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Troll Scientists — Useless Science (Space Boogie, 2007)


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Troll Scientists — Useless Science (Space Boogie Productions, 2007)

 

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Label: Space Boogie Productions

Catalog#: SBCD004

Format: CD, Album, Digipak

Released: December, 22. 2007

Distribution: Wirikuta

 

Tracklisting:

01. Dumbient (5:44) 101 bpm

02. Major French Influences (A Tribute To Koxbox) (6:25) 134 bpm

03. Experience (5:50) 139 bpm

04. Trollen Fest (5:12) 143 bpm

05. Brain Dead (5:35) 142 bpm

06. Time Trip (6:32) 145 bpm

07. Scientists In Hypnosis (6:38) 145 bpm

08. Vill Du Ha Luft (5:45) 145 bpm

09. Phone The Lab (6:16) 145 bpm

10. Fairy Tales (9:33) 147 bpm

 

Review:

Troll Scientists are Jani Inkeroinen and Staffan Strom, a psytrance duo from Finland. Their official discography up till now consists of, well, this album and 2 tracks, "Magical Fractals" @ Space Boogie's compilation Funland Boogie Files and a collaboration with Electrypnose called "Hypnotized Scientists" on Moonloop's Floating Mirror. However, their unofficial discography features 3 mp3 albums, which can be found over the internet. The albums are: Troll Scientists — Winter Boogie (2004), Troll Scientists — Free Web Songs 2CD (2006) and Troll Scientists — Trollz in Dub (2006). With these albums Trolls gained popularity among suomi/underground fans all over the world, so it was just the right time to release an album. Personally, I was looking forward to this one since the first listen I gave to their music; mp3z never really brought the quality needed to fully appreciate what these two guys are doing.

 

Let me take you through the tracks... © DP

 

#01. Dumbient

We start off with an intro chilled out track, which has to be a symbiosis of dub and ambient or just dumb ambient, judging by the name. The track itself a melodic piece of downtempo stuff, some dubby influences are present... oh, I got it, it somehow reminds me Capsula's "Synthesis Of Reality" album @ Ajana Records, 2005. Female ethno/hindu vocals are added in the middle and they suit nicely, not too much off them. Dumbient evolves slowly but never gets boring. A good piece of sunday morning music.

 

#02. Major French Influences (A Tribute To Koxbox)

As the title suggests, this has to be influenced by KoxBox in some way, but KoxBox are Danish as far as I know. Not too familiar with KoxBox, though. The track begins with a "Major French Influences" vocal sample, which is followed by a soft 134bpm beat and throat-singing, "quacking" sounds added right after. Troll's sound, if you are not acquainted with it, is never in-your-face. Nice variation here. I'd put this track under psy-disco category for it's funky vibe. It also has this oldschoolish (in terms of minimal) touch, so this isn't progressive really, as some may have thought.

 

#03. Experience

We go faster now with 139 bpm. Not much going on here because of a build-up in the first half of the track that ends with a break. Few synth-lines that change each-other, a couple of filtered vocal samples closer to the end. Not a stand out for me.

 

#04. Trollen Fest

Now imagine trolls gathering for a festival in the forest. This may be the soundtrack. Seconds after the first beats, we hear a story told by the troll festival organizer. I wish I knew trollish, so I could understand him :) The track goes more aggressive toward the end with some more synthed-out troll stories. Good one.

 

#05. Brain Dead

This one has dark/mystical atmospheres, but never gets aggressive or boring, melodic synths grab and take you for a ride. A pretty interesting track here, it changes direction and mood a couple of times, totally unpredictable.

 

#06. Time Trip

Now we've stepped into the 145 bpm territory, get ready to take a time trip... and here we go! It took only 20 seconds to feel the fountain of sounds, colors and emotions. This is the most joyful track until now. Everything changes rapidly, there's even a sample of some acid-guru (what kind of psytrance would it be without it? ;)) "Have you ever noticed your little finger exactly fits your nostril?" That must be Terence McKenna. Track ends with a simple yet effective melody. This must the music trolls listen to at their festivals in the mornings :)

 

#07. Scientists In Hypnosis

This one is a collaboration between Troll Scientists and Electrypnose. These two have already collaborated before, they released a track called "Hypnotized Scientists", haven't heard it though, but the title sound similar. It starts with stardust floating in the air and galloping beats right after. It has something Electrypnosesque in it — it the hardest track on the album... and what do I hear, guitars. Nuff said. Well, they suit here better than on most tracks I've heard lately, thought (also I'm not a fan Electrypnose's stuff). Track ends with acidic troll vocals, this must be how they sing under acid :)

 

#08. Vill Du Ha Luft

"Einstein estimated that we only use a small proportion of our brain!" He said nothing about trolls, though. Epic atmosphere here with a nice build-up with acid synths. It may get too full-on for some, but others will for sure appreciate it, especially if you liked two previous Space Boogie's albums. Happy mushroom full-on I'd call it :)

 

#09. Phone The Lab

Looks like someone's calling trolls while they're in the lab. Strong baseline combined with 90's synth sounds just like the classic suomi for me. It doesn't last long, though. It's followed by a break and goaish melodies come into play. And then again it all changes from head-to-feet and from feet-to-head. This one's a funny track and will work well on morning dancefloors.

 

#10. Fairy Tales

Album ends with this melodic fairy tale. Pretty dark and melancholic atmospheres with a melody that suits them pretty well. It builds-up towards the end and gets more intense. A calm ending to a colorful adventure.

 

 

Bottom line:

I can't say that this is astonishing or disappointing album, because I didn't have any expectations. I have to say I didn't really like Vishnudata's and Astroschnautzer's albums released by Space Boogie, so Trolls wins the competition for me. On the other hand, this album could have been better and more varied.

 

This definitely is a stand out album, especially considering today's competition. Every fan of suomi, goa and any other kind of interesting music has to hear this. I'm sure 1-2 tracks will suit my sets, will wait for summer to arrive first, though. Playing these tunes in forests and watching people smiling is really something to be looking forward to :)

 

Favorites: 2, 4, 6!, 7, 8!, 9!

 

Related links:

Troll Scientists: http://www.trollscientists.com/

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/trollscientists

Space Boogie Productions: http://www.spaceboogie.net/

Discogs: http://www.discogs.com/release/1187192

 

Shops (Click for samples):

PsyShop: http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/sbc/sbc1cd004.html

BeatSpace: http://www.beatspace.com/dettagli/dettaglio.asp?id=3882

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Really enjoying this one .. love the overall diversity that the duo have managed to display in the album. Something that would appeal to lovers of all styles of trance. Its very heart warming to see music like this being released .. suomi mashed with oldskool, a little full on , with a smattering of psychedelia and excellent musical sense . :)

 

Vill Du Ha Luft just takes the cake :drama: :posford:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not much negative words has been said about this, and for a reason. It's a nice cd, some ok tracks and a few brilliant ones. :)

I'll prolly have to take my words back :rolleyes:

 

All the tracks are superb! Usually around 5-6 minutes. So there's a lot of variety to be found, from charming forest grooves to IM like squeaky melodic acid lines. I can't help notice they really have an ear for making excellent basslines too. :)

 

now, go get it and pretend you had it in your hands since day one!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I really like this one, Major French Influences (track 2) doesn't impress me that much, but after that its starts to get really nice! They sure know how to make nice dripping melodies :P And I really love that finger in nose sample :lol:

 

I need to listen to it more to say more elaborate things, enough to be discovered I think?! Right now, I just know that I like it :)

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  • 2 months later...

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