Reviews 2-13-2007 |
Music Reviews |
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Dream Wide Awake
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Apologies to anyone freezing their shanti's off in Europe at the moment, but here in Dream Wide Awake, ladies and gentlemen, is another level.
It’s not psy-chill, thank Raja. It’s not dull “proper” ambient, thank Namlook. Four years in the making, it’s a veritable tapestry of sound
that’s got more live instruments than the Salvation Army marching band. And
more than this, they are used intelligently and decisively: the violin,
accordion and female voice on Elves Of Athoria are morphed into the electronic
backbone in a refreshing, impressive way. None of this “acoustic instrument
manipulated as a digital sound,” nor the “standalone electronic track with
token live instrument samples off a Future Music cover CD.” I’m serious here:
it’s seamlessly well done, it’s as though music was always meant to sound like
this. Dubber and Purple Sky sound like a more emotionally
sensitive Massive Attack, while the radio-friendly standout is an electro
Radiohead fronted by a softer Sinead O’Connor. It doesn’t always work; Open My Heart and Wide Awake are
somewhat awkward, rambling diversions, but this doesn’t really matter. The
shagadelic Ton Image closes the album in steamy, Future-Sound-Of-Gainsbourg
style and you’re left mopping up the cerebral, loveable mess that this album
has made in your shorts. Dream Wide Awake is impossible not to love. While other
people making electronic music are producers, Omnimotion is an artist; and yes,
there is a difference. If you’re an Entheogenic addict then you may be disappointed
with this. If on the other hand you’re over shanti and want something mature,
lasting, significant and bloody good, then look no further. A scorcher. |
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Cosmos (Tribeadelic) by
Various Artists Visit Tribeadelic Records' website
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Tribeadelic’s latest compilation is also its best. Released
at a time where the sheer dearth of fullon releases means that hardly anything
gets any kind of exposure at all, it’s definitely one of those
diamond-in-the-rough situations. Rinkadink’s Suadade is pure Rinky bliss, smooth sounds and
interesting half-melodies with a decent drop; and it gets better with LPU (CPU
and Melbourne’s Liquid collaborating) – a hefty, thunky track with balls as big
as two planets tucked painfully into a pair of tight spacejeans. Indra’s Bomb
Bass isn’t bad, it’s the whole Isra thing again, and it's bloody cheesy: but
it’s executed well. New Australian producer Audio Unit does encouragingly well
with Pink Cup, one of the finest examples of fullon around at the moment. The
peaks and builds aren’t forced, the production is punchy, and it shies away
from cheese. Legohead makes a welcome return with Pinky And The Brain,
showing that he can still do what he does, and does it well. The sample at the
break is nothing short of hilarious, and the subsequent drop has your feet
moving, your face smiling, and the bits in between all feeling rather nice
indeed. Next up, Nosferatu by Liquid Nebula – a veritable Australian
supergroup with Luna Orbit, Fractal Glider and Ozzy on vocals – ok not really.
But it’s a decent track, buzzing along at a fairly frenetic pace and making
good use of that guitar plugin (for once). The escalation is organic and effective,
the middle run is more kaleidoscopic than 1968 Jefferson Airplane playing in
Ken Kesey’s living room, except with better production. The wonderful DMMT do well with the Doors-exhuming Break On
Thru, a fucking stellar track with or without its cheeky sampleage. Liquid
& Legohead is a good collaboration on paper, but Lick Your Leg falls short.
It’s not bad, but it lacks a certain punch and the arrangement of sounds
favours the lower end, with the result sounding a little muddy. Things get better, and brighter, with Life Theory from Finally a rare downtempo outing from Fractal Glider: Ride The Wave sounds like its title would suggest, dubby without being too shanti, and a cocooning vibe that sounds like being hugged by the carpet (or something). All in all this is a bloody impressive release; lose Indra and you’ve got an almost perfect album. |
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Mode-S by Xavier Morel
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A very hot property this. Psy-heads may not know this chap
by name, but chances are he’s sitting in your CD collection already; he’s
worked with Genetic, Eat Static and Juno Reactor, he’s compiled the two mighty
Black compilations on Solstice this year, and he guests on the Koxbox album. The common denominator on the more recent appearances is,
essentially, what Mode-S is all about: tecchy, metallic trance that builds
subtly, morphs violently, and jaw-drops daw-droppingly. It’s essentially a load of music that I don’t know, but I
now know that I probably should; the dynamic, intricate layering of psytrance
has been preserved and this raw, split-level techno has been dusted all over
the top of it. The Tony Rohr remix of X-Dream’s We Interface makes so much more
sense than the original; stripped-down and paranoid, the elements that are
retained from the original have more impact via not being shoved down your
throat. Speedy J & C Liebing’s Eventide is disturbing, and the
midsection peaks with a smashing run of O’s Atomit, Steven Bodzin’s Tron and
Heckmann’s Shadow Dancer. See, these names are new to me. Which makes reviewing it a
handsome challenge. The closest familiar ballpark to this would probably be the
Solstice Black compilations with less of the psy bassline; or X-Dream’s last
album with more subtle poke. And if that’s no good you can always check the
preview at Xavier Morel’s Myspace page http://www.myspace.com/xaviermorel . Oh, and the fact that it’s a Japanese import gives you extra trainspotter points with yer mates. Only released in Reviewed by Damion courtesy of the Psyreviews website. |