Guest Mindbender Posted January 29, 2000 Share Posted January 29, 2000 Shaolin Wooden Men - The Hungry Forest Artist: Shaolin Wooden Men Title: The Hungry Forest Label: Psy-Harmonics Date: 1996 Track listing: 01. 08'02" We Are Sound 02. 13'29" Are You Ready To Go? 03. 06'01" Rainy Taxi 04. 05'14" Um ... Er?!??! 05. 04'59" Rickshaw 06. 08'54" Baba Louie 07. 09'07" The Hungry Forest 08. 07'57" Windscreen Wiper 09. 03'53" The Forest Has A Mouth Review: Another barrier-braking release from Psy-Harmonics. First I wasn't sure what the hell this was and didn't like it, but gradually I've become to like it. It's still psychedelic trance, but quite different. The main difference is the type of sounds used, but also how they are used. There's no acid or anything like that. All the sounds are quite clear and clean. SWM use a lot of something that sounds like a sinewave generator with an analogic knob changing the frequency, which they then rotate to good effect. The other sounds are also very original. Their melodies are also different and usually consist of weird sounds at different at different pitches. Though loops are used a lot and this is pretty repetitive, it's not boring because the sounds and the music in general allow a lot of space for imagination. Overall the album has a sense of spaciness and calm, despite the normal bmps and stomping kick drum. That's perhaps what I found strange in the beginning, the calmness of it. No uplifts, no violent sounds, few melodies and spacious sounds. It's hard to specify any favourite tracks, beacuse they all have something special and all have very original and good ideas, but 2 and 7 I tend to listen most to. 9 is an ambient track. There are no bad tracks. I still have to say that generally I like the usual psy-trance styles more, but it's very refreshing to hear something that's not done by the usual formulae and is still good. 7,5/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Goa Sage Posted August 30, 2000 Share Posted August 30, 2000 One of the worst Psytrance albums I've ever purchased. Do I have to say more? OK, there is at least ONE decent track - "Rainy Taxi", but overall it's awful and boring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest janr[at]adam.com[dot]au Posted September 11, 2000 Share Posted September 11, 2000 Excellent. I will love it forever. If you ever got out of the city for a while, alone in the forest, this is the atmosphere of this album. Such good sounds, it almost haunts you, but satisfies you at the same time. Don't expect a psy-trance album, or many killer 'tunes'. Not tearing up the dance floor, but reflecting on life.. It's all about sound and atmosphere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seraph Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 Argh ! I want this ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abasio Posted August 14, 2006 Share Posted August 14, 2006 This is a cool album. It's not the best I've heard but it's quite a different sound from most other psy trance I have. A lot of it is very monotonous & repetitive and it leaves you with a very wide open feeling. I have all the Shaolin Wooden Men albums & this is my favourite. Favourite tracks are Are You Ready To Go?, Rainy Taxi & The Hungry Forest. Check it out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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