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Shaolin Wooden Men - Ragu


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Shaolin Wooden Men - Ragu

 

http://www.discogs.com/release/195798

 

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Label: Psy-Harmonics

Catalog#: PSY-027

Format: 12"

Country: Australia

Released: 1996

Style: Abstract Psychedelic Goa Trance

 

 

Tracklist

A Ragu

B The Mocking Laugh Of The Cruel Ninja

 

A Ragu (6.31)

No need for an intro, straight into the beat.. Soon enough, track evolves into a crazy psychedelic goa tune with experimental structure and lots of changes... Crispy and acid!

 

B The Mocking Laugh Of The Cruel Ninja (6.40)

Similar style, with loads of trippy melodies, intense and aiming to drive you into delirium... Its crazy sort of resembles Texas Faggott crazyness at a few parts..

 

Conclusion

Unique release from Shaolin Wooden Men aka Ollie Olsen, I hope all oldskool psychedelic/goa lovers will like it, as well as the crazy acidheads.[acid as in acid the sound and/or acid the substance]

 

Rating: 10/10

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I agree totally :)

 

You can find some resemblance to Rip van Hippy too, albeit more acid and straight to the point.

 

This is totally different from everything else i've heard from them. The tracks, though, maintain a funky groove that they have in common with "the hungry forest".

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I don't have the single but have them separated on some discs...and whooo, what a twisted, demented psychadelia...These guys surely know how to set the psychedelic atmosphere....10/10 for sure...

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It's only one guy :rolleyes:

418354[/snapback]

No it's not. Ollie Olsen is one of four members of Shaolin Wooden Men, although they're not always all involved in every track.

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The members are a secret affair, but Ollie Olsen is certainly in, and I would guess some other Psy-Harmonics oldtimers too; I'm not at home so I can't dig out all the records and check for clues. Judging by sound however, the Psyko Disko lads *might* be involved and maybe even Ray Castle. I also suspect Andrew Till and Geoffrey Hales are (or have been) involved. Some of their sounds from around 1996 sound suspiciously Nick Taylor-esque, but he was very very big on sampling, which was never SWM's thing really.

 

I've read several times throughout the years that they are 4 people, and their latest release feature 4 people on the sleeve. I think the booklet for The Hungry Forest shows 4 "dolls" as well, with some weird names...

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Superb psychedelia for sure, one of the groundbreaking psy harmonic releases! :)

 

@qa2pir, check their track "Remember the slime", it's the same style... yummie! :)

 

About the question who IS SWM, it is indeed a best off Psy Harmonics... Ollie Olsen is involved in all their tracks (I'm 100% sure about that), and as Ukiro said, some other Psy Harmonic dudes helped :P

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Guest Astro Cortex

The members are a secret affair, but Ollie Olsen is certainly in, and I would guess some other Psy-Harmonics oldtimers too; I'm not at home so I can't dig out all the records and check for clues. Judging by sound however, the Psyko Disko lads *might* be involved and maybe even Ray Castle. I also suspect Andrew Till and Geoffrey Hales are (or have been) involved. Some of their sounds from around 1996 sound suspiciously Nick Taylor-esque, but he was very very big on sampling, which was never SWM's thing really.

 

I've read several times throughout the years that they are 4 people, and their latest release feature 4 people on the sleeve. I think the booklet for The Hungry Forest shows 4 "dolls" as well, with some weird names...

418580[/snapback]

 

Ollie is definitely a member of SWM, I read it on the Psy-Harmonics website a few years ago. I know it is to be kept secret who the members of SWM really are, but SWM were (perhaps accidentally? - oops! :rolleyes: ) mentioned as one of Ollie's projects. But it's not that you can't hear his trademark sounds in SWM material anyway ;) .

 

The second most possible candidate would be Geoff Hales (aka Rip van Hippy) IMO. And yes, maybe Nick Taylor and/or Ray Castle too.

 

Ukiro, what do you mean exactly by "Taylor was big on sampling, SWM not"? Give examples maybe? Can you really hear the difference? I'm curious.

 

Another thing: On the Psy-Harmonics Vol.2 comp. there are two solo tracks by SWM members (All Sonic Include, Special Go-Man, respectively). I think the Special Go Man track sounds pretty much like Ollie Olsen, so it's probably him. It's more difficult with that 'Scherzo' track though. Any idea anyone?

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Ukiro, what do you mean exactly by "Taylor was big on sampling, SWM not"? Give examples maybe? Can you really hear the difference? I'm curious.

418673[/snapback]

Listen to the Reflecta 12" - it's soooo many samples, and that shows a different approach to composing than what is heard in SWM from the same year. The early Prana stuff is also very much centered around sample tweaking, while I never felt the same way about SWM.

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Guest Astro Cortex

Listen to the Reflecta 12" - it's soooo many samples, and that shows a different approach to composing than what is heard in SWM from the same year. The early Prana stuff is also very much centered around sample tweaking, while I never felt the same way about SWM.

418743[/snapback]

Hmm, I don't know too much about music production, so I can't really distinguish if a sound is sampled or not. There's neither spoken word nor any recognizable (to me anyway) sounds to be heard in either of these two Reflecta tracks. So I ask you again: how do you hear the difference? Explain.

 

:)

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Hmm, I don't know too much about music production, so I can't really distinguish if a sound is sampled or not. There's neither spoken word nor any recognizable (to me anyway) sounds to be heard in either of these two Reflecta tracks. So I ask you again: how do you hear the difference? Explain.

418767[/snapback]

Well it might take some training to spot, but essentially, nick taylor didn't create all that many sounds with synthesizers - he used those too ofcourse, but very many sounds in his productions are samples that he tweaked. Not necessarily of speech though, as it could be anything... Didgeridoos, insects, weird environmental sounds, other instruments, etc.

 

Listen to early Prana material (the Inter 1 EPs, Cyclone, etc) and try to hear what sounds like a synth sound and what sounds like a recording that has been tampered with. When he left Prana, their style changed and they used much fewer samples.

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Guest Astro Cortex

Well it might take some training to spot, but essentially, nick taylor didn't create all that many sounds with synthesizers - he used those too ofcourse, but very many sounds in his productions are samples that he tweaked. Not necessarily of speech though, as it could be anything... Didgeridoos, insects, weird environmental sounds, other instruments, etc.

 

Listen to early Prana material (the Inter 1 EPs, Cyclone, etc) and try to hear what sounds like a synth sound and what sounds like a recording that has been tampered with. When he left Prana, their style changed and they used much fewer samples.

418779[/snapback]

Ah, OK. I haven't heard many Prana tracks but now that you mention it, I remember that didgeridoo on Scarab. It's about time I go through my good old Aussie-psy stuff and do some sample-spotting ;) .

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