Phi
Phinalizer
Elf Music (Japan)
review by damion from psyreviews.com
This week’s Eastern flavour (or “flava”, if you’re under twenty) continues with yet another album that totally blows me away. This is delicious, delirious, screaming-and-creaming fullon that’s got some of the most intricate and dedicated production heard all year. Henro takes all of ten seconds (count’em) before it’s bashed straight into fullon mayhem -- I thought “no long intro’s” was a phrase used to advertise premium-rate sex lines, but I stand corrected. And it explodes into fiercely good melodic stuff, with rising 303’s, but nowhere near cheddarville. It ends a little soon though, but any objection to that is squished when We Can Go To Your Country comes in, a deeper edge but no less energy. This is staggering, sounding at times like a cross between Mr Peculiar and Lego head (a good thing), with melodies that are great but are somehow not core to the tune. Perfect ATK is an utter belter -- utterly staggering. The grooves change everywhere, the noises ar e perfectly-placed, it makes me want to call everyone I know and tell them how good it is (unluckily though I called my mum first, and she had no idea what I was on about.) Ganja Of It All is killer and all, a rising anthem with a quality break, great escalation… the raw power here is incredible. Plz Pass Me Beer & Acid is deep and rolling, futuristic synth stabs abounding. Not the greatest tune on the album, but the best evidence of how Phi layers and textures sounds. The title track is tuffer than a lot here, a gnarlier riff and more attitudey topend movement, plus Led Zep samples in the breakdown, before breathless melodies run it all out towards the end. And now to Afrobad -- a huge synth riff, building up and up then cascading all over you. Utterly sublime, but we’re hardly started yet: It rises and rises and rises, and at that final peak you’re left with one word on your lips: GOA!!! Yup, it’s the first Goa Trance record in about eight years. I Don’t Need Your Justic eis manic, fast space-tech, and the noises have to be heard to be believed. It’s truly awesome -- the synths come out at you in 3D sound, I didn’t think stuff like this was possible?? Finally Desert Legend slows things down but - f*ck me - it’s no less amazing. All of which means, this is a rather special record: there’s no formula here, there’s some of the most intricate programming of the year… a record that has you screaming and creaming as it takes you along.
10