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VA - Dimensional Gateway 5


Tsotsi

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Artist: VA

Title: Dimensional Gateway 5

Label: Neogoa Records

Date: December 2017

Tracklist:-

01 - Sun Sith - Arrival
02 - BlackStarrFinale - The Scattering
03 - Lectro Spektral Daze - I Ate Seven Of Them
04 - Xamanist - Star Forming Galaxy
05 - Maan - Field Quanta
06 - Third Eye Channel - Katarza
07 - Proxeeus - Nyarlathotep [Short Mix]
08 - Dragon Twins - Shattered Sense
09 - Negan - Wäwära

Well wowie,
 

If ever a compilation could fit into the theme of 2017 (Quality over quantity) this is it. Neogoa Records have released their 5th in a series of Dimensional Gateways. Unlike the dark portals of this world, defined by stability and assurance, dimensional gateways are like tunnels bored with unstable magic that can lead to bliss, new worlds or eternal imprisonment. One thing is for sure, the gateways will always be a journey.

As a newbie to the genre it would be foolish of me to say something like ‘This has been quite the year for Goa’
But i’m young and foolish so. This has been quite the year for Goa. We’ve seen some pretty remarkable releases that have been top notch in terms of either production, originality, or nostalgia. While the review section for 2017 has been pretty empty most of what is here is gold.

Sun Sith: … Holy shit. Sun Sith are Lunar Dawns Kristijan Ilisinovic and Sasa Precanica. Two lifelong friends who have dedicated themselves to absolutely blowing our minds with music. This has gotta be the darkest work of theirs. And i’m going to peg it as the track of the year.

Blackstarfinale: Oh no, how is this melody going to work? Am i about to listen to pure aged chedder? Nope, you better not believe it. The scattering is a mix of uplifting twisted chopped and screwed bliss. Pretty freaking awesome how they work this track.

Lectrop Spektral Daze:  Yea you did LSD, you ate more than seven didn’t you? You ate a whole bag! Whats that? Only seven per bag? Oh well yea, you ate seven then congratulations! Some of us are too busy studying to just go and eat shrooms in Mexico. Great track, if you like drug references in your songs you’ll like this. Also if you like good songs, well this is one for you my friend. Beautiful beautiful track.

Xamanist - Star Forming Galaxy: Every now and then i come across a track on a comp that makes me wonder why i passed that artists album up when i came across it. Progressive trance must have been the flavour of the month when i came across 7, but I tell ya, i’m going back to right my wrongs right after this review. A banging track and another one of my favourites. Aaaaah i love rolling basslines.

Maan - Field Quanta: A nice driving bit of trance that starts with subtle bits of acid getting tossed around, easy to dance to though not the most unique track floating around with not much to differentiate it from other producers. The builds are all pretty fun though. Instead of leading to explosions of hysteria they end in slightly disappointing returns to the bassline.

Katarza - Third Eye Channel: A less exciting track that gets points for being trippy, though without endless amounts of energy pulsing through it. More of a floating track then an arm flail enducing stomper. Instead of keeping your attention with hard melodies Katara mixes the beat up by skipping kicks and messing around with the basslines.

Dragon Twins - Shattered Sense: Some spooky throat noises (Singing? chanting?) starts our journey into what is a remarkable track. The melody is insane, but then it disappears? I could have easily had another 6 minutes of that penetrating my cranium. Man i’m bitter about that, the lead was incredible. I guess that’s how some stories go.

Proxeeus - Nyarlathotep (Short mix): We are lucky it’s easier to dance to Proxeeus’ tracks than pronounce them. Everytime i try I end up with a deep and very bad Estonian accent... The track is what you would expect from this wizard, awesomeness. Edit: Holy heck Proxeeus! That final 1.5 minutes.

Negan - Warawa: Whats that? Fun basslines? Negan (Did Negans lose part of himself) has got us covered. The track is madness from start to finish, the acid lines are all over the place in the best of ways. Hare Krishna would have indeed been a bad boy.

 

 

And we made it out the other side. Dimensional Gateways aren't so bad are they, 5 down and we are still kicking. I'm starting to think these things are more stable than i've been told. Wizards and their bullshit friends, just like politicians.

 

https://neogoarecords.bandcamp.com/album/dimensional-gateway-5






 

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awesome review tsotsi! thanks for keeping this section rolling!...do you use headphones or speakers or both while conducting reviews?

also, thanks to Neogoa Records for another gem! 

 

i don't know if it's the sweet gentle caress of FLAC sound quality or just the mastering, but I listen to this album at around level 60 volume on my mp3 player, whereas most other psy is at around 40. this is totally a positive, as it feels like there is much more dynamic range in the music, compared to a lot of psytrance which gets squashed and can overwhelm. 

then again, i may just be listening at a higher volume to get the full blast of this fusion reaction of goa vibes.

 

without naming specifics, i felt like 2 tracks didn't meet the standards of the other 7. they are probably good when isolated, but when surrounded by such mastery, they are lagging behind a bit.

some standouts are the Proxeeus track which sounds like i am standing in the eye of a storm, calm and centred while there is mayhem going on all around me. definitely a trademark of Proxeeus, not many artists have the skill to craft such high energy tracks that don't get overly aggressive.

the Lectro Spektral Daze track is incredible too... i love the trap style bassline that drops in... don't hear that too much in goa but it works really well here.

looking forward to more from Neogoa in 2018!

 

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Unlike previous installments, this project had a limited time-frame to be completed and due to that I'm really happy how it turned out and it's encouraging to get such lovely support and feedback. However, I would like to throw a question to all of you who had a chance to check this one and the previous Dimensional Gateway compilation (also released this year):

Dimensional Gateway 4 (Veil Of The Moon) or Dimensional Gateway 5? Which one you liked more and why?

There is 10 months gap between thoose two, but from a perspective of a compiler, I find 4th to be more friendly with darker and acidic themes, while 5th got bigger emphasis on melodic side of Goa trance music. However, three projects are featured on both, so it's kinda fun to follow that storyline too.

Anyway, thank you guys for your reviews, opinions and direct support! :)

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15 hours ago, gfp1 said:

i don't know if it's the sweet gentle caress of FLAC sound quality or just the mastering, but I listen to this album at around level 60 volume on my mp3 player, whereas most other psy is at around 40. this is totally a positive, as it feels like there is much more dynamic range in the music, compared to a lot of psytrance which gets squashed and can overwhelm. 

well, i master stuff like this (goa) - includning this - at -10 dB RMS average... whereas most of todays psytrance goes below -8... to -7, or even louder, so it sounds like a brick wall.
-10 also isn't super great for dynamics, but for a loudness compromise, i guess i managed to preserve enough of it :D

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On 12/18/2017 at 2:03 AM, gfp1 said:

Do you use headphones or speakers or both while conducting reviews?

I do headphones, not sure how good they are, a pair of Ultrasone dj1's. I'd use a rig but that consists of a sole Marley bluetooth speaker.... I'm an apartment dweller. 

 

On 12/18/2017 at 2:03 AM, gfp1 said:

Also, thanks to Neogoa Records for another gem! 

 

i don't know if it's the sweet gentle caress of FLAC sound quality or just the mastering, but I listen to this album at around level 60 volume on my mp3 player, whereas most other psy is at around 40. this is totally a positive, as it feels like there is much more dynamic range in the music, compared to a lot of psytrance which gets squashed and can overwhelm. 

then again, i may just be listening at a higher volume to get the full blast of this fusion reaction of goa vibes.

Thanks indeed, these guys bless us time and time again.

I feel like the release has a great range in the music. Compared to, (for example) some Global Sect stuff (Which is amazing) but often feels like none of the layers really jump out at you.

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21 hours ago, Richpa said:

However, I would like to throw a question to all of you who had a chance to check this one and the previous Dimensional Gateway compilation (also released this year):

Dimensional Gateway 4 (Veil Of The Moon) or Dimensional Gateway 5? Which one you liked more and why?

There is 10 months gap between thoose two, but from a perspective of a compiler, I find 4th to be more friendly with darker and acidic themes, while 5th got bigger emphasis on melodic side of Goa trance music. However, three projects are featured on both, so it's kinda fun to follow that storyline too.

 

Well shit i didn't even realise DG4 got released this year too. DG5 for sure takes the cake for me. Like you said the melodies are a lot more prevalent and I found the tracks differentiated themselves from one another in a lot of areas, basslines, structure, all that jazz. 
Also I was out at a deep techno club when i checked my phone and saw that Neogoa released a new VA. Almost lost my mind and had to get talked out of rushing home to listen to it by my friends.

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On 12/18/2017 at 1:08 PM, Richpa said:



Dimensional Gateway 4 (Veil Of The Moon) or Dimensional Gateway 5? Which one you liked more and why?

i prefer 5... the songs seem better developed. more complexity/unpredictability/psychedelic trippiness and more atmospheric variety from track to track.

also within individual songs there seems to be a more interesting progression. it's not just taking a single melody and developing it forward linearly but rather a theme is used and multiple ideas are built around them, so while it may be a single track, it feels like going on a journey of 3 or 4 tracks blended together.

 

DG4 feels more like it's about pace. every track pushes forward without letting up and as a whole it is probably the more dance-friendly of the two releases. i think it would serve as a better introduction to people who aren't familiar with the awesomeness of Goa, whereas DG5 takes a bit more concentration to understand the subtleties in the track structures. 

both solid releases with high replayability... i would easily recommend them both.

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On 12/19/2017 at 10:24 AM, tsotsi said:

I do headphones, not sure how good they are, a pair of Ultrasone dj1's. I'd use a rig but that consists of a sole Marley bluetooth speaker.... I'm an apartment dweller. 

music definitely takes on a different flavour when comparing the airy and lush sound of speakers versus the intensely detailed headphone experience.

i try to listen to my favourite albums both ways to get a feel for them. i bought my subwoofer used for $30 and it might be for PA systems since it's about the size of a mini fridge, so i can create that club listening vibe... i don't worry about my neighbours, if anything they're lucky to get the sweet DUDU-DU, DUDU-DU, DUDU-DU, DUDU-DU, DUDU-DU, DUDU-DU sounds thumping through the walls.

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On 12/18/2017 at 3:53 PM, Deimos said:

well, i master stuff like this (goa) - includning this - at -10 dB RMS average... whereas most of todays psytrance goes below -8... to -7, or even louder, so it sounds like a brick wall.
-10 also isn't super great for dynamics, but for a loudness compromise, i guess i managed to preserve enough of it :D

I love hearing about stuff like this... Neogoa always has an immediately recognizable sound thanks to the Deimos touch.

I wonder if there is a market for packaging albums with bonus materials of the Making Of process... stuff like videos of the artists creating their tracks and explaining what inspired them and the techniques used to master it... or would that just ruin the magic?

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  • 5 months later...

What a great album.  Ivan you and your team are the model of consistency.  From the acid mayhem of Wawara and the "unpredictability" of Shattered Sense to the swirling electricity of Field Quanta and  bubbling crescendo of I Ate Seven of Them the energy and sound of this album is quite impressive.

While not the best thing released from the fine folks at Neogoa, just a couple of filler keeps this from being super.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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