voice tell you about the Crystal Skulls.

 

This compilation is not as good as The Mystery Of The 13 Crystal Skulls, but it

is not bad. One of the better trance compilations released lately, and much

better than TIP.Worlds latest compilations.

[Lemmiwinks]

MELODIC GOA IS NOT DEAD!!!! ha ha ha that's the feeling I had when first

listening to this!! You thought the golden age of 96 was gone and will never

come back... well, get this compilation then!! I'm talking about TRUE

heart-warming melodies that bring a big big smile on your face... and what's

more, this isn't just a copy of 1996-style stuff, this is original too!! FAR

FAR better than the 1st compilation says I... Actually, I only truly liked the

Doof song on the first... well, here, most of the tracks sound in that style!!

And also you have less 0 - 120 BPM tracks like in the first which I found

pretty uneven because of that. I remember I spent my times thinking "is this

supposed to be a chill-out compil, a dancing compil or what?". Well, no more

questions with this one, it's dancing all the way!! 10/10 and something tells

me in 2004 I'll be looking back on 03 and still think this was the best 03

comp!!! An instant classic!! BUY NOW!!!

[seraph]

Stunning compilation...As good as first part and even getting a bit more

progressive in sounds and melodies...The Mystery had it's flow until Absolum

track ruined it, here we don't have any flow breaking but smooth, stunning

album...I like all tracks but especially EAT STATIC, CYBERBABAS, ALIEN

PROJECT, 1200 MICS, SHPONGLE...10/10

[Sawfly]

Pretty much as good as Mystery... and I've been listening to both of them from the day I heard them to this day.