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Laughing Buddha - Sacred Technology


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Artist: Laughing Buddha

Title: Sacred Technology

Label: Nano Records

Date: November, 2010

 

1. Sacred Technology

2. The Acid Test

3. Tube-O-Tron

4. Freaking Out

5. Audio Rodeo

6. We Are Not Alone

7. Reefer (Part 2)

8. The Pill

9. Space Race

 

 

Art in all of it's forms is never going to be universally appreciated. Whether you like it or not it should still be respected. Unless you're just bitter and want to piss on the work of other people. Or in other words...

 

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Laughing Buddha was Jeremy Van Kampen & William Bryan Halsey back in the good ol goa days. Yeah you might recognize that duo as Cosmosis. But it has been Jeremy's solo project for quite some time. The Buddha has released several EPs and put out some great music on lots of compilations so this has really good potential. Besides that, Nano Records has released a lot of good stuff. Hell, they're so good they have offices on 2 continents!

 

Sacred Technology- This was pretty straight forward. Rolling bassline and synth sweeps at a high tempo. Not very interesting or ear catching until the key change at 3 and a half minutes,but it does have some bubbly and spacey qualities. If your going to start with a track that is almost 10 minutes long you need to thow a monkey a banana for sticking with it. 10 minutes dude? Really?

 

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The Acid Test- I don't know if this is a remake of the Space Tribe/Electric Universe collaboration on Collaborations or just his own. There is more of the rolling bassline and sharp metallic stabs. It starts becoming interesting around the 2 minute mark with bouncing synths and a good groove. When the 303 drops, it's all hands on deck for a rollicking (yeah, I said rollicking, wanna fight about it?) good time. A good evolving bit of business here.

 

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That is, by the way, the greatest dance of all time.

 

 

Tube O Tron- This one comes in at an almost brief 7 minutes. More sweeps with a machine gun bass line. I'm a sucker for sweeps though so when the acid comes in it feels very comfy. Still, another track without much going on, but effective and worth a listen.

 

 

Freaking Out- "I felt life in me again."

 

So many things I could say here...all of them gay. Anyway this track needed a little more life than what it got. I do love the LOTR sample by Gandalf the Grey or White or whatever the f*ck he became in the Twin Towers. He has a knack for taking what sounds like a run of the mill full-on track and morphing it into an involved piece of work. This however is not an example of that. It is just a generic sounding march that has absolutely nothing remarkable about it. It's not terrible, just....vanilla. He has done waaaaay better than this.

 

Audio Rodeo- What the hell is going on here?

 

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We Are Not Alone- Since I posted that gif I cannot stop yawning.

 

Ok, with this one you can come in at around 4'30" and not have missed anything. Even then...welcome to snoozetown. Population, you.

 

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And Redman is probably high. Cough cough, probably.

 

 

Reefer. Part 2- Can we please get back to the task at hand? We've got some lasers and a little kick-step in our groove.

 

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We're back in business with more detail and definitely more interesting sounds and phrases. The mini-break is pretty cool but still the climax is somewhat lacking. C'mon homie, I know you can do this. Maybe.

 

The Pill-

 

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Gonna need a lot more than "a" pill to right this ship. I'm looking at the case and nowhere on it does it say Alien Project. Nowhere. Can you explain to me why I'm hearing Alien Project? Can you? This is like a race to see who can fall asleep first. Ready...set....ZZZZzzzzzz.....

 

 

Space Race-

 

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What a weak effort. Most of these tracks were on autopilot without any feeling or emotion. I expect much better from Jeremy and what I got was a total snoozefest. Do you like generic uninspired full-on? Me neither, but that is what the Buddha brings here, and let me tell you, I'm not laughing. I guess he was saving all his good stuff for the compilations because that is where you will find it. I'm not saying it is Brainwash or Osaka Mafia bad, but you can keep this Sacred Technology. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to eat the receipt that proves that I ever bought this.

 

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Goastore

 

Saikosounds

 

Beatspace

 

Psyshop

 

Mdk

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Well, I'm apparently somewhere in between Rotwang and T2MU here, because I indeed found it highly derivative and repetitive, borrowing in spades from Nano's signature trademark sound- and trick library (think Avalon, Chromatone, Strike Twice and in particular Fearsome Engine, i.e. Laughing Buddha + Tristan); but on the other hand there are circumstances when this doesn't bother and is actually quite pleasant, i.e. in the car or at work, doing something that just requires concentration. The whole ride is quite even, though if I was pushed to choose my favourites I'd say "The acid test" for it's up-and-down bouncing bass-line and fiercely mangled main acid lead, "Audio rodeo" for trying to be more 'melodic', in particular towards the end of the track and "The pill" for funny samples; on the downside, I still cringe on "Space race"'s key changes...

 

I think that Jez is much better when he collaborates with other people, i.e. Tristan on Fearsome Engine album or Pogo and Lucas on their respective Dragonfly/Nano and TIP flagship compilations; I find his solo tracks to be too linear, to "square-y" so to say, though I have to give it to him that he has a good sense of dance floor 'dynamics', i.e. the breaks, build-ups etc. are all in the right places, maybe with the except for "Sacred technology" which is indeed to long for its own good.

 

All in a all - a decent effort, but compared to what one would expect from ex-Cosmosis member it leaves a lot to be desired. It sounds like leftovers from Fearsome Engine album and that one wasn't spectacular either.

 

3/5

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  • 2 weeks later...

nano = nono for me, fearsome engine was already such a letdown, i cant imagine this being good.

 

how can people think using the same thing every time will be good? (ie. the baselines and eh well all the sounds? oh and also those gifs)

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For those of you with slow internet speeds, I apologize for putting gifs in my reviews. I realize that it can slow things down and take time to load. Reviews with just text seem boring and laborious to read. I try to make the review an enjoyable read, and if I feel a gif would work there, well, so be it.

 

You can't please everyone and I enjoy doing reviews. If you don't like how I do it, well without trying to be a dick, don't read it. This is a public forum and you can write reviews your own way.

 

I'm just some guy with free time that enjoys writing reviews.

 

Mdk

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I am with Rotwang. Also, all those gifs in your threads make them take ages to load.

Please elaborate. Or you just "strongly disagree" together with Rotwang?

 

Oh boy... Not only you've not put a bit of effort in saying why you liked the album, but you have the nerve to criticise somebody who actually did describe his feelings and tried to make it fun & interesting to read?! Get a life... Or faster internet at the very least ;)

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For those of you with slow internet speeds, I apologize for putting gifs in my reviews. I realize that it can slow things down and take time to load. Reviews with just text seem boring and laborious to read. I try to make the review an enjoyable read, and if I feel a gif would work there, well, so be it.

 

You can't please everyone and I enjoy doing reviews. If you don't like how I do it, well without trying to be a dick, don't read it. This is a public forum and you can write reviews your own way.

 

I'm just some guy with free time that enjoys writing reviews.

 

Mdk

 

I very much enjoy your reviews and the pictures & gifs work wonderfully well on my high speed interwebz.

Hell they even don't take long to load on my phone. How slow can internet be nowadays? :P

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I have the feeling it's gonna be another dull mediocre-at-best album ...

That's exactly what it is, hence my 3/5 rating, i.e. you can buy it if you're primarily into full-on; otherwise use your money elsewhere.

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I was looking forward to this one...though The Fearsome Engine album was a bad sign. I decided to buy it anyway. What a let-down, so uninspiring. I know he can can do much better than this. Just sit back and have a listen to these 2 tracks:

 

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=iupRsipKtFo

 

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTHt5ZaXnFI

 

These tracks have depth, not just some silly bassline going nowhere. I was hoping for an album packed with gems like these.

 

Jeremy, I'm dissapoint.

 

And BTW: love the gifs :lol:

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I'm with @reyu. It looks like the time is over for the old producers like Tristan, Laughing Buddha, Dickster and Aphid Moon.

They seem to stuck in the same sound four years now. The Fearsome Engine Album was also a disappointment for me (with some exceptions).

 

 

Here some good examples:

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOuZtPoypvI&feature=related______________http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h65J85FmOXY&feature=related

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I am very disapointed by this album, uninspiring full on, boring.

 

My favorite track is the 2 "The Acid Test" but it's the only one i like to listen.

 

Seems like that is the general consensus. And what sucks is that we have all heard him do much better than this.

 

Mdk

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I'm with @reyu. It looks like the time is over for the old producers like Tristan, Laughing Buddha, Dickster and Aphid Moon.

They seem to stuck in the same sound four years now. The Fearsome Engine Album was also a disappointment for me (with some exceptions).

 

 

Here some good examples:

 

 

http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOuZtPoypvI&feature=related______________http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=h65J85FmOXY&feature=related

 

I disagree on Dickster. His production is still impeccible. He's one of my fav producers in psytrance. Very strong bubbling basslines, sprinkled with psychedelia, always very subtle in his approach and he manages to stay away from cheesy melodies. He's the man!

 

AMD is a hit and a miss though imo.

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