Violet Vision - Unfold (BNE/YOYO)

[traveller]

Artist: Violet Vision

 

Album: Unfold

 

Label: BNE/YOYO

 

Year: 2003

 

Genre: Umm.. psychedelic sound =)

 

Total playtime: 55:05

 

Tracklist:

 

1.Your Voice

2.Steam

3.Cellophane

4.Plastic Wrap

5.Get You Closer

6.I'm Inside

7.Fresh Ground

8.Gentle Anarchy

9.Melodious PrankstArs

10.The Day Out

11.Pale Void

 

 

About the artwork..

 

Well you can't say a single word about it before you've really held the actual album on your hands. Why? Umm.. cause the artwork has layers. The very first sheet aka the front cover is actually made of some totally utter cosmic alien material. It feels really umm.. alien if you hold it inbetween your fingers. If you take it apart from the other sheets you can sort of see thru it. The first layer says "Violet Vision" and it has this picture of a guy who looks like he's looking for Shiva or something. The second layer is made from the same material (which I'll now on call plastic) too. It says "Unfold" and has a picture which I'd assume represents the same dude. Only now I'd say he has definetly found what he's looking for. The third layer is paper. It says the same than the previous one, and also has the dude on it. His hands are now unfold. Very symbolic if you ask me. As you dig deeper you umm.. get deeper. So deeper it shall be. On the backside of the fourth layer you'll find the same guy again. Well half of him anyways, I can't see his legs! He's flying or swimming or doing some other physical activity right above the tracklist. It's clear that his journey is about to begin. After that one or two sides of these sheet thingies are dedicated for each track. We're given the score, the lyrics and that sort of stuff, but that's something I'll dig deeper into in the actual review. Plastic, paper, plastic, plastic, paper, plastic. That's pretty much how it goes. The "thank yous" and that sort of stuff can be found on the backside of the tenth sheet. How come my name isn't there!?! =) Nah.. Umm one more thing. The dude seems to get like more and more waisted as the tracks pass by. Well more like.. umm.. he always seems like he's reflecting the mood he gets from the track.. or something like that.

 

 

Just some thoughts before I begin..

 

I just.. well something like 10 hours ago came back from Samothraki Dance Festival so I've sure as hell had my share of electronic music for quite some time. Anyhow the very first thing I did after getting home is that I opened this packet with those funny looking symbols on it (some call it hebrew) knowing what was inside and placed the cd to my hifi. After this I tuned the volume up and laid back on my bed. The album only lasts a little over 55 minutes but at that point I hadn't slept for over 24 hours. But still, I fought till the end before falling asleep. The very first thing I did after waking up was hitting the play button. I just listeted the music while lying on my back at my comfty bed. Once, no, twice, no, but for three times in a row. After that I smoked a cigarette, ate some fruits, made some coffee and listened the album through multiple times. Well I simply fell in love with it. If Violet's would have been at Samothraki and I would have been the organizer I would have had one big ass problem deciding whether to place them at the chill stage or the main stage. Not like I'm saying that the album has absolutely anything to do with full on or progressive or ummm psychedelic trance.. apart from the fact ofcourse that it happens to be quite fucking psychedelic. I'm now sort of borrowing A4 that was in the packet. "Violet Vision's aim as an act is to demonstrate how an overfed computer will sound choking up.." This has definetly been reached if you ask me.

 

 

What is to follow..

 

Your Voice has already been released on a single that carries the same name. It's.. well it "ain't no disco", but there are moments that sure come close. If you've heard of Hybrid.. well think Hybrid, but also think psychedelic, that's pretty much what this track is all about. It starts chilled, almost, uh, blissful, then suddenly the bad ass kick drum kicks in. Then Noa Lembersky says or rather sings "your voice, touches of insanity, so pure so clean, your voice, touches of perfection, so clear.." I wonder if she's singing about her own voice.

 

Here's a little more detailed review of this track: The beginning is some sort of a soundscape that after two cycles is joined by some pitched drums and a few seconds later by a organlike synth. We go like this till 00:29. That's when the Hybridism hits us. Strong drums are doing the job. Quite well if I may add. Some weirdness is thrown over it. We are about to be given a short preview of Noa Lembersky's voice. And so it beginns "your voice". At 01:00 we are still on our way. Exactly 11 seconds later we get a spoken sample "this ain't no disco". Indeed! The disco like beginning is now left behind. It's time to psy. As I learned from the debut album, when it comes to Violet Vision anything and everything can happen at any given time, place, dimension or moment of a track. We have the pattern, but on top of it something is going on any given millisecond. It just can't get boring. Noise after noise, effect after effect, synth after synth, it keeps on variating until 02:25. That's when we get a chilled part. Still loads of stuff going on, but no beat, no bassline. 02:54 the lyrics reach us. It goes somehing like this "your voice, touches of insanity, so pure, so clean, your voice, touches of perfection, so clean, your voice, touches of insanity, so pure, so clean, your voice, touches of perfection, so clean". Time to drum n bass! The vocal part is very emotional for it's just.. no words. The vocals are repeated in more or less the same fashion. 04:52 some really strange stuff is going on right behind them. Then some serious vocoder stuff, which I by the way am really keen on. Noa is now singing about echoes and oh well my concentration lacks for I'm just trying to here it all. All in all, job done. Done very well indeed!

 

"Steam" is the name of the second track. Everything starts with the corner stone of our civilization. Piano that is. I think there are some distant sounds at the background but till 00:45 or so there's really nothing else to mention. But yay! We are suddenly given a beat. Well it's not really a beat. In a way it's very random, yet somehow it stayes together. I wonder if they used some glue or other sticky material to accomplish this. Some samples such as "one moment please while I transfer your call" are heard at the background. At 01:37 the drums dissapear. Piano is once again on the run. It has by the way stayed the same the entire travk. At 02:02 it's already over. So is this a intro or a track? You decide. To me it doesn't make a difference what so ever.

 

Some of you might have heard of such thingy as "Cellophane trance rmx" which I think was released by this group called Violent Vision on some odd label called Pornocall records. Actually I think that was some other track. =) Anyhow this is not a remix, but the real shit. No evil 4x4 or repeative patterns here, just pure joy really. The beginning is pretty disturbed. Bass kick thingy and a fistfull of twisted hi-hats are doing all the real work till something like 00:35. That's when Noa's voice can be heard the first time. At 00:49 we go groovy. We get a bassline, a manipulated beat and some other totally utterly cosmic Shiva stuff. =) The drum work is incredible. All those effects playing on top of it, oh momma! "Caress the sound, inhale and blow the cellophane steam.." A little after 01:30 that can be heard. But that's not all. It goes on something like this "hold it close, it blows, it pops, it's nothing.." That's not all either but that's all I'm going to reveal. For more please hear the actual track. If it's Noa's voice it's ummm.. very disturbed. Don't think it is though. 02:20 everything is just purrfect. The general ambience is really close to Violet's 1st album. I umm.. love it. No fluffy 4x4 shit here. No boring progressive basslines either. No cheesy full on melodies. Just Violet Vision's touch of perfection. The more sound the better. I wonder how many layers there actually are. 10.. maybe 20? There's this one really awesome synth at the background which keeps on coming back every now and then, mostly pretty much while the vocals are sung really. 02:54 there's like a break. A long one? One of those "when the hell will this end already"? No! The build up starts like pretty much immediately. Once the drum work monster returns it's even more disturbed. Yet in a way it makes perfect sense. 04:10 there's like a electric guitar or something appearing right above everything else. Slowly, but firmly it fades away. I'd say the track is about to end. And indeed ten or so seconds later it's time for track four.

 

Which is sort of mixed in. "Plastic Wrap" begins with a strong kick thingy. Soon a bass joins. The drum work, which get's down to business a few seconds later, keeps on going twisted. There's this incredible flocking sound. Not forgetting that awesome voice manipulation (which some might call vocals) which joins somewhere on the other side of one minute mark. The way it returns, dissapears and then returns again, now that's hypnoti! At 02:35 a break thingy can be found. It's a magical moment. You can feel something is about to happen. And then.. scary moment when it sounds like the track has just ended in a fade effect and BOOM! We're right back on business. In a way everything is quite simple, but for real, it just isn't. And just as day turns into night the track ends. Not yet though. At 04:45 we are still going strong. Variation. If one would try to describe everything he would end up with 100's of A4's full of text. Suddenly everything just stops.

 

"Get You Closer" begins with a repeative beat plus bassline combo. It get's louder and louder. At 00:15 I'd say it's still there. Can't here it though cause there's this static bassline thingy on top of it. There's actually a lot more than that. But well, it's hard to pick any detailed things cause there are just way too many things to choose from. Lyrics here again. Here? Yeah, somewhere around 01:15. If you are getting bored with Noa's voice, which I'm sure you aren't, anyhow we've got a visiting star from this band called Infected Mushroom (maybe you've heard of them =) ) doing some vocals. His name is Duvdev. Once they get to the part (right after that fucking sweet 2 seconds lasting indian pop synth thingy) "If I could say that love I found" which happens somewhere on the edge of 01:40 just close your eyelids, do crazy stuff with your hands, listen, experience, just be. Feels inexpressibly good! Uplifting yet depressing. Beautiful yet melancholic. Sad yet happy. Real mind fuck =). There are points that the voice is uh, demonic. Try to follow the kick drum. Pretty tricky, huh? Then that joy when Noa starts singing. It's a blissful moment,take my word for it. She's like an angel or something. I wish I could be closer. There are some angels at the background chanting some "aaaah" and "oooh" and "uuuuh" choir things. I think I also heard "aeeouhh". Really killer! =) 04:47 is quite good moment to analyze. It's rigth before the vocals return. It's like a gate to the holy ground. The first time I heard this track at that very moment of this very track I honestly didn't have any sense of time, place or reality. I just was, without really knowing it though.

 

Track 6, which is called "I'm inside" is sort of mixed in. Once again we get a really twisted, disturbed, static beginning thingy. Tellin' the truth it's quite violent. But then, once again it's interrupted by pretty straight forward bassline synth. There drums are ofcourse there also. Actually I think they hit us a few seconds earlier. 01:37 or so the vocals are back on business.. "I realize the sounds within me.." Me too! A little after 02:00 there's really cool break with one of those cold growly muted synths. It's funny.. well more like nice, how the drums and the bassline and the synths play together. Very stable work. Still straight forward. Then some string instruments or something in that fashion. This would honestly kill any dance floor. For chill floors it would umm.. well disturb the people who are connected with Shiva if you know what I mean. They would probably end up seeing dead people or something nasty like that. The end is melancholic. Another pure mind fuck. =)

 

"Fresh Ground" starts with a repeative sort of high noise thingy that get's stepped over by really deep groovy finger picked bassline. Vocals, drums and guitars can sure as hell be found within the next four minutes or so. At one minute mark there's some really wako vocoder stuff going on. I like it! Very danceable track here again. That evil 4x4 regulator thingy can be found but it's not, umm monotonic or ummm.. 4x4 like. =) Groovy as hell, let's twist again =). This track is somehow really happy. It's not dark at all, which ofcourse doesn't uh, matter at all. The snares. Yes snares not snare are incredible. At 03:33 there's some sort of.. I'm really bad at describing anything.. synth.

 

The very first thing that can be heard of "Gentle Anarchy" is the piano. So by all means it's not exactly the same track that was released on this compilation called "Another Life" which was a sequal to a compilation called "Life Is", which by the way both are totally awesome compilations. And back to the track.. I once played this tune to a non trancer friend of mine. He said it sounds like Björk or something. I told him "no, it sounds like Violet Vision.." That's when he raped my car's hifi and pushed the source button. It was just.. too weird for him. Actually I think he liked it but he just wasn't ready to take the red pill.

 

So after the piano, which lasts around 20 seconds we get a travelling synth. Ten seconds later we get the bassline, which by the way will stay the same the entire track. How un Violet Visionish is that? Soon the hi-hats appear. They are pretty weak but I've got this feeling that they won't remain the same. At 01:30 one can notice that the track is still quite calm although a lot of stuff has joined the play during the last half-a-minute. "This is the time I let us penetrate..", and so the lyrics penetrate the outer core of the track. At the 2 minute mark they've already reached the inner core. The bassline is really hypnotic. There's one synth that cooperates with it in an outstanding way. I've heard this track so many times. I really do like it. As it's known, when it comes to music everything is a matter of taste. As it's also known my taste happens to be pretty fucking brilliant, more like perfect actually, so take my word for it, this track is fucking sweet!

 

Now it's time for "Melodious Prankstars" which is written by the Violet guys and Michele Adamson. Who? Maybe you've heard of Shpongle or Infected Mushroom? She's done some lyrics for them. If you were at Samothraki Dance Festival and didn't catch her dj set at the chill out stage. Well SHAME ON YOU! Michele also does the lyrics here.

 

It all starts with a guitar. Some seconds later a latino like beat is just brilliantly mixed in. The way it blends.. uh! From 00:22 to 00:25 there's a phat effect. Definetly worth mentioning. You can't miss it. After that it's time for some "ghost" lyrics. Soon Michele grabs the microphone. She sounds pretty naughty. "Stay with me tonight". Where!!? =) "Melodious PrankstArs" is pretty, uh, melodious track. I love Michele's accent. The way she sings for example the word "back".. uh.. nicey nice! A little after 03:00 there's really cool point when there's like a guitar, some uplifting 80's love song or late 70's porn movie synths, and no drums what so ever. 45 seconds later there's like a electronic guitar or something which I picked cause uh.. I just do random stuff here. You can't concentrate while listening to this stuff. I wonder if she was thinking about me while writing these lyrics. =)

 

Suddenly it's all over. But there are still some tracks left. "The Day Out" is actually the only track on the album without lyrics. At the very beginning there are like some quiet samples that are soon interrupted by a wave and this sweet ass instrument which name I just can't come up with. A little after 00:50 there's no question whether we are going electronic or not. But no! Only a beat. Other wise it remains the same. No melancholia here. 01:52 there are some uh.. wako effects/noises. And suddenly it's over.

 

The last track is called "Pale Void". Earlier I was talking about Violet Vision's single called "Your Voice". This was the third track on that single, and absolutely my favourite. Well actually it was called "Pale Void Edit". So this should be a little different, right? And yes, the beat that appers in the beginning is being played with. At 00:21 a Weezer (the band, maybe you've heard the track "buddy holly") like synth joins. Seconds after one minute mark we get the vocals. Someone was calling the singer's style "Bono like" (you must have heard of U2). Well I don't care what it's like but I sure do like it a lot. Nothing gay here. Don't get any ideas. Well yeah, this is a pop song. Never than less... I love it. Like a month back or so I listened to it every freaking day. It's really nice if you feel bad or depressed. It's nicey nice for sex too. It's nice for driving, chilling, life, the universe and everything. It's definetly my kind of track.

 

 

So?

 

Well the album sure isn't too long. I wouldn't have minded 2 or 3 extra tracks. But this will definetly do. Who am I kidding? I fucking love this album. Uh. So pretty much every single track apart from "The Day Out" has lyrics, but (this is a BIG BUT) ye shall not be afraid for the lyrics are more like synths. In a way anyways. With out them it just wouldn't be the same. (DOH!) Ummm.. In a way this is just like Violet Vision's debut album. Groundbreaking that is. But yet, their style has changed. This is sort of like (with out getting too deep into categorization) more progressive, techier, drum n bassier, vocodelic and ummm.. darker. Never than less the VV magic is definetly in attendance.

 

 

Anything else?

 

We've been given a few fucking brilliant chill/freestyle albums this year. Such as? Well you know me. "Ott - Blumenkraft", "Younger Brother - A Flock Of Bleeps", "Entheogenic - Spontaneous Illumination" and now this. I've decided not to place them in any kind of (dis)order. But ummm.. this sounds the most unique if you ask me. The style I mean..

 

 

Ya ya tell me the rating already..

 

Ummm.. since the album is so short I really can't give it more than 9/10

[Guest --==1400MiLeS==--]

Great review...eagerly awaiting the album...

[Guest >--<SenstatuX>--]

stress assassin are also killer =)

[Guest DT]

I'm listening to it right now. IT FUCKING OWNS. "I'm inside" ending is totally fucking CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

This cd is awesome.

[Jon Cocco]

VIOLENT VISION: UNFOLD

BNE RECORDS

2003

 

I'm surprised there aren't more reviews here. It's so unique and inventive!

 

There are some very catchy, beautiful songs, elements, and cleverly mixed parts on this album. This is the opposite of typical, general sounding. It sounds individual.

 

The opening song "Your Voice" is such a great song! Wow! So beautiful, before breaking out into this great, catchy, groovey, electro, funk, tech-trancey gem. Mmmm.. delicious!

 

I wish there were more similar, beautiful tracks like Your Voice on the Violent Vision follow-up, (Unfold) which is clearly for very open-minded listeners who are into or open to EXPERIMENTAL, electronic music. Sometimes the album seems so non-linear that it's wonderous, irritating, surprising, strange, refreshing, impressive, different... and with enough catchy elements and songs that interest me.

 

This album seems to have been accidentally overlooked here. I've seen bad albums get far better attention. UNFOLD sounds very different from their first album called, "First Signs of Communication", which was more trance/psy oriented, downtempo, experimental, no vocals I remember, and an essential, underrated gem.

 

I've noticed that Violent Visions - Unfold didn't appear on psyshop, maybe because it's not psytrance or just "trance" either, (but neither was their first) and yet psyshop carries the Your Voice EP album. (?) Oh well.

 

This album is different from anything I've ever heard. The album consists of literally...

 

Electro, tech-trance, trance, breakbeat, trip-hop, chill, rock, experimental, FUCKING JAZZ!!! and more (!)

 

...all creatively combined together, in multiple styles on one artistic, innovative, and original album.

 

My only complaint is that occasionally the album (track 3, 4, 5) has several songs that journey very far into syth-pop or rock/tech-esque areas, which make the listener feel as if they're listening to a completely different artist and album. I really enjoyed track 3 and 4 before and around the male singing. Musically, it's great. Overall, the singing works extremely well with the female singer/voices. Tracks like "Your Voice" are very attractive and accessible. Also, the songs with male voices in track 5, 7, and 11 work very well. However, in songs 3, 6 they're not catchy, just irritating. Those parts really put a dent in an otherwise great album.

 

There are many people out there looking for music like this. They don't know it exists.

 

1. Your Voice ... A- or 9/10

2. Steam ... B

3. Cellophane ... C+

4. Plastic Wrap ... B-

5. Get You Closer ... B

6. I'm Inside ... C

7. Fresh Ground ... B

8. Gentle Anarchy ... B-

9. Melodious PrankstArs ... B

10. The Day Out ... B

11. Pale Void ... B

 

 

SCORE/GRADE: B or 8/10.

 

Samples below.

 

http://www.saikosounds.com/english/display...ase.asp?id=3591

[TheCreamFilling]

Jon Cocca, I'm suprised there aren't more reviews either. Violet Vision is one of my favorite artists but their releases are few and far between. VV's style is never set in stone, so if people here their music one time and aren't flexible, they won't like VV the next time their here VV's music. That being said, "Your Voice" is one of my all time favorite tracks, but my favorite version of it is "Your Voice (pulse mix)", a very chilled rendition of the original. It's on the "Life is Creation..." compilation.