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About 'zenonesque' aka truly psychedelic progressive


Ake

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I remember the year 2010. Merkaba released an album and so did Tetrameth and Minimal Criminal. All of them were and still are excellent albums. Seriously, how great was that particular style people started calling 'zenonesque' at some point. Between 2006 and 2014 there was a really creative output within this style of psytrance. The music was dark without being negative and/or aggressive and it was very creative, funky and yes: Psychedelic. Today 'zenonesque' seems quite dead, right? Ok, Zenon Records is still around but they changed their direction to a more technoish style. Cosmic Conspiracy Records didn't realease anything in a long time and even the latest Merkaba album and new tracks from other talented artists don't really do the trick anymore. Technically perfect music but with a lack of heart and true inspiration in my opinion.

^ great piece of music from 2006 ^

So, what style of today's psytrance offers a ~135-ish~ BPM plus creative ideas and a positive and progressive sound design? Any suggestions? Comments?

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Idonno, but I've got a comment about Tatsu Recordings with i.e Dragon Tales VA as being a forefronter for the Zenonesque style: 

 

The truth most properly goes much deeper though so don't quote me. Intact Instinct:)

Zen-On, Full-On .... Deep Psychedelic Technostyle
 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Have you heard Airi - "Conscious Species" on Zenon, it came out last year? It's really good; dark and atmospheric but still has a lot of "psy" elements. The new Kromagon is pretty cool as well, but it gets a little too techno-ish for me.
 

 

 

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OK! I should have thought about this before! A friend of mine bought me this AND IT IS GOOD. Zenon, heavy zen on https://zenonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/lifeblood

+ this I know is good but I haven't heard the whole thing yet: https://zenonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fermented-behaviour

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1 hour ago, psytones said:

+ this I know is good but I haven't heard the whole thing yet: https://zenonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/fermented-behaviour

Just heard the whole thing , its fantastic ! Zenon definitely isnt dead .. Not by a stretch ..not even in anyone's wildest dreams!  This album is the reason why i wont give up on psytrance .. so glad i discovered this gem.

A fish in a fish tank is my favorite, ironically i think fermented behavior is the weakest track here . But with an album this powerful its easy to ignore any weak tracks. 

Top top stuff this. 

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What about Smilk, a relative newcommer to Zenon label...

 

Maybe not as psychedelic as you are looking for? Not really dark at all and definitely has some funk behind it..also definitely positive and progressive.  I love a lot of his stuff anyways.

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I didn't say that Zenon Records is dead, I said that 'zenonesque' seems quite dead to me. I could be wrong about that and I could be just too lazy to dig deeper. Anyway, looks like this topic becomes a promotion for Zenon Records. It's ok though since I was asking for opinions. The difference is just that around the year 2010 it was quite a rare style while today there are many labels releasing that style. Still interesting labels for my taste are http://arkhivemusic.com and https://universaltriberecords.bandcamp.com and WOW: Just found an interesting website about this: https://psygressivearea.com <3

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Zenon had some interesting releases at the start, 'Eyes Rolling' was and still is a bomb, Sensient second album, Hypogeo album, and 'Mechanics Of Awakening' are all amazing in my book.

the 'zenonesque' sound is what makes almost everything released by that lable in recent years unmemorable, for me at least.

Florian MSK makes interesting music, and his the only one i realy feel has depth in his music, the rest falls down short  in my long book of quality kick ass minimal music.

 

Where o' where are the days of Plastik Park Records, Antix, Triplex, Charasmatix and a ton more great artist who released ace progressive music.

One can only wonder.

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  • 11 months later...

speaking of Nangijala - Fermented Behaviour

On 2/28/2018 at 7:30 PM, exotic said:

This album is the reason why i wont give up on psytrance .. so glad i discovered this gem

THIS

of all the releases last year, Nangijala is by far my favourite. atmospheric and hypnotic, gloomy but playful, great developments, sweet melancholic and entrancing progressive psytrance - like alot of old Zenon releases

this track takes some time, but that's the case with alot of good progressive, right?

 

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  • 2 years later...

So instead of creating a new thread for the moment, I decided to bump this one until my thread idea gets a bit more crystallized. I'm interested in discovering more about the darker aspects of this labels output.

What would you guys recommend? I do remember listening to some of their early stuff looong ago, and need to get myself updated on things and dig through their catalog. I got inspired by this blog post about the Zenon Records styles:

https://dirtyhippystudio.com/what-is-zenonesque/

What I intend to do later on is if there isn't already a thread focusing on their darker releases, to create one.

 

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From my vantage point there was a bit of a rough patch around 2011 to 2014 or so when there was a lot of low-quality, derivative stuff coming out of this quadrant of the psytrance universe... but the style has definitely bounced back (if indeed there was much of a downturn at all) and Zenon itself continues to set standards and inspire. It takes some effort to sort through what comes out of their release cannon though; they've been extremely prolific and it's hard to keep up with the dizzying number of releases they've been pumping out, to say nothing of the dozens of other labels still probing the depths of this murky dark-light-psychedelic-minimalistic fusion space.

Some projects worth checking out 2016 to present: Airi, Amortalist, ETN, Golikem, Gojja, Grouch, Ivort, Nangijala, Pspiralife, Sourone, Triforce, plus old giants like Sensient and Electrypnose (when he dabbles in this field).

A few dark selections pulled from my crate:


Finally, a palate cleanser, in the form of some good ol' slapbass-infused Zenon style murky morning tunage.
 

There's a ton of great Zenonesque out there... get digging!

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@Basilisk Thanks a lot! this a quality post! It’s nice that your site Ektoplazm is mentioned as well in the Zenon Records blog article I read/linked. I’m sure your site helped popularize the Zenonesque styles as well. :) It will be interesting to dig through this labels massive output. I think it’s a challenge I’m ready for. I’ve been kinda stuck in a loop re-listening to the old classics for some years. It’s always refreshing to dive into something a bit different. 

It will be fun and a learning experience to sift through the darker aspects of this label. I’m sure it will lead to some aha-moments along the way. If anyone has any curated playlists with this specific darker Zenonesque focus let me know. Or perhaps if you wrote any blog posts/articles on Ektoplazm back during their golden age Basilisk? I will start with the early 00’s output.

Listening now to the tracks, really nice selection! Very cinematic soundscapes. The Ivort-Time Is Meaningless is right up my alley, sounds like a blend between Talpa and Psykovsky or something. Really phenomenal dark style. 

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