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Infected vs Astral vs Posford vs Cropcircles/Pleiadians


Lu Bu

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Ok ill break it down and then give my winner

 

Infected mushroom - talented dudes no doubt. Made the transition from goa to sellout very smooth. Im sure they made a decent amount of money and there popularity is still high. lots of classic tracks

 

Astral projection - very catchy and appealing to the masses. great tracks, good consistency.. bad transitition from goa to sellout

 

Posford - can do it all.. pretty much the bible of goa.. more common of a name.. but a double edged sword.. good cuz its common bad cuz its "common" in a world of individuality. im sure made money and i wouldnt consider him as selling out just changed his sound and for the better IMO.

 

crop circles/pleiadians - the most talented and skilled, highest frequency of quality and my persoal favorite. dont know about the money factor for them and i wouldnt say they sold out just some gaps of creative differences im sure.

 

clear winner = posford

 

my winner = crop circles/pleiadians

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this is an interesting question; i guess it depends on what you mean by "effective." i cant really speak to crop circles/pleideians b/c im not very familiar with their stuff (astral projection either as i havent really listened to any of their newer stuff).

 

--infected definitely is the most commercially successful, and while i cant stand their more pop/rapmetal/whatever stuff its still brilliantly produced and miles ahead of any other pop/rapmetal/etc. youll encounter on the radio or mtv. and they went from fucking around with DOS trackers to quasi-superstardom--thats awesome imo. youre right, they absolutely sold out, but the segue from pure psy to pure shite was fairly seamless.

 

--posford seems to have stayed close to his roots; of course he doesnt really do goa/psy anymore but he's still making brain-bogglingly psychedelic music of a more "freestyle" bent and appearing at hippy-ish festivals all over the place. not to mention he still can appear as hallucinogen, throw down tracks that are 10 years old, and the crowd goes nuts. i suppose some might consider YB to be a sellout, but i just think its a shift in his musical interests.

 

id say theyre both effective but for different reasons and in different contexts; IM certainly doesnt have a lot of respect among die-hard goa/psy fans anymore but they have a big following among more mainstream listeners and (probably) angst-ridden adolescents. posford doesnt have that kind broad-based appeal but the trance community still anoints him with almost godlike status and he seems to have retained his integrity. my final answer is posford, simply b/c i enjoy listening to everything he's released (unlike IM, where i stopped caring after bp empire).

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Winner of what? Winner of the "Infected vs Astral vs Posford vs Cropcircles/Pleiadians thread award 2008"? What's the prize? :P

just nice to have public input for those producers and budding producers who want to go as FAR as they can with this lifestyle and career choice. as far as im concernced those are the 4 most successful people but i dont know much just a USA perspective.

 

you know the saying, knowledge is half the battle. so just trying to create a nice discussion and inform those who wanna do this. but once again the psynews attitude prevails.

 

are there any other serious goa forums or are they all filled with juvenile clowns?

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are there any other serious goa forums or are they all filled with juvenile clowns?

Nice thread & a tough and interesting question :) After giving it some more thought, I'll post a constructive, honest and insightful answer :rolleyes:

 

As for your question, without taking it too personally as I really have nothing against you, I find it awkward you asking that after starting XY pointless threads in the off-topic section...

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Nice thread & a tough and interesting question :) After giving it some more thought, I'll post a constructive, honest and insightful answer :rolleyes:

 

As for your question, without taking it too personally as I really have nothing against you, I find it awkward you asking that after starting XY pointless threads in the off-topic section...

www.dictionary.com

 

look up the term offtopic

 

im pretty sure this web site would be ran perfect if you just give me full control. what did i read 250$ a year? umm yeah talk to me..

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Posford, no doubt. His career spans the entire breadth of psychedelic trance history. He pretty much is psychedelic trance. Infected Mushroom were hugely influenced by him (think about all the tribute tracks they wrote). Astral Projection was hugely popular in the late-nineties as the gateway artist to psychedelic trance, but their discography is limited in terms of style. Crop Circles/Pleiadians have massive appeal with old school fans but their golden age was brief, their output somewhat inconsistent. I don't feel as if their body of work stands up to any of the others to be perfectly honest. The best songs from Etnica/Pleiadians/Crop Circles are bloody awesome but they've got lots of dross in their discography (especially recently).

 

Incidentally, I feel that X-Dream and Koxbox are worth discussing as well. Probably others, but those two come to mind when I think of active big-name psytrance artists that have been involved since the very beginning.

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Interesting thread but my lack of being able to analyze the psy-scene I will leave it to that.

 

As an amateur I would say IM are going to be the most effective. If we are talking about sales here, it's kinda funny almost noone of my friends that are not into psychedelic music knew who IM was, and after Vicious got realeased I got very surprised when visiting a friend and he turned on some of their new tracks for me. I don't think that they're sucess is going to be less in the coming years. It will be interesting though to see what their next move is.

 

Astral projection I can't really say, but I think they have a rather big fan base and being pioneers in the psy-scene their new album release would surely get a sales boos out of that. And if it's good I think they shouldn't be taken out of the equation though even how well they do it will be less than IM, as far as sales since that is what we are looking at here?

 

Simon, truly does wonderful music and has indeed kept his integrity as someone mentioned. Shpongle 4 and Hallucinogen 3 (if ever arrives) will surely have a steady amount of sales. But as I feel Shpongle 4 isn't that necessary. Simon is like Nintendo, keeping integrity coming with new ideas, often have worse sales than others but once in a while comes in with some revolutionary thinking and just powns every one.

 

Pleiadians/Cropcircles I can't say anything about.

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Infected Mushroom

A brilliant duo... sold out a tad too often but I think they'll be back making what they love eventually. Probably my favourite here

Astral Projection

Quite an excellent duo... however they might be 5% above the competition but they get a ton more popularity. There are plenty more Goa trance names that are just as good as these guys and as innovative. Khetzal to name one

Simon Posferd

Has made a lot of 8/9 out of 10 albums and tracks... lacks any killer songs IMO. I've never really liked much of his solo projects either.

Shpongle was amazing... but concidering how much I like the infinity project... I think Raja Ram had quite a part in it as well.

Pleiadians

These guys have a quite unique sound(or they did before the group halved from what I've heard)... they also have their excellent tracks as well as tracks that are solid yet not standard due to their unique sound. My second favourite... after infected and probably for similar reasons to infected

 

Crop circles... who's that?

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Infected Mushroom

A brilliant duo... sold out a tad too often but I think they'll be back making what they love eventually. Probably my favourite here

Astral Projection

Quite an excellent duo... however they might be 5% above the competition but they get a ton more popularity. There are plenty more Goa trance names that are just as good as these guys and as innovative. Khetzal to name one

Simon Posferd

Has made a lot of 8/9 out of 10 albums and tracks... lacks any killer songs IMO. I've never really liked much of his solo projects either.

Shpongle was amazing... but concidering how much I like the infinity project... I think Raja Ram had quite a part in it as well.

Pleiadians

These guys have a quite unique sound(or they did before the group halved from what I've heard)... they also have their excellent tracks as well as tracks that are solid yet not standard due to their unique sound. My second favourite... after infected and probably for similar reasons to infected

 

Crop circles... who's that?

a group of pimps that made the best goa ever. 4 of the 6 were etnica/pleiadians.

 

familiarize yourself with them and ASAP

 

lunar civilization is first

diferent speicies is next

 

the rest are good but antonamsia is wierd.. its made by only the one dude.. very alcyone sounding but becareful for it is wierd..

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I think all the guyhs mentionned here represented between 1995 and 2000 different aspects of the Goa world, more or less trippy, more or less full on, more or less mystic.

Posford was like tripping in the ether,

Astral were like tripping on the sun,

Infected were like tripping in a washing machine,

Pleaidians were like tripping at lightspeed (in a washing machine launched from the ether towards the sun)

 

 

As of 2008:

- Infected have become commercial and look particularly bored on stage (and us too when we don't run away hearing Duvdev bad singing). But it would be easy for them to make themselves and us happy again....yes at some cost. Erez would have the potential to match the needs of good psy music in a side project for example. Does he want to now he's sitting on a pillow of cash ?

 

- Astral are still more or less in shape, but it's hard for them to renew. It's normal after almost 20 years. I hope the new album will kick some ass though.

 

- Crops are no more, new Pleiadians miss the point. Times changed. I think Max & Mauri should concentrate on making good Etnica stuff and not revive some myth. They have the potential to make mid-full-on/mid-prog supersweet stuff. But they have to get their head out of the water if you see what I mean.

 

- Posford is the freshest one (least money/drugs/alcool influenced too). Makes good stuff with others, still plays the same tracks as 10 years ago live, the too few new ones are seriously boring...Listen to his interview on the Twisted DVD though: he keep distracted from making his own 3rd album. I think he's lying to himself and will never do it. Whatever as long as he keeps making inventive stuff. Beware of the Infected syndrome with the Shpongle project too !

 

 

As of 2008, I think only Posford will surprise us. Etnica and Astral hopefully, and Infected...no chance.

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Infected Mushroom- I won't comment upon them, I will leave it to those who actually have the nerves and the patience to listen to either one of their albums front to back. While they are unquestionably influential and their imprint on the scene cannot be merely dissmissed, I still can't be bothered to listen to their music. There is just too much excellent stuff out there to focus on; no time for mediocrity. For what it may matter to anybody, I try to appreciate (from a fair distance) the allegedly landmark releases they've done. I respect 'em for the credits fans give them. But I don't like them, never have and the way things are going, most probably I never will.

 

Crop Circles/Pleiadians- What's up with the thread title? Isn't Crop Circles supposed to be a name composed of two separate words? My two all time favorite projects, not necessarily the best or the most talented, but without a doubt my personal pick(s) for the #1 act. What they have produced back in the day, to these present times has legendary status in the hearts of many old school lovers. No need to further reflect upon their past output, as most are familiar with it. However, on today's scene, these projects have barely any relevence, they are living on their past glory, and it makes me aggrivated. Unlike mars, I disagree Max & Mauri have a future in the mid-full-on/mid-prog supersweet stuff, as for many years now I have been eagerly expecting an electro-dub album from them. Tracks in the same vein as those from the second disc off V/A South Africa 2000 or some of the downtempo tracks off Nitrox should be just what it needs to regain their credibility. One thing you can never take away from them though, no matter how much you may despise their production, is the phenomenal ability they have to read the crowd and move the massess. Both Maurizio and Max, along with maybe half a dozen other live acts, are capable of hitting it on the nail with every performance, regardless of who they play for or what is coming out of the speakers. In their own right, they are one of the greatest live acts I have ever had the honor to listen to. Hell, even the often critisized stuff from "Chrome" made sense when properly introduced during a live set. In that sense, even today, anno 2008, Etnica/Pleiadians stand as Goliath like giants of the scene. But, to ironically quote one of their own track titles, I am the shadow of myself...

I tend to agree more with Basilisk's opinion, their recent production lacks consistency, their albums are patchy at best, and they just don't make themselves recognizible enough any longer to make me put them anywhere near the top of the heap. They fail time after time to distinguish themselves from numerous other acts, and unlike before, their music sounds like something any amount of "XYZ" producers could have pulled off. If clocks had stopped running back in the summer of 1998, I can hardly believe anyone could or would have ever had a chance to out do what these guys have crafted. Pure sonic wizardry.

 

Astral Projection- Goa trance superstars! Hard to say anything against them as they were one of the first acts I ever heard. However, objectively speaking, AP lost it a fairly long time ago. Whether they are cheesy or not is a matter of subjective judgement, but a fact remains: Astral Projection made highly enjoyable, danceable, happy, uplifting and positively charged music that stamped smiles on people's faces world wide. And yeah, they do deserve more than a tiny bit of respect for that! After all, they did not become stars by churning out filler material. They have a good amount of classic singles to flash off, and their debut album is a milestone in the genre. The traces they left on the scene are impossible not to notice, let alone acknowledging their effort in bringing the entire genre much colser to the attention of the public eye. More than a question of their importance on today's scene, I'll be honest and say that as far as I am concerned, my interest in this duo diminished quite a few years down the lane. In fact, I could care less about their forthcoming album... Back when they were the name to look out for, I would have killed to hear new material by the former masters, but today? Naaaaaaaah! They should have retired when it was time to, and history would have cemmented their names as the greatest musicians the genre ever had. Again, because of someone's taste, maybe not the most talented and all, but certainly the most prominent.

 

Simon Posford- Along with X-Dream (and it beats me how IM got into this thread rather than two true pioneers such as Rough & Rush), IMHO he's the only heavy weight veteran still doing this thing like God himself commands. While I'm pretty far from all the "godfordy" fans this forum has, I can hardly deny the creative genius of this man: from Hallucinogen to the marvellous, truly beautiful Shpongle, to Younger Brother's jaw dropping debut, "A flock of bleeps", to a number of scattered classics under monikers like Infernal Machine, North Central Positronics, Anubis, Binah and who knows what not, Simon Posford has most probably been around a whole lot more than I know and his Twisted Records label is one of the few ones out there still pushing some interesting and psychedelic music out on the market. While the new YB was in my ears everything but impressive, that can only be percieved as a minor stain on an impeccable record. Out of all the acts mentioned by the thread starter, I honestly think Simon Posford is the only one left who really has it inside himself to reinvent the wheel once again, so to speak, to really bring to the table something potent, vigorous, life altering and what not. More than once has he already showed that he's everything but a one trick pony. He refuses to blend in, he never waits to cash in on a lucrative formula, despite the fact he was in a position to do so many, many years ago. Not all his work is classic, far from it, but he's a somewhat consistent producer, who has done uncountable remixes, collaborations and his far reaching influence can be felt in the most obscure realms of the dusty old school records to modern, state of the art psy trance production. He has a loyal and fairly big fan base, which I am deeply convinced about, especially after attending the fantastic Twsited Records label party in London last year.

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Infected Mushroom- I won't comment upon them, I will leave it to those who actually have the nerves and the patience to listen to either one of their albums front to back. While they are unquestionably influential and their imprint on the scene cannot be merely dissmissed, I still can't be bothered to listen to their music. There is just too much excellent stuff out there to focus on; no time for mediocrity. For what it may matter to anybody, I try to appreciate (from a fair distance) the allegedly landmark releases they've done. I respect 'em for the credits fans give them. But I don't like them, never have and the way things are going, most probably I never will.

 

Crop Circles/Pleiadians- What's up with the thread title? Isn't Crop Circles supposed to be a name composed of two separate words? My two all time favorite projects, not necessarily the best or the most talented, but without a doubt my personal pick(s) for the #1 act. What they have produced back in the day, to these present times has legendary status in the hearts of many old school lovers. No need to further reflect upon their past output, as most are familiar with it. However, on today's scene, these projects have barely any relevence, they are living on their past glory, and it makes me aggrivated. Unlike mars, I disagree Max & Mauri have a future in the mid-full-on/mid-prog supersweet stuff, as for many years now I have been eagerly expecting an electro-dub album from them. Tracks in the same vein as those from the second disc off V/A South Africa 2000 or some of the downtempo tracks off Nitrox should be just what it needs to regain their credibility. One thing you can never take away from them though, no matter how much you may despise their production, is the phenomenal ability they have to read the crowd and move the massess. Both Maurizio and Max, along with maybe half a dozen other live acts, are capable of hitting it on the nail with every performance, regardless of who they play for or what is coming out of the speakers. In their own right, they are one of the greatest live acts I have ever had the honor to listen to. Hell, even the often critisized stuff from "Chrome" made sense when properly introduced during a live set. In that sense, even today, anno 2008, Etnica/Pleiadians stand as Goliath like giants of the scene. But, to ironically quote one of their own track titles, I am the shadow of myself...

I tend to agree more with Basilisk's opinion, their recent production lacks consistency, their albums are patchy at best, and they just don't make themselves recognizible enough any longer to make me put them anywhere near the top of the heap. They fail time after time to distinguish themselves from numerous other acts, and unlike before, their music sounds like something any amount of "XYZ" producers could have pulled off. If clocks had stopped running back in the summer of 1998, I can hardly believe anyone could or would have ever had a chance to out do what these guys have crafted. Pure sonic wizardry.

 

Astral Projection- Goa trance superstars! Hard to say anything against them as they were one of the first acts I ever heard. However, objectively speaking, AP lost it a fairly long time ago. Whether they are cheesy or not is a matter of subjective judgement, but a fact remains: Astral Projection made highly enjoyable, danceable, happy, uplifting and positively charged music that stamped smiles on people's faces world wide. And yeah, they do deserve more than a tiny bit of respect for that! After all, they did not become stars by churning out filler material. They have a good amount of classic singles to flash off, and their debut album is a milestone in the genre. The traces they left on the scene are impossible not to notice, let alone acknowledging their effort in bringing the entire genre much colser to the attention of the public eye. More than a question of their importance on today's scene, I'll be honest and say that as far as I am concerned, my interest in this duo diminished quite a few years down the lane. In fact, I could care less about their forthcoming album... Back when they were the name to look out for, I would have killed to hear new material by the former masters, but today? Naaaaaaaah! They should have retired when it was time to, and history would have cemmented their names as the greatest musicians the genre ever had. Again, because of someone's taste, maybe not the most talented and all, but certainly the most prominent.

 

Simon Posford- Along with X-Dream (and it beats me how IM got into this thread rather than two true pioneers such as Rough & Rush), IMHO he's the only heavy weight veteran still doing this thing like God himself commands. While I'm pretty far from all the "godfordy" fans this forum has, I can hardly deny the creative genius of this man: from Hallucinogen to the marvellous, truly beautiful Shpongle, to Younger Brother's jaw dropping debut, "A flock of bleeps", to a number of scattered classics under monikers like Infernal Machine, North Central Positronics, Anubis, Binah and who knows what not, Simon Posford has most probably been around a whole lot more than I know and his Twisted Records label is one of the few ones out there still pushing some interesting and psychedelic music out on the market. While the new YB was in my ears everything but impressive, that can only be percieved as a minor stain on an impeccable record. Out of all the acts mentioned by the thread starter, I honestly think Simon Posford is the only one left who really has it inside himself to reinvent the wheel once again, so to speak, to really bring to the table something potent, vigorous, life altering and what not. More than once has he already showed that he's everything but a one trick pony. He refuses to blend in, he never waits to cash in on a lucrative formula, despite the fact he was in a position to do so many, many years ago. Not all his work is classic, far from it, but he's a somewhat consistent producer, who has done uncountable remixes, collaborations and his far reaching influence can be felt in the most obscure realms of the dusty old school records to modern, state of the art psy trance production. He has a loyal and fairly big fan base, which I am deeply convinced about, especially after attending the fantastic Twsited Records label party in London last year.

nice to answer you underlying question.. IMO effective is MONEY. money will always win, whether your music is better or worse, whether you are this or that money will always win. you dont have to be insane about it, but money can afford those little things to make life that much better. so when i say effective i say money wise, and IMO again those 4 are the ones who demanded the most of it.

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nice to answer you underlying question.. IMO effective is MONEY. money will always win, whether your music is better or worse, whether you are this or that money will always win. you dont have to be insane about it, but money can afford those little things to make life that much better. so when i say effective i say money wise, and IMO again those 4 are the ones who demanded the most of it.

No arguing about the money issue and all the wonderful things it can bring into one's life, YES arguing about your artist pick, as GMS and X-Dream, just to make two more than obvious examples, have throughout their careers earned more than Etnica/Pleiadians and especially Crop Circles :drama:
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No arguing about the money issue and all the wonderful things it can bring into one's life, YES arguing about your artist pick, as GMS and X-Dream, just to make two more than obvious examples, have throughout their careers earned more than Etnica/Pleiadians and especially Crop Circles :drama:

yeap but i started the topic and i happen to be a big fan of crop circles/pleiaidans ;)

 

so bias comes to play here

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Infected Mushroom: Legendary group that pushed forward the Goa sound in a more dark, gothic and freestyle direction. They made some legendary tracks and for years are considered to be the Mozarts of Psy trance. They abandoned the Psy world either for money, fame or because they bored the scene. I believe it's the second one: fame. I don't believe they ever gonna return back. The only road they wanna walk is the one that leads to more fame. One day they hit the no.1 in the UK and US charts. Mark my words.

Astral Projection: The most influential, archetypical and legendary Psy/Goa group ever. They never sold out their music (except for Ten, they let other artist do it for them ;) ). They still have potential and I think that what they're trying to do with their new stuff is to satisfy both old and new psyheads. If Goa become the new leading genre they would return in their old style IMO.

Etnica/Pleiadians/Crop Circles: The group that made the best electronic dance tracks ever, hands down! When they were in their peak of creativity no one could compared with them. Since Andrea and Carlo left the group they took the downhill. Max and Maurizzio are obviously talented, but lack in the melody creation. They should left Pleiadians project dead, instead of resurrected it with an album that has nothing to do with their old stuff. They can screw the Etnica project as they want. Since the release of Nitrox, Etnica officially died. Still capable for great tracks though and nice to see that they returned to the melodic style.

Simon Posford: Legendary artist that worshipped like a god during the years, mostly because the small amount of tracks he have created, especially in the dance field. Kind of overrated IMO still is a very productive artist and a musical genius. If Hallucinogen 3 ever released it will have to deal with a decade and more of high expectations, so it will be difficult to satisfy even if it's the best album ever.

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The thing is... infected mushroom are doing us a favour. Kids will eventually listen to their old stuff and like good music.

 

And I know there will be people who copy their pop stuff... but they will be shitty and it'll be obvious they have no talent and won't be accepted by the psy scene. So I think this can only have a positive impact on the scene.

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The thing is... infected mushroom are doing us a favour. Kids will eventually listen to their old stuff and like good music.

 

And I know there will be people who copy their pop stuff... but they will be shitty and it'll be obvious they have no talent and won't be accepted by the psy scene. So I think this can only have a positive impact on the scene.

 

Brr kids in the psy-scene is nightmare.

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