1. Welkom
2. Kompa
3. Elektab
4. Sleepwalk
5. Redux
6. Aloo
7. Damn
8. Nepstation
9. Rawhk
10. Glorya
11. Arro
12. Bosse
The very first thing I must say is that if you happen to think that all Finnish trance is nothing but “monkey on the keys”, well I totally agree. Up to a point anyways. For Koneveljet for example is a living exception.
At first a word or two about the artwork.
If you’re lucky enough to own a copy of Beastie Boys’ “Hello nasty”, now would be about the time to look inside it for it’s exactly what the artwork here reminds me of. Space stuff and all that fancy universe mapping theme is all around. On the cover you may or may not (depending if you’re blind or not) see Aito, Oiva and Varma Koneveli (the Machine Brothers = Koneveljet). They’re wearing spacesuits, which is rather cool cos space happens to be über cool. Possibly the coolest thing out there. You know how digipacks are always either paper or plastic like? Well this is paper like. I’m sure this matters a lot to all the paper enthusiastics out there. Okay then..
Welkom is sort of like a tourist’s survival guide to Finland. Listen to it well and then you know how to behave. Music wise the track is no less than brilliant. There’s a floating bass and loads of drums and a cycle that goes round and round. I’m sure the Finnish spoken samples (with mild vocoder treatment) sound about the most psychedelic thing ever to all you not so fortunate ones (read Finnish nationals) out there. There’s also this instrument which isn’t a flute, but sure sounds a bit like it (maybe electric guitar, hard to say it’s quite twisted) anyways it’s something you would expect to find from a Shpongle tune. If I could only remember the tune.. ah anyways purrrfect way to open an album.
Kompa is quite tricky to translate into English, might very well be that there is no way to translate it. Oh well. The very beginning makes you wonder if it’s going to be euro trance/full on. Fear not for it isn’t. That becomes clear in good 20 seconds. Now here are some spoken samples again, not performed by a Finn thou. They don’t really make much sense. It’s just some guy saying out loud names of famous people, Just wait till he says Ringo Starrrrrrr and laugh at that effect. Star star star star.. echo! Then some time passes and the madness goes on. This is about the coolest use of spoken samples ever. Why? Cos it makes absolutely no sense what so ever. Do I have to repeat it one more time? It makes no sense. The music by the way is great.
Then it’s Elektab. The beginning is chilled. At some point a mideastern voice kicks in for a unknown period of time. And again. This sounds just fucking brilliant. Ethnic in a way, futuristic in another the beats, keys and waves go on. And on.. And on. And wow, where is that from? The beginning, the very beginning of Bust a move? And then the voice of a girl, I think I’ve heard this sample before? At some Shiva Space Technology compilation I think. Kum Haras or the one before that perhaps? Or then it was some Asura tune. Well whatever the case, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t know what this is, low BMP progressive psytrance with multiple layers perhaps?
Sleepwalk. If you still remember what psychedelic intros are like, well this is one of them. There aren’t many around in modern day psytrance. The some strings that channel a way for the beat to unfold. I think some guy just said “it’s raining”. Not sure thou. The strings return. And then they change. The background is quite spooky in some ghostlike way. Then you think the track is going to end. That however is not the case, for now it’s time for Father Metro from DJBB (Don Johnson Big Band, you probably haven’t heard of them either. The best Finnish “hip hop” group out there for sure.) to preach. This guy is very good in what he does. He also works for Amnesty International (I think) so he’s obviously pretty much like you, a hippie.
Then it’s time for Redux. I’ve heard Redux v2, which was released on a brilliant chill out compilation called Angelic Science from Surreal Audio. I must say that there isn’t much difference (if any?) in between these to, v1 and v2 I mean. I rank this track in my top ten of all time, so it’s obviously very very good. Enjoy or die! At first there’s some Spanish or portuquese, then the massive combo hits the tune. Then we move. If you don’t like this you don’t like music. If you don’t adore this you don’t know much. Pure art. This is the kind of track I would most certainly include in my own movie. Everything but the music muted, visuals somehow blurry, something awful going on, loads of tricks with the camera.. Redux playing. I would most certainly get an Oscar for it. And Koneveljet would get one for the score..
The beginning of Aloo is jazzy. Now I don’t know much about jazz so I just close my eyes and say it’s fusion. Did it go right? This is the first not that psychedelic, but more like outgoing track on the album. Or not! As soon as I wrote that some wacky samples came into play.
Damn suggest it’s going to stay groovy (note me typing groovy has nothing to do with the “groovy” full on heads use). Soon the lyrics kick in. Makes me wonder if I’ve heard them at some tv add. Possibly a gum add? The vocoder stuff is brilliant again. I’m a total sucker for vocoders, you truly have to suck in order to vocode things so that I don’t enjoy them.
The eighth track is Nepstation. Oldschool? This is still a bit on the lounge side of things, but certainly not as much as the 2 previous. There are some very cool effects here. The beat remains about the same thru the entire track. And vocoders again, Shpongled ones! Sort of like in Angelic Particles too.. me like it. There are times this track reminds me of Rapper’s Delight, which is very cool cause Rapper’s Delight is über kool. Then there are times I find myself in the middle of a Shpongle treat. Could it be any better? To answer myself, no not really.
More vocoders in the beginning of Rawhk. The soundscape is very acid, don’t ask me how, it just is. Still remaining on the groovy side of things, very faintly thou Rwakh proceeds. Keeping it acid things come and go.. It’s a joy joy joy!
Gloria is a bar/club in Helsinki, maybe that inspired Koneveljet to name the track Glorya? Don’t know. I do know I saw them live there once. Such a great night. Okay anyways here as the previous tune suggested there wasn’t going to be lounge. No sir, we’re moving to the dance floor. Most of you guys probably wouldn’t dance to this thou. Too many confusing wishy washy sounds. Bassline is pretty much non existent, this is built around the rhythm and drums. I think the bmp is quite high, it’s however masked real well behind those trippy sound thingies. The world machines brothers are painting here is somewhat dark and definitely chaotic, but in a good way. There’s something quite 80’s to all this. I bet transformers listen to this kind of music.
It says on the sleeve that the “more-than-guitar-like sounds” in this track were done by some guy called Jarmo Saari. We actually have a real 4x4 kick thingy here. Didn’t see that coming. I think I identified the more than guitar like sounds. They sound more like a chicken to me thou. Maybe it’s something else? Then there’s this sample that sounds like some native American chanting. In a way at least. Broooowm that effect is PHAT PHAT PHAT! Walks over the whole fucking thing! I bet people would be trippin’ off their arses if this tune was ever played to them at some European festival in the summer of love, 2005.
You’ll laugh when you hear the opening sample of Bosse. Guarenteed. Sure would be trippy if it really was like this. There’s still room for humor in this scene.
What’s there to say. If you ask me this album would have been better of with out the few lounge orientated tunes, nevertheless they had their moments too, strong ones if I may add. Now this year hasn’t been the strongest in psytrance, well not in my opinion anyways. However it’s starting to look a lot better. I hear good things about the Tripswitch album, there’s incoming Youth material too, J.Viewz.. Uns2 and GT4 kicks shine in the light with very impressive tracklists, however this far I’d say this is the best album I’ve bought this year, certainly most original. Pretty much exactly what I expected. I’m sure I’ll be listening to this still in 2020 if I’m fortunate enough to still be around. Yes, it’s one of those albums. Hell, buy it even if you don’t like it.. It will most certainly grow on you..
Sorry for the not so finished review. I’m mad busy with Uni, just felt like I had to share this candy with you.. really
http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=4695
