Alien Mental - Mind Hack

[Rotwang]

Alien Mental - Mind Hack (Insomnia)

 

 

Press Release:

 

«Mind Hack» is a complex full-length audio-trip by Alien Mental presented to you by Insomnia records. The man behind a project is La from Chennai (India), currently living in San Francisco. This cd is a result of a diligent studio work and one of the most expected debut albums from blasting California scene which delivered us many talents during last few years. Alien Mental makes deep dive in the ocean of trancepersonal experience. «Mind Hack» is full of visionary revelations and deep reflection about global karma and a place of human being in the reality. With his album La has put together an amalgamation of his psychedelic ventures in the land of woodstock and from the across the world. The main idea of «Mind Hack» is to open the mind of a listener for perception of cosmic spirit and timeless values which seemed to be forgotten in dreadful Kali-Yuga. Music is a universal language and Alien Mental definitely knows how to speak it. His message sound close and clear for every active meditation adept in the Universe. From one track to another the musician builds up a perfect psychedelic story for the deep night winter hours with loud and banging speakers!

So first up, what does it sound like? Mind Hack is in a similar vein to Osom's recent output, a kind of swirling cacophony made up of noises which inhabit a veritable rainbow of colours, each of them a slightly different shade of brown. The album is full of very shanti-PLUR samples, but, rather than being stuck over the top as an afterthought, the artist uses them as if they were just another one of the many strange, rhythmic noises. But what sets this album apart from the crowd (other than its sheer quality) is the continuity; often the individal tracks don't so much start or end as seamlessly blend into one another, while small themes that start in the background gradually and subtly work their way in and out of the listener's conciousness. The end result is that this album is not so much a collection of tracks as a single, continuous piece of music. I actually wish more artists would do this. On the downside it makes writing a track-by-track description rather difficult, so I hope you'll forgive me if I keep the track descriptions fairly brief and skip a couple.

 

Tracks (click titles for Saiko Sounds sample):

 

1) The Initiation 2:44

 

The album kicks off with a rather strange, ethereal intro; I'd call it "downtempo" but the truth is that most of it has no discernible tempo. It's all very unnerving and reminds me a lot of the intro to Horror Place's Hobyah.

 

2) Waves of Chaos 3:59

 

This is really just a continuation of the previous track - it starts with more beatless ambience, before a relatively slow, stuttering beat takes shape. As standalone tracks these two would be fairly pointless (and certainly not something you could work into a chillout set, for example) but in the context of an album such as this which is designed to be listened to from start to finish they work well as an intro.

 

3) Drift Within 7:46

 

And then the album proper begins: the familiar darkpsy bassline kicks in, and will stay with us for quite a while. Drift Within contains quite a few confusing stops and starts, but otherwise pretty much sets the template for most of what follows.

 

4) Halucinogenic Visions 7:25

 

5) Samadhi 7:41

 

Aside from some nice tribal drumming sounds this continues in the same vein, although the most memorable element of Samadhi is a sort of robotic shouting noise that outstays its welcome in my opinion. Shortly before the seven minute mark, though, it builds to a very nice climax.

 

6) An Awakening 2:11

 

Another ambient section here, and I enjoy this a lot more than the opening track - whereas The Initiation was downright scary, this is actually relaxing, and gives the listener a chance to catch his breath before...

 

7) The Ritual 7:50

 

...the second half of the album, which is IMO way better than the first. Hard to say why, exactly; it's the same formula, but from this point on it starts to feel like the artist is really pulling out all the stops. The Ritual opens with a sample from Goa Gil with which you're no doubt very familiar, and soon settles back into doing what this album does best.

 

8) Reclaim your Mind 6:42

 

Moments after the previous track closes with a great Cartman sample, this kicks off in fantastic style with some psychotic, swirly electronic screeching that's just great. "...and what is real is you and your friends and your, er, associations, your highs, your orgasms, your hallucinations..."

 

9) Fresh Perspectives 7:19

 

About half way through this one there is even a melody, with actual notes and everything. Don't let that fool you though, it's back to business as usual soon enough.

 

10) Fully Fluoro 6:25

 

Another one of the highlights. Fully Fluoro contains another one of the (many) Terrence McKenna samples on this CD, clichéd perhaps but used to incredibly good effect - it's chopped up and reassembled into a sort of head-banging psy-poem, bringing the track out of a brief compound time section and into a wonderful climax.

 

11) End Complete? 5:52

 

12) Into Unity 8:29

 

The closing track is more of the same, but the outro deserves a special mention; it's made of some crunchy noises that very pleasantly mess with one's ears, and is probably the best fadeout I've heard.

 

 

 

Overall: There's not much left to say, except that this is a monumentally good album. If you like your psytrance noisy and chaotic then you absolutely must own this - it may not be to everybody's taste but what Alien Mental does he does better than anyone else I've heard. 9/10

 

Favourite Tracks: 4, 7, 8(!), 10(!), 12