Talamasca - Obsessive Dream [Mind Control]

[Helios909 (rx7style)]

Talamasca - Obsessive Dream

 

 

Artist: Talamasca (and others)

Title: Obsessice Dream

Format: CD (2XCD)

Label: Mind Control Records (France)

Cat. #: MCCD007

Date: May 21, 2007

 

Track listing:

 

CD1

01 Talamasca - Obsessive Dream

02 Talamasca - Get It All

03 Talamasca - My Destiny

04 Talamasca - Feelings

05 Talamasca - Supernatural

06 Talamasca - Flashback

07 Talamasca - Overload

08 Talamasca - Spritual Renewal

09 Talamasca - Party Generation

 

CD2

01 Space Cat - On Purpose

02 X.S.I & Dj Gogo - The Good Team

03 Sirius Isness - Breaking The Matrix (Remix)

04 Skazi - Imaginary Friend

05 GMS - High Vibe (Live Version)

06 Shagma - This Isn't A Mistake

07 Eskimo - To Be Continued

08 X.S.I - Frenchman In Tokyo Remix

09 Yuman - Ambient'n'roll

 

_______________________________________________________________________________________

 

I'm not going to write a track by track review here. Instead, I'm going to write a review which gives you a feel for what this album offers as a whole. Talamasca has always been ear crunching, often dark, full-on, pound the ground psytrance by Cedric Dassulle. This album follows suit, however, I'd say it's not the dark, often dirty and hypnotizing formula we've witnessed in the past. Obsessive Dream has more of a focus on melody and progression. I notice less subtlety in the layering than in previous albums as all instruments seem to be balanced at nearly the same output amplitude, creating a rather one-dimensional sound stage. All tracks are energetic, vigorous, and upbeat, and are good for dancing. But if you're looking for variety and a dynamic range of musicality, look elsewhere. I question the instrument selection in various tracks because some are very flat and often annoying (some may consider them cheesy), especially if they are one of the foremost layers that the listener will focus their attention to. I recall hearing instruments like these in epic and anthem trance, but not usually in previous Talamasca releases. Now the second CD has all guest artists, and you can definitely hear the flavour each one has to offer to the current Talamasca sound. Personally I found all of these tracks to be of better quality than the whole first CD, and a few stand out like tracks 6, 7 and 8. There seems to be a little more diversity and thought put into these tracks, and I think it's exactly what is needed to improve on what Cedric has offered us in the first CD. These definitely have the potential to get bodies moving on the dancefloor, and even for home listening can be quite invigorating. But I hate to say it; this is a rather average release in which you have to be a die hard Talamasca fan, or a full-on connoisseur to really go nuts over. It's worth a listen, but its replay value is quite low, for me anyway. In the future, I would hope for something more creative.

 

6.5/10

[Sideffect...]

Spritual Renewal is pretty good, it's a hit...

but not a stayer imo

[exotic]

absolute waste of space imo

 

talamasca used to make some good music .. where's that vibe gone

 

alas!!

[Ban jhankri]

sorry for the offtopic comment but what is aragorn doing in the cover?

[filitico]

stupid cover + shitty ego + conformist production values = new talamasca

 

the second cd says it all

[Jon Cocco]

TALAMASCA - OBSESSIVE DREAM

2007

 

They should have put a penis on the cover. That would have been more appropriate.

 

No seriously. It's a pretty bad cover and this is a very disappointing album.

 

It's difficult to accept that this is the same artist who helmed such quality albums as Beyond the Mask, Musica Divinorum, and Zodiac. I loved Beyond the Mask, liked Musica Divinorum, and found several very good tracks on an otherwise fairly good or decent Zodiac. I won't even highlight those because I don't want peoples minds to unintentionally associate such quality in comparison to this.

 

Part of me actually feels annoyed for even mentioning those albums in this thread. It's like putting a dirty shoe lace in your fresh glass of water.

 

This artist began going downhill faster with 2004's Made In Trance album which so lacked creativity and greatess in relation to the others. It was very average Full On for the most part.

 

The track Spiritual Renewal is OKAY, one of the better on the album but he's crafted such better stronger works in the past. Supernatural is tolerable too I suppose.

 

Party Generation is one of the most sell-out, mainstream wanna-be tracks I've ever heard from Talamasca. We might as well listen to Scooter instead. Atleast he's made some pretty good tracks voice work and singing to get the crowd going when it comes to HAPPY HARDCORE.

 

Talamasca: Where are the great songs? Even on 2004's Made In Trance album there were 2 or 3 good, engaging songs. There are no kickass songs on this album. This is the weakest main album by Talamasca to date.

 

Why am I wasting my time here? I already wasted my time writing the above. I do NOT recommend this album even to Talamasca fans of the albums mentioned above. I've heard worse but this a very weak and dull release. It's unfortunate for all of those people who enjoyed his earlier work and were looking forward to the next. Talamasca made himself a name by producing good Psytrance music with a unique, driving, melodic, and edgy sound and style that does not seem existent here. Now he's corrupting his name with generic, by-the-numbers Full On. I've heard good Full On like Astrix, Lemaurians, 1200 Micrograms, and many others. So I'm not bashing Full On. I'm comparing this to the general good and great stuff on the same market. This is not good. Talamasca to me isn't even a shadow of his former self.

 

And unless the next album is a smashingly well done, powerful and infectious release. Well I hope he loves this CD and feels passionate about every track here. He made the bed. He can sleep in it forever if he chooses to, or break out of his square box and get creative and fun and dynamic again, on more than one or two decent tracks.

[Drew05]

this was painful to listen to

[Pandemonium]

on the first listen, I enjoyed it, but with every listen, instead of getting better, it gets worse. I regret even buying it. A waste of my time and money. I feel like my collection of music is watered down, just by having it in my case. :wank:

[Xochi]

Um not the Talamasca I like, I spun one of the tracks in my set the other week & got good feedback from the crowd...but not for home listners

 

I do like the progression but it heads to the land of cheese at times..

 

5/10

[Ormion]

Talamasca used to be a God.

Then he became an average human.

Now he's a... worm!

 

Discusting cover, crappy music.

[pawelek]

Talamasca used to be good. Now he is getting genious. It's so far his the best album up to date.

I wonder why you people dislike it. Every song is great, not mentioning 2nd CD

Its a TOP fullon release this year. I can easily rate it for 8.5/10

[Malevol3nt]

I wonder why you people dislike it.

Its a TOP fullon release this year.

[pawelek]

i see...just dislike fullon just because the way it is ?

hahahha, fine ;]

[Chojin]

I'm still a fan of Talamasca I like the tracks on the album, especially his collaboration with Eskimo - "To be continued". Many of these tracks can also be heard on Talamasca's di.fm guest mix, from back in November. I found his mix outstanding and have been listening to it regularly. In comparison the presentation of the tracks on this album are very much standalone and perhaps not as flowing. 8.5/10.

[Malevol3nt]

i see...just dislike fullon just because the way it is ?

hahahha, fine ;]

Nah. Was just kiddin . Didn't hear the album yet so I can't judge it yet.

[Basilisk]

This is happy, ecstatic music, with a strong focus on catchy melodies. Some songs have bad samples that spoil the atmosphere, but there are some really good tunes here as well. I am not sure why people have had such a bad reaction to this release--year after year one reads the same complaints about the lack of melody in modern psytrance. Now Talamasca provides, but it's "too cheesy" or "rubbish" for people to take. Yes, those full-on beats are rather bouncy, and there isn't much subtlety about it, but this album should be understood for what it is: positive, anthemic, and highly accessible to outsiders. Tracks like High Vibe, Overload, The Good Team, and even the Breaking The Matrix rmx (with the rock guitar onslaught) all strike me as stand out tracks (I still have to sample more of CD1 to get a feel for it, although Spiritual Renewal sounded good when I heard it). Overload in particular is a huge tune with wonderful cosmic melodies. If you've enjoyed Groovy Pygmees, Ghost In Goa, and Roswell Mania (all great recent singles), then this 2CD album should also suit your taste.

 

Most of all, I think that Obsessive Dream shows what a fickle lot most psytrance fans are. Relax a bit.

[Lemmiwinks]

well yes Talamasca is making less and less "Talamasca-sounding" music and more and more generic full-on music. The trend has been going on for years so this album sounded EXACTLY like I thought it would. That said, there still are a few good tracks in here IMO.

 

Obsessive Dream has a VERY nice and dreamy intro melody and the rest of the track is pretty good as well IMO.

 

But my absolute fav is Overload I can't believe almost noone mentioned this one!!! It definatly has the most of the "old" Talamasca sound, the female-voice from Come On (which is IMO his best track ever) and then around 3:30 comes THEEE Talamasca-breakdown, then the 3D Vision synth presets that will make people on the dancefloor pull out their hairs. Not only that but he actually adds another layer of pads on top around 4:30 which really gives you the impression of having a sensory overload. Too bad the melody turns a bit commercial from 5:20, otherwise it would've been a close runner-up to Come On.

 

Spiritual Renewal isn't that bad either, it has a lot of oldschool elements (oh and I'm always a sucker for djembés ). IMO this is the track that sounds the most like his early stuff on Beyond the Mask, although it's a bit on the commercial side.

 

CD2 is basically party full-on.

Get You Freak On is actually a full-on remix of Daft Punk's Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (personally I prefer Daft Punk's own trance remix in their live version...)

Discotheque is a vocal track but for some reason I actually like this one. I don't know why cause it's commercial as hell but it just sounds nice IMO.

 

No Senses, Moving Target and Invaders have some nice melodies in them, we're not into classic territory but they are nice to listen.

 

Into The Light is a true killer!!! Great melodies and a bit of an oldschool touch, I'd definatly like to hear more releses from this project

 

 

Like other people said above, I actually found myself listening more to the 2nd CD rather than the first. That said, I still consider the 1st CD to have some pretty potent tracks, it's not THAT bad. And please give Overload another listen, it's really worth it 7/10

[AlieNed]

whuuuuuuuu ! one of my fav cds

 

long psy life Lestat and Nomad with Mind Control Recs

 

Mistake and Overload r the anthems for me , milestones of this album