| Author
|
VA Worldbridger - Avatar
|
kazuku
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
100
Posts :
1123
Posted : May 25, 2007 18:02
|
Album: Worldbridger
Label: Avatar (www.avatar-music.com)
Released: May 2007
Cover: http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/ava/ava1cd042.html
Worldbridger is an Avatar records release compiled and Mixed by Goa Gil. In the cover link you can also read the promo text for this album. The last “compiled and mixed by Goa Gil cd I bought was “Cyberbaba 2000” and this is some years back. However from the cover design style not much has changed, it is clearly Gil and not the artists (or a neutral theme) on the va who are used to market the album. Gil hovers above a pyramid and the general theme suggests the relationship of “ancient trance culture” between the Western and Eastern parts of the globe.
I would describe the general style of music on this album as “Fast neo psychedelic night time”. Lets have a look at the track listing:
1. Intro - Aum
2. Horror Place - Search for truth
3. Orestis –Contact with peace
4. The Nommos – Between Worlds
5. Polyphonia – Challo
6. Kin Dza Dza – 9 energy transformers
7. Stranger – Worldbridger
8. Freaks of nature – White Grizzly
9. Savage Scream – Shadow Walker
10. Kulu – Virtual revolution
11. Cosmo vs Cerebral factory – Reality hackers
12. Sonik Scizzor – Nature´s Roar
13. Outro – Tommorows World
Sounds promising with many heavy weights of night psy at the starting line. Big Greek presence here.
The intro kicks of the journey with Gil himself chanting an “Aum” followed by the reading of a poem or psychedelic mission statement of some sort. I can see how people would find sampling oneself to kick of the cd a bit pretentious, but overall it sets the scene quiet well for things to come.
2. I never liked the Horror Place album much, but Zik is a really talented guy with many ideas and styles. This track starts with some percussion (which stays with in the background for some time, on and off),and soon we are on the way. To my ears the style is different to other Horror Place tracks, it reminds me more of Nommos sound….more quirky and morphing than usual, with nice fizzling and crackling fx. We hear some nice sampling and atmospheres in between which help set the mood of the track. Sets the pace well.
3. The Orestis track continues the flow nicely, comes across a bit more heavy and stompy. Quiet a few very short breaks to bring out the effect of the bass drum kicking in again. We get to hear the well known “time is running out for planet earth” sample somewhere in between. Nice track, I find it more percussion driven and straight to the point.
4. This track kicks of really nicely with a wicked baseline, and a menacing eerie melody. The most powerful track till now I find. Again heavily loaded with effects like expected. More high frequency sounds in here than in the previous tracks, nice snares in betwwen really driving the track forward. Typical Nommos sounds, my favorite upto this point. Effective samples too, helping bring across the scaling atmosphere of confusion and chaos. “The voices seemed very, very real……they were real!”
5. The journey continues with Polyphonia, another mindtwisting Helenic musketeer. I would say this track is somewhat less loaded with “static electricity sound” then tracks 2 and 4 for instance, trading this for other freaky, demented effects. Through less “quirkiness” the track comes across somewhat weighted down. I would call it a bit more twisted although the bassline is steady throughout. This brings some variety into the mix.
6. Now its KDDs turn to add some raw power and we can definitely hear the Kin Dza Dza style here….the kind of trade mark winding up sounds with short breaks and rhythm setting fx, some bleeps and blops. Less coherence here, we are well into chaos by now, less atmospheric then some of the other tracks but very psychedelic never the less. As usual very powerful bass drives the track forward and the mix towards mid journey. If you have heard recent KDD releases you kind of know what to expect.
7. The honor of the album title track goes to Stranger who has had some strong releases this year and last. I really enjoyed his colab with Innersound on va. Blacklight Power. This is also a really fat, solid track…….atmosphere, power, sizzling effects, it can all be found in here. The strength of this track is that it brings a unique style without sticking out like a rusty nail, just slides in very nicely. Really good artist imo. We are also “treated” to some voice samples of Goa Gil (sounding incredibly stoned) talking about his trance philosophy……
8. I have to admit, I hadn’t heard much of or about Freaks of Nature prior to this, but a very pleasant surprise. Remind me of other cutting edge US artists like Fractal Cowboys, very fresh and psychedelic. Some funny voice samples about “pot brownies” add humour to the mix. With this track things really get even more “out of control”, adds a lot of spice to the recipe for a big, weird psychedelic sponge cake. I would describe this track as “tight”, a lot going on but still following direction with many twists and turns. Organised chaos. Hope to hear more of them in future, maybe on a separate album or as part of “Vous Deux” collaboration with Mubali, Fractal cowbows etc.
9. We return to (very) relative normality, still very vicious but a little more straight forward. Explodes towards the end, becoming increasingly angry slapping us in the face quiet a few times. Not bad, but not a favourite either……still, a valid and necessary component of the formula to balance the musical equation.
10. What strikes me most about this track is the power of the bassline which is truly relentless,aggressive and furious. Very good for anger management, a bit over the top on screechiness in some places for my liking. Still, some nice atmospheres demented atmospheres push the journey forward. The darkest point of the trip imo.
11. This track comes in with a more bouncy bassline and some samples from one of the SAW movies (I think). A significant change of mood from the last track, we can hear unique mad Cosmo influence here, trademark sounds. More lively then many of the other tracks here, we have definetly discovered a different sector in our sonic travels. If you like this or not will mainly depend on if you like the Cosmo/Highko/Whicked Hayo style or not. To me it comes across refreshing in the context of this mix.
12. Sonik Scizzor ..hmm….I don’t believe ive heard any tracks before….nice final track, I would call it comic relief, slides in nicely with the previous track, but I like it more personally. The samples from “Last Hippie Standing” will crack many people up………”170 beats per minute….craaazy …….how can you dance to that extent”!  The sonic scizor snips the track to pieces everywhere, leaving a shredded pile of sound…but it sounds good. This is really a craaaazy track to finish off the album, especially when we are suprised by the speeded up “GNR-Welcome to the jungle” samples at the end……really original stuff, made me smile and listen a few times more.
The compilation winds up with an Albert Hofmann sample, bringing things to a close.
I believe this release has to be seen as a concept album and works well as such. Average BPM is around 150. In the first half the Goa Gil influence on track selection can be heard very clearly-many tracks remind of The Nommos. This is probably no surprise as the text states that the tracks were specifically written for this VA. The flow is very nice, the mastering sounds good to my ears (although I am no expert in these matters) and the mix is flawless. Some people may be put of by the many Gil samples and image posturing but I think it works quiet well in this case. I have only heard these tracks at home on a small system, but believe they would work well for home listening and also at parties...some real stompers here but also hat my mind travelling 
Final verdict – 8.5/10 – One of the best night time releases this year imo.
Fav tracks: 2, 4, 7, 12
|
|
|
D.A.R.K
Started Topics :
5
Posts :
115
Posted : May 26, 2007 01:54
|
|
Perma Fry
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
56
Posts :
2835
Posted : May 26, 2007 09:45
|
Really enjoyed reading that review
Favs:
Freaks of nature – White Grizzly!
Savage Scream – Shadow Walker!!
Kulu – Virtual revolution!!!
Cosmo vs Cerebral factory – Reality hackers!!
Sonik Scizzor – Nature´s Roar !!!!!!!! - This is the best track on the mix, Real great job on this one.. crazy crazy crazy
PS - Sonik Scizzor is La aka @lien Mental
This is a cutting edge high/er bpm side project that will slice sound into your brain
|
|
|
|
Meta-Morphosis
IsraTrance Senior Member
Started Topics :
216
Posts :
4980
Posted : May 26, 2007 11:31
|
Killer Mix i loved th track's here cant get enough of few of the number in this CD
My favourites
Stranger - Worldbridger
Polyphonia - Challo
Kulu- Virtual Revolution
Orestis –Contact with peace
Sonik Scizzor – Nature´s Roar
Awesome work done on all these tracks its ommiting madness, darkness and the true intensity, specially Kulu work wow
bom bhole
 “What we need is the development of the Inner Spiritual man, the unique individual, whose treasure is hidden in the symbols of our mythological tradition and in man’s unconscious psych.” - CJ Jung |
|
|
|
hallucinator
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
63
Posts :
2016
Posted : May 26, 2007 13:29
|
heehe i really enjoyed the CD
but the review too
bravo for the good words u said here !
I Enjoyed the compilacion much !
its just like a big journey in dark places !
I Just Like to tell that The Nommos track is awesome !
Respect for Avatar and all Artists involved 
Hallucinated Neighbour / Silent Existence
http://www.ektoplazm.com/label/silent-existence |
|
|
|
mk47
Inactive User
Started Topics :
118
Posts :
4444
Posted : May 27, 2007 10:01
|
|
except for the extremely pseudo spiritual hippie crap he babbles at the start .. is nice music upto track 8 .. then it gets a bit gabber and hectic for me .. horror place track is a surprise .. nice and smooth .. yup good cd
|
|
|
|
Zman
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
14
Posts :
3784
Posted : May 27, 2007 10:40
|
Orestis & Kulu are blasters!!! 
Cool CD overall even though some transitions are terrible and the hippie talk is hilarious.
Nice one  |
|
|
|
Electrip
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
16
Posts :
138
Posted : May 27, 2007 12:52
|
|
great compilation... cosmo feat cerberal factory track blow me away... |
|
|
|
Shaman Films Records
Shaman Films Records
Started Topics :
40
Posts :
349
Posted : May 30, 2007 01:05
|
no fucking words!
just saw gil this weekend and had my ears delighted byt this album wow wow wow
Egnogra
Shaman Films Media
www.kalmekak.com
www.shamanfilms.net
----------------------------------------
Coming soon!
SHAMFCD012 Apocalyptic Ritual Compiled by Dark Whisper
SHAMFCD013 Engrams The Trilogy ( double cd )
<BR |
|
|
|
!Ce M@n
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
30
Posts :
857
Posted : May 30, 2007 08:38
|
Killer stuff.. nice mix by gill baba ... trax I personally felt that took me away was worldbridger by stranger.. man this guy is gonna go a long way ahead.. amazing stuff..
and also by freaks of nature and polyphonia..."amazing bass"
what I never like'd in this va is cosmo.. hehe jus bang bang .. no much scratchiness in his musik...no offence.. all together awesome mix by Gill baba !
boom to gill baba and all the artist INc
!Ce M@n
0x00000PSy |
|
|
|
Pustelga
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
30
Posted : May 30, 2007 13:35
|
Extremely Mediocre Release. The mixed aspect is horrible, everytime the track changes I cringe because it sounds like the worst transition ever.
Orestis and the Kulu tracks are gems though.
The artwork is another sore topic. Does Gil have to put himself at the forefront of everything?? Its a little bit in bad taste and extremely lacking in originality to have your photos pasted all over a cd. And totally not in trend with the non materialistic and non recognition seeking aspect of Indian Ascetism. |
|
|
|
DanVapid
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
32
Posts :
736
Posted : May 31, 2007 07:46
|
Quote:
|
On 2007-05-30 13:35, Pustelga wrote:
Extremely Mediocre Release. The mixed aspect is horrible, everytime the track changes I cringe because it sounds like the worst transition ever.
Orestis and the Kulu tracks are gems though.
The artwork is another sore topic. Does Gil have to put himself at the forefront of everything?? Its a little bit in bad taste and extremely lacking in originality to have your photos pasted all over a cd. And totally not in trend with the non materialistic and non recognition seeking aspect of Indian Ascetism.
|
|
anything but...
this is a massive release from Gil, a peek into the future of "dark" psy--if anyone gets the best tracks before everybody else, it's this guy.
i love pretty much every track so it's hard to single any out, but Orestis, Savage Scream, Polyphonia, Nommos, and Kulu tracks are really outstanding! Stranger track gets an honorable mention, but I think the production could be improved (unless a muddy sound was his intention)
Gil was never and will never be a technically sound DJ, and I accept that. His approach is his own, and given that, I was pretty satisfied with the way tracks were mixed on this CD (most likely via software editor). Don't get caught up in the beatmatching aspect, Gil's mixes are all about track progression. As long as he finds ways to mix w/o trainwrecking then that's just fine. This is how many (if not most) "dark" dj's operate anyways. |
|
|
|
tinks
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
346
Posted : May 31, 2007 10:38
|
great album... didn't really need to be 'mixed' .. but its all cool...
orestis, strangers and freaks of nature are too good on this one... but special mention to freaks of nature.. what a blaster.. fun.. driving and clean sound.. big big kudos......
sonic scizzor ....fun stuff basically....
all other tracks a fine some will appeal more to certain people and other to other .. thats the strangth of this album...
cheers
tinks |
|
|
|
hallucinator
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
63
Posts :
2016
Posted : May 31, 2007 13:59
|
Quote:
|
On 2007-05-30 13:35, Pustelga wrote:
Extremely Mediocre Release. The mixed aspect is horrible, everytime the track changes I cringe because it sounds like the worst transition ever.
Orestis and the Kulu tracks are gems though.
The artwork is another sore topic. Does Gil have to put himself at the forefront of everything?? Its a little bit in bad taste and extremely lacking in originality to have your photos pasted all over a cd. And totally not in trend with the non materialistic and non recognition seeking aspect of Indian Ascetism.
|
|
Clean ur Eear`s !
If this its not in Trend u dont really know nothing about DARK PSYCHEDELIC TRANCE !
Come On Gil its the Legend !!!
Most Powerfull Release in This Year !
( i think u have a Goa Gil poster in ur room ) 
Hallucinated Neighbour / Silent Existence
http://www.ektoplazm.com/label/silent-existence |
|
|
|
americapsy
Started Topics :
1
Posts :
43
Posted : Jun 1, 2007 16:45
|
|
