Time_Trap Posted October 9, 2011 Share Posted October 9, 2011 Listen & buy @ bandcamp.com Digging Mud @ Discogs Tracklist Babes And Babas Solenoid Leprechaun Driver One More For M.A.D. V2 This Side Up / Unicorny Filoti Emission Here Comes The Sun! Wicked Work Of A Wrenched Witch Bonus Tracks Life In The Trenches Of Hyperspace (Into The Brain Remix) Enlil Elevated One More For M.A.D. Here Comes The Sun! V3 You're A Moonlander Mate Most of you reading this review are already familiar with Battle of the Future Buddhas,through their albums Twin Sharkfins,Demonoizer,their tracks on various compilations such as Psychoactive Scandosounds and Goa Trance R.I.P as well as the Schlabbaduerst Rekkords(a label run by themselves) compilations. Briefly,the Battle Of the Future Buddhas' sound in their first album,Twin Sharkfins,can be described as Psychedelic/Goa Trance.It's not absolutely Goa Trance in the strict sense of the term (anyhow there's controversy on what is goa trance and what is psytrance in the psy community and there seem to be two main viwes on this subject but it's offtopic),for example it lacks oriental melodies,however it's certainly goa'ish ; it has distinct goa elements.More precisely I would call it "night goa" as it's music that fits a night scenery,for the most part of it. Their second album,Demonoizer,could be described as early dark psychedelic trance,although not much to do with today's "dark psy".The goa elements are reduced,there is more focus on the kick and the bass,hence the production is more modern,although still retains some rawness, and it's less melody-driven. Production-wise,I believe Demonoizer is their best work so far.Of course,music-wise, Twin Sharkfins as well as tracks like Shining Pigs,Mr. Fantastic,Sly!,Madhouse out of Schlabbaduerst Rekkords compilations are awesome too. Now lets talk about Digging Mud.As the title implies it is a collection of old,unreleased stuff (except from Filoti which has been released in a Boom! Records compilation).Now this might come across as a disapointment to those who were awaiting fresh new material but first,this is better than nothing,and secondly it's material good enough for me to wonder why it had been waiting for more than an decade buried under the mud. All material belongs in the pre-Twin Sharkfins era,1995-1997 specifically.Both production- and music- wise this album resembles some Twin Sharkfins a lot,however being ever more raw and chaotic. Hence,goa elements certainly exist,both sound-wise and pattern-wise,probably even more so than Twin Sharkfins. Some parts,mostly the chaotic,fuzzy and overloaded ones, give me the impression that this is how Pleiadians might have sounded if they lived in Uppsala.Still this is a distinct Battle of the Future Buddhas style of making music. The album is pretty consistent and although it's claimed that some tracks suffer from poor production quality,since they are remastered they sound pretty ok to me and especially if you like the oldschool sound of the mid-90s you will love this. The best thing about this album as well as the Schlabbaduerst style of making music is that the focus is on implementing something interesting and innovative and not spending insanely proportionless amounts of time on cleansing the production as opposed to writing some music. I think it's rather pointless,let alone difficult,to do a track-by-track review here so I will just describe certain tracks and parts that stand out. A lot of tracks are closer to the sound of typical oldskool goa trance of the mid-90s compared to other BoftB releases.For example, One More for M.A.D. v2 even uses typical acid sound towards the end and many tracks such as Filoti even seem to have less or more oriental trademark goa melodies. The remix of Life in the trenches of hyperspace is on the same level as the original,probably even trippier and more chaotic. Enlil,the second of the bonus tracks,is a great track and one of my favourite from this release.Many of the bassline patterns are original and unique,the leads are pretty awesome and all in all we are talking about a very complex track with lots of pattern changes that is both trippy,brainy and danceable.Madness! Elevated ends rather weird,absurdly,and wrong,with a short stoner rock riff all of a sudden playing the main melody.I still wonder what that's supposed to mean(probably imitating the melody plus a hint towards BotFB's musical past??). You're a Moonlander Mate has a melody that resembles Leave The World Behind pretty much, slightly altered.So If I get this right it's the ancestor of Leave The World Behind ? ;) All in all,goa-heads will get a smile listening to this release and those new in the psy(?) scene not familiar with them should give them a try to see what oldschool was about. This is 2011's best release so far and I don't think any other release is going to top it. Rating: 9/10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trance2MoveU Posted November 27, 2013 Share Posted November 27, 2013 Artist: Battle of the Future Buddhas Title: Digging Mud Label: Self Released Date: September, 2011 1. Babes And Babas 2. Solenoid Leprechaun Driver 3. One More For M.A.D. v2 4. This Side Up / Unicorny 5. Filoti 6. Emission 7. Here Comes The Sun! 8. Wicked Work Of A Wrenched Witch 9. Life In The Trenches Of Hyperspace (Into The Brain Remix) 10. Enlil 11. Elevated 12. One More For M.A.D. 13. Here Comes The Sun! v3 14. You're A Moonlander Mate Check out that sweet boat. See it? Do you see it? Yeah, well that's me missing it. Holy crap this is awesome! How far must my head must've been up my ass to let this slip by? As the reviewer above mentioned this is a digital collection of tunes from 95-97 (pre Twin Sharkfins) where the first 8 tracks are the Digging Mud album proper and the rest are a bonus. Style? This project makes music that sounds like LSD. Very vivid, almost as if the goa is shedding tears. And make no mistake it's goa through and through. The tracks are mastered or re-mastered and this is raw, unpolished in your face stuff. Old school goa trance in every sense of the word. But with a Swedish forest twist. A dark forest where everyone has an upside down face and communicating is a series of awkward and rapid head tilts. The beaches of goa are miles away as the black eyed denizens shuffle cautiously towards me. Their pale skin and oversized orbital cavities send a shudder to my very core. And it's not just the cold which has penetrated the forest it's the way they..."see" me. Perpetual night seems to have taken hold yet these remarkable creatures have an ominous glow about them. Why do they walk on all fours? And backwards to boot? Bones bent and twisted at unnatural angles. Jaws detach and their mouths open impossibly wide baring rows of plaque encrusted teeth. Is this a show of dominance or something else? The series of chittering clicks echoes off the dark trunks in a symphony of anticipation. "Get back!" I scream as I swing my double bladed ax in wide circles. It wasn't supposed to be like this. I just wanted some overtime at the lumber yard. One comes very close and I felt its fetid breath. Was it...smelling me? As more come to join the anticipated frenzy I'm hypnotized by their strange ritualistic movements. A hierarchy forms as they begin to surround me. I'm backed against the trunk of a massive oak. There's going to be a fight and blood will be shed. Theirs. What was I saying? Oh, this album f*cking blows. I can't picture anything. Talk about imagination stuck in neutral. Ummm...physical release? Yes please. Get it here! Mdk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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