Digicult - The Lucid Nation

[Trance2MoveU]

 

Artist: Digicult

Title: The Lucid Nation

Label: Dacru Records

Date: May, 2012

 

 

1. The Optimist (vs U-Recken)

2. Microcosmos

3. Rite of passage (vs DNA)

4. Into the heartland (vs U-Recken)

5. Matter of thought

6. Medusah (vs Tropical Bleyage)

7. Last Warning (BeatNik rmx)

8. The Moksha Medicine (vs Hux Flux)

9. Awaken the dream (Tropical Bleyage rmx)

 

 

Friends. I don't haz dem. Unless you're counting internet friends and I have like...400.

 

 

So sad.

 

But Belgian duo Digicult (Davy Piessens & Bert De Decker) do and they stopped by to give a hand on their 3rd album. If you're not familiar with their style (shame on you) they create the more evolved and dare I say mature kind of full-on. First I was struck by the great artwork and it instantly reminded me of A Broken Frame by Depeche Mode. Good looking stuff.

 

 

The Optimist- Here they go with fellow intelligent full-on producers U-Recken who was responsible for one of my favorite albums of all time Deeper Into Man (never mind the gay as sh*t title. What? Please, the only way that title would've been gayer is if it was called Pardon Me Sir My Penis Seems to be Stuck in Your Rectum.

 

*Excuse me a sec...Really? You gotta be kidding me...for that? So what, I can't even make gay jokes now? Sigh*

 

My representation informs me that I need to apologize to the gay community and all who were offended by my previous statement. And that there is nothing wrong with being gay. Said every teen that wasn't excepted by their parents. Ever. Nah, if you're gay, I say be the gayest gay that ever gayed. But for God's sake use protection. If the scientist on the forefront of gay knowledge

 

has taught us anything is that homosexuals are disgusting and probably all have aids. Paris Hilton...alienating every single population group one stereotype at a time.

 

Back to the track it's got a little bit of everything. The Middle Eastern twang of the sitar, evolving melodies, and sufficient sunshine to give the ol' colon a sunburn. But they do it the right way and create a nice story with some powerful breaks.

 

Microcosmos- These two flirt with goa enough to keep them on my radar. This isn't a goa tune, but it feels ethereal with the female vocal and warm break. It's a soft track with melodies creeping in before other leave and I don't think I'm going out on a limb saying it strays into euphoric trance territory with that big, fat synth arpeggio. They wen't all Paul Van Dyk on us.

 

Rite of Passage-

 

See this is where I was a little nervous. If intelligent full on is surfing the big wave, then DNA...how can I put this. They're the fat guy with the cooler spilling water all over everyone as he waddles in search of the perfect spot (never close) to lay him and his 6 sandwiches down only to fall asleep to burn and attract a cadre of seagulls. Sorry gentlemen, but you can only run on your record. I bought a DNA CD once, but I didn't run on it. More like jumped on it. Repeatedly. To the absolute shock of nobody it is full-on, but it is very well produced and comes off very warm and inviting. Good for you guys.

 

Into the Heartland- Back with U-Recken and if you'll pardon the Britney reference, they did it again. These two projects have a knack through effects and melody of turning a simple full-on track into something much more lush. The break is delicious and the whole track has an encapsulting feel similar to Iono or Tesseract Studio's progressive work.

 

Matter of Thought- "How are you feeling? Are you in pain?"

 

Nah, he just grazed me. And now I'm even better as this track takes thumping bass coupled with soft acoustic guitar and runs with it. But they also brought the heat with more euphoric arpeggios. Good stuff, this is how full-on should be done.

 

Medusah- Tropical Bleyage? Sounds like happy hour at the local Applebees. Try their two entrees for under 20 bucks...it's a winner. No idea who this is, but man is it good. Layers of ripping synths, sliced strings, nimble leads, and powerrrrr!!! Not much to say, but take this one all in.

 

Last Warning (Beatnik Remix)- "I dream...I dream I am floating on the surface of my own life, watching it unfold...observing it."

 

I'll have what he's having.

 

Love the sample and intro with the effect of his words repeated in an evil Hal I can't let you do that warning. Unfortunately that was the best part as the rest of the track is pure filler. Sad, that one had potential. Shoulda called U-Recken.

 

The Moksha Medicine- "Huxley was on his deathbed when he used LSD for the final time."

 

There are plenty of people who like Hux Flux. I am not one of them, but the collaboration here works well. Lead sounds switch and melodies fade into each other. This is back to what the duo does well. The guitar crunch fits in nicely with the robotic and futuristic vibe.

 

Awaken the Dream- And it just don't stop as happy hour at Applebees continues with a Tropical Bleyage remix. And just like the 5th Long Island Iced Tea it goes down so smoothly making me feel warm all over. Insanely full and rich with more ancillary sounds than my knees on a crisply cool morning. Beautifully done full-on that gets mucho replays in this house.

 

 

Am I going to put a bumper sticker on the back of my jeep that says I Love Full-On? Maybe. It would have to find space between No Fat Chicks and Nuke Gay Whales for Jesus, but this is a discussion we can have. This duo continues to show mastery over this genre creating deep and evolving storyines punctuated with great atmosphere. So yeah, I have no problem recommending this.

 

 

 

Psyshop

 

Beatspace

 

Saiko Sounds

 

Goa Store

 

Audiojelly

 

Juno Download

 

Beatport

 

Mdk

[Sideffect...]

DigiCult - The Lucid Nation (2012)

 

I'm a bit disappointed. Digicult is from Belgium and I've had a good friendship

with one of the members (he's always abroad now). I got this release for free

and it has been on my writing desk for like 4 months. I don't listen to morning

fullon lately and have been busy discovering other music so the time wasn't there.

Still the cover work is as usual stunning, absoluty perfect. Like always dacru

knows how to use graphics. Then again one of them is educated as graphic designer so

The music, yes, the music...

After Talpa it's my second fullon album I check this year and it's november so why not.

But I didn't get what I wanted. Their first release was gorgeous. I reviewed it back in 2006

and loved it. This third album at the other hand is nothing like it. It's very repetitive

in baselines and melodies. All track are finished, a decent intro, nice atmosphere & detailed producing but that's it.

The advancement doesn't get me tired but because of the lack of changes in the baseline

they can't keep me busy through the entire release. At track 4 they use one spiral that is delicious

why not go further with this, I don't know, but it seems that it's not coming back to haunt me

Only in the last track they use a different baseline but the ship has already sailed in my mind.

A bit late imo. The melodies squeal in different layers but are nothing new.

I can name easily several albums that use exact the same melodies.

Not close but almost exact the same. It's a bit cheap. I've expected more, but It didn't come...

It looks like they've lost it. I don't know what happened.

I enjoyed listening to it, but I don't think there will be a second time.

 

http://www.psyshop.c.../dac1cd018.html

[Sideffect...]

Compared to other fullon releases this isn't that bad at all,

but that does not make this album more good,

 

I checked, Overdream (2008), Prahlad (20074) , Aquatica (2008) , Astrix (2011) and Digicult is much better...

[Penzoline]

Compared to their previous, immaculately solid and refreshing Out Of This World, this album is nowhere near it.

 

It feels like rehashing old material whilst trying to be edgy with a more minimalistic view. Nothing stuck in my mind unlike most tracks in Out Of This World, maybe mostly due the lack of good memorable melodies. Especially the collaborations were just meh.

 

Biggest disappointment of the year, hands down.

[Sideffect...]

Especially the collaborations were just meh.

 

 

+1

[recursion loop]

Just a stellar album, one of the rare cases when psytrance actually provides a feeling that can be loosely described as "spiritual contact" with something (maybe it's just me, of course). This melody on 2:45 mark in "Into the Heartland" gives me goosebumps everytime i hear it. Unfortunalely the remix by Astral Projection which appears on "Soul Samadhi" is just lame (well, maybe not that lame, but when I knew that AP remixed the Heartland I expected it to be the killer of all killers, but it turned out to be just another goa song).