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VA - Mainspring Motion


abasio

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Various Artists

Mainspring Motion

Par-2 Productions

2007

Psychedelic Trance

 

 

Okay, so Par-2 productions is a fledgling label in the early stages & this is only their 3rd release so far. Luckily for me these guys seem to have the exact same taste in upbeat music as I do. On the 1st comp, A Walk Through Neptune's Garden & on Jikkenteki's masterpiece of a double CD album I had finally found new music being released that reminded me of the good old days of goa, but with a modern touch! There are many out there that say that goa is dead or has evolved into some non-psychedelic crap that sounds like it has been cooked up by some 13 year old in 5 minutes on his days PC. Either that or that people are just rehashing the same old sounds from the past with nothing new to involve the listener.

Well, Par-2 seems to have evolved the music in a way that is true to the true roots of goa but modernised. Think suntrip but in a slightly different direction, a little crazier 6 more psychedelically twisted.

 

1. Amygadala - Oxylerator II

 

So we open with a semi dark atmospheric ambience but it's quick to introduce a pounding beat. Minimal at first but soon accompanied by a lot of psychedelic sounds. I'm put in mind of Flying Rhino circa Velocity. The pre prog, prog that was so much more than than prog we have nowadays. More minimal but less boring! Maximal with the sound effects & ambience.

A good opener to the compilation.

 

2. Anakoluth - Vaporizing Glares

 

I've seen this guy on psynews but I never even knew he was an artist, let alone an artist who made music so much to my taste. I feel with this track that Goa lives, psychedelic to it's roots, so many weird noises making up this tune, driving but not speeding. Not a lot of melody just weird and a lot of psychedelic sounds, ambience & twists & turns along the way to keep it interesting. I'll be looking forward to more releases from our friend here!

 

3. Prosect - Tribalogic (Amygadala Remix)

 

A beaty but minimal intro with trippy (but maybe a bit too much if you're too far gone) sounds but quickly the empty space fills out and we are left with a fat track! I'm really looking forward to hearing this on the dancefloor as wherever I am I want to move my body. Around 2:30 a beautiful wet synth comes in and gives this real energy, I'm actually disappointed when it leaves but it teases back in without quite making it. It is replaced later by an amazing evolving melody that just makes my brain ejaculate seratonin all over the place!

 

4. Zekazy - Inspiration Drainer

 

This guy's track on A Walk Through Neptune's Garden was definitely one of the highlights & this track has a similar energy & feeling without being too samey or recycled. Undefinable audio signature. heavy beats, drum rolls, layers of weird sounds with secondary melodies that are oh so enjoyable but that I can't recall later so they manage to stay fresh the next time I hear them.

 

5. Symphonics vs 11 - D.B.S.S.

 

We are getting into fullon territory here with a rolling baseline & structures very reminiscent of a lot of forgettable & crap fullon. It still has the random noises & psychedelia of the previous tracks but the baseline is far to prominent! I can see a lot of people hearing this one track on a sample & branding the whole CD as shit, which is a real shame.

This track would actually be really good if you took out the baseline, maybe that's becasue I'm more of a home listener these days. I know that this kind of baseline works well on the dancefloor but it reminds me too much of shitty tracks that have used the same one. If I'd never heard this particular baseline before then maybe I wouldn't mind it but unfortunately it's too prominent & for me takes over the whole track which is a real shame because the rest of the track is great, just totally ruined by this one baseline!

 

6. Fizzy - Hymn in Honor of Symphonics

 

I'll forgive the lazy spelling of Honour in the title :lol: & say that this is much more like it! Yes there is a baseline again but this time it fits in much better with the rest of the track, I don't feel like I've heard it a million times before & it makes me want to move & most of all it's not the main focal point of the entire fucking track.

It's great to see someone nowadays who is able to make a 12+ minute trance track & have the skills to keep it interesting throughout.

A slight breakdown followed by a sample "Hisashiburi dane" It's been a long time. Then it kicks in proper with such an angelic melody, random though it is a first it gains cohesiveness as it goes along and manages to melt my brain each time I hear it! After the melody comes driving synth lines that just poke red hot acid into my already melted brain!

When an artist you've never heard of with such a silly name makes a piece of music good enough to put a smile on your face and give you optimism for the future of the scene it has to be a good thing. I just hope he becomes more well known within our small scene!

 

7. Jikkenteki vs Symphonics vs 11 - 3 Blind Mice

 

Straight in, no intro, no pretense, just up front & upbeat with atmosphere. Nice glitchy melodies, a reserved background baseline & a more upfront synthline all adds up to good good good! The baseline is a little more prominent in some of the more minimal parts of the track but when the proper sounds are flying about it's not too in your face & just drives the track like a good baseline should do. Especially when the acidic 2nd synthline comes in, you barely notice the baseline anymore.

 

8. E-Mantra - Crop Circles

 

The intro is almost orchestral, almost sci-fi too but it doesn't take long for the beat to take your mind off of whatever you were thinking (or is that just my poor short term memory?). anyway this track, for me, manages to be dark without being crappy dark psy! In the vein of MFG when they were dark. Quite an achievement I think. It's a bit harder than MFG's earlier stuff & less fullon than their later stuff. It's nice psy trance hinting at darkness rather than trying & failing to be dark!

 

9. Prosect - Dr. Ivan & The Mad Peyote

 

With a track title so unbelievably shit you know that the music is either going to be undeniably shit or so fucked up & crazy that you just can't get enough.....so....which way is it?

Well, the answer is thankfully the latter. This is some crazy psychedelic, technological madness. Trippy, acidic, strange, fun, weird, better make sure that nobody's watching you dance to this crazy stuff are all worthy adjectives. I've not heard this on the dancefloor but I'm sure it would be a challenge. It stops & starts without any constant rhythm but it keeps going. I don't see any psy lovers leaving the dancefloor when this comes on but I don see a lot of confused bodies at least from those not entirely wasted!

Crazy craziness with a degree in crazology from the university of south madsley in craze london!

 

 

 

The only thing I would change about this CD is is the baseline that Rapes track 5! Otherwise it's pretty much perfect according to my taste. It has left me eagerly awaiting new albums from

 

Amygdala

Anakoluth

Zekazy

Fizzy

&

E-Mantra

 

& it leaves me really wanting to check out the recent prospect album.

 

At $10 how could any psy or goa fan pass this up? Anyone pissed off with the state of psychedelic trance today should give this listen before they complain any more. Get of your high horse that whispers to you that everything is shit & actually give something post 2000 a proper listen. If you start here you might just have faith again.

If you properly listen to this & really don't like it, then don't bother to recommend me and psy trance again!!!

 

Buy it here!

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This comp is definitely workth taking a look at. There is something here for everyone from Goa to Tech Trance and everything in between. Prosect - Tribalogic (Amygadala Remix) sounds as good as anything Prometheus made on Twisted.

E-mantra track is a nice modern Goa without actually trying to re-create what was done before too hard like some other neo-Goa producers are doing. Prosect - Dr. Ivan & The Mad Peyote is the gem here I think. You got to hear this to believe it. Very, very original tune and a definite standout on this release. This scene needs more stuff like this.

Agree with Abaiso $10 including worldwide shipping is a steal for a CD like this. If a big name label like Twisted released it I'm sure it would have gotten more attention, but don't let that stop you from giving this a shot.

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I don't like most "dark" or "progressive", so there hasn't been much trance for me to look forward to this year, so when i heard about this i knew it was something i had to check out. I just got done listening to it for the first time, and it's easily the best trance album of the year IMO (Eat Static is 2nd :)). There isn't a single bad track here (or even an okay one). It's hard to say which tracks really stand out after just one listen. The E-Mantra track has a nice Total Eclipse kind of sound to it (but with a modern twist),

 

It'll take some more listens to really wrap my head around this album, but after 1 listen I give it a 9/10 :) Great stuff!

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  • 1 month later...

I just love this compilation. It's hard to box it in some specific genre cause it goes beyond. Minimal Dark tech with melodies when appropiate. Tracks are not just perfectly done but tries to deliver some kind of epic stories - feel of cyberpunk and fantasy here and there. That's why this compilation differs from other Prog - Dark stuff out there - it captures spirit in motion. I hope that Par-2 will manage to continue with exploration of the music bounderies and gains more recognition around the scene.

9.5/10

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  • 4 months later...

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