psytones
Chaotically Operational
One of the world’s leading psy-acts of the 20th century, Infected Mushroom is out with their fifth studio album. This time with a much more playful Full-On sound than ever before... Amit Duvdevani and Erez Aizen are ready to give you new sounds and melodies with ‘IM The Supervisor’. They are following in their own footsteps that will be hard if not impossible to follow with a series of hugely successful albums; ‘The Gathering’ (1999), ‘Classical Mushroom’ (2000), ‘B.P. Empire’ (2001) and ‘Converting Vegetarians’ (2003). After the commercial success of their double-album ‘Converting Vegetarians’ a lot of trippers has been anxiously anticipating the fifth studio album, fearing that Infected Mushroom once in for all has lost their "magic mushroom" touch. And incidentally their last attempt, C.V. was considered to be a major disappointment by many hardcore fans throughout the world.....
First of all I would like to say that Infected are my favorite electronic musicians of all time because of nostalgic reasons and brilliant sounds delivered in the past. They are the main reason why I fell so much in love with the world of Psy-Trance many years ago. For me it all started in the year 2000 with a CDR filled with music from their time-honored albums ‘The Gathering’, ‘Classical Mushroom’ and a bag of ‘Mexican Mushrooms’. The world would never be the same for me...
Infected Mushroom - IM The Supervisor (YoYo Records/BNE Ltd.) 2004 (RESISTCD10)
1. IM the Supervisor
2. Ratio Shmatio
3. Muse Breaks RMX
4. Meduzz
5. Cities of the Future
6. Horus the Chorus
7. Frog Machine
8. Noon
9. Bombat
10. Stretched
1) The intro of ‘IM the supervisor’ kind of reminds me of an intro to some dark theatric rock show with creeping sounds, piano and a generally dark feeling. Then boom! The supervisor says; I'm the supervisor, can i get a taxi numbah’ and the initial creepy, ominous feeling of darkness is gone and replaced by treble moods and cartoonish vibes. It has a baseline that’s kind of bouncy and I can quickly hear what Infected are doing with this ,,filler” release. They are making Full-On party music for the younger or newer generation, floor-fillers for the dance crowd. The track itself isn't all that bad if you take your mind off that it’s very empty and Full-On driven. When the takeoff starts at 04:45 with the cool drum machine and the voice screaming; Dance with me, come on come. Dance with me!! You can’t help but get carried away by its playful nature. It isn’t a strong track but it’s a floor killer, the fun kind that doesn’t take itself serious at all, and with it leads the feeling of the party album provided IM, the supervisors...
2) ‘Ratio Shmatio’ follows the main sound in 'Converting Vegetarians – CD1 - Trance Side’, baseline and everything else. It's got some great cute sounds and melodies at the start. Then it tries to break out by turning into a more melodramatic sound space. Again a Full-On track made for the dance floor with beautiful melodies that actually remind me of the good old Euro-Trance days of pre 98. Cheesy? Hell yes. But they get away with it because these are melodies only the emotions of Erez can provide.
3) ‘Muse Breaks RMX’ is a remix of ‘J.views (Jonathan from 'Violet Vision) - Muse Breaks' with the lovely Michele Adamson singing. And if I'm not mistaken, Duvdev screaming obscene mating signals, or something strange. It’s a reggae-inspired track with a sweet melody coming and going. I'm sorry to say that I haven’t heard the original yet but I'll bet its better than this remix by Infected.
4) ‘Meduzz’ is a strange track. It starts off with this mushroom-like bouncy beats and after a minute it’s back to the same flat and steady baseline as all the other tracks presented. And then the 'Blues Brothers' organ sound drops in and things start to become more interesting, but no revolution. ‘Meduzz’ is all about the build up and the guitar which got a great epic feel. But somehow there is still something missing because the production is fantastic as in the whole album, but where are the depths and the multiple layers? After a few listens it gets boring.
5) ‘Cities of the Future’, what can one say? Before the album was released, their Label published this track as a taster to the album in question on a CDS. What a joke I thought it was. It sounded like a Trance track by Cher. I enjoyed Duvdev's voice tweaking in ‘Deeply Disturbed’ released on C.V. But this is too much, this makes the album sound like a Psy-Trance album for kids or something. Not one of my favorite tracks, not by a long shot. Violet Vision made a remix of it on the released CDS. That one also sounded strange, but at least VV managed to make it interesting sounding, just like they did with the remix of ‘Deeply Disturbed’ on its taster CDS for ‘Converting Vegetarians’.
6) ‘Horus the Chorus’ follows in the footsteps of 'Ratio Shmatio' and it got a long build up, which I would appreciate if it wasn’t for its overall plastic feel. It has a super powerful melody that will take some breaths away. Too bad it stops there. If you got a DJ-Mixer I would suggest you to use it HARD to make the dead space with no cosmic intention go away.
7) Finally something complex and interesting, ‘Frog Machine’ has a feel like it
was a mix of the intro sounds of the title track 'Converting Vegetarians' on C.V. Full-On thumping baselines, Frogs on machine spirits, the name is suiting. It’s maybe one of the best tracks on the album with a great drive and good complex layers running around the beats. It for sure sticks out from the other tracks by being a tune with a whole new drive to it. And the thrilling atmospheres are covered in amazing climaxes. A great track indeed! It makes me want to lick a toad and trip out.
8) The shy track ‘Noon’ seems to be a very empty and boring track with littleinspiration. Although I think it is a floating track with no special melody or theme, yet many interesting sounds that helps it become complete. Not the best and it doesn’t stand out in your memory bank, but it’s a nice track that needs a few listens on proper speakers to be appreciated for its gifts.
9) Last Full-On track of the album, ‘Bombat’ has got some extremely nice synthesizer sounds. A strong epic drive and the sweet melodies are powerful and energetic to the max. But is that all the mushrooms can offer us in 2004, dance floor fillers with sugar sweet melodies wrapped in plastic? This is a track with many lift-ups and climaxes in the style that it provides. Club music, stadium, Arena music.. The crowd will love it to death.
10) If ‘Stretched’ is a new attempt to make a new “Dancing with Kadafi” track, they have a near success on their hands. I love the amazing guitar with the melodies and the playfulness. For an album that at times seems plain and almost half-hearted, this is a very nice ending indeed. But I’m sorry to say that all in all it gets tired and monotonies real fast. Sad.
Overall.. The album in general has a great clean club production and it seems like a logical but unwanted progression of the ‘Trance Side’ of their last full album ‘Converting Vegetarians’. It has the same baseline and same general feeling overall but yet more simple and sweeter on the tooth. This time they seem to have focused more on making great melodies that suits a wider candy raving crowd which unfortunately balances on the edge of cheese. When it comes to Infected’s more Full-On Beat-Centered albums, I definitely prefer and recommend the masterpiece ‘B.P. Empire’ which is MASSIVE. This album is great for what it is, a floor filler release that seems to be a pause album until they release their sixth album ‘Vicious Delicious’. This is simply put a gathering of club smashers that has been proven to work around the world while on tour infecting people. Perhaps Duvdev and Erez are trying to convert the world? If so, the next logical step for BNE should be to get some IM music produced for videos that could be launched MTV. Let’s see what their sixth studio album V.D. will have to offer on that aspect.
- watch out, the infection is spreading.
Where to buy and other links:
Infected Mushroom: http://www.infected-mushroom.com
Psyshop: http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/yoy/yoy1cd063.html
Play: http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/5321850/I-...or/Product.html
Beatspace: http://www.beatspace.com/dettagli/dettaglio.asp?id=1590
Psytones Reviews: http://www.myspace.com/psytonesmusic
First of all I would like to say that Infected are my favorite electronic musicians of all time because of nostalgic reasons and brilliant sounds delivered in the past. They are the main reason why I fell so much in love with the world of Psy-Trance many years ago. For me it all started in the year 2000 with a CDR filled with music from their time-honored albums ‘The Gathering’, ‘Classical Mushroom’ and a bag of ‘Mexican Mushrooms’. The world would never be the same for me...
Infected Mushroom - IM The Supervisor (YoYo Records/BNE Ltd.) 2004 (RESISTCD10)
1. IM the Supervisor
2. Ratio Shmatio
3. Muse Breaks RMX
4. Meduzz
5. Cities of the Future
6. Horus the Chorus
7. Frog Machine
8. Noon
9. Bombat
10. Stretched
1) The intro of ‘IM the supervisor’ kind of reminds me of an intro to some dark theatric rock show with creeping sounds, piano and a generally dark feeling. Then boom! The supervisor says; I'm the supervisor, can i get a taxi numbah’ and the initial creepy, ominous feeling of darkness is gone and replaced by treble moods and cartoonish vibes. It has a baseline that’s kind of bouncy and I can quickly hear what Infected are doing with this ,,filler” release. They are making Full-On party music for the younger or newer generation, floor-fillers for the dance crowd. The track itself isn't all that bad if you take your mind off that it’s very empty and Full-On driven. When the takeoff starts at 04:45 with the cool drum machine and the voice screaming; Dance with me, come on come. Dance with me!! You can’t help but get carried away by its playful nature. It isn’t a strong track but it’s a floor killer, the fun kind that doesn’t take itself serious at all, and with it leads the feeling of the party album provided IM, the supervisors...
2) ‘Ratio Shmatio’ follows the main sound in 'Converting Vegetarians – CD1 - Trance Side’, baseline and everything else. It's got some great cute sounds and melodies at the start. Then it tries to break out by turning into a more melodramatic sound space. Again a Full-On track made for the dance floor with beautiful melodies that actually remind me of the good old Euro-Trance days of pre 98. Cheesy? Hell yes. But they get away with it because these are melodies only the emotions of Erez can provide.
3) ‘Muse Breaks RMX’ is a remix of ‘J.views (Jonathan from 'Violet Vision) - Muse Breaks' with the lovely Michele Adamson singing. And if I'm not mistaken, Duvdev screaming obscene mating signals, or something strange. It’s a reggae-inspired track with a sweet melody coming and going. I'm sorry to say that I haven’t heard the original yet but I'll bet its better than this remix by Infected.
4) ‘Meduzz’ is a strange track. It starts off with this mushroom-like bouncy beats and after a minute it’s back to the same flat and steady baseline as all the other tracks presented. And then the 'Blues Brothers' organ sound drops in and things start to become more interesting, but no revolution. ‘Meduzz’ is all about the build up and the guitar which got a great epic feel. But somehow there is still something missing because the production is fantastic as in the whole album, but where are the depths and the multiple layers? After a few listens it gets boring.
5) ‘Cities of the Future’, what can one say? Before the album was released, their Label published this track as a taster to the album in question on a CDS. What a joke I thought it was. It sounded like a Trance track by Cher. I enjoyed Duvdev's voice tweaking in ‘Deeply Disturbed’ released on C.V. But this is too much, this makes the album sound like a Psy-Trance album for kids or something. Not one of my favorite tracks, not by a long shot. Violet Vision made a remix of it on the released CDS. That one also sounded strange, but at least VV managed to make it interesting sounding, just like they did with the remix of ‘Deeply Disturbed’ on its taster CDS for ‘Converting Vegetarians’.
6) ‘Horus the Chorus’ follows in the footsteps of 'Ratio Shmatio' and it got a long build up, which I would appreciate if it wasn’t for its overall plastic feel. It has a super powerful melody that will take some breaths away. Too bad it stops there. If you got a DJ-Mixer I would suggest you to use it HARD to make the dead space with no cosmic intention go away.
7) Finally something complex and interesting, ‘Frog Machine’ has a feel like it
was a mix of the intro sounds of the title track 'Converting Vegetarians' on C.V. Full-On thumping baselines, Frogs on machine spirits, the name is suiting. It’s maybe one of the best tracks on the album with a great drive and good complex layers running around the beats. It for sure sticks out from the other tracks by being a tune with a whole new drive to it. And the thrilling atmospheres are covered in amazing climaxes. A great track indeed! It makes me want to lick a toad and trip out.
8) The shy track ‘Noon’ seems to be a very empty and boring track with littleinspiration. Although I think it is a floating track with no special melody or theme, yet many interesting sounds that helps it become complete. Not the best and it doesn’t stand out in your memory bank, but it’s a nice track that needs a few listens on proper speakers to be appreciated for its gifts.
9) Last Full-On track of the album, ‘Bombat’ has got some extremely nice synthesizer sounds. A strong epic drive and the sweet melodies are powerful and energetic to the max. But is that all the mushrooms can offer us in 2004, dance floor fillers with sugar sweet melodies wrapped in plastic? This is a track with many lift-ups and climaxes in the style that it provides. Club music, stadium, Arena music.. The crowd will love it to death.
10) If ‘Stretched’ is a new attempt to make a new “Dancing with Kadafi” track, they have a near success on their hands. I love the amazing guitar with the melodies and the playfulness. For an album that at times seems plain and almost half-hearted, this is a very nice ending indeed. But I’m sorry to say that all in all it gets tired and monotonies real fast. Sad.
Overall.. The album in general has a great clean club production and it seems like a logical but unwanted progression of the ‘Trance Side’ of their last full album ‘Converting Vegetarians’. It has the same baseline and same general feeling overall but yet more simple and sweeter on the tooth. This time they seem to have focused more on making great melodies that suits a wider candy raving crowd which unfortunately balances on the edge of cheese. When it comes to Infected’s more Full-On Beat-Centered albums, I definitely prefer and recommend the masterpiece ‘B.P. Empire’ which is MASSIVE. This album is great for what it is, a floor filler release that seems to be a pause album until they release their sixth album ‘Vicious Delicious’. This is simply put a gathering of club smashers that has been proven to work around the world while on tour infecting people. Perhaps Duvdev and Erez are trying to convert the world? If so, the next logical step for BNE should be to get some IM music produced for videos that could be launched MTV. Let’s see what their sixth studio album V.D. will have to offer on that aspect.
- watch out, the infection is spreading.
Where to buy and other links:
Infected Mushroom: http://www.infected-mushroom.com
Psyshop: http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/yoy/yoy1cd063.html
Play: http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/5321850/I-...or/Product.html
Beatspace: http://www.beatspace.com/dettagli/dettaglio.asp?id=1590
Psytones Reviews: http://www.myspace.com/psytonesmusic
