Infected Mushroom ~ Stretched EP

by **DIONYSOS** » Thu Sep 01, 2005 8:18 pm

ARTiST....[ Infected Mushroom
TiTLE.....[ Stretched
GENRE.....[ Psychedelic Trance
LABEL.....[ Brand New Entertainment
REL.DATE..[ Sep-01-2005
TOTAL PLAYTiME (MiN): 30:26

Israel's finest and PsyTrance's biggest phenomena in the past few years is back with another blast from their The Supervisor album!

Shakawkaw (mind the title) is now remade live: it starts with rough percussion and a "Shakawkaw" male shout, before a tough-headed bassline makes its way through before a (beleive it or not) jazzy melody comes along, but only temporarily before IF's world-renowned psychedelic sound finally makes its break atop the the breakdrums (then that male shout gets really funny and makes me introspect whether it is indeed Gen's vocals). As if we needed any more, additional male vocals, now scatting, are added, and this track is now getting too funny... Towards the end it gets totally transformed into a full-on PsyTrance piece, and things are set straight again... I guess after all this is the real art behind psy: inexplicable chaos that leaves you clueless of what just happened.

The album mix of Stretched is next: all sorts of wacky electronic elemets kick it off before some more hyper-edited vocals pave way for a massive breakbeat. Not long from there a psyched electric guitar lead takes over the sonary attention, only to be followed by crazy electric sounds that are hard to resist when seated in a club, on top of which are layered very emotional female shouts to seal the package. Then, just as unexpected as psy tends to be, soft piano notes appear out of the blue, but by now you're not too surprised of whatever pops up, not even the following electric guitar (yes, different than the first one). Very interesting production indeed.

Cities Of The Future is undoubtebly one of the highlights of IM's latest album. It now gets a new treat from Time Lock (Felix Nagorsky) who released an album just last year entitled 10 Seconds Away and a fine double-sided vinyl in January on BNE too (Out Of Sight & Metrotek) and whose remix of Sesto Sento's Alchemystica can be found on the compilation Monarchie IV issued March 2004. A haunting intro that is suddenly ended with the introduction of the beat - as crazy as psy has to offer! Things only get better here-on, with the usual head-banging pulse-driving relentlessly aggressive Psychedelic Trance. The vocals take a while to be heard, and, as expected, they are effected to the extreme, making this a true remix by all standards.

Last but certainly not least, the grand finale of this fine release, a brand new production from the masters themselves that goes by the name of The Beauty And The Beat. Few can be said as I find it rather difficult to describe a psy track, but trust me it's good, it's very good. I sure wouldn't mind dropping this one in to a packed dance-floor.

This has been one the longest reviews I've written in a while, but an outstanding release of this calibre is worth every letter, and I dedicated to one of the most devoted psy lovers I've ever met: Genesis (who by the way is queer). Broaden your musical horizons and get it, all of you!

01 Shakawkaw (Mayumana Remake Live) 07:24
02 Stretched (Album Mix) 07:22
03 Cities Of The Future (Time Lock Rmx) 07:30
04 The Beauty And The Beat 08:10