Jump to content

V/A - Psionic Earth (Digital Psionics 2004) CD [Full review]


Guest

Recommended Posts

V/A – Psionic Earth

 

dps1cd008_b.jpg

 

Format: CD

Artist: Various

Title: Psionic Earth

Label: Digital Psionics

Cat. #: DPSI 008

Year: 2004

 

Track listing:

 

01: 08’18” Damage - Wicked

02: 07’36” Safi Connection – Vampire City

03: 06’43” Dark Nebual/Scatterbrain – Geometric Patterns

04: 07’31” Kluster - Guilty

05: 06’46” Bon – Problem Child

06: 07’16” Procs - Toons

07: 08’26” Praecox – Mova Trava

08: 07’04” Cyanescens – Psychotropic Investigations

09: 07’31” Silicon Sound – Prime Drive

10: 09’04” Navajo – Drag Killer

 

Review:

 

Sweet fancy Moses – Digital Psionics have done it again!

 

This is quickly becoming one of my fav’e labels… In the endless stream of boring full-on releases it’s nice to a label like DS releasing very interesting, fresh stuff like Scatterbrain, Dark Nebula and the cool Psionics compilations… And here’s another great one! Packed with tracks by innovative producers from all over the world. Let me take you thru the tracks:

 

#01: Damage kicks things off with this wicked tune (Argh sorry; pun too obvious!). This is some scary shit. Seriously – we’re talking horror trance here… This track is shrouded in a very spooky, yet unbelievably cool atmosphere… Be careful if you listen to this in the dark… Boooh! Dark, powerful, extremely energetic night trance here from South Africa! Very, very cool track!

 

#02: “Take me down to the Vampire City, where the grass is red and the girls have fangs!” … Safi Connection kinda continues in the same dark thread, though this is not as spooky! In fact, this lacks some of the craziness I like so much… Average track!

 

#03: Oh baby, this is awesome… Scatterbrain – Best thing outta Australia last year! Working together with Dark Nebula – the spearheads of Digital Psionics. A match made in heaven… This is definitely the best track here… It’s so fucking huge. “How would I describe it? Terrifying. Enlightening. But utterly terrifying. You swear you'll never go back. Ever. And the next thing you know, you're taking it again. You're going down that tunnel”… Ooops, I accidentally quoted Scatterbrain from their excellent track Mexican Jesus [scatterbrain – Infernal Angel, Digital Psionics 2003]… But that’s exactly what this track sounds like… Like a gigantic monster… A wall of sound thrown coming right at you! Deeply psychedelic, highly intoxicating, truly a wonderful experience! Amazing track!

 

#04: This must be the psy equivalent of Josh Wink’s classic “Don’t Laugh”… Funny laughing samples in the intro… Dark, Swedish forest-madness here… Huge electronic sounding bleeps and acid twirls, seasoned with hillbilly voice samples… Nice track!

 

#05: The Italian problem child… So, is that Berlusconi or Stallone? Whatever, the case might be, this is another neo full on, dust driven, propane injected trance track! The promotional text hits it spot on, with that description… Again, loads and loads of acid… It’s mayhem, it’s good, it’s goooood!

 

#06: More madness from the deep forests of Sweden… Heavy use of cut beats, the random madness and twisted psychedelia… Also, good stereo effect in parts of the track!... The sample annoys me though… What the hell are you looking for? Average track!

 

#07: The nutcases from Poland are here with another crazy ass tune… Apparently “Mowa Trawa” loosely translates into “talking rubbish”… And that’s an apposite title, ‘cause I’m not getting any of this…That’s not necessarily a bad thing, I’m just having trouble really getting into this track… It’s not bad or anything, in fact it’s very psychedelic… But somehow it just doesn’t DO it for me… Perhaps it’s too minimal or something… Average track!

 

#08: So, we’re back in bush country… And now things are picking up. This stimulates my taste buds in just the right way… So what’s in this dish? A decent bass line, happy, melodic, acid synths, well-chosen voice samples… This is not groundbreaking in any way; it’s just straight forward happy psytrance… Decent track!

 

#09: Ahh, good old Silicon Sound… When has this Frenchman ever let us down? Never! Good, so we agree… And Mr. Regier certainly does not let us down this time either… What we have here is something as rare, as a dark melodic piece… A driving, energetic melody bomb of a track, that takes you on a journey…. Oh, the melodies are soooo good here… So twisted, so driving… Johannes my man, great track!

 

#10: A Danish Navajo indian? I’m Danish, and I’ve never seen oneof those… Perhaps I hang out in the wrong places? Anyhow, we’re back in the horror trance category… Man, this is dark, but in the best of ways… Remember the atmosphere in The Delta’s “Thing”? Almost the same thing here… This could easily be the soundtrack to some horror movie… Again, do NOT listen to this in the dark… You’ll wet yourself! Check out the moped near the end! Funny stuff! My compatriot has done a great job here, this is a wicked track!

 

Woow, what a great compilation this is… 3 tracks that are average, but by no means bad… The rest is just better (Well, duh!)… And when the standard is this high, competition is fierce! I would have changed the order of the tracks though, so the 3 horror tracks were placed together, but again, that’s nitpicking… If you like the neo trance sound of Digital Psionics, this will not let you down… Pure trance floor fuel! Recommended!

 

 

8.5/10

 

Favourites: 1(!), 3(!!!), 4, 5, 9, 10

 

DeathPosture

 

External links:

Digital Psionics: www.digitalpsionics.com

Wirikuta Distribution: www.wirikuta.at (Soundclips available)

Psyshop: www.psyshop.com (Soundclips available)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 years later...

It's kind of an honor to write some thoughts about a CD after a the guy I pretty much patterned my reviewing style after.

 

IOQ4n4m.gif

 

 

Respect sir.

 

 

So what does the label from down under bring us? The fifth installment in the Psionic series sees our favorite doorknocker firmly supplanted in the Earth. Which is a great metaphor for where I would put it. This is what I call squelchy trance. All sharp edges and dark leads steeped in modulation that is an acquired taste. Melodies? I guess if you search for them, but better use a f*cking headlamp. The bass lines are the single note rapid fire type and most of these dark tracks go nowhere. This is like a highway out west...no turns. Not until you slog through 7 tracks of waiting for the music to get to the point is there some aural interest. 11 years ago is a long time so perhaps back when Martha Stewart went to prison or we got to see some of Janet Jackson's titty there was some value here, but it sure hasn't aged well.

 

Kinda like Janet. Yeah ok...you didn't have any plastic surgery. Silicon Sound had the best track for me, but asking him to save the compilation would be like asking Kanye to save rap music.

 

I can say with certainty that there is absolutely no reason for me to listen to this again.

 

Thankfully (at least for me) the Psionic series got better with the years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...

 

I can say with certainty that there is absolutely no reason for me to listen to this again.

 

 

YnoTaMg.gif

 

Damnit I listened to it again!  Ok don't beat yourself up over it.  Dude you're not even touching...are you smiling?  And wouldn't you know it, Wicked from Damage is here too!  Methinks the Psionic series recycles tracks.  Was there a shortage of music you coulda used back then? 

 

Why the f*ck am I listening to this again?  It's not like I don't have hundreds of albums that I've yet to get through on my computer.   

Perhaps trying it with an open ear.

 

4nU658t.gif

 

Nope, still sh*tty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 years later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...