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Artist: Slum Title: Sunflowers of Today Label: Sunflowers of Today Records. (Really?) Date: May, 2008 1. Deprive of It 2. It's Luckylife 3. Don't Miss the Aimed Loot 4. I Don't Think That We Are Defeated 5. My Turn, Again 6. Get Close Behind Men Only of Pretense 7. Season of Counter Attack 8. Go and Go, Anyway Go 9. We Must Choose 10. It Expands Toward The Sun What in the holy f*ck? Look I try not to stereotype Japanese entertainment, but they make it so f*cking hard. Chubby dude in a diaper and a knee brace rubbing his belly whilst tentacles wave on his arms. For God's sake the machine gun out of the chick's ass is the least unusual thing here! Japanese people must be aliens. Ahem. I like sunflowers. Not sure which is cooler the album cover or the poorly translated Ingrish track titles. This is Shuji Ichimura who is apparently the James Brown of Japanese psytrance. Actually I made that up. Maybe he's the James Woods of Japanese psy. Now that doesn't even make sense. Anyhoo...this is his 2nd album and like all things Japanese it's a little out there. But since we're dealing with full-on it's a welcome change from the tired crap we've been force fe over the years. Take sounds that would be unpleasant by themselves and put it with a bass line and a hi hat and that's where we are. The power is there without most of the annoying things full-on hoists upon the ears. As this unfolds and I get wrapped up in images of smiley Japanese high school girls in ultra short uniforms engaging in ridiculous cosplay against a backdrop of intense colorful flashing lights while sumo wrestlers perform an awkwardly choreographed dance routines. I suppose this happens on the streets of Japan everyday. I don't know I've never been there. The album is a loud and pumping barrage that makes no apologies for its straight forward approach. It's more in your face than melodic, but it will get you moving. Sometimes it gets a little too heavy, but don't discount the havoc his dissonant style could wreak on the dance floor. Acid, guitars, funky last track...there's a bit of everything in here. Psyshop

Artist: A-Mush Title: Behind The Dark Label: LAD Records Date: May, 2008 1. Another Place 2. Behind The Dark 3. Dyabolyk Toy 4. Hell Boy 5. Hidraulic System 6. Jigsaw Is Dead 7. Kill Freddy 8. LSD Trip 9. Resident Of Gods 10. Sin City Supposedly wine gets better with age. I haven't drunk enough wine that I couldn't get at the supermarket to know this. Some people become more attractive as they age. Look at George Clooney. What is he...in his 50's? He's still pulling some hot tail. Better example...Sean Connery. He's 75 if I'm a day old and he can melt chicks just by talking to them. I usually have to have my kidnapping rope and duct tape. We all have our own recipes for success. My point is that this was released back in 2008 and just like the above examples it has gotten better with age. No it hasn't. But let's be fair. It wasn't that good to begin with. I mean, look who they had to work with. "Needs more bananas!" "You've said that about every f*cking track!!" At times darkspy at times night-full on its monotonous bass line and acid deluge seem thrown together like a trancers wardrobe. Buildups galore, cheesy samples, and I don't think this project knew there were more than 3 presets on a synthesizer. This is the music I'm pumping when I'm driving down the road and the windows are open so you can't really hear it anyway. If you dropped me in the middle of Bombay and gathered up 10 Indians I would be pretty easy to spot right? Well, these tracks are Indians 1,2,3,4...you get the idea. The only thing separating the tracks are the track names and last I checked people don't dance at a poetry slam. But I'm sure there'd be a lot of finger snapping. But there is a bright side. As it was released in 2008 they have only gotten better and better. Their track Quarantine on MMD's Digital Manipulation Device? Awesome. Hunab Ku's Mind Disastour? Hella awesome. And round it out with Psycho Slut from Malfunktion Part 2 and this project is on the train to twilight players. So yes, their first album was weak, but I say better to come out weak and finish strong than Pleaidians. There I said it. So skip it, but know that these guys are on the rise. Juno Download Beatport Mdk