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damion

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Everything posted by damion

  1. Just playing around with the site and trying to remember how it all works -- please don't say anything if it disappears and/or becomes illegible! It'll be right after the weekend.
  2. Will Stoner is/was the guy responsible for the last iteration of the Rhino site... I guess he's who you were in contact with? will [at] flyingrhino [dot] co [dot] uk <-- no idea if it still works AFAIK the copyright on the old recordings reverted back to the artists once Rhino went down. Not all artists agreed to having the audio up there which is why the catalogue was incomplete.
  3. So long as there are villains, there will always be crime-fighters
  4. http://arabesque.co.uk//index.php?option=c...61&Itemid=1 http://arabesque.co.uk//index.php?option=c...34&Itemid=1 http://arabesque.co.uk//index.php?option=c...62&Itemid=1
  5. Parvati are a bit like a pet dog. Faithful, reliable – they’ll always deliver the goods and quite often they’ll deliver them exactly when and where you want them to. It is at this point that my analogy ends. Parvati doesn’t shit on the carpet, nor does it lick its balls in front of the fire. Also, it doesn’t have four legs (although I’d hazard a guess it has more than two.) No Time No Space continues in the vein of the Psy Stories series. The vibe is menacing and gnarly, but never too far away from that sense of humour. Indeed, if darkpsy can be characterised by snarling evilness, which I think it probably can, then Parvati is a force of good up against the evil bizarro-world X-Men (by which I mostly mean those Russian producers causing irreversible damage to the space time continuum from the confines of their bedrooms.) Jahbo turns up trumps once again with Ultrasonic Energy, Mussy Moody’s New Visions is the perfect soundtrack to your inevitable descent into insanity, and System Overload vs Mubali’s Swan Song is relentless stuff, even if the production sounds a little unbalanced. For those looking for instant gratification on the Saikosounds samples, check Kuro Fusion’s The Druids Dipsauce – utterly frenetic, insane, wonderful music that’d make you think more than once before playing to your mum. I loved Papiyan’s breakneck Lurendrejer, a delightfully scratchy ditty that has me vaguely in mind of the Syncro 12”s released years ago on Tip, except with added reverb. Likewise Arjuna’s lysergic squelch Chemical Jungle, and the changes in Onkel Dunkel’s intriguingly-titled Beware Geeks Bearing GIFs are nothing short of divine. There will be people who say that this stuff is the only true psychedelic music around, and and then there will be those who say it’s nothing of the sort and only serves as fuel for young ravers who’ve yet discovered what it’s like to dance past 9am. Both camps are missing the point: No Time No Space is, like the Parvati releases that have come before it, bloody good music and that’s all that should matter. http://www.psyreviews.net/index.php?option...1&Itemid=46
  6. does anyone have a definitive list of all SP's work -- under various guises and at various stages -- that's more comprehensive that discogs? and/or can anyone direct me to any site that has streaming samples of these more "secret" tracks?
  7. I always thought Matenda was a great producer on the one hand, and an underrated producer on the other hand. He is one of the few artists whose music I can always go back to, and find I know every single damn note (the other artists who spring to mind are Neil Young, Johnny Marr's guitarwork with The Smiths, and most of The Stone Roses.) From the opener Speculator, with its effortlessly gliding layers and orgasmic breakdown, you know you’re in for a bit of a treat. Plain Vanilla shamelessly resurrects warm Balearic vibes – think Chicane with up-to-date production, all the while sounding as though you’re driving along some beachside highway with an implausibly stunning bird sitting in the passenger seat. The title track is an utter classic – it’s laconic, low-set stuff that coaxes melodies out of nowhere. Perspectives runs deeper, a subtle track that is the sort of thing that we used to say would hold a dancefloor’s attention nicely. Sounds Around is a competent stab at pumping vocal amylectro, and the out-and-out lysergic Loopus funk of Electronegative goes a hell of a long way. Equilibrium and Invisible Garbage are more tribal takes; the latter works better than the busy and cluttered former, though neither are essential. Best bet is to skip on to the blissful jazzy house of Epsilon, or better still the gloriously lamenting closing track Orphean: sounding like everything wrong in the world being put simultaneously right, it’s a gorgeous piece of music your mum will love. What makes Matenda so special, as I have said before, is the apparent ease with which he translates honest, raw emotion into music. Listening here, there’s the full range: wonder, love, amazement, happiness, expansion, and a touch of a reflective, almost folorn sadness. It really is that good. In an age where we’re bombarded with presets, big breakdowns, and festival-live performances with smelly-looking guitarists, it’s about time we heard something that’s just bloody honest with itself. Thank you.
  8. Psyreviews’ standard observation about this whole freestyle / suomi subgenre is that, a lot of the time, it’s too weird for its own good. Too emphatic on the postmodernism, the humour, the sheer glitchy mess; and not enough emphasis on big-grin danceability. Luckily for us, Sienis has a solid knack for coupling the danceable with the cheeky, fully present and correct on this album Sum=Thing teases you with an understated flow that picks up classily subtle energy via a series of deftly-executed changes. The melodies are fun without being too grating – something a lot of current morning-y acts would be advised to learn from, and the groove is pumping without being rushed. Watt Duh Hekk picks up more scratch, and sounds at times like a cross between Artifakt and Texas Faggot. Friggin Box has some of the juciest production I’ve heard lately – deliciously-balanced, bass-heavy stuff that’s like a jelly wall you can throw yourself up against, with hypnotic acid bubbling up from under the surface and a finale that makes even the most past-it jaders stroke their chin while mumbling something like “proper trance.” At which point, things take a turn. The second half of the album is harder, and some of the tracks suffer because of this. Sienis is at his best when he takes his foot off the pedal and lets the music breathe. Phinary and Digital Dealer are top examples here – decent stuff, but a little too hammer-n-nails to really draw you in. A better example is the restrained mindfuck Triangle Eye Sir, with all the punch and groove but with a more refined movement; likewise the warped, wobbly Me Against Myself, or the delectable Form Another Perspective, which is completely fucked up, but in a good way. Eye See The I Sea brings it all back together nicely – mad melodies and movement soar up from a tight groove at the heart of the track, and the peak at the end is possibly the best that’s been created since Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit: it’s thunderingly good, seriously – and it just leaves you hanging at the end. Interludes like Memory Mechanix and the opening Nuttin add to the album’s flow and are nicely-produced, and the closing Indian-themed downtempo Earth Womb is well-executed, if a little clichéd. All in all this is good stuff. I would have liked to hear a couple of more experimental tracks here – one is left with a feeling that Sienis’ music would reach new heights if he was to ditch the 4-4 and move into breaks or some sort of psychedelic drum n’ bass. As it is, however, there are some great moments here. The production has a very real 3d depth to it that has you coming back for more, and the lasting listenability makes it somehow better than the sum of its parts. Nice.
  9. I can’t put my finger on quite what’s happening, but Interchill are on this brilliant mission at the moment. After setting the standard in what makes a good chillout, they seem hell bent on now defining just what chillout isn’t. The word Eclectic doesn’t even come close on this one. Even the prospect of Michael Dog and Full Moon Scientist working together should fill you with some sort of optimism. The proof then emerges by way of a dazzlingly good pudding. Two minutes into the album and you know you’re heading somewhere special. Take Two More: Fela Kuti meets Innervisions-era Stevie Wonder with Moroccan throat singing with the BBC Radio 4 “pips” at the start. Fucking great, in other words. Wears The Summer flirts with the whole Naked Music sound, jazzy chillhouse with a slightly sinister, David Lynch-esque vibraphone player. Mr Jelly fuses Nightmares on Wax with Miles Davis, Wake You suggests The Orb remixing The Beloved, and Hyde Park Fauna sounds like the Muppet Show Orchestra covering Gong. Cushion is a sublime, stretch-out-in-the-sun piece that couples a Sunday Brunch pianist with a sort of ambient reworking of Bernard Herrmann’s Taxi Driver score. Perfect blowjob music, in other words. Meanwhile, Surreal State sounds as though it’s the product of leaving George Clinton’s soul in a recording studio over a long weekend, and Some Things Just Make You Cry is the greatest piece of post-rave Balearic chill ever recorded. 133 Thursdays is a deliriously fun album. It’s got everything, and lots of it. One of the finest albums ever to have come my way – love it to bits.
  10. I’m going to paraphrase, for a moment, Mr Darcy in Pride And Prejudice: “If this is indeed what living in Bali sounds like, then I really rather think I should be living there rather than sitting in this shithole talking to you, Mr Wickham.” Dari Bali is a sublimely smooth piece of amply-lubed chillout compiled by Supercozi, the slightly-more-attractive half of Zen Lemonade. Where it succeeds is filling a niche untouched by a lot of other downtempo: it’s not bong-n-hammock, it’s not Café Del Mar, and it’s not The Ultimate Beach Lounge Buddha Album In The World Ever Volume 16. System 7 vs Zen Lemonade’s Chill Dome Refugees is staggering – the production is glassy, crystalline stuff and the track’s movement washes over you like pure, another-deceptively-fruity-tasting-cocktail-why-the-hell-not bliss. Blue Planet Corporation does well with Hardcore Buddhist, a house track in the vein of Naked NYC that isn’t really hardcore, and probably isn’t very Buddhist. Zen Lemonade’s presence is tasty as well: the hazy, late-night Catalyzer contrasts well with the borderline-HedKandi Sun Chaser. More house pops up with Gus Till’s Red Sun Dub, whose starry wandering melodies almost fight with the laconic, strolling rhythm section. Brother Culture teams up with Gus Till, Youth, Dub Judah and Funky Gong for a shining example of bang up-to-date chilled dub; meanwhile Gus’ remix of Ionizer’s I Need Sunshine isn’t much consolation here in the f*ing tundra that is Melbourne in the winter, but will sound dazzling anywhere with a more considerate climate. It’s all a fairly schitzophrenic compilation, but this is a virtue. Cozi’s own Lady Mint Tea sort of sums up the whole compilation – it’s varied, eclectic and quirky stuff that’s doing its own thing and really doesn’t pay too much attention to what you were expecting. This is nice stuff, seriously nice stuff. The mere fact that it’s not the same as all those other chillout CD’s you’ve got is reason enough to sniff it out. And, f anyone from the Indonesian government is reading, Bali would see tourism revenue treble if this album was mailed out instead of all those glossy brochures.
  11. hm, i think it's more recent than that. more BNE than BBE. shocked that you didnt get it DP ... there's nothing else for it, it's going up on *shudders* isratrance,...
  12. come to australia mate --- will never forget what you did in the UK -)
  13. http://www.4shared.com/file/15444542/a2b2b...bra_infect.html i know i know it -- but i can't name it -- and it's been doing my head in all week. help.
  14. An early contender for album of the year. There, that got your attention didn’t it? While Europe is obsessed with big names, and the psy world is (to a greater or lesser extent) reeling from the recent flurry of suddenly-decent takes on that clean, “neo” fullon sound, from a corner of Australia comes this. Benza’s previous work has been impressive, but with Schwarze he has found his voice. Mechanism takes the standard-fayre post-Beckers electrodiscotechgressive and adds a bit of gnarl in just the right place. The mix between fluid, flighty prog and los mas cajones just where they’re needed is compelling: you get the feeling that you’re listening to something very special indeed. Likewise Fabric. Pure outdoor dustydoof slowly picks up melodic tinges, before it goes utterly through the roof about halfway through. And I don’t mean “through the roof” in a Sesto Sento way. This is measured, unstressed, authentic stuff. The quality and vision on this album are incredible. The two-part breaks workout of Overture/The Switch is possibly the finest case in point. The electroclash, with unapologetic 80’s stabs, has me in mind of Arif Mardin, producer of Chaka Khan; likewise the tender, ticklish Irreverence. The Wolf gets a confident and wide-ranging rework, all the more haunting in this guise; meanwhile Everyone’s A Pornstar is like Boogie Nights recast with Peaches donning a strapon and taking Prince up the arse. Fans of Benza’s earlier (and perhaps more aggressive) output will be interested in The Collector, a driving rhythm section which is accompanied not to much by instruments and lines, but by sounds that are somehow suspended over the top to create harmony. Finally, the ten-minute Sunday seems to sync together Iron Maiden, Shpongle and Haltya while meshing it all into the theme music for some desperately odd Manga flick. Schwarze actually makes me with I was a producer, as I’m sure there’s a whole nother level of appreciation for those who make music. However, I’m a critic and critic’s don’t evaluate art based on the quality of the canvas. This album is out there on its own. It’s lasting, it’s listenable, it’s funky, it’s enjoyable. I’m frothing at the mouth. It’s really that good. 10 Couldn't see a review for this one, sorry if I missed it -- the lad Benza will be in Europe over summer, does anyone know anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone who knows anyone who might like to book him? Not the place to ask, I know...
  15. Sensient came into the psystream oz studio last night and hung about for a bit -- there's a 90 min podcast featuring an interview and tracks from the new album Antifluoro (and some newer ones, way breaksier and funkier than I'd have expected). Podcast streams from the frontpage of http://www.psyreviews.com or you can download the whole 90 minutes at http://www.psyreviews.psyreviews.net/podca...nt_09_11_06.mp3
  16. this is a new project by me and some mates -- any feedback gratefully received! http://www.myspace.com/bustachopsy
  17. http://psyreviews.trackitdown.net/
  18. aha... sweet, will try X-Dream. High Society, Trigger, Dope Media all seem defunct but the parent SPV is still going strong... tried them too. Thanks heaps for the headsup mate. Does anyone know what these boys did after E-Rection?
  19. At a loss with how to contact these guys... and without any new material in about 10 years (according to discogs) it may be impossible? Any ideas? BTW i have searched here and on isra, with nothing. It's a bit difficult to Google "E-Rection" because it assumes I meant "erection." Which I would like to add i have no problem contacting etc
  20. make the point. click here and keep me off the bread line. thankyou
  21. man that is sad news. i didnt really give a stuff about dragonfly, rhino closing but this seems a bit more significant. rest in peace, but appreciate the legacy
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