Artha - Dream Telepathy mp3 album

I just love how old-school this album sounds and how Artha took the Hallucinogen (and its "derivatives") sound as an inspiration and made it his own, with those signature swirly synths, heavy bass lines and lots of swooshy, noisy FX. It's also refreshing, that this somehow avoids most of the current day neo-Goa cliches, drawing heavily from the legacy of the original psychedelic trance, rather than melodic goa, even if it is unashamedly melodic at times.At first it's a lot to take in - the music is very dense, full of melodies, acid lines, effects, drum loops, etc. so it took me some time to put those things in order and to see past it to recognise the structure of the songs, the arrangements, etc. Some of the things you'll just have to accept as an artistic vision, e.g. the fact that "Secret Trip" or "A Way To Target" go against the typical track structure, where you build the tension over the time - in both cases the peak is in the middle, while 2nd part is a "release": more melancholic and moody, focused on sound textures and landscapes rather than energy. I personally LOVE that, because it means that the artist had his very clear vision which he realised in spite of popular conventions and I can really appreciate that. Sure, the voice samples in "Dream Telepathy" are testing my resolve and someone very aptly called the last track "fantastically unremarkable", but no album is perfect (at least for me) and - again - you need to try to see what the artist was going for, what kind of atmosphere or feeling he wanted to create.Track-by-track comments:- "A Way To Target" is one of the best triplets trance tracks ever - very funky and acidic and with a great transition to Juno Reactor-like dreamy atmosphere in 2nd part,- "Monkeys" captured my attention because of cleverly used spoken samples and that nostalgic, long main theme played with slowly oscillating synth,- "Theory of The Ghost" sounds like a collaboration with Eat Static with machine gun, train-like bassline and laser kick, but at around 4:00 mark a melodic riff reminds that it's Artha after all. Very good, hypnotic track, even though the main melodic hook could be elaborated more,- "El Es Di" stole my heart with those bells appearing in- and out- throughout the tune, wobbly SH-101 synth lines, ring-modulated acid lines and overall "dirt" in the production, i.e. the lo-fi drums. Great track,- "Mahabharata (Live Version)" immediately sends you flying with that wiggly acid line, but then somehow fails to build and sustain the energy; there's some excitement introduced by new melodic lines at 4:15 and then 5:55, but for my liking the track "starts" to early (and ends to abruptly, as well) and loses some of the dramatic effect it could otherwise have. Very, very good track still,- "Dream Telepathy" I don't really like, because the chopped-up singing and heavily distorter acid line make it seem much slower and heavier than it really is; the 2nd part pulls it up a bit with some great melodic work, but I was disappointed with the part at 7:20 - when it really gets interesting - not getting developed any further... BTW, it's fascinating how often artists pick a name of the album after the weakest - IMO, of course - track.- "Secret Trip" is a return to form though, with heavy Shakta ("Silicon Trip" album) and Hallucinogen influences - 1st half is a bit understated, with different ideas thrown about but then it gets really great in the middle, with that Soothsayer / Gamma Goblins-like bubbly acid synth(s) and heavily echoed Indian chanting. It's all laid back and not very driving, but all the details in the background - e.g. that delicate, "angelic" riffs - create a very captivating atmosphere,- "Flutes" takes a bit too long until it gets going, but when it does it's really good, very Shpongly, mixing live flute with gentle acid lines. One thing I wasn't particularly fond of is the spoken sample, that doesn't really make any sense in the context.In terms of mastering, I'd probably preferred this to put a touch less emphasis on bass and ever so slightly more on the hi-hats which would've benefited the overall clarity, but it's great anyway: meaty, detailed and very pleasant on headphones.Overall, it's a 5/5 from me - it's different, very personal, varied and will be remembered for years.