Artha is back – let’s dive into Cronomi’s Dream Telepathy album

The long awaited new Artha album – Dream Telepathy is almost here (at least I can enjoy it before it’s officialy released by Cronomi Records since I recieved the FLAC files thanks to Ward and kind folks at Cronomi Records, so I feel obligated to throw out few honest words about this one. It’s not a secret I’ve been a huge fan of this kind of Goa trance music for a while and Artha is one of the artists that I always play and enjoy. Even the promotion has been a little bit obscure (especially because we’re dealing here with one of the most creative and innovative Goa trance producers in last decade), all true Goa-heads who are into this so-called new breed Goa-wormhole for more than few years, are familiar with the fact that Michał Bączek is making his second full-lenght album, especially after highly respected and acclaimed back-to-back releases – Fluori Dorby and Influencing Dreams (both released on his mother-label Cronomi Records).

When it comes to Artha music and sound in general, there is no universal consensus, most of the time, people who are stuck into dreamy  (or how I like to call it ‘Astral Projection-influenced‘ Goa, tend to bash or more politley criticise his sound, production or mastering, but still they somehow admire the unique approach and creative input, even it’s not full-blown melodic Goa trance chaos. In simple words, it’s Artha, or to be daringly honest if I may – a totally new level of Hallucinogen, just made in wrong times where the new level of Goa generation tends to forget how much Simon contributed with his solo project. Yes, it’ might be wrong to compare such heavyweight with Artha, but as a reviewer I have to point out that music on Dream Telepathy still sounds innovative, creative and technically almost flawless (and let’s not forget the six year-long gap between this and his last album.

That being said, new album ‘Dream Telepathy’ comes with 8 new tracks (excluding the reworked version of legendary Maharabathara track) and over 70 music of trippy, but very likable Goa trance music. On the first listen, sound geeks might notice that audio-image of this album is slightly different than it’s processor, with more accent on the tiny details, passages in arrangement and FX moments which Dream Telepathy has a lot to offer. A family member of Cronomi crew, Mario, or to some of you better known as M-Run put a lot of effort to make this album sound more organic and less raw / kick-friendly. Still, it has to be previewed on bigger and better PA to understand this improvement a little bit better, but it’s just one of thoose details every fan of good sounding Goa music will know how to appriciate and in my humble opinion Mario did a great job here (but, it’s also a matter of taste and I’m sure many of you will prefer the Colin‘s mastering from the first album).

So, the music? It sounds like Artha, perhaps a little bit more minimal with more focus on arrangement/technical parts, but still it doesn’t suffer of being chessy in terms of melody or, God forbid ‘trying so hard’ to sound too Goa with cheap oriental melodies. I’ll tell you a secret – it’s not how Michał or Cronomi roll. However, I feel that at some point, this release feels a bit rushed out, even it has it’s moments of brilliance and uniqueness and tracks such ‘El Es Di’ or ‘Secret Trip’ are proper gems and one of the reasons why this release might end up in all major ‘best of’ selections at the end of the year – when it comes to Goa trance music in 2016. Of course, you can’t except that whole album sounds unique from start to finish, but thoose tiny (as I called it ‘rushed out’) moments won’t spoil your enjoyment and I’m sure many of you are not nit-picking as much as I do.

Personally, it’s hard for me to review each track, since all of them got a lot to offer – for example the opening track A Way To Target is already much more interesting than Dubber Nubber from his previous album, the revisited Maharabathara version will make you dance and my personal highlights such as El Es Di (duh, it’s LSD), and Secret Trip will probably please your aural sensors. Also, don’t miss relaxed Flutes (with some nice native Slavic themes appearing there for a breif moment) and technoid Theory Of The Ghost, perfect for all early 2000’s Goa astronauts – thoose tracks will become a true classics in the near future, I’m sure.

For more informations about this release, please visit official Cronomi Records website.

Written by Richpa.