V/A - Wasted Brigade

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: Various

Title: Wasted Brigade

Label: Devils Mind Records

Date: November, 2009

 

 

 

1. Mine

Sulima

 

2. My Deer

Wizack Twizack

 

3. E.S.O.K.

Kiriyama & M.W.S.

 

4. Fuck You, I Hate You

Pink Bunny Boy

 

5. Desolation II (Silent Horror Remix)

Kiriyama

 

6. Emergency

Fearkiller

 

7. Sonic Circumstances

Derango

 

8. Look At Your...

Taigan Sun

 

9. Braincracker (Devil's Mind Edit)

Melorix Vs. Skunks of Satan

 

10. Axel Fucked

Total Vs. Aremakki

 

 

 

What the f*ck am I doing?

 

I have been reviewing melodic goa trance from the masters as well as smooth relaxing downtempo. How the hell did this end up in my lap? I'll tell you how. I'm a big believer of experiencing things outside of your comfort zone as life is sweeter with more variety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ohhh...gross.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll bet you are a hit with the ladies. What would possess you to put a door knocker through your nose?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bullseye. When I get to this point, it is time to pull the plug. So after listening and thoroughly enjoying Kiriyama's debut I decided to give Devils Mind Records another go. Derango is on this compilation and I have always enjoyed his brand of darkpsy. Most of the others are unknown to me, so I am starting with a pretty fresh canvas.

 

 

Mine- This is Alexander Sulima (half of Manifold) who douses you with horror movie sensations. It has the squirty lead that..um squirts above the typical darkpsy bass line. That abrasive wash lead that frequents a lot of darkpsy wreaks havoc as the journey deep into the forest continues. Screams rain down amid twisted synths. Very dark without many melodies to keep you safe. Perhaps a child's fairytale if the end result is Cinderella's head served up in a box.

 

 

Yeah, that's about right.

 

 

My Deer- "Go ahead George...light it up."

"I...I couldn't do that. I've got enough problems with the booze and all, I mean, uh..I can't afford to get hooked."

"You won't get hooked."

"Yeah, well, I know...but it leads to harder stuff."

 

 

The very prolific Tommy Axelsson is back with the atmospheric stomper and oddly titled My Deer. Electronic effects dot the sonic landscape as the bass line hums away. What I have always liked about his tracks is that even though they are dark, they seem more accesible. The above sample does a great job of breaking up the darkness as synths echo from the left and right. More gugrling sounds and staccato electronic stabs make it feel as if an alien is crawling right in front of you, leaving a trail of slime in its wake. I liked it.

 

 

E.S.O.K.- Fresh off their great album Reach Escape Velocity Kiriyama join forces with M.W.S. (really out of my depth on this one) to bring a fast paced bit of darkness. There is a tempo change and really harsh sounding leads that just sound like noise to me. Acid gets thrown around with another dose of eerie atmosphere but that is overshadowed by the chaos. I can do without this one.

 

F*ck You, I Hate You- Nice title..you need a hug. Pink Bunny Boy? That was the best you could do? Well, this goes pretty much how you would expect it to. A voice repeating the title over and over as the noise level increases. Complete with backward voices to break the monotony. This makes me want to kill someone. I'm sorry, but this isn't music I want to listen to. I know it's "art" and it's not for everyone and tastes differ...I suppose this is better than going on a shooting spree...Ok, which one are you?

 

 

 

 

Desolation II (Silent Horror Rmx)- This is Jigar Shah (a marine engineer!) who also has a talent for making the darkpsy. I haven't heard the original so I cannot comment on whether this is close or not. Insert deep rumbling bass line with scary sounds to set the mood. If you cross Alice in Wonderland with the movie Hostel while having hallucinations, this is what you would get. It is scary and trippy at the same time. I can picture having no control of my environment and that is pretty frightening.

 

Emergency- With a name like Fearkiller you aren't going to see many rainbows or unicorns. Same style bass line, absence of melody, scary sounds....yadda yadda yadda. Really, this is hate your parents type music. The only emergency here is to get you into a class that teaches music theory.

 

Sonic Circumstances- This was the reason I gave this compilation a listen. Derango has that forest style that is dark and at the same time melodic enough to draw the casual listener. He has a lot going on which adds depth and the muted melody is haunting. There are the bubbling effects and other sounds that keep you...off balance. He continues to deliver his juicy forest acid and let me tell you it is delicious. The track reorganizes a couple of times with nice results. Now this stuff I can get behind.

 

Look At Your...- This one was interesting. With a twinkling tones contrasting a low bass line it sets itself up nicely. Not scary, but mysterious. The sounds intermingle seamlessly, creating quite a sonic texture. The effects add complexity and gravity to the track, and as it continues to meander it takes you deeper down the rabbit hole. That melody returns and provides a nightmarish hallucinatory climax. Loved it! This guy is one to watch!

 

Braincracker (Devil's Mind Edit)- Holy f*ck this is fast. What is the bpm here 180? There is very little rest and it is pretty obnoxious. I'm not certain, but I believe it "borrows" the theme from Halloween. The title is apropos as this is like a sledgehammer to the skull. You can rest assured that there is a scary element here including a heavy metal snippet. I actually liked that part. But...that's about it.

 

Axel F*cked- With another nod towards speedcore, chaos and random samples pepper the track as synths scramble all over the place. Believe it or not, they bastardize a melody from a song that hasn't been relevant since the 80's. The bass line changes quicker than a politicians promise and yep, that was a crying baby you heard. Really, what the f*ck?

 

Eddie Murphy is turning over in his grave.

 

 

 

This is exactly what you suspect it is. A darkpsy compilation that has all of the cliche's of the genre. Deep, rumbling bass lines, scary horror movie atmosphere with harsh leads and an almost complete lack of melody. I don't listen to enough darkpsy to say whether it is good compared to other efforts, but they must be doing something right because it scored a 4.90/5 on Discogs! Take that for what it's worth. For me though, and this is only my opinion, it was not a pleasurable listen. Music is something to be enjoyed, and I cannot enjoy music when I feel like punching someone's grandmother in the face. It tries to sound so scary and anti establishment that it becomes a parody of itself. Tracks 2,7, and 8 were good, but other than that I expect to see most of these artists on the evening news with lots of crime tape.

 

 

 

Beatspace

 

Saikosounds

 

Goastore

 

Mdk

[Klas]

Thanks for a wonderful review! Enjoyed it much.

 

I bought Kiriyama´s album earlier, because someone were talking about that it would sound like Goatrance... It sounded like a rolling bassline with a lot of noises. (I will let that last sentence speak for itself).

Earlier than that, I bought Ocelot´s "You live in a zoo". Same thing there, rolling bassline with noises. It´s a shame because his downtempo album was a favourite. It´s interresting how these artists throw away such obvious technical talent on something that sounds that boring. Well, I guess it´s just made for dancing, but if I dance I would rather dance to Filteria.

 

I´m so freakin´ tired of being curious of darkpsy right now.

[Trance2MoveU]

Well, you know how it is...taste is subjective. Some people love the way darkpsy sounds and some people love the generic full-on stuff. Something for everyone.

 

Mdk

[Ormion]

I think it's one of the best darkpsy compilation of 2009 and IMO is not a horror genre.

Just a blend of forest with normal darkpsy.

Mastering is awesome too.