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Shaolin Wooden Men - Supermindway


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Shaolin Wooden Men - Supermindway

 

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Artist: Shaolin Wooden Men

Title: Supermindway

Label: Psy-Harmonics

Date: 2000

 

Track listing:

 

01. 10'29" Microscopic Details

02. 09'24" The Birth of a New Star

03. 07'20" Brother Ray

04. 08'39" The Icons Made Flesh

05. 10'20" Supermindway

06. 10'00" Galactic

07. 11'10" They Creep Like Dot Coms

 

Review:

 

First of all id like to state that this is not typical goa/psy music, its

more like psychedelic rock than anything else. However do not let this put

you off! It is one of the most complex and deeply structured albums I've

listened too for quite a while, after every listen you keep finding layer

after layer of hidden details. The music is a blend of driving percussion

and nicely distorted guitars(as opposed to dirty distortion u find in most

metal today) coupled with a healthy dose of electronic manipulation. One

of the big surprises for me was the realization that it is quite

melodic. For fans of the Psy-Harmonics label and people not afraid to

listen to new things, you'll love it, but if its techno all the way for

you, forget it . Although this album is best judged and appreciated in its

entirety, most people on this site want to know what is the best track on a

album is these days, so id have to say the standout track would have to be

6 - Galactic, Lotsa catchy melodies to be found. Quite a refreshing and

eye opening album 9/10 for me!

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Guest iNFiNiTi500

In the opening track Microscopic Details a robot voice says: this is the sound

of change and it shows. This is indeed a strange one, but somehow the

blend between Trance and hypnotic stone/space rock guitar riffs a la Kyuss /

Queens of the Stone Age / Hawkwind works surprisingly well, although probably

not on the dancefloor.

What is so amazing 'bout this album is that such at first sight rare

combination never sounds alienating or forced, fluidity is the keyword here.

Furthermore, song structures are complex and indeed the layering of sounds is

very well done, without losing attention for melodies as it never sounds

agressive. Think of ORB tracks on double or triple speed, errrr kinda...

Odd? Maybe, but on the other hand mixing the two most drugs influenced genres

of Rock and Trance might be more logical than the more common Cold Metal /

Melodic Trance combination (Darks Soho e.g.)

This album is one of a kind and therefore this effort deserves the attention of

the open minded, progressive psytrance crowd. More releases like this please!

9/10

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...
Guest plasmagoria[at]hotmail[dot]com

As a trusted Psy-Harmonics fan I really loved this release! Since my first

contact with Shaolin Wooden Men ("The Mocking Laugh Of The Cruel Ninja", the

album "The Hungry Forest") I have loved them. They are always on the front

edge of the "music research". And this album is nothing else! With the short

looped rock-drums they have really "refreshed" the psy trance a lot! The first

time I heard this album I was a bit confused and didn't know if it was good or

not, but after a while you really love the hard and brutal, progressive drums!

And what's more? It's really psychedelic with the mind sweeping acid sounds

which lays above all other layers. I think every track except number 6 is

good. 3, 4, 5 is the best. Galactic has really no taste so it drops it some.

9/10!!

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  • 1 month later...

Realy great!!!!!!! If you like 60/70's space rock then buy this.....it's space

rock made in the year 2000 following a goa path.

It realy blows your mind away, at first it may seem a bit strange, but after a

while the wierd constantly changing sounds realy get you. Galactic(6) is my

absolute favorite, the melody in it just bends your mind man!!!! 9.5/10

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  • 3 weeks later...

Now here's the wierdest goa CD I've ever listened to. I like the idea of making

real rock beats instead of your typical 4/4 rythm... but putting that in each

track makes it become boring. It seems to me that the artists wanted to make

some tribute to the late 60's psy, and it works very well. Some tracks are too

wierd for me, but there are 3 I really like. Brother Ray is like a trip back

to 60's psychedellic music. You could just lay there and smoke weed and just

feel the music going through you. Very good.

Galactic is the only really uplifting track out there. Beautifull. Almost

brings tears to my eyes.

And the there is the last track They Creep Like Dot Coms... Well, nothing much

happens in the first 4 minutes, but then... some bee swirl samples and loads

and loads of drums and djembés put one on top of the other and in the end you

can actually hear some jamaican steal drums!! Wierd, but great!! 8/10

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 months later...

AMAZING ALBUM !

It is not nor psy trance nor goa trance but it is one pretty good god deam

PSYCHEDELIC release...It is psychedelic dementia especially first two songs

that are just MIND BLOWING....Rest of the album is great tooo so I rate it

10/10...

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  • 3 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Really good music, especially tracks 2 and 6 are so good that you must start

dancing even at your home... A lot electric guitars and moog sounds. Really

good!!!

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  • 2 years later...

SHAOLIN WOODEN MEN - SUPERMINDWAY

2000

PSY-HARMONICS

 

1. MICROSCOPIC DETAILS

2. THE BIRTH OF A NEW STAR

3. BROTHER RAY

4. THE ICONS MADE FLESH

5. SUPERMINDWAY

6. GALACTIC

7. THEY CREEP LIKE DOTS COM

 

I stumbled on this weird album the other day after some time and I had to review it, no matter cause there is in reviews section. I suspect that most of you have heard it and even if you haven't this album is surely not for everyone. It is not even trance music, in the real sense, but more mixture of psychedelic rock, weird, spacey stuff. It is pretty experimental and for those that like their brains tested this will do pretty much, like for me. I like lots of different styles and this crazy style suits me. They released psy trance before this one and I can say that I like this style better cause it is not so weird, but rather serious. MICROSCOPIC DETAILS is constructive, some kind of minimalish twisted rock with ambient, alien begining that turns into psychedelic madness. THE BIRTH OF A NEW STAR is among my favourites here and it is pure perfection, sounds retro and completely wacked off but at the same time very serious. BROTHER RAY is the weakest one on album but still pretty good for its style. THE ICONS MADE FLESH is another weird, crazy demented piece of music. Then comes 2 best and most psychedelic songs on album: SUPERMINDWAY and GALACTIC. What a structures ! I am sure that if this music was made back in 60's and 70's people would get crazy and sick on it cause it is in exact similar style psychedelic music was made back then. 10/10 for those 2 songs only. THEY CREEP LIKE DOTS COM is stunning ambient song to finish this good album. All in all, if you feel for something different than regular trance you should get this cause it is good collection of clever weirdness...8/10

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hehehe nice to see that there still are people around who discover their stuff. Indeed for me, Shaolin Wooden Men are THE most unconventional artists associated to the psy scene! I mean, stuff like Texas Faggot is israeli full-on compared to this!! I liked the idea of putting a real drum "rock kick" instead of the usual electronic 4/4 rythm. However having that in EVERY track becomes kindof boring. For me, after all these years (I had the album in 2000) the 2 best tracks remain Brother Ray and the ambient track They Creep Like Dot Coms . I can not recommend these artists enough for people who are ready to listen to some freakin wierd stuff. but it's not for everyone... 8/10

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Yeah bloody brilliant piece of work this. Like one big long track/trip, or supermindway as it were ;)

 

Using a real kit reminds me of Trans Am. Have you heard of em'?

 

Anyone got the new S.W.M ? What did u think?

 

Cheers for mentioning such a tip top album and jogging the memory! :)

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Binary Input on a Flesh Antenna (their last limited cd) is a 45min crazy,ambient,experimental,i-dont-know-how-to-name-it track ....

S.W.M. are one of the greatest electronic groups imo.

199918[/snapback]

 

Yes, this is what one could call psychedelik music, instead of formulaic trance techno

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Well I'm always open-minded to listening to new or different stuff. I just sampled this album here at psyshop's old samples.

 

http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/pha/pha1cd045.html

 

Unfortunately, the samples are VERY low-fi sound, which is annoying, because I know it does the album close to NO justice, but...

 

I already see how unqiue, strange, dark, melodic, and different this album is. I want to listen to it in full quality. I may even buy it for my collection if its available to order somewhere.

 

But it ISN'T AVAILABLE on to order PSYSHOP!!! :(

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  • 2 weeks later...

But it ISN'T AVAILABLE on to order PSYSHOP!!! :(

200099[/snapback]

You can buy this album directly from the Psy-harmonics website for 25 AUD (nearly 16$ postage included). I often buy my stuffs here and you'll see that Andrew Till (label manager, also Gus till's brother) is a really nice guy.

I never had a problem ordering here, and in my opinion, this is THE place where you can find "weird" or unconventionnal psychedelia electronica.

 

http://www.psy-harmonics.com.au/wipv3_6/pa...1561&db=Entries

 

Check for the Mitsumoto album which is a big surprise and a rare piece (japanese exclusive release).

 

About Shaolin Wooden Men, they're currently working for live (possibly in cd in the near future) and are back in studio to bring us a new album.

 

For all those who are more interested in "Supermindway" SWM's style, there's still copies of the "Stormer" ep available in the Wirikuta webshop.

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  • 6 months later...

The Mocking Laugh Of The Cruel Ninja and Ragu are great psychedelic tracks ! They are absolutely freaky, these guys know how to twist your brain...:)

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