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Somnesia - Mystic Moon


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Artist: Somnesia
Title: Mystic Moon
Label: Gliese 581C
Date: April, 2012

01 - Mystic Sun
02 - Encounter
03 - Goa Spirit
04 - Cosmic Gate
05 - Halluminium
06 - Nomad's Land (Original Version)
07 - Beyond The Sky (Extended Version)
08 - Space Liquid
09 - Dusk Till Dawn

"I believe that these extra terrestrial vehicles and their crews are visiting this planet from other planets, which are obviously a little more technically advanced than we are here on Earth."

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Not possible.


Christophe Grossel is no stranger to goa trance. As Somnesia, you've heard his tracks like When Kali Meditates (Goa Overdose), Eternal Life (The Omega Point), and Sunlight (Future Architecture). Awesome stuff. Did I mention he is also a member of our little corner of the web? But in a world of what have you done for me lately there hasn't been an album.

Until now.

Released on Gliese 581C he presents you with his debut. For free. Apparently he used to work for them. Forgive me I'm old, when I worked for someone, I actually had to fight traffic and drive there, fight it out with a grossly overweight co-worker as to who would get the last half eaten creme filled donut (C'mon fatty cut me a break isn't this your third one?), and try to look busy for most of the day. Working for a net label, he probably did all his sh*t with his fuzzy bunny slippers on. Gotta take a sh*t? F*ck it, do it with the door open that chick from marketing with the wonky eye can't see you. Sign of the times I guess.

First thing that jumps out is the beautiful cover. A dark blue night with a nebulous cloud drifting across the full moon. Nice looking and it basically tells you what you're gonna get.


Mystic Sun- Holy crap if the intro was any longer it would be an ambient track. You don't hear a kick until past the 3 minute mark. Fine by me, because this is storytelling by the light of a campfire. Ominous pads and running synths have me looking skyward. The track has a give and take quality...not giving you everything at once, but parsing it out in measured amounts. If you're not thinking about space when you hear this, then you must already be there.

Encounter- Undulating is the perfect word to describe how the opening synth behaves. It twists around you like an anaconda and when it's ready applies the force to crush the life out of you. At almost 10 minutes long it continues to build to an powerful climax that...that could be the most unintentionally erotic thing I have ever written. (I say written, but who the f*ck writes anymore? I wrote a check the other day and it looked like my 3 year old penned it. Shoulda used a crayon.) That lead is constant, never vanishing throughout the whole track. Pretty impressive. Felt like I was riding that...whatever the f*ck it is in the neverending story. Blistering track.

Goa Spirit- I don't know why but I thought this said goa spice. Hmmm....goa spice....

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She had to have seen her time with the Spice Girls was short. You think Posh is going to put up with sunshine's shower optional policy? And how long will the label tolerate her blowing the budget on weed, hackey-sacks and patchouli? You know who I feel sorry for? C*cksucker spice. Would've broadened the bands appeal and she never gets a shot. Well, other than a money shot.

Cheesy. Too much. Made my stomach hurt. Oh, not the track. This was the bagel with cheese I had for breakfast. The track is awesome. Mysterious vibe with leads bundled together like fiber optic cables. Dances as one would if you were walking on hot coals, never lingering in one spot for too long. It builds to a point and then halfway through begins to reorganize. Ever seen a skier tumble down a hill? F*cking garage sale with skis flying this way and that? No matter how hard you try to stop it only makes it worse? Well, it's like that, but in a great way. Intensity increases, layers multiply and at the end you're looking around wondering where the f*ck that came from?


Cosmic Gate- Rapid fire dark vibes with shimmering synths bring the feel of space into the living room. Melodies tumble like the particles of a recently exploded star and this would make great driving music. He throws different melodies at you in enticing layers that make this one a delight.

Halluminium- Triplets are creepy. Why are we spending so much money trying to find extra-terrestrial life from up above when those freakshows are walking among us? Let me show you how I got there. It's really very simple. Track name sounds like aluminum of course and that makes me think of the foil. After being sidetracked for twenty minutes on how I could make another bagel with cheese, I refocused and thought that putting on the foil is a hockey term for fighting. Which I got from the classic movie Slap Shot. Well, there is a group of triplets in that movie that are a few croutons short of a salad.

Total elapsed time...less than a second. I. Need. Help.

More of a grower that gathers ammunition as it goes on. It flies on the dark side of the skies with an entertaining style.


Nomad's Land (Original Version)- 10 and a half minutes? I used to love the sight of that, but you know I got kids right? Gotta take a sh*t just to get a few minutes to myself.

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"Lemme alone! Go watch Dora or something!"

Whew, dude is working pretty hard to squeeze that one off isn't he? Burger King really needs to clean their restrooms.

Running through space with the utmost quickness. Melodies move with jellyfish like quirkiness and then dance like Gregory Hines isn't really dead. Cristophe really puts a track together well balancing out the highs with the bubbling undercurrent of basses. So you take a driving rhythm, layer it with eerie melodies and you've got my daughter crying because she thinks daddy is possessed by the devil. Top notch!

Beyond The Sky (Extended Version)- Hmmm....extended. Like c*ck enlargement. Surely I'm not the only one annoyed by the incessant advertising on the side of the page telling me that with this "one weird trick" I can make my dick look like a f*cking python. Why the hell would you want that? Do you know how hard (get it) it would be to buy pants? And I think we are all aware of the danger of the pee hard on.

Pitching a tent is no way to go through life, son.

As you could've probably guessed this one takes a while to get going. 13 minutes? Minus commercials that's almost an entire episode of How I Met Your Mother. Speaking of your mother, like a frenzied sexual encounter in the backseat of your mom's minivan, the ahem, "magic" happens at the end. But don't miss out on the atmosphere he creates because it's quite good. While not unleashing his inner Ron Jeremy to test your gag reflex he does provide a good show with bubbling basses and smooth melodies for a look at the softer side of goa trance without making gay porn.

What?

Space Liquid- Never thought I would say we are down to a manageable 9 minutes. A cold and mysterious intro has me thinking about a deserted space ship a la Event Horizon. Analog pads stream across sensors and I think I saw Gary Numan's ghost. As the title says, he makes a very liquid sound and then promptly hops on his Jean Michel Jarre horse before introducing some goa licks. What you thought was a spooky ambient piece drops a beat near 6 minutes. Nice.

Dusk Till Dawn-

 

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That is all.

He recently celebrated a birthday and wound up giving us a present. This would've been presented to him closer to the date if Photobucket wasn't full of b*tches. But like Ivan said, at least I'm popular. Well happy motherf*ckin' birthday Christophe and thank you for this gift. It's a superb release with everything that makes me love goa trance. Twisting melodies, awesome power, and music I can get lost in. He hits you with the power in the beginning and then slowly begins to turn the lights out culminating in a slow, eerie end of the world downtempo outro. Like De La said, you did it big like white boys wallets (obviously they never peeked at my wallet.) And you gave it away? Thank you from a guy with a small wallet.



Ektoplazm

Mdk

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Thank you for this great review! Yes, I'm a member of psynews since 2006, I think. It's nice to have your own review! Thank you to have enjoy my album and share your transcendent vision. :)

For "Beyond The Sky" length of track is proportional to the size of my ... LOL just kidding, whatever :lol: .
Concernig "Dusk Till Dawn", yes, that's all, it is an outro, and all good things are impermanent, that's what my wife tells me always ^_^

Here the covers (full version)

 

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The adventure continues with the album "Santorin" I realized with my friend PharaOm. It is almost finished. We expect the remix "God's Tears" of Nova Fractal.

Imagine reliving the days of the pharaohs, during the 10 plagues of Egypt. An album Fully scripted with Goa trance sound.
I look forward that you can listen ;)

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I'm honestly surprised how enthusiastic you are about this album, T2MU. I've tried to give it multiple chances, but honestly, I found this album quite weak. There's a lack of energy and while the melodies have good ideas, they are often forgettable while the tracks themselves seem formulaic. There are good ideas here at play and notable tracks(Cosmic Gate, Goa Spirit and Mystic Sun are most obvious, these are pretty good!), but overall the album just fails to make me excited. It also doesn't help the kick and bassline are very weak. Just overall a lack of energy and differences are the biggest problems for me. I commend you for the effort, Infected, but there's still much room for improvement in my opinion. Don't let this discourage you, though you aren't going in the wrong direction. :)

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While I don't think it's on par with a bunch of professional artists out there, I think most of the tracks (esp. the one's you mentioned) put me in a very good mind state. Long drifting melodies and good atmosphere were really enjoyed. He's got talent and will only continue to improve. Put a bigger label behind him and those sonic deficiencies you say you hear will vanish.

 

Mdk

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I agree, while the melodies are really good and the flow as well, more basspower and more use of aggressive elements would have lifted this up with the big guys. And make it more enjoyable. I'm also put off by the lack of power.

Still, nice job!

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Guest Cosmogenesis

Congratulations to my friend Christophe for his first album!! That's a wonderful piece of goa artefacts. It truly deserves some recognition. Christophe has this ability to sound essentially goa. He's quite direct in his approach of the music, he focalizes mainly his attention on a couple of notes that are true reminiscences of the old goa era. This album is the first step of something bigger in the future. I had the priviledge to listen previews of his forthcoming duo album with Pharaom, "Santorin", and I can say it is really really good... Stay tuned people! :)

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  • 5 months later...
  • 11 months later...

Hi Everyone!!!

 

Thank you for all your comments and criticisms.

For reply to members, I wanted to release a strong album with dynamic melodies but sweet in the mood.

The lack of power is probably due to my character :) maybe...

I hope you enjoy my third album and that you will touch stars at your fingertips.

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