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Name some of your favourite concept albums


JonCrow

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Name some of your favourite and well-composed/devised concept albums from any psytrance genre or artist. Alternatively, name some of the concepts you perceive from your favourite albums.

 

Obvious examples are space, flying through space, earth, fire, wind, water, mountains, desert, the sea, demons, ghosts, animals, plants, gnomes, mushrooms, the future, walking through a forest or castle or haunted house, the ancient past, fairies, love, hate, mysticism, spirituality, light, darkness, chaos, order, destruction, the sun, flying towards the sun, the moon, walking on the moon, daytime, nightime, morning, afternoon, midnight, sunrise, enlightenment, creation, aliens, industrial/mechanisation, wisdom, death, softness, hardness, strength, tribal culture and crystal skulls/yeti's etc etc etc

 

 

Even if the artist hasn't intended the album to be based around a concept/s but you think it does or it always conjures the same distinct imagery or feelings in you when you listen to it. Describe this.

 

If you can be bothered please outline the concept/s of the album and how you think it progresses aurally, mentally, visually, technically to create the resultant thematic symbol.

Post a concurrent picture/image/photograph/drawing if you like(there is already a thread dedicated solely to this). Maybe they got the front cover just right?

 

Argue with your fellow psytrance members about how you think it symbolises this and he/she thinks it symbolises that and/or defies conceptualisation altogether, and all of you will be correct!

 

Please begin!

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One album, that immediately came to my mind, was Cybernetika's "Nanospheric".

 

"Both universe and infinitesimal particle, the Nanospheric is an abstract construct beyond our imagination and comprehension. It is a machine deity, that forms matter in its own will."

 

That pretty much sums it up, at least for me. Listening to this album is just a great experience and to me, it's the spaciest record there is. Why spacy? Because as far as I am concerned, space is cold, dark, huge, techy, full of mysteries, emptiness, yet sometimes colorful, warm and filled with marvels of all kind. Space traveling, especially flying through space on your own, maybe in "Silver Surfer" style, I imagine to be much like this album sounds. Yes, it's the Silver Surfer album, so to say. And speed, yes, it creates the sensation of traveling at the speed of light, being weightless. Listen to it through headphones and you'll know what I mean. Damn, I seriously need some kind of audiostrobe or mind machine to listen to this and expand the experience even further! Anyways, "Nanospheric" is a masterpiece.

 

Second album would be RA, "9th".

 

The reasons are obvious: deserts, sand, p(s)yramids, Egypt...everything in sonic form. Awesome, awesome.

 

Merr0w - Born Underwater is another concept album I truly love. Mysterious water worlds, submarine creatures, lost civilizations...there's a lot to discover :)

 

And what about U-Recken's "Deeper Into Man"? An album about the spirit of nature and mankind, a voyage through evolution with such a perfect track to end it (As The Flower Withers)...again: awesome, awesome.

 

//Edit: Two things I almost forgot, one of them being so obvious, that I didn't think about it:

 

Pleiadians - I.F.O. - What can I say?

 

 

The other one is not a concept album, as it's only one track, albeit a very special one, a concept track, so to say.

 

Psykovsky vs. Deja Vu Project - Only Love (We Will Take)

 

I won't say it's the best track ever made, as for me, it's not possibly to say that. But this track is the most interesting one ever made, period. 20 minutes of sheer goodness, a journey through different states of mind, different cultures (samples from Japanese classic theatre, chants by monks), quiet moments, situations of increasing pressure and tension...it's hard to describe. I can only urge everyone to listen to this one, as it is totally unique - and that says a lot.

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Pleiadians - I.F.O.

A perfect concept album of the fiction surrounding Pleiades. It's completely otherworldly.

 

Crop Circles - Tetrahedron

Pleiadians landing on earth.

 

I like to(and hope it is in fact this) think Tetrahedron was a sequel to IFO. The Pleiadians that have been explained and established in IFO are now landing on/Observing earth(hence the name Crop Circles), but definitely not in the way 'we come in peace'.

 

MFG - Project Genesis

A sci-fi movie soundtrack. Vivid, vivid images it's able to bring in your head.

 

Khetzal - Corolle

Trip to India.

 

Ra - 9th

Trip to ancient Egypt.

 

Juno Reactor - Luciana

Travel through the mysterious space/ancient culture - subjective, but it is going through somewhere.

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Bodh Gaya - Ayahuasca

Following some shamans in the Amazon forest while they're preparing the Ayahuasca drink.

 

Khetzal - Corolle

Travelling throughout ancient India.

 

VA - The Mystery of the Yeti Part 2

Starting at the foothills of Mount Kailash & ending with meeting the Yeti on the top of the mountain.

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XENOMORPH: DEMAGOGUERY OF THE OBSCURANTS, SHOTU: CONCEPTION, SAVE THE ROBOT: BATTLE OF THE MIND...this is really off but nevertheless...ICED EARTH: DARK SAGA.

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  • 1 month later...

The 13 Crystal Skulls 2 compilations full of really amazing themed psytrance

 

Atrium Carceri - Seishinbyouin ambient in a mental institution, all his albums are themed and great but this is the best for me

 

The Circular Ruins - Falling Into The Sky Ambient themed on the reversal of nature and opposites

Eat Static - Prepare Your Spirit 50's B movie sci-fi themed stuff :)

 

Principles Of Flight - Night Time Lullabies & Chaos Opera even comes with a story

 

Secede - Tryshasla brilliant story into the afterlife

The Mystery Of The Yeti 1 & 2 I love the mountainous/mystical themes

 

there are many more, too many to think of at this late hour

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  • 10 years later...
On 4/17/2021 at 3:05 AM, Trolsk said:

Some favorites:

Quirk - Machine Electrica & Fornax Chemica

Ubar Tmar - True

Shaolin Wooden Men - Supermindway

 

 

You speak my language!

Quirk - Mystic Linguistic remains, not only one of the greatest Goa tracks ever released, but one of the best songs ever released. It's absolutely perfect from beginning to end.

Supermindway is another stellar work and I'm gutted Ollie wasn't able to make it to ZNA in 2019 =( I really should have brought him to Portland when I brought up Rip Van Hippy.

 

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Infected Mushroom's The Gathering and Classical Mushroom, for introducing a more varied sonic palette with acoustic instruments. And in the case of the Classical Mushroom album for the thematic innovation of blending classical music elements with Psy-trance. This also applies to some EP's and compilation tracks they churned out during that era as well.

It was just a very coherent vision thematically, and a new approach altogether in an era driven forward by great experimentation. Which defined the genre, and the legacy of that can still be heard in todays Psy-trance. Oh and of course the theme of Mushrooms in pretty much all of their music, and visual profile. The artwork for their albums was always a nice and humorous touch revolving around the Shroomy concept. 

Also worth mentioning with regards to visual concepts is the solid visual vision presented by Phonokol. All the Goa albums from the late 90's and early 00's era on Phonokol was such a nice visual treat. It was a very vivid and futuristic new-age style. So everything from the Trust In Trance imprint as well. And Phonokol of course also had some very cool darker visual album concepts, like Oforia - Pigs In Space.

Miranda's Northern Lights and Asynja album concepts were really cool too. Those are the highlights for me that I could think of right now.

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Maybe Artifakt - Artifakts II (Timecode) ,

 

Trold - Once Upon A Time ... (Apoxina) ,

 

Mauxuam - Vice Versa (Interchill) ,

 

Ozmali - Forest Fusion  => for the live jam recording spirit of the release ,

 

& also Ian Ion - Gringolocomotion (Chilltribe).

^_^

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