damion Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 Psyreviews’ standard observation about this whole freestyle / suomi subgenre is that, a lot of the time, it’s too weird for its own good. Too emphatic on the postmodernism, the humour, the sheer glitchy mess; and not enough emphasis on big-grin danceability. Luckily for us, Sienis has a solid knack for coupling the danceable with the cheeky, fully present and correct on this album Sum=Thing teases you with an understated flow that picks up classily subtle energy via a series of deftly-executed changes. The melodies are fun without being too grating – something a lot of current morning-y acts would be advised to learn from, and the groove is pumping without being rushed. Watt Duh Hekk picks up more scratch, and sounds at times like a cross between Artifakt and Texas Faggot. Friggin Box has some of the juciest production I’ve heard lately – deliciously-balanced, bass-heavy stuff that’s like a jelly wall you can throw yourself up against, with hypnotic acid bubbling up from under the surface and a finale that makes even the most past-it jaders stroke their chin while mumbling something like “proper trance.” At which point, things take a turn. The second half of the album is harder, and some of the tracks suffer because of this. Sienis is at his best when he takes his foot off the pedal and lets the music breathe. Phinary and Digital Dealer are top examples here – decent stuff, but a little too hammer-n-nails to really draw you in. A better example is the restrained mindfuck Triangle Eye Sir, with all the punch and groove but with a more refined movement; likewise the warped, wobbly Me Against Myself, or the delectable Form Another Perspective, which is completely fucked up, but in a good way. Eye See The I Sea brings it all back together nicely – mad melodies and movement soar up from a tight groove at the heart of the track, and the peak at the end is possibly the best that’s been created since Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit: it’s thunderingly good, seriously – and it just leaves you hanging at the end. Interludes like Memory Mechanix and the opening Nuttin add to the album’s flow and are nicely-produced, and the closing Indian-themed downtempo Earth Womb is well-executed, if a little clichéd. All in all this is good stuff. I would have liked to hear a couple of more experimental tracks here – one is left with a feeling that Sienis’ music would reach new heights if he was to ditch the 4-4 and move into breaks or some sort of psychedelic drum n’ bass. As it is, however, there are some great moments here. The production has a very real 3d depth to it that has you coming back for more, and the lasting listenability makes it somehow better than the sum of its parts. Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longloststar Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 Where is the score, damion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest antic Posted June 11, 2007 Share Posted June 11, 2007 Where is the score, damion? Why do you need it. Can't you read?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawfly Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 It might be a tough nut to chew for someone. Spend some time with the sparkly owls and you'll notice that Eki created a rather nice album :clapping: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauryn Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 I love this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seraph Posted June 12, 2007 Share Posted June 12, 2007 Stunning album ! So psychedelic, so crunchy ! It reminds me on Infected Mushroom a bit, in structure and style... but it has more twists... This is by far my favourite album from this year, not that I have listened to that much, but this tasty psychedelia caught my attention. 8/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ormion Posted June 14, 2007 Share Posted June 14, 2007 Nice album! Suomi crazy stuff (but Sienis is Swedish,right?) Experimental, forest in a faitytale way and crazy! Best track Phinary(!),Sum=Thing,Digital Dealer and Me Against Myself, but the rest are good too. BTW this must be the only album that the bassline plays the main melody. 8/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drosophila Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 Hmm this album bugs me... one one hand I can hear thats it very well made and has a lot of good stuff in it. But on the other hand I feel the mixing is "not that good" (or in my likings if u will), with the beat and bass-line taking over all tracks and the the rest of the music is held down by it and marginalized! Its a shame really! It's' just too dominating imo, and ruins it a bit for me Maybe I will get by this annoyance by time maybe not... I hope I will cus there is for sure good things here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamlin Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 But on the other hand I feel the mixing is "not that good" (or in my likings if u will), with the beat and bass-line taking over all tracks and the the rest of the music is held down by it and marginalized! Its a shame really! It's' just too dominating imo, and ruins it a bit for me Well, first of all, this is just the way Sienis does it: Kick&Bass front and center! Gives a nice pressure to the dancefloor bounce. I KNOW it works, I've seen it in action. =P Second, a lot of home listening systems that people use have their bass turned up. That's why a lot of music is actually purposefully mastered with LESS bass - to make it sound balanced in most home systems where bass is very often turned up above "normal" levels.. But when playing music that is purposefully bass-heavy on a system with the bass already turned up, then it can sound like too much bass, like it takes over too much. I actually had the exact same reaction you had when I heard this album the first time at a friends house - I thought the bass dominated a bit too much.. But then my friend turned down the bass a bit and then it sounded fine. So just try checking the bass setting on your amp (or whatever) and make sure it is not turned up. With a flat EQ it should sound fine. Or, if you have hifi speakers with a high bass response, or a room with a lot of low frequency resonance, then maybe try turning the bass down a little bit to balance it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drosophila Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 Thanks Tamlin... I will try and see if I can get around to listen to it on another receiver (though mine should be flat, maybe not... its a Rotel with no eq-bottoms). And I wouldn't say I haven't had much of these kinds experiences when playing music at home before though... I can hear that it would play better at big system, but again I think it would be better to make it for home-listening, cus u can always crank the bass at party-systems no problems there Still one thing I really miss on this album is experimentations... seems there are some bits and pieces of it here and there, but more could have served it very well! Well next time maybe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Verb Posted June 30, 2007 Share Posted June 30, 2007 Still one thing I really miss on this album is experimentations... seems there are some bits and pieces of it here and there, but more could have served it very well! Well next time maybe uhm, Huh!? personaly i think this is the most innovative album to be released in ages. and im not just saying that because eki is one of my closest friends. it's to the point and percisely acurate. however it doesn't really trickle away from psytrance alot. which is well, also to the point. because it defines something. wether it's psytrance or suomi trance or funky i have no idea. but it's coherent and linear allthrough and you can tell that he's working at something, or that it is working through him, whichever point of view is problely true from some point of view. dobido di da... almost rhymed. aaaanyway... since i've been a part of it's production during the past years, i know for a fact that he's very experimental when it comes to creating sounds. much more than me for instance, i'm a simplist. hooray for sienis! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abasio Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 okay! I have to say that this is a fucking amazing album! It's so weird but not in a crap weird for the sake of being weird way, in a fun interesting cool music way I really hope I can write a proper review of this soon. Loving it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seraph Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 BTW this must be the only album that the bassline plays the main melody. Euhm, no, check Midi Miliz - Non Standards where bassline also plays melodies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maden Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 disapointed i enjoy phinary and re-member, but other don't do it for me, i like sattel battle more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abasio Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 Sienis From A Nutter Perspective Gi'iwa Productions 2007 Tracklist 1 Nuttin' (0:59) (2) Sum=thing (7:08) 3 Watt Duh Hekk ?! (6:46) 4 Friggin' Box | Outside The... (6:29) 5 Phinary (7:06) 6 Memory Mechanix (3:44) 7 Digital Dealer (6:45) 8 Triangle Eye, Sir ? (5:07) 9 Re..member (7:21) 10 Me Against My Self (6:33) 11 Form Another Perspective (5:20) 12 Eye See The I Sea (7:45) 13 Earth Womb (7:12) Okay I only bought this album recently but it had an instant effect on me. This has reignited my love of high tempo music. I have focused more & more on chillout over the last year as there has been very few trance releases that have attracted my interest. This one however blew my socks off. The craziness, the randomness nicely ordered & the fantastic use of baselines. I wish all upbeat music was this good. Really this is my favourite up tempo release this year. It makes no sense & I have no idea if in the future it will get annoying but at the moment I just don't see that happening. All the weird crazy samples are fun yes but manage to not be annoying unlike a lot of releases have been. This guy must be a sample master. 1 Nuttin' A short intro with a big classical piano melody & a crazy cartoon vocal Sweet Freedom here I a..a.wa.wa..... Boy it's a good thing I'm leaving before I went nuts, goodbye sparkly elves (owls?) goodbyeeeeeeeeee A perfect sample summing up what you can expect from the rest of the album (2) Sum=thing Nuttin' was just the intro to this track. A nice melody played by the bassline, weird twisted & scratched vocals & a sci fi lady speaks of our entrapment in this small space. Crazy weirdness for sure. I love it. The other melody too played on what could be a harpsichord adds a middle age adventure feel to the track. hey, it's just weird enough to work perfectly. 3 Watt Duh Hekk?! The bom bom bom seems to have a resonance echo & the sounds shift from left to right in an off putting random way that makes you think your headphones are broken until the sounds fly around so much that they fill both sides. An incredibly infectious bassline which has made me look stupid at the train station trying to hold my desire to dance while waiting for the train. It's a small world after world is butchered by some weirdo freak in the breakdown before kicking back in with a completely different track. What the Hell happened? The Bizarreness is compounded by the return of the oscillating sounds from the right to the left randomly. Oh well 16% of the time it works everytime 4 Friggin' Box | Outside The... An anomalous violin melody starts us off before the beat smashes in & weird acidic sounds fly at us from every direction. Somehow the girl answering the phone is the perfect sample brilliantly timed. A nice squelchy synth plays well over the beat with little squelchy sounds underneath driving us somewhere. Not sure where we are going it's just nice to be insane. The natty little vocal towards the end feels like tiny little elves up to no good on a midsummer night's eve. 5 Phinary Another infectious melodious bassline which has made people stare at me on the train. I just can't help myself, I must dance even if it's just slight head nodding. The beats are crunchy too & the track screams for your potential energy to be released. This is a mix between normality & the craziness of Sienis with Sienis winning out in the end, as you would expect. As the track goes on it builds more energy & yu might get carried away with the dance but listen carefully while you dance & you mind will be separated from you body as you lose yourself in the building oddness. 6 Memory Mechanix Glitchy start with a strange feeling of running & when it out runs the glitch & enters the deep dark forest I think it's going to kick off at any moment everytime but then the long synth drones come in giving this a fucked up dark ambient on speed feel. Just as you're expecting them, the beats come in slowly & it really feels lost. I'm lost & the track has obviously lost it's mind. 7 Digital Dealer No idea. Another very up tempo track but this time the bassline is much more pedestrian & although I could dance to this on the dancefloor. It wouldn't make me dance. The best thing about this track is definitely the sample. Calm down, I didn't mean to scare you, why are we whispering, I wanted to see if you would whisper because I whispered, I think I would In my mind this sample sums up Sienis's sound. Completely & totally fucked up nonsense. The track picks up after the sample to but never really draws me in like the others. Gets better & better towards the end but just doesn't seem to stand out among the brilliance around it until the squeaky melody played in the last 2 minutes. That was pure genious. So it comes good in the end & has you looking forward in the build up on repeat listens. 8 Triangle Eye, Sir? Woooooo!!!! The start of this is....damn I don't know. Feels like something trying to escape some terrible hell! When it finally claws it's way out it encounters denial & logic (brilliant sample by the way) as well as mental incarceration & candy girl pop. Possibly the weirdest track on the album. Not sure but it is definitely up there in the what the hell is going on (?) stakes. 9 Re...member This is all so very ordinary, for a few minutes you can't help but feel disappointed that nothing has happened yet to make you say what the fuck? But after a few minutes the synths come in & they are fast & compliment the weird melody pretty well so before you even realise it, is crazy. The craziness though has been toned down a little in favour of trippiness that draws you in & takes you away. 10 Me Against My Self So....back to the crazy off the wall, what is going on sort of stuff but with the foot off the pedal. The pace is not so fast & there is more space for the music to breathe. The weirdness is here in spades & lots of samples like the angry at god sample is so out there it just makes so much sense. 11 Form Another Perspective Best track on the whole album. It all comes together. The grim fairy tale feel, the nuttiness, the ambience in the background & yes yes yes the bassline is so amazingly fantastic that when it comes in I can do anything else, I can't talk I can't walk straight I can't see. All I can do is smile & dance. Every part of me wants to move. Even when I'm sat down I can feel myself dancing! I think this is probably my favourite track of 2007. It's so infectious. I just want to listen to it again & again & again. I could probably have this on repeat at a party & be happy for hours I only wish it was longer. 12 Eye See The I Sea After the brilliance of Form Another Perspective this only very good track is disappointing. It's extremely trippy but lacks the craziness & the energy of the rest of the album. Nice melody that's subtle & refined & if you listen to this on it's own you'll thing it is weird but it just doesn't compare 13 Earth Womb We finish with a downbeat Indian themed number. It is a good track don't get me wrong but it is really out of place with the rest of the album. There is non of the crazy weirdness that came before it. It's a little clichéd and doesn't follow on from the think outside the box stuff that makes up this album. All in all this is one of the best albums I've heard in years. It's fun has lots of energy, crunches & is soooo psychedelic it makes my mind flip everytime I hear it. It has been a long time since I've heard anything that is so fucked up yet still musical. And yes so much of it makes me move. I haven't wanted to dance in ages but with this makes it impossible not to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawfly Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 Yeah, this one will be in player for years :clapping: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psydmt Posted December 6, 2007 Share Posted December 6, 2007 Doesn't sound like its ed'q properly. All I hear is the bass, the rest is hard to hear or ditinguish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawfly Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 Doesn't sound like its ed'q properly. All I hear is the bass, the rest is hard to hear or ditinguish. Meh... Read it --> http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php?sh...st&p=752812 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzman Posted December 7, 2007 Share Posted December 7, 2007 Meh... Read it --> http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php?sh...st&p=752812 QUALITY STUFF!! The basslines is just pure madness Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trance2MoveU Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 I avoided getting this one for the longest time because Suomi madness has always been a little too weird for me. I eventually took the plunge. And I am glad I did. Superb sample work that melts seamlessly through he tracks, scrambling bass lines like cockroaches with the light on, yet still utterly groovetastic. As you can see, I really enjoyed this. :posford: Mdk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drosophila Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 I avoided getting this one for the longest time because Suomi madness has always been a little too weird for me. I eventually took the plunge. This isn't really suomi madness (suomi saundi) I'm not sure why "everybody" is calling it that?! Still got some of that gi'iwa weirdness though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sawfly Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 This isn't really suomi madness (suomi saundi) I'm not sure why "everybody" is calling it that?! Still got some of that gi'iwa weirdness though Well there are some obvious suomi influences Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzman Posted December 8, 2007 Share Posted December 8, 2007 I avoided getting this one for the longest time because Suomi madness has always been a little too weird for me. I eventually took the plunge. And I am glad I did. Superb sample work that melts seamlessly through he tracks, scrambling bass lines like cockroaches with the light on, yet still utterly groovetastic. As you can see, I really enjoyed this. :posford: Mdk Nahh, usually not into the suomi stuff either, but this is much different Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reece Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 This isn't really suomi madness (suomi saundi) I'm not sure why "everybody" is calling it that?! yeah im puzzled by it too.... we've never released Suomi.... i guess if its not full-on, dark, or prog, it must be suomi huh? :posford: stoked to hear ppl are still enjoying this release Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abasio Posted December 12, 2007 Share Posted December 12, 2007 yeah im puzzled by it too.... we've never released Suomi.... i guess if its not full-on, dark, or prog, it must be suomi huh? :posford: stoked to hear ppl are still enjoying this release Yep, in my TOP 5 fo shaw! Not sure what Suomi is to be honest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.