The opening bars of Shikasta’s »Self Indulgence« set the tone: the slightly trancy bass wobble on the opener of the second »Gonzo Goa« compilation sounds honest, raw and original. The same goes for the breakbeats and acid lines that follow: not sterile or overproduced, but with just the right amount of edge to get you moving. It’s music that appeals to the senses and doesn’t allow for vanity.
At least that’s the latest message in this compilation series, which musically documents the self-forgetting raving of the 1980s and 1990s in Goa and which started its acclaimed journey last year. While the first volume focused on tracks from 1987 to 1994, the archivists contemporary witness and Goa veteran Ray Castle have pushed the seven-year interval back one year this time.
As well as unforgettable gems, the compilation also features old favourites: German producer duo Dance 2 Trance with their psychologically challenging »Freaks«—back when trance was actually trance and could induce the eponymous state—as well as the saccharine Hi-NRG EBM of HNO3’s »Doughnut Dollies« or the Industrials »The Gauntlet«, which transformed Kraftwerk’s playfulness into a straightforward techno beat. Like last year, »Gonzo Goa II: Party Music 86-93« draws on the primordial soup of rave in its psychedelic form. You could almost say »the more the merrier«.
