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Deep "Zenonesque" progressive trance/techno

acacian

acacian

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This is a style of trance that emerged from the Australian "Bush Doof" scene over 20 years ago and has evolved into a very specific sound that many artists have woven into their style. It consists generally of a monotonal driving bassline and a sophisticated flowing/evolving call and response theme, coated in lots of little ear candy tid bits .. I wouldn't say it limits itself to any particular sound palette but the way the sounds interact with each other - or the "language" is I think what defines something as "Zenonesque" as opposed to normal "progressive". The sounds really dance over the bassline in a tongue and cheek fashion that is clearly inspired by the language of psychedelics.

Anyhow, there's something about that low octave driving sound with the often sparse but intricate call and response that makes me grin and I thought I'd share some tunes for folks to enjoy and invite anyone else to share some tracks that they feel fit within that "Zenonesque" style of trance/techno or even downtempo. If we can keep it to the style talked about here that would be great.. there are lots of other threads for EDM

Recommend listening on really nice quality speakers.. first track for example has some beautiful crisp detail that sounds exquisite on some high quality studio monitors ;)

First track is some newly released silky deep Zenonesque progressive techno from France.. really love that low clean bass and the slightly distorted bass motifs that walk over the top.. and those little triplet percussive bits at the end of each 16 bars.. yum. His sound palette is state of the art IMO.. and a very good example of where the Zenon sound has arrived at in 2024

Some faster, 135bpm trance by the same artist.. some really cool FM synth automation.

A simple stomper with sparse well thought out detail

One of my all time favourites.. an early classic .. Autonomech has a great way of capturing the Australian bush

Another oldie which is super groovy and fun

A relentlesslybuilding dark track by the creator of Zenon records.. super cool layering in this one

That's all for now .. more to come :)
 
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Gentle fluffy percussion.. slow pulsating bassline.. middle eastern melodic elements.. always a strong techno influence.. but up in the 4 to the floor 135bpm terrirtory..
 
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I'm very into Zenon Records stuff. I have listened already most of the tracks mentioned, except for the newer ones.
I'd need to check my music collection to recommend some of my favourites, but I'll start with what's (IMHO), one of the best proggresive/zenon albums ever:

Merkaba (also known as Kalya Scintilla) is one of the artists I've seen mentioned here quite a lot of times. Chill, but deep music, groovy and psychedelic. This album has it all. I'm not a big fan of his later works (too much spoken word for my taste, even if the music is great), but I love this one.
 
Yeah that's a good one as well. I think I like his Merkaba project the most. Had the pleasure of seeing his projects live a bunch of times. Puts on a great show! But yeah I'm not into his recent stuff either.. his early prog trance was great though.

Have you listened to Tristan Boyle before? He has a really cool sound

 
Pulled up at a festival last year, set the campervan up then 1/2 hour later they were filling the next row and a group of about 12 sstarted to set up opposite me. Soon I could hear people start moaning and talking about moving. Had a quick look to see a massive speaker being bolted to the roof rack of a van. It was opposite me and could see the speaker would be firing directly into my pop-top bed. By the time the tunes started as the sun was setting, I was already up in my pop-top, comfy as one can be, coming up on some 70's tabs I;d been hoarding. I'd have been happy with any trance, but it was all this stuff, never thought I'd surpass my all time best trip, but this was something else. 30 odd years later that music gave me an experiernce way way beyond anything I'd have been happy with, a wonderfull synchronistic event and an apt time pass on all my wares to them the next moring. They told me what the music was and I could never remember and never find it browsing about.
 
dmtzepi said:
Pulled up at a festival last year, set the campervan up then 1/2 hour later they were filling the next row and a group of about 12 sstarted to set up opposite me. Soon I could hear people start moaning and talking about moving. Had a quick look to see a massive speaker being bolted to the roof rack of a van. It was opposite me and could see the speaker would be firing directly into my pop-top bed. By the time the tunes started as the sun was setting, I was already up in my pop-top, comfy as one can be, coming up on some 70's tabs I;d been hoarding. I'd have been happy with any trance, but it was all this stuff, never thought I'd surpass my all time best trip, but this was something else. 30 odd years later that music gave me an experiernce way way beyond anything I'd have been happy with, a wonderfull synchronistic event and an apt time pass on all my wares to them the next moring. They told me what the music was and I could never remember and never find it browsing about.
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Thanks for sharing your experience.. was it this style of music playing?
 
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