I'm back!

Hey everyone and sorry for the long silence! I just moved recently and getting an internet connection took way more than I expected which stopped my progress with the blog and my YouTube channel, but now I'm back and don't expect to have interruptions like this again. A long overdue update is coming up (probably tomorrow) with all the album news. Reviews will follow so I can get back to normal.
For those of you who follow my YouTube channel I invite you back there as well. New upload in progress as I'm writing this ;)

Second week of November update.

With the new Shpongle album out the my most awaited albums of the year are already released. Still no news on the Asura album though... I've been listening to a lot of classic rock lately so I have less recommendations related to this blog, but one album I discovered this week is Visions Of Surya by Colourform, a project consisting of Matt Hiller and Jake Stephenson. Amazing, light ambient, similar to the ambient works of Solar Quest, but probably even calmer. Another album I heard by this duo is Microcosmacrocosm, released as Alien Mutation vs Indigo Egg. Check those out if you like to hear some ambient sometimes.

So as far as new releases this week go the highlight has to be E-Mantra's Arcana. Another Suntrip release in a short period of time and from I heard on the samples it will be awesome. Really great year for goa and Suntrip. Full release list:

E-Mantra - Arcana (Suntrip Records)
Silent Enemy - Diabolic (9th Circle Records)
Yubaba - Paradiso (Cyberset Records)
Animalis - Sly Technology (Geomagnetic.tv)

X-Dream - We Created Our Own Happiness

Before the Shpongle album review I decided to go back in time to 1997 and one of my favorite goa albums. We Created Our Own Happiness is the second album by the famous X-Dream duo from Germany. It's widely considered as a goa classic so many of you must have heard it or of it.
It starts out slow and then we get what I love the most about this album. The amazing acid sound use, X-Dream are the masters at that. After the amazing first track I expected things to go down, happens a lot when artists put the best track to start off and leave a good first impression. But no, in this case it gets even better. Do You Believe is just an amazing journey through acid landscapes and goa melodies. Very hypnotizing. The following track, The Second Room (A-Trip), is a bit weaker in my opinion, but still great goa. We don't have as much innovation here, it's simpler, but that also makes it feel like it's much faster. Then we move on to Zebra which has a more chilling feel to it, probably because of the lower BPM. But the track is just beautiful, great use of acid again. The fifth track is a downtempo piece, nothing special really. Not bad, but I preferred the trance tracks. About half way into the track we get a quote about ganja. We go back to trance with We Created Our Own Happiness. Good track, but more monotone compared to the first few. The sample here reminds me a lot of the one used in Sea Of Tranquility by Art Of Trance. Eleven follows and it is probably the second best track on the album. It starts out simple and continues evolving and the second part of it is one of the finest moments of this release. Unlike on most goa releases the last track is no a downtempo piece. Aurorix is just crazy fast, but still manages to be very complex. It's actually the perfect ending for this album.
We Created Our Own Happiness is one of those albums that could be recommended to someone new to goa, if they won't like this, then they probably won't like anything else. It's very complex, but everything flows perfectly. Listen to it if you haven't already and let me know what you think.

Rating: 5/5

Standout Tracks: 1, 2, 7
Genre: Goa Trance

Release info:

Label: Tunnel Records
Country: Germany
Released: 1997
Artwork: Bi.sign
Producer: Rough & Rush

Tracklist:

1. Screw (The Truth)
2. Do You Believe
3. The Second Room (A-Trip)
4. Zebra
5. Related Vortex
6. Eleven
7. Aurorix

Links:

Discogs

Last.fm

Myspace

October release summary and upcoming week's albums.

My blog is two months old now. Thank you for all the visits again, I got twice as many visitors in October with the counter hitting 1500. I also added a Flag Counter (after around 1000 views) and got visitors from 62 countries so far.

October had some interesting releases, but no great albums. The Intergalactic Slapstick is the best I heard so far, but Planet Discovery should be good too. Here is the full list of releases from last month with my rating added:

Para Halu - The Future Sound of Para Halu
California Sunshine - The Dark Side Of The Brain (3/5)
Bodhisattva 13:20 - Equations (3.5/5)

Shotu - Conception
Liquid Stranger - The Intergalactic Slapstick (4/5)

Kalumet - Burlesque
Easily Embarrassed - Planet Discovery

November will start out strong with the long awaited Shpongle album. It will be available from the Twisted website October 7th, but the pre-ordered copies will be sent out November 2nd. The Shpongle Live DVD is also being sent out Nov. 2nd. It includes Shpongle Live In Concert as well as bonus materials. Here is a list of new releases for the first week of November:

Shpongle - Ineffable Mysteries From Shpongleland (Twisted)

Yggdrasil - Prose Edda (Digital Psionics)

Ghreg On Earth - T³ (Underground Sound Promotions)