Digicult - Soul Samadhi

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: Digicult

Title: Soul Samadhi

Label: Dacru Records

Date: February, 2015

 

1. Digicult Vs. U-Recken - Sundara

2. Soul Samadhi

3. Jaia - Mai Mai (Digicult Vs. U-Recken Rmx)

4. Digicult Vs. Tropical Bleyage - Aradhana

5. Man With No Name - Evolution (Digicult Rmx)

6. Digicult - Star Travel (Talamasca Rmx)

7. Lost In A Mental Universe

8. Digicult - Red Planet (Spirit Architect Rmx)

9. Digicult Vs. U-Recken - Into The Heartland (Astral Projection Rmx)

 

 

Digicult is a project that has always flirted with goa trance and sometimes outright produced it. I suppose you would have to label him a "full-on" act, but without all the cheese and simplicity that usually rides shotgun. Loved his albums Lucid Nation and Out of This World. With this his fourth album he remixes two goa classics and perpetual missing people Astral Projection remix one of his own tracks. Now usually when an artist from the full-on genre attempts to remix goa standards images of the album we shall not name pop up and we begin to behave like a poison victim.

 

 

 

Now I'm not gonna blow smoke up your ass. It's not healthy for either of us and that would entail me getting closer to your ass than is comfortable. The cliche's are here from auto-tune to the triplet bass lines. This is pop-full on and he could probably parlay this into a Vegas residency. Sundara encapsulated all that is wrong with full-on and all that could be right. What sets Digicult apart from the vast majority of full-on artists however is his attention to detail. An example of this is the track Aradhana which gives a wink and a nod in the goa direction. Another good one was Lost In A Mental Universe where he does his best Electric Universe impression. Plenty of artists bombard you with melodies, but he adds atmosphere and more things to grab a hold of. Makes it a lot more bearable. But you don't help your cause when you let Talamasca anywhere near your music. What I heard with that track was equal part Eskimo's Popcorn and Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene which of course added up to get the f*ck outta here.

 

Still like I said it's a pop full-on album that doesn't distinguish itself from the huge pile we already have. He seems to have given up and just decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Got bills to pay homie and these frat boys love it when the beat drops! Oh well I hope he at least is scoring some quality groupie love. Besides I was really only interested in the goa remixes. And unfortunately it reaffirmed my belief that he should just leave it alone. There's a reason we haven't seen a recreation of the Mona Lisa with nothing but finger clippings and dandruff. You just know it would be terrible. And disgusting. The Astral remix is quintessential Astral with their signature sound and they continue to do just enough to keep you on the line hoping for a new goa album that will most likely never come.

 

So in closing I will say that this is not an essential piece of music (I know you're shocked) and not even essential for the Digicult collection. You can tell he still has the talent and ability to make deep, meaningful tracks, but with this he has dipped a little too close to the euphoric Paul Van Dyk cheesiness. And I'm too old to put my hands in the air and wave them around like I just don't care. Here's to hoping that with his next album he just says f*ck it and makes the brilliant goa album I know he is capable of. C'mon dude...you know you wanna.

 

 

Psyshop

 

Beatspace

[recursion loop]

Digicult are two guys, not "he".

 

Well, in my book this one is not as good as the Lucid Nation, but still fvcking good. For me, the dissapointments are:

- Star Travel (Talamasca Rmx) - Talamasca. Nuff said.

- Lost In A Mental Universe - this track has really some amazing moments, but is ruined by two things - the "belching robot" sound in the beginning and near the end (sounds comical and terribly out of place, wtf) and this horrible happy-cheesy melody after 4:55 mark (wft again? especially after the incredible sonic bliss at 4:00 to 4:55 - it feels like after a hot private dance your GF says to you "let's now watch some stand-up show instead")

- Into The Heartland (Astral Projection Rmx) - How the fvck could the best goa act in human history turn the best psytrance track in human history into such a forgettable nonsence is beyond me (and the mastering on this one is really poor)

 

Everything else is good a usual. This means very good.