Paul Eye Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Release info here, original post below. 25 years ago on this exact date I finished what would become what I consider the last track I did in Impulse Tracker. Today, I released a collection containing 12 of those tracks, and I'm feeling quite surreal. Get the release here for the affordable price of "name your price" (which means "free" if you put in 0€ as the price): https://pauleye.bandcamp.com/album/once-upon-a-time Tracklist: 01. Time Traveller 02. Satellite View 03. Fomalhaut 04. Liquid Crystal 05. Hyperspaceoids (2.0 Mix) 06. Virtual Trip Into Eternity 07. LumiSaDe 08. Phylogenesis 09. Hallucinative Space Voyage 10. Seven Circles 11. Spiritual Frequencies 12. Meganeura -------- Original initial announcement post -------- Well well, it's time to open the history books. After literally years of procrastination and general uncertainty on my part, I'll finally be releasing a collection of my old Impulse Tracker tracks from way back in 1998/1999 later this spring. This one is the opening track, and it was actually made in December 2000 as a bit of a "retro" throwback to early 1998 (is at least my best guess at the reason why I made this one in the first place). The track is quite a laidback and straightforward intro for the collection, running at a moderate 130 BPM. I won't bore you here with the technical hoops I had to jump through to actually get the video and audio done in a way that I was satisfied with, but there's a geeky technical rundown in the video description you can read if you're interested. I'll be posting these videos once a week, 12 tracks all in all. The whole collection will be on my Bandcamp on May 18. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicEquilibrium Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Very good keep releasing it's interesting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astralprojection Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Edit : nvm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acid being Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 I love tracker tunes. You've got some good rhythm there. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted March 2 Author Share Posted March 2 Next up, track 2. This one is from September 1998, and goes back to a time when my tracks started to take on a more "goa trance" vibe. Inspired by outer space, this one is still quite simple in its arrangement, but this is when my sound really started to evolve, slowly but surely. Do keep in mind that I was 17 years old when I made this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted March 9 Author Share Posted March 9 Next up, track 3. This one is also from September 1998, and was finished just a day after the previous track (so I've probably been working on these somewhat simultaneously). It's very much a twin sister to the previous one in theme and structure. If you're wondering about the peculiar title, to quote Wikipedia it "is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish, and one of the brightest stars in the night sky". If you'd ask me where I found the name of this star, the only answer I can give is "I have absolutely no idea". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 Next up, track 4. This one was finished in early October 1998, and I have to say that personally, I don't like this one at all and I almost left it off the collection. Definitely influenced by Transwave's album Helium (the first goa trance album I bought, apparently around the end of September 1998), I guess this was meant to be nothing more than a quick experiment. It didn't even have a title until I had to think of something for this collection (and naming it "untitled" would have been just meh). It does feature a little gimmick in that the kick (and by extension, the entire rhythm section) is on the offbeat, if it seems to you that there's something a bit off about this one. File this under "growing pains", there's much better material coming up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acid being Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 5 hours ago, Paul Eye said: Next up, track 4. This one was finished in early October 1998, and I have to say that personally, I don't like this one at all and I almost left it off the collection. Definitely influenced by Transwave's album Helium (the first goa trance album I bought, apparently around the end of September 1998), I guess this was meant to be nothing more than a quick experiment. It didn't even have a title until I had to think of something for this collection (and naming it "untitled" would have been just meh). It does feature a little gimmick in that the kick (and by extension, the entire rhythm section) is on the offbeat, if it seems to you that there's something a bit off about this one. File this under "growing pains", there's much better material coming up It still manages to be groovier than anything I've come up with so far! I enjoyed the sounds around 5:30 on as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 9 minutes ago, acid being said: It still manages to be groovier than anything I've come up with so far! I enjoyed the sounds around 5:30 on as well. Heh, thanks. You're of course free to enjoy it even if I don't 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 If the previous track was a bit of a disaster, this one is a huge step up on pretty much all levels. Finished about 2 weeks after the previous track, this is definitely the breaking point in the evolution of my tracks. Still very much influenced by Transwave's album Helium, but at the same time throwing lots of my own ideas into the mix. Also, at 150 BPM, this is the fastest track in the collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 Next up, the only downtempo track in the collection. Also, we're halfway through now This one was finished just 3 days after the original version of the previous track, maybe I had a rush of inspiration going on or something. Very much influenced by the closing tracks from Astral Projection albums, especially "The Astral Files", it of course does sound distinctly like myself. On a side note: why does that crappy Liquid Crystal track have the most views, likes (and also dislikes) of my tracks, at least at the moment? Go listen to the better ones ffs XD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astralprojection Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 3 hours ago, Paul Eye said: on a side note: why does that crappy Liquid Crystal track have the most views, likes (and also dislikes) of my tracks, at least at the moment? Go listen to the better ones ffs XD ive not really listened to them all thouroghly yet but maybe its because it sounds the most "neo" goa, and some sort of AI is pushing that to people? or is that wierd.. if i had to find a common denominator it would be that thats the one who sounds the most "neo" out of all of them i think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astralprojection Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 4 hours ago, Paul Eye said: Very much influenced by the closing tracks from Astral Projection albums, especially "The Astral Files", it of course does sound distinctly like myself. not really close to the astral files imho, i wouldnt have thought of the astral files in a million years if you tortured me. (not a bad thing, aside from Enlightened evolution and time began, i think that album could very well be forgotten and buried ) Now to check out the other tracks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 19 minutes ago, astralprojection said: not really close to the astral files imho Being influenced by something doesn't necesarily mean sounding like it, you know. Dunno how I should word it then but it's more like the idea to make a "downtempo goa" track came from those AP album last tracks. And the mixes of the tracks are what they are, and they'll go into the release exactly as they are. I wanted to keep them sounding just as they did back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 37 minutes ago, astralprojection said: ive not really listened to them all thouroghly yet but maybe its because it sounds the most "neo" goa, and some sort of AI is pushing that to people? or is that wierd.. if i had to find a common denominator it would be that thats the one who sounds the most "neo" out of all of them i think Uh, nope. It's the most amateurish piece of simplicity in the compilation, and definitely doesn't sound like anything from this millennium. Youtube is weird. And as a side note, I absolutely despise the term "neo goa" as a genre/style name, I just call all goa "goa trance" without much distinction which decade it happens to be from (and not singling out your specific use of the term here, just my stance on its use in general). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astralprojection Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Lol ok. Was just trying to be polite I guess I'll take it elsewhere. Peace 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prana4ever Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 On 3/30/2024 at 5:30 PM, astralprojection said: ive not really listened to them all thouroghly yet but maybe its because it sounds the most "neo" goa, and some sort of AI is pushing that to people? or is that wierd.. if i had to find a common denominator it would be that thats the one who sounds the most "neo" out of all of them i think Genuine question, is YouTube's algorithm really able to distinguish what is old school goa or new school goa? Intuitively I really doubt that especially if the track was made at the end of the 90's. Paul Eye said he didn't like the track, I think that's why it had more clicks initially, people were curious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prana4ever Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 Today is Saturday, which means new upload :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoktorG Posted April 6 Share Posted April 6 On 3/30/2024 at 2:48 PM, Paul Eye said: Next up, the only downtempo track in the collection. Also, we're halfway through now This one was finished just 3 days after the original version of the previous track, maybe I had a rush of inspiration going on or something. Very much influenced by the closing tracks from Astral Projection albums, especially "The Astral Files", it of course does sound distinctly like myself. Super beat in this track; I'm not so keen on the melody that comes in at the 3 minute mark because it sounds nintendo plasticky, but otherwise this is a winner Astral Projection-style track and I appreciated the breathing sounds at the end - nice touch. It strikes me that mastering and pressing to vinyl in this era helped to make early Goa sound less like arcade games because all the sounds became a bit warmer, more organic, more delicate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 Next up the, ahem, "creatively" named track 7. Finished in mid-November 1998, I can't really pinpoint any specific artist and/or track influence for this one, so in that way it sounds very much like myself. The bassline is something that could be called "proto fullon" (without being blatantly fullon in any case) and somehow at least to me the track sounds simultaneously both groovy and melancholic. The title translates to "snowfall", and 17 years old me must have felt very clever when coming up with those intercaps XD 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 8 hours ago, Prana4ever said: Genuine question, is YouTube's algorithm really able to distinguish what is old school goa or new school goa? Intuitively I really doubt that especially if the track was made at the end of the 90's. I doubt youtube's algos have much interest in something as niche as "goa trance" and its different flavours. In any case, that track has already broken the 1K plays mark, and I'm baffled. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 Next up, track 8. This one was finished in early December 1998, and it's the last track I finished that year, before taking a break from making music. I kinda remember I was running out of ideas around this time (evidenced by a bunch of unfinished tracks). This one takes some initial influences from the Transwave/Helium title track, but of course I put my own personal spin on it. Perhaps the most positive track in the collection (no cheese here in any case) and it has a nice groove to it, if I may say so myself 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Eye Posted April 20 Author Share Posted April 20 Okay, I'll be honest here. This next track is quite terrible. Finished in mid-January 1999 after I took about a month off making music, this one tries a bit too hard to sound like the classic Hallucinogen track LSD (and fails at it quite spectacularly). In any case, the remaining 3 tracks are much better than this, and maybe you can find something positive about this track because I sure can't 😅 P.S. that track title is quite facepalm-worthy too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prana4ever Posted April 20 Share Posted April 20 Interesting to see how tastes can differ, I listened to all the tracks and like this one better than most posted before, though it does sound a bit empty, but the sounds and melodies sound more mature than most tracks before in my opinion. The melody at 3:30 sounds simple but very good, and I like the last part of the track. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astralprojection Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 i think it sounds very good, probably the best so far tbh! the key changes around 5:50 mark and onwards are very nice, again reminds me of something that i cant put my finger on right now.. oh yes now i remember. similar key and key changes are in this track aswell, by solarforce. ( -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04jXxZhzxfA- ) can you give a bit more information about the samples you used? and from what synths they were sourced? for such things as kick, bassline, hihats, leads etc. would be interesting to learn where you found all the samples at that time (98). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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