Unreleased Goa Records proudly presents ‘Nocturnal Eschatologists’, the second mindblowing Goa Trance album of UK project Soliptic. Stephen Mercer’s first encounter with music was in his childhood when he learned to play the piano and the clarinet and took part in some cover bands. As a teenager, in the mid-to-late 90’s, he started producing ambient, chillout, and drum’n’bass. In 2000, while at university, he joined Keiretsu, a live band that blended drum’n’bass, breakbeat, and techno with rock, jazz, and folk. A year later, Stephen was introduced to the world of psychedelic trance by his housemate Brendan; classic releases recorded on minidiscs, such as ‘Cosmology’ by Cosmosis, ‘Twisted’ by Hallucinogen, and ‘Rock Bitch Mafia’ by Green Nuns Of The Revolution. Their intricate melodies, expansive design, and ambitious and unpredictable structures soon convinced Stephen to start making Goa himself, a funny experimental solo project that he called "Soliptic". The name comes from the term "solipsism", a viewpoint stating that only our own mind exists; according to Stephen, music is one of various ways to express exactly that.
For the fabric of the Soliptic style, Stephen challenged himself to replicate effects that impressed him the most in Goa Trance, like Simon Posford’s trick of morphing smoothly between 4/4 and 12/8, to make tracks that vary from minimal musical content to stacking umpteen layers of over-the-top melodic counterpoint. He consciously made tracks that constantly evolved from start to finish, balancing out the inherent looping repetitiousness of trance with subtle "through-composed" details that only happen once. A huge fan of Shpongle, Eat Static, and Ozric Tentacles, Stephen infused subtle elements of his eclectic listenings to his own twisty techy basslines : classical, afrobeat, soul, funk, metal, jazz, country, drum’n’bass. He also used samples from kitsch/camp and sci-fi movies and series (X-Files, Star Trek, The Outer Limits) to add a pinch of humour to the mix.
After his successful ‘Whirling Mathematicians’ album, released in November 2021, Stephen collaborates again with Unreleased Goa Records to publish the second collection of tracks representative of his music output between 2002 and 2003. They were assembled on his PC with lots of VST plugins (OhmBoyz dub-tape delay, Blood Overdrive distortion, etc.) and some soft synths from EMU XK6 keyboard and Korg MS2000R. The present album features ‘Riot Fuel’, released on the ‘Fluorotronik’ compilation by Tranceform Records, as well as eight previously unreleased pieces that were once downloadable as MP3 files on Dart Recordings. They are now available for the first time in full quality.
Stephen explains the reasons why he called his second album ‘Nocturnal Eschatologists’: “I came up with ‘nocturnal’ because I always lived a rather nocturnal life working on these tracks on headphones deep into the night; and ‘eschatologists’ since a lot of tracks have samples dealing with big issues like ‘humanity’s place in the universe’ and there are some quite dark, apocalyptically stompy ones on the album, so the theme of eschatology seems a bit appropriate. But, at the same time, those ‘dark’ themes and samples were a little bit tongue-in-cheek, so I wanted something that also sounded a bit silly. In the end, ‘Nocturnal Eschatologists’ is what I came up with”.
All tracks written and produced by: Stephen Mercer
Mastered by: Stephen Mercer
Artwork: Federico Draeke
Executive producers: Vas Cosmogenesis, Federico Draeke
Catalogue number: UGR 045
DAT Universe sublabel, perceived as a logical continuation and the final phase of the “Unreleased Goa Project”, that exists since 2007. The aim is to release in digital format until now hidden and obscure Goa Trance tracks, or re-release rare albums.
supported by 8 fans who also own “Nocturnal Eschatologists”
Total Eclipse has been with me for many years.
But I do prefer the version of Waiting for a new life that was featured on T.I.P. records Yellow compilation.
Still this release holds what was to me som prevous unheard gems. arvidsson51
supported by 6 fans who also own “Nocturnal Eschatologists”
Infinite just puts it out there..
keeping his style fluid, using different sounds available but always finding that Goa vibe. melodic, strong grooves that pick the listener/dancer up and carry them along. Andy Sampson
Tangerine explores the outer edges of electronic music, writing songs that hum and throb, full of eerie, staticky textures. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 10, 2022
Synths light up like blips of Morse Code on the latest LP from Jokios Kultūros, all of them ping-ponging between drum & bass rhythms. Bandcamp New & Notable May 14, 2023
supported by 6 fans who also own “Nocturnal Eschatologists”
Everything about this compilation—the artwork, the selection, the very spirit—perfectly mirrors the experience we all shared at this last ZNA. The care and devotion to this music is palpable in every frequency. Brilliant gems of timelessness that we can now cherish always. Thank you Mark, Federico, Frederico, Pedro & Company. Thank you. ♥️ Clone604