Ethereal - Anima Mundi Album

Further to what the previous reviewer has said, you can actually download this for free from Ektoplazm - don't waste money on Amazon. Needless to say, the album is a piece of work and the first track is incredibly emotive - higher tempo compared to other tracks and hauntingly melodic. It is sufficiently different to mid-late 90s Goa to be categorised as new Goa. And I did fork out big bucks for a copy when the label owner recently sold his last copies in order I think to raise cash to finally release a compilation which had been put together in the mid 2000s (also available free on Ektoplazm). Funnily enough, I still can't bring myself to open it and listen only to my WAV version. I suspect it will be worth a lot more in another 15 years!

The dark night of the soul is over in this release and for many of us who love the more mature, upbeat, melodic and spiritual sounds of Goa Trance, this release shows that later release Classic Goa Trance was still very relevant in 2003. You can't call this new school because there is just too much heart, awe and feeling in this release, which sadly went missing soon after 2003 and is mostly missing in the new School Goa Trance, with a few exceptions. Personally I am surprised that this level of Goa Trance faded out going into the mid 2000's and lost it's creative, heart felt imagination after, but you could say the same thing about the 1960's I suppose or the Beatle's. Change is inevitable. Maybe it's a small and beautiful miracle that Goa Trance ever happened at all. I am thankful that there are a handful of amazing remnants of the Classic Goa Trance era that somehow survived the millennium and this is one of them. If you don't want to cough up 130 dollars for the CD you can download it on Amazon and various other sites for 7-10 dollars. A big thank you to Ethereal for this beautiful work of Sound, rhythm , and positive vibration's.

This is some of the more floating melodic goa trance. There's lots of eerie space sounds which remind me of Gangnia and Dimension 5 as well as some cool and apt samples. I love how the tracks still have some sort of direction to them.

The music is pretty fast but more peaceful, relaxing music, spiritual music. There's something magical sounding about it!

I've tried several times to rate it low, but I always end up changing that. It's definitely one of the best "newschool goa" albums -- it's creative and has an oldschool sound and doesn't try too hard (or just plain suck) like most of the stuff these days! You can tell the artists had some skills here.

Definitely recommended if you can find it!

Tranceform Records in Finland surprised me with their Blissful Moments compilation full of very melodic trance. Now they are out with a full length album by the Swedish duo Ethereal, who also had a track on the Blissful Moments compilation. Ethereal are Carl Larsson and Fredrik Haglund, based in Falun in Sweden. Here they are with their debut album, with one of the most beautiful cover arts I have seen in a long time. It sort of reminds me of some good old Matsuri cover arts. They have also been part of the demo scene.

Ethereal likes it melodic, and probably miss the period around 1995 and 1996, when most psychedelic trance were totally melodic. The first track is a really fast totally hypnotic track. Very melodic all the way, with a pumping bass line. Here are the melodies the main thing, unlike most psytrance released these days. Track 2 is more stumpy, but still totally melodic. This style reminds me a lot of artists like Ra and Dimension 5, for those of you who remember them. Ra (Christer Borge-Lunde) from Norway is also thanked inside the booklet of this CD. Track 3 continue the hypnotic style. This is what I call real goa trance. No cheese, just far out trancey melodies drifting you into other dimensions.

Track 4 is remixed by an artist called Dreamweaver (Jim Granlund), also from Sweden. This one has a bit heavier rhythms and an atmospheric, floating vibe. It is also darker and fits perfectly for night time trance. Track 5 starts beautiful with great melodies. Those hypnotic melodies makes for sure people want to fly on the dance floor. Reminds me a bit of Astral Projection too. Track 6 is a really pumping track, again with really hypnotic melodies and a very trippy vibe. They finish this album with a more slow going track. Very floating, with beautiful sounds.

This album is absolutely the most melodic album I have heard this year. If you like Ra and Dimension 5, you should absolutely get your hands on this. It might sound a bit old school goa, but here you get those fantastic goa melodies in a more modern way.

Back to the old school!

Break out your ganeshas, glow sticks & other weekend-Hindu artefacts and light up some incense - this 2003 release from Tranceform will take you right back to 1996… And that’s a good thing! ;o)

Ethereal are Carl Larsson & Fredrik Haglund from Sweden. They had two great tracks on the Blissfull Moments compilation released by Tranceform earlier in 2003. Now they are ready with a full album of highly melodic, infectious old school melodic goa-trance…

Anima Mundi is Latin for ‘Soul of the World’… “A pure ethereal spirit diffused throughout all nature” as stated in the promotional material… Woow… Sounds fancy indeed! ;o)

Let me take you thru the tracks...

#1: Full on from the get-go… Highly melodic, fast paced, multi-layered, complex… Pure old school bliss! Towards the end there are some subtle voice-samples… Reminds me a lot of AP’s “Searching for UFOs”… Come to think of it, that same voice sample was on the Ethereal-track “Fireflies (Remix)” on the Blissfull Moments compilation released earlier this year… Well, a good sample is a good sample I guess… If you put a gun to my head, and force me to find flaws, perhaps this tracks is just a little too long… But hey, when it’s good, it’s not a problem… What a fine first track!

#2: ‘Are you free?’ If you like seafood and psychedelic trance you’re in luck: Cosmic Lobster is on the menu! Darker, more distorted than the previous track, but the melodies are still intact… This track has a kind of hypnotizing feel to it… I can’t really describe it, but damn this is good… The “Searching for UFO-samples” are still there… What gives Carl & Fredrik? We’ve heard it already! Hehe… Nah, it doesn’t spoil the track at all…They are well-put, and by no means cheesy! Fine track!

#3: Holy smokes, it gets even better now… We go even faster now… I don’t have a bpm-counter, but this must be above 150 bpm’s… Smashing bass line on top of no-nonsense straight-forward melodies with twirling acid synths thrown on top… Does it get any better?… Crank up the volume on this baby and let the memories fly… Instant classic! Amazing track! Best so far, hands down!

#4: A remix to #2 … How do you remix a lobster? Well, Dreamweaver did it… This actually bears very little resemblance to the original… The sound seems more mature, more modern but unfortunately also slightly more boring! Well, this is not a bad track; it’s just not as good as the rest… Decent track!

#5: Flamedancer… Yeah, one of those guys you see at festivals looking cool, dancing with fire-sticks… The tempo is slower, but the melodies are strong and the bass kicking hard… This track is very old school Israeli-like in structure… This could easily have been on one of the early Trust In Trance compilations… This is as old school as it gets… Good stuff, though tends to become just a little bit boring towards the last couple of minutes… This could easily have been 2 minutes shorter… The ending itself is great though – Is that a pitched down Twin Peaks theme I hear? Sounds good! Nice track!

#6: Woow, this is one tripped out radiator… Once again the melodies are in focus, tangled in between twirling synths, kicking bass lines and random, yet structured psychedelia…This is where it’s at… So damn tasty… Amazing track!

#7: In keeping with tradition the last track of an album is slower, and this is also the case here… It is not an ambient track as such … It’s just slower than the rest of the album… Ethereal also did the last chilled track for the Blissfull Moments-compilation which I liked very much. This track is pretty good… Dub-elements here and there, bouncy relaxed bass line atop simple melodies… Very nice ending indeed!

To sum up, this album is a breath of old air… But that’s a good thing! Melodies are too often forgotten in most releases nowadays… But on this, they are in focus… Anyone, who likes old stuff like Astral Projection, Dimension 5, Pleiadians, Chi-a.d. and the likes should appreciate this… It’s great to get some variation from the norm these days… Even the coverart is old-school with beautiful multicolored, trippy fractal-psychedelic art… This will look great on your shelf! Some of the tracks are just a bit too long and Carl & Fredrik need to update their sample CDs, but besides fromn that, this is album is a real gem…

Recommended for anyone who misses the good old days! ;o)

Favourites: 1, 2, 3(!!), 6(!!), 7