Trance2MoveU Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Artist: Maan Title: Robotic Swarm EP Label: DVSM Records Date: December, 2014 1. Swarms 2. Fleur de Synchrotron 3. Bionic Binoculars 4. Entomophobic Droid What's the biggest problem with darkpsy? "Ummm...it sucks?" No, that would be your mom. No, really what's the biggest problem with darkpsy? Inaccessibility. It's either over saturated with screechy sound effects, has a conspicuous absence of melody, or just devolves into a cacophony of noise and goes nowhere. Perhaps all three. Now I'm not picking on darkpsy here, but the darkpsy sound is what this label has focused on in the past. It has a devoted following, but at the same time it's hard for those that don't follow it to jump in and embrace it. But if you've been paying attention they've shifted gears and changed (or evolved) as all music eventually does. Releases like Kiriyama's Reach Escape Velocity and the compilation 71 degrees have kept it dark, but added some light and thereby attracted new listeners. Those two releases alone have shed some light on this label where I would've all but ignored it before. So here is one of their latest projects. Maan is Frode Ungar and his ep is a very varied mix of styles blended together with a dark atmosphere. Maybe darkpsy lite? Layered with sounds of the forest this is an ep any psychedelic fan can sink his teeth into. The darkness is well represented, but instead of being overbearing it's just a piece of the puzzle. That atmosphere enhances the sound and the listening experience. Goa touches are sprinkled within and melodies are heard, but all within the backdrop of a Norwegian forest. It's very well produced (mastered by Colin Oood) and all the subtleties are fully audible. I know it's a digital EP, but the cover done by Shiva3 is beautiful to look at. So perhaps this is a new direction for the DVSM label? It's been coming for awhile now and this release is an example of how to keep the tone dark while also allowing for the productions to have more depth. It's interesting to say the least and I would recommend this to anyone who is put off by the usual darkpsy sound. Good job. DVSM Bandcamp Mdk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Nice, will definitely check this out. Here, try this one, some good dark psy without all the confounding dark psy-isms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJOkPUpSeOI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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