Talpa - The Art of Being Non

( Sundance Records , Oct. 2004 )



1. First Ray Of Light 
2. My Kingdom 
3. Trust No Goblin 
4. No Place To Hide 
5. Dragon Tale 
6. People Are Animals 
7. Flybeereligion 
8. The Moon 
9. Rebirth 
10. Back To Dreaming

So I’ve been visiting my Psychiatrist lately. He's always been very kind to me and giving me the best medicine available to suit my musical craving. So he recommended me the new compilations from 3D Vision and Mind Control. I refused and told him that this stuff doesn't do it for me anymore. It softens the pain but it doesn't do anymore than that.
I told him, stop giving me fluffy placeboes, I want the real stuff. I want something to remind me the old days, when I started to listen to Psytrance. I want the madness of Infected Mushroom's Gathering, the twistedness of Hallucinogen's Lone Deranger and the melodies of Classical Mushroom.
In the past weeks he’d recommended me Misted Muppets and Synsun. It worked well, especially Synsun, but the comedown was painful. It still lacked the depth of the stuff that I was looking for.
But today the doc had a big grin on his face. He told me that he might have something that just might move some cells in my beaten brain. With quick yet determined move he pulled a CD from his “special patients” shelf and it had Talpa written over it.
Who’s Talpa I asked the doc. “Trust me man”, he replied. It will only do you good.
And it did. This CD returned the smile to my face. It’s twisted, it’s melodic, it’s full of surprises and ever changing melodies, percussions, baselines and whatever. It’s evil, happy, dark, light and most of the time it oozes talent and unbelievable skills. Something you might expect from experienced and aged producer, but this is Talpa’s first album. The most surprising bit is that Talpa, Goran Juric, is from Serbia. Not really a place yet known for its Psytrance artists, but I hope that Talpa paved a way for more Serbian talents.

Recomendation: So, is this album any good? Yes, it is. This is true Psychedelic Trance, with a capital P. This is by no means a copy of Infected Mushroom or Hallucinogen like some people tend to think. It does indeed borrows some influence from Infected Mushroom and Simon Posford, but it has plenty of fresh ideas inside. There is no point in going track by track review here, because I see this album as one big master piece. But if I would be asked what are my favorite tunes here I’d mention: 1,3,4,6 (starts off with amazing sample), 8!!! (One of the best vocal tunes this year. Really reminds me Fly Agaric – I see myself), 10!!

Favorite tracks:1,3,4,6,8!!!,10!!

Review by : Pavel