Double Dragon - Continuum

[Guest slinker]

Wow..what an assault to the sense..i just love the break fusions and twisted

noises that fill most of the album..a very original and thought provoking

release 9/10

`pulsating thing` and `deep thought` are just spellbinding =^,^=

[Guest manicmagicmmushroomman[at]hotmai]

Why is annyone bothering to criticise this album?

I've owned this since very shortly after it came out, but waited until I felt I

knew the music thoroughly before I wrote a review.

 

All you guys have done the detailed work, so I just wanna add:

 

This is the most groovy, melodic ultra-high production, trippy, strange trance

that I've ever heard. My attempts at getting to know this CD took ages, and I

feel that I might finally be getting to know how to listen to it finally - and

guess what? Having bothered to get into this CD properly, I now hear all sorts

of other cleverness in other trance CD's I own!!!!

 

So this album taught me how to listen, which if nothing else is the greatest

accolade that I could give it. But its so much more than that. This is still

some of the best trance I own, and the melodies in it are so twisted!!!

Anyone who can't hear melodies here needs to listen MUCH MORE CAREFULLY TO

INDIVIDUAL LINES!!!!!!!!!

 

But whatever else - I doubt I will ever find a CD that is so complete or of

such consistently high quality again. I would also love to hear music which

can be both dark and light, nostalgic and futuristic, or just as downright

funky as this!!!!!

 

(Jeez - you think he might like it???)

9.999/10 (heres hoping for the sequel)

[Guest Vir2alExp]

GREAT: 7/10. but try to listen to a track called Shudder made by this guy. very

nice.

[GEoMaNTiK]

Killer CD - 9.5/10

[Guest John Ford]

You had better buy up people, only 3000 units were pressed!!

[Guest rx7style]

Yaaawn. Nothing new or innovative here. I don't know what the hype was with

this album. I think I got myself overexcited to listen to it. I could swear

that I've heard some of these tracks before, but I guess that shows how

un-original it is. Boring, 5/10

[Guest shagboy]

Anyone else notice the Red Dwarf sample in "Soft Machine"

Very nice It's from the episode "White Hole" if you're looking for it.

Love this album, wish I could find it in a local CD shop (Melbourne, Oz), but

good music's hard to come by out here. Love Track 6. 9/10

[Basilisk]

nearly a year ago i bought this album based on the initial review... now i

totally appreciate it. double dragon, along with koxbox, simon posford, and

sean williams [process] have a certain knack with synths and can really blend

nuance and subtlety into these devilishly deceptive psychedelic masterpieces.

this is right up there with some of the trippiest stuff ever made. sometimes

one can question the execution but the style is so mint that you cannot deny

its fierce attractive qualities. on many of the tracks the kick is less

pronounced, hidden under bubbling, snarling, or wailing synths... that

definatly gives this release a soft yet mind-bending quality that begs for

further listens. if you aren't liking this now listen again and maybe it'll

grow on you. it certainly grew on me. 10/10, one of the top 5 from 2000!

^^ my original review. I have another one that I wrote years later, but the mark stays the same (surprisingly)... Continuum is a real masterpiece.

[Guest ChrisdeeACiD]

Hmmm.. Perhaps I'm stupid or something.. But I can't listed to this and find it

pleasing... I guess I'm not one of you minimal lovers.. Allthough it's not

that minimal. Encrusted Filth is the only track that I think is really good!

OK Spiked is also nice with great rythm and GREAT quality effects, noises and

so on. But it's VERY boring and nothing really seems to happen.. SoRrY

[Guest -Shroom-]

I knew Double Dragon before i heard this album, and i must say i didnt thought

this album will come out like this. It came up even better! there isnt even

one bad track in the whole album! and like scott said first, lots of drums,

crazy bass lines, Beautiful rythem. You just need to know how to listen, cuz

this cd is a truly Masterpiece. 11/10

[Guest kattakalina[at]hotmail[dot]com]

amazing! I had no idea what i was going to expect before I listened to the

album and when i did "impressed" was too small a word. This is both original

and well produced. There are some masterpieces here including pulsating thing

and spiked. ADD THIS TO YOUR COLLECTION RIGHT NOWWW!!!!

[Jon Cocco]

All I have to say is, Encrusted Filth! What a HOT TRACK! Okay.....I never

described a track as being "hot" before but this thing is HOT! Pure dance,

powerful, adrenaline charged, night Goa! Oh my GOD, this is Platinum! Without

a doubt the best track on this whole entire album. Some other tracks are a

real work of art too. It may take some time to see Double Dragons mature,

intricate, and intelligent creation. If you have, you know exactly what I

mean. For those who havn't, you shall, and for those who are deaf, I'll pray

for you.

[Guest Simon Magus]

This album rocks, but you won't get it right away... or at least I didn't..

then I listened to some other new stuff, came back to DD, went away, came back

and OH MY GOD!! It kicks ass! So intelligent, yet full sounding, like M.O.S.

on two extra hits!! It takes time, but is so worth it. I can't wait to see

this live!

[Guest mr_shih[at]yahoo[dot]com]

at first i was bored by this cd, but now i realize that was just stupid. it

took me months to appreciate this piece of art, but now it's one of my

all-time favorites, no question. omniscient samples, and subtle, gentle

sounds and melodies, evolving in just the right way, tickling and teasing your

mind. it's a real pleasure to listen to this cd, every time...when you

concentrate on it a little it puts you in that perfect mental state where you

start to examine and be very aware of your own consciousness. HIGHLY

recommended, 10/10.

[Setsuko]

great although it's a bit chaotic at some points... but still very listenable

and VERY groovy... amazing... my favourites on this album are 'worm' and

'encrusted filth' two pieces of art... i must admit that the 'double dragon

style' sounds very organic and liquid... just great psychedelic rating :

9/10

[Guest Defbydelta...]

Deep Thought is Phat!!

track 1 and 8 too

[Guest Boooink!]

There is another double dragon track on Psychedelic Electronica 3 ;-)))))) Very

Sweet ;-)

[Guest biwako_in_town]

Reading down on the comments about this album frustrated me.Double Dragon's

music doesnt's sound like anyone else's.From an instrumental point of view,his

drum beats are killer.Very fkng professional and psychedelic.All songs are

great.10/10

[Guest Indiadancer on :www.lunarstor]

Very intelligent krispy ditails and sound landskapes.

Yoh have to lisen a few times before yo appreciate this CD.9/10.

[Guest Acidhive]

Is this EVER a great release.. Wonderful percussions, trippy noises.. This is

just what I want to hear!!

This one deserves a 9/10 for sure!! And I don't easily hand out the 9/10 mark

folks, so you know it has to be special... :-)

[Jon Cocco]

DOUBLE DRAGON - CONTINUUM

PHANTASM RECORDS

2000

 

 

 

 

Track list:

 

01. 08'17" Pulsating Thing - B+

02. 08'17" Deep Thought - B+ / A-

03. 08'38" Black Project - A- / A

04. 07'21" Hairy Liquid - B+

05. 06'57" WORM - B+

06. 07'48" Encrusted Filth - A

07. 09'37" Soft Machine - B

08. 08'23" Spiked - B+ / A-

 

 

Continuum is one of the greatest albums in Psy-Trance. For those who love their drink spiked with all sorts of intricate flavors, this is one of them. Whether you like the like the taste of the flavors is another thing however. Continuum is loaded with crispy specks and spots, mind bending intricacy, detailes within details, and various other impressive sound/melody scouting, alterations, and mixing in the technical department. The production is nothing less than great. The album really develops a mind of its own as it progresses. It's inventive, dark, and very stylish albeit difficult to grasp. Describing the music here is like decribing a slippery piece of butter in the liquid context, or a bubbly piece of chewing gum falling out of a rollor coaster and bouncing around in-between a seemingly infinite amount of tracks like a pin ball on its way to the Dragons Lair. The listener knows the album trip isn't going to be a happy one from the opening track. However it's more complicated and involved than it is dark and evil. Yet it is to some degree dark, and it's definitely not cute and fluffy. In fact, it's pretty fucking obvious we're not in wonderland anymore Alice.

 

There is so much change-up in sound combinations and within the general track at times, it's almost like 5-6 songs in one. It's somewhat hilarious when the artists purposely throw the beat and sound out of sync towards the end of Black Project after all the compulsive attention to detail and careful focus to perfected mixing. The artists know they're work is so specifically well placed that why not, let's just throw the entire beat and sounds out of alignment, as a joke. I love it. I love when serious artists make a seriously great album and don't take it too seriously! To be fair it takes a certain mood to appreciate this strange, far out, tight, little package.

 

Double Dragon's Continuum sounds like nothing I've ever heard before. It's very unpredictable, psychedelic, eleborate, melodic (at times), and atmospheric in a mysterious type of way. I can never really pin point the environenment or location here. Whereas I often imagine the world in which compliments an album. Old-school Astral Projection and Pleiadians for example place my internal, visual representations and interpretations racing through certain areas of the cosmosis. Here I'm often lost, without much to identify with outside the strange sounds. Because of this uncertain perception, I generally find listening to this album more admireable [foreign] than it is enjoyable. I'm often lost to stare from a good sized distance at an amazing piece of art I don't really understand, and yet I know there's atmosphere and consciousness, or placement of some kind. Maybe the story here is to be on the back of a dragon as it travels through complex worlds within the Universe. That's just an idea. I really have no idea what the artist's vision was with this album, save for the track list which to me does not give enough clues to the story if there is one.

 

 

Gripes

 

1.) I always wished there was more stand out, powerful leading melody work on various tracks here as there is in Black Project and especially Encrusted Filth, the latter being a great reason why so many people seem to love that number. It's excellent. I'm not saying there isn't alot of melody work on this album. There is. It would have been amazing if there were more melodic songs as built and climactic in melody structure and direction as what Encrusted Fllth develops into. Encrusted Filth instantly seems like the best song here simply because it's the most dance friendly when in reality, it simply stands out because the other songs are generally less to not dance friendly. I wish these artists returned with 7 or 8 tracks for the dance floor in their awesome, abstract style. Other songs that have the most strong and compelling melody work seem to be Deep Thought, Black Project, and Spiked.

 

2. ) Soft Machine is noticeably less less catchy and interesting than the others. It's not a bad track but somewhat disappointing after all the greatness leading up to it.

 

 

Double Dragon's Continuum is a rare piece of psychedelic proportion. It's flavorful, dark, twisted, and very difficult to grasp, abstract. At times it's awesome. I love it. The style can't possibly be for everyone or even the majority in Psy-Trance. It took many listens for me to appreciate this album because of the bizarre fetish to details and bouncy, kenetic, snap-pop style. Sure the overall album may sound great by description but in reality, there is alot to take in mentally. With exception to few tracks, I didn't know what to think of this album for years, other than that it was unique and better admired than enjoyed. I was intrigued by it for some reason, especially after reading a handful of wonderful reviews, but I never really got it. Nonetheless, when unsure, don't be quick to judge. I became more aware over time just how much well crafted music there is on this album for the general Psytrance listener to potentially enjoy

 

To this day I still admire certain songs more than others. For example, I more or less love the creative melody work in tracks like Deep Thought, Black Project and Encrusted Filth,. They're more or less danceable. On the other hand I need to be in a certain, focused mood to appreciate tracks like Pulsating Thing, Hairy Liquid, and Soft Machine. Certain tracks to me sound more intricate than they are fun or danceable. Even an open-minded individual who really appreciates the intricacies in Psy-Trance may, upon hearing the opening track think, "What the...?! Yeah no, this isn't my style. I don't like it. In short, people will find this album, let alone the first track interesting or distastful right away.

 

To this day I still feel as if the artist generally cared more about impressing the Psy genre with intricacy than making an overall fun and intricate album, putting fun first as a whole. Continuum has a fairly steep learning curve and I never fully understood why. In other words, some songs are generally easier to listen to such as Encrusted Filth. This may be because of the stand out melody and the climax, which is fun and very dance friendly. Few songs seem to do that on this album unfortunately. The general song seems as if designed for the most developed and sophisticated Psy-Trance mind and ears. I don't mean to discriminate mentalities or tastes in music but this is a very mature album for more experienced listeners to appreciate because there's so many small details that the general listener may overlook. For those who appreciate some of the most intricate and psychedelic albums in Psy-Trance, Continuum is most definitely one of them. Just don't expect to "get it" right away.

 

 

Favorite Tracks: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8.

 

 

A-

 

 

* Another track I find most superb by these artists is Fluffy Purple Thing, a single obviously not on this album. It's a real gem and I recommend it for anyone into Double Dragon, let alone intricate Psy-Trance songs in general.

 

 

The samples should at least be availble for all the people who haven't heard this crazy, intelligent album. After several years I found a copy on amazon.co.uk for all of you interested to know how some people got it, and how it can be gotten. You need to check until a seller sells it however.

 

http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/ptm/ptm1cd143.html

 

http://www.saikosounds.com/English/display...ease.asp?id=102

[longloststar]

Looking for something sharing this album's complex nature and "grown up" attitude towards its genré?

 

Tron - Existence

[frozen dream]

anybody wanna buy this? the album is minter than mint but i really didnt like it...

[Somseensee]

anybody wanna buy this? the album is minter than mint but i really didnt like it...

 

[BraneFreeze]

FYI, you can purchase a re-mastered version of this album, with two bonus tracks, in 320 MP3 or WAV formats, directly from Steve Good (DD), who can be contacted at continuum@puffdragon.net.

 

Unfortunately, there are currently no high quality versions available for some of his other great tracks like Shudder, Crunch, or Fluffy Purple Thing.