Talpa

This post might be confusing to people out of the psychedelic trance / goa music loop, but I realized I have yet to post about my favorite genre of tunes. I'll say right now that there will be some weird words in this one! I'll try to link where I can so that things will make more sense to people.

A DJ I've been conversing with for quite a while, who goes by the name Underfoot (you can find him at Audiognomes, and you should - download his mixes!), mentioned the artist Talpa to me last week. I thought I'd try it out, and it turns out that his album, The Art of Being Non, is really the best psytrance I've heard in a very long time. This is as close to a Perfect Album as it gets, my friends. Every single song is well thought-out, intelligent, and has sounds I could have never imagined before.

It evokes memories of the good old Hallucinogen (this album stands strongly up there with The Lone Deranger), and what Infected Mushroom used to sound like before they were Converting Vegetarians. One song, "No Place to Hide," really sounds so much like the guys from Israel (Infected) collaborated on it that I was surprised to hear Talpa is from Serbia. This marks the first time I've heard music like this (that is this good) from outside of Britain, Russia, Israel, or Sweden. Sadly, electronic music of this quality is lacking here in the USA - I can't even think of any artists to mention. There has to be someone out there...

I'd recommend this album to anyone who already loves psytrance or goa, and even those who have never listened to it before. It is a rare case of a recent release in this genre of music that really stands out as truly original and melodic. I will listen to it for a long time to come.