Blimey. And f**k. And then Blimey again. Concept album,
anyone? This is one of the deepest and most succulent albums in some time, and
I cant think of anything else that’s come close. Roughly speaking, the sound is
like a more intricate Talpa, or a more imaginative old-era Infected Mushroom
before they said “hey what's this, it’s a microphone, okay cool let’s plug it
in” and sent the world of psytrance generally in the direction of six-year-old
bacon. Ananda opens out with a massive string intro, and when the 4-4 drops
it’s very unexpected. The cuts and sweeps are also all about taking you by
surprise, and it’s enough of a rollercoaster to listen to the thing, let alone
dance to it on this week’s trendiest combination of designer psychedelics (tea
and vitamins this week, I think.) Tommy Is Dead is a wonderful tune, one of the
only tunes in recent years that I’ve played for a roomful of people and we’ve
all sat around pissing ourselves laughing at the sample, then chinstroking at
the production. It’s a long, long sample from what sounds like an old US
drug-propaganda flick, telling how a promising young student loses the plot on
acid. The music feeds off the dialogue perfectly; and so far I’ve said nothing
about one of the most evil, menacing, wonderfully simple riffs this side of
Gamma Goblins. Things That You Don’t Wanna Do is a great little snip from Bill
Cosby Talks To The Kids About Drugs, for which he won a Grammy in 1971 (it’s
true, fact fans.) Nystagmus drops a lot of these in, cheeky drug-related
samples that form mini-tracks in between the full-length tunes. At first I
wasn’t convinced about them, but the trick is to listen to what’s going on in
the background… They’re all hilarious and ought to keep the rest of the
psytrance world in samples for a long time yet. It’s with You’re Messed Up that
things start to get really tasty. This is purely the best track Infected
Mushroom never got around to making, or they’d wish they could have made. It
moves in a similar way to stuff on The Gathering, but for my money it has much
more soul, much more substance, much more gnarl. And of course, the bang up to
date production makes it especially sweet. Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor takes
the foot off the accelerator (if such a thing is possible at 147bpm). It’s
spacious, and the sounds float in and out almost of their own accord. Once
again the arpeggios and changes are reminiscent of Infected, but with a
kaleidoscopic restraint that had always been beyond their reach. The Marijuana
Cigarette is more sampled propaganda with some amusing samples in the
background, before we kick off into Weird Noises which – dare I say it – does
exactly what it says on the tin. The production here is superb: a better word
for “production” would be conceptualisation. The sounds here are just
staggering, with orchestra first, then beefy guitar (that sounds a million
miles away from shit), then the sound of synths committing suicide to Marilyn
Manson (or if they’re ‘educated’ then Jim Morrison’s dire spoken word “poetry”
pap. Sorry, personal anti-goth thing).
Never Turn Your Back is a wonderful
piece of psytrance, I love the way it comes alive and makes a fairly tired
sample sound new again. The layers and intricacy here just have to be heard to
be believed, it’s just off da hook, as XZibit might say. Soulgasm is a mad rush
of spinal arpeggios and flurries, once again with triumphant production and a
solid vibe of dancing like your life depended on it – it’s a real moment, stuck
in the right-now with nothing to hold you back, and it’s captured on this CD in
binary. Sheesh. Consciousness, however, is the real masterpiece on this album –
it beggars belief, for all the reasons stated above on this album (production,
concept, vision, feeling) and then some… and despite being the oldest track
here, it rules the roost as far as I’m concerned. Just…. I mean check it out,
basically. You then get a wonderful piece based on a sample from the
much-circulated video of LSD being tested on British army troops, and then it’s
into Reality, another humdinger. It’s a game of two halves this one –
dualistic, with a mature melodic nature at odds with a darker, moodier side.
So… well, bloody hell basically. Once again Sundance have pulled something
truly psychedelic out of the hat. It’s difficult to go from this to even more
twisty fullon stuff and still call it “psychedelic” with a straight face. Not
only will The Immaculate Perception scratch your Infected Mushroom itch, it’s
also probably one of the most intelligent, considered, non-patronising and
lastingly enjoyable releases under this genre’s banner. Ever.
Reviewed by Damion courtesy of the Psyreviews website.
|