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Penta - Give Me Five!


Ormion

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1 - Downturn

2 - Are We Done Yet?

3 - Robot Poetry

4 - Jingle Bells

5 - Pumpkin

6 - Feeling Faster

7 - We're From The Future

8 - Wonderful Feeling

9 - Ibiza Calling (Azorsky Remix)

 

I'm gonna be honest, that's the only Penta album I own.

I'm gonna be even more honest, I've never really liked Penta that much. Yeah, I've listened to many compilations tracks and I really liked them all, but none of them got me really excited.

After that useless infos let's go to the review.

 

You want the short version? Here it is.

You know when someone bitches that darkpsy is basically random sounds over a bassline? Well in this case that's true!

I'm not gonna write a track by track description, because all of them fall under that same rule.

 

We get bass, kick, hats etc. and on top of that just random sounds flying left and right. Sometimes there are some nice melodies that after a few seconds dissapear back to the void.

I know what you're thinking. This isn't the first time a darkpsy album uses random noises. Midnight's Shared Blossom has many tracks with hundreds of effects come and go, Psykovsky's Da Budet too and more.

Well it's not the same. Those albums/compilations create a certain mood and atmosphere and what appears as a random-sounds-onslaught is a perfect creation of chaos (that doesn't make musch sense, does it?)

This is not the case with this album.

 

Everything in here sounds so unrelated, so random, without any purspose. The only tracks which seem like complete tracks are We're From The Future and the last one which is a psychedelic version of an electro track, not my style.

 

Ok now time for the good stuff.

The production is beyond belief! Crystal clear all the way.

The several effects are amazingly well done, from weird robot bleeps to lazers, everything is here and it sounds perfect.

The more spacey approach. It would really work in an open air festival.

The basslines are really moving, although it needs some key changes.

 

See? It's not all bad.

 

Yet it's not a very good album. Production-wise is top notch, musically is mediocre.

 

Samples: http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/aqr/aqr1cd006.html

http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=7911

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Yet it's not a very good album. Production-wise is top notch, musically is mediocre.

I gave it a quick listen the other day and I have to agree. It took me a while to start appreciate Horn Please but I'm afraid this one will never open to me :(

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  • 2 weeks later...

I gave it a quick listen the other day and I have to agree. It took me a while to start appreciate Horn Please but I'm afraid this one will never open to me :(

 

Love the Riley Avatar. The Boondocks is a great show. I hope they come out with a season three, but it doesn't look likely.

 

Threadjack!

 

Mdk

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What's candypsy?

i dont know i just imagined something that really sparkles up the trips colours and feel. i havent heard the samples and I own his Funraiser album and i like its power, for me hes like deedrah of ,,darj psy" or smth. He knows crystal clubbing.

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Posted Image

 

1 - Downturn

2 - Are We Done Yet?

3 - Robot Poetry

4 - Jingle Bells

5 - Pumpkin

6 - Feeling Faster

7 - We're From The Future

8 - Wonderful Feeling

9 - Ibiza Calling (Azorsky Remix)

 

I'm gonna be honest, that's the only Penta album I own.

I'm gonna be even more honest, I've never really liked Penta that much. Yeah, I've listened to many compilations tracks and I really liked them all, but none of them got me really excited.

After that useless infos let's go to the review.

 

You want the short version? Here it is.

You know when someone bitches that darkpsy is basically random sounds over a bassline? Well in this case that's true!

I'm not gonna write a track by track description, because all of them fall under that same rule.

 

We get bass, kick, hats etc. and on top of that just random sounds flying left and right. Sometimes there are some nice melodies that after a few seconds dissapear back to the void.

I know what you're thinking. This isn't the first time a darkpsy album uses random noises. Midnight's Shared Blossom has many tracks with hundreds of effects come and go, Psykovsky's Da Budet too and more.

Well it's not the same. Those albums/compilations create a certain mood and atmosphere and what appears as a random-sounds-onslaught is a perfect creation of chaos (that doesn't make musch sense, does it?)

This is not the case with this album.

 

Everything in here sounds so unrelated, so random, without any purspose. The only tracks which seem like complete tracks are We're From The Future and the last one which is a psychedelic version of an electro track, not my style.

 

Ok now time for the good stuff.

The production is beyond belief! Crystal clear all the way.

The several effects are amazingly well done, from weird robot bleeps to lazers, everything is here and it sounds perfect.

The more spacey approach. It would really work in an open air festival.

The basslines are really moving, although it needs some key changes.

 

See? It's not all bad.

 

Yet it's not a very good album. Production-wise is top notch, musically is mediocre.

 

Samples: http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/aqr/aqr1cd006.html

http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=7911

Couldn't agree with you more.

 

After Funnraiser came Horn Please, which IMO is a great album, it keeps up that "holeness" or "completeness" that you talk about this new album lacks. Yet it is darker and more blasting than the previous albums. Very good!,. Then came Portuguese abduction, which has the same problems as this album. At first I was blown away by the production quality and the awesome little passages, but as a hole, it wasn't doing anything for me.

 

This album is exactly the same. The music is uninspirational and dull, eventhough it, at first, sounds like really good music. Like you say the quality is top notch, and the use of samples has allways been a talent of Mr. Penta, but he isn't going in the direction I wanted him to.... It's getting commercialized and dancefloor oriented.

i dont know i just imagined something that really sparkles up the trips colours and feel. i havent heard the samples and I own his Funraiser album and i like its power, for me hes like deedrah of ,,darj psy" or smth. He knows crystal clubbing.

Hey Psytones, the album couldn't be further from Funnraiser, sadly. If you heard Portuguese abduction, you should know what to expect fom this.
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Pentafiles is a classic and Funraiser gave me a bunch of killer tunes to throw down in my dark sets. After those releases my love affair with Penta ended. Horn Please and Portuguese Abduction seemed like more of the same without whatever it was that made his earlier material special. Give Me Five! marks a slight return to the good times, but only slight. This is still an album for DJs to pick and nibble at. Still, I've made good use of Downturn, Robot Poetry, and We're From The Future in some of my sets, so it's certainly not a bad release... just take it as is: dark yet upbeat full-on with silly samples and good dance floor vibes.

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Totally agree with Ormion here, except for a handfull of tracks I've never been a huge Penta fan either. I can imagine how this kind of music will make someone high go crazy at a party but there's really nothing much happening in there. You really feel like Penta just throws whatever idea comes to his mind over a rolling bassline. Like for example track 1 around 3:30 he makes use of pure sinewave sounds... like WTF??? If using pure sinewaves is called being creative these days, then why not put a mic next to your asshole and record yourself taking a fart then while you're at it? 2,5/5

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  • 1 month later...

Totally agree with Ormion here, except for a handfull of tracks I've never been a huge Penta fan either. I can imagine how this kind of music will make someone high go crazy at a party but there's really nothing much happening in there. You really feel like Penta just throws whatever idea comes to his mind over a rolling bassline. Like for example track 1 around 3:30 he makes use of pure sinewave sounds... like WTF??? If using pure sinewaves is called being creative these days, then why not put a mic next to your asshole and record yourself taking a fart then while you're at it? 2,5/5

 

interesting opinion.. I rather like the sound of farts.. and sinewaves..

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Penta - Give Me Five!

2009

Auraquake Records

 

 

Posted Image

 

 

1. Downturn

2. Are We Done Yet?

3. Robot Poetry

4. Jingle Bells

5. Pumpkin

6. Feeling Faster

7. We're From The Future

8. Wonderful Feeling

9. Ibiza Calling (Azorsky Remix)

 

 

Pentafiles I consider great, and Funraiser IMO is a good album with some great tracks or vice versa. I consider Horn Please good if not great too, though different than his earlier work. The sensation, style factor seemed more present with Horn Please. The artist had enough good and great, cool concept and atmospheric work to carry the less substance filled tracks to the finish line. I was entertained with Horn Please (it made my top 10 for that year I believe). While the album wasn't what I considered deep by a long shot, I really liked that album. If the artist's music became even more mindless, less catchy however, I wasn't sure how I'd react. Around 6 months after the release of Horn Please, Portuguese Abduction arrrived. I bought this too and added it to my collection but noticed a considerable depreciation with Portuguese Abduction; although in the same general fast-paced style, much of the work sounded inferior in comparison to Horn Please. The magic was gone, not that Horn Please was magical to me but it was strong and delectable, better than most day psytrance being released today. Aside from a few tracks: Andes (!!!) and Time Jump that I'd generally recommend to dark psytrance fans, I found Portuguese Abduction lazy, rehashed, and disappointing overall.

 

Penta had managed to make a bunch of cool sounds around a bass line and beat; songs could have been titled anything, as hardly any seemed to have healthy story, plot, or character/theme development. Even Time Jump didn't do a whole lot outside of its signature, catchy voice samples along with various layers that complimented it in those moments. Portuguese Abduction was forgettable, a step down compared to Horn Please. Outside of Andes (which I find great), the general album is vapid and wears thin fast IMO. I heard it just the other day. Whereas Penta's earlier albums I can let play, hearing the tracks back-to-back and not skipping around to compensate for the filler material, sound effects over a decent meat and potatoes meal to sink my teeth into.

 

In conclusion, Give Me Five! isn't bad but it's not what I consider great either. Song's are psy/sensation driven and many are decent, few are what I consider really good or great though. A couple tracks may work in nicely on the dance floor; it's just less captivating and rich, less dark/intense than Horn Please. That said, we've had very few dark psytrance albums in 2009 that I know of, and while 2012: There Is No Return wins my dark psytrance vote of 2009 to date, this is better than a good amount of the dark psy being released this same year. It's just nothing spectacular. Some tracks feel as if more work could have been invested to raise them to greatness. Ideas race by like Horn Please but IMO this isn't as strong. Production is great, though this artist, artistically speaking has produced more imaginative (and infectious) music before. I give him credit for doing something different with the last track, electro/psy, non-trance remix. I like it much more than the last track on Abduction. Overall I'm not impressed with the album as a whole. This is a good artist and he can produce better, more powerful and colorful, tripy and contagious tracks. I would love to see this artist take a step back, a deep breath, and a break, and return with something wonderful 1-2 years from now in time for Christmas, something that really blows us away as opposed to a Portuguese Abduction meets Give Me Five. Please Mr. Penta. To say this is better than the last, I wouldn't argue, but to say it's significantly better, at this time I wouldn't say signicifantly but I'll continue to listen to it more in the coming days, week plus.

 

Give Me Five may be better than Portuguese Abduction, but it's not as strong as Horn Please which excited my interest in Penta again.

 

 

Favorite tracks - 2, 3, 4, 7, 9

 

 

B-

 

 

 

Samples

 

http://www.psyshop.c.../aqr1cd006.html

 

http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display_release.asp?id=7911

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I would be carefull putting pentafiles that high. Later work is truly advancement until Portuguese Abduction which is downgrade to Horn Please.

 

As for this joke, i'll give it a proper listen but just because his production skill it can't be less than B+

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  • 2 weeks later...

I agree with you guys

i didn't really liked it ,

i was hoping for some thing great like the album portuguese abduction

 

vegetarian balled and time jump kicked ass !!

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 12 years later...
On 10/28/2009 at 2:13 AM, Trance2MoveU said:

What needs to happen here is that Shift and the Timecode crew should stage an intervention with Penta and set him on the right track. If your not going to do Dakpsy, but still want to keep your dark vibe, get a little South African in you.

 

Mdk

Yep. I'm listening to this album the last time as a whole. I am on the second track which is called Are We Done Yet? and that's pretty much what I am thinking now <_<

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