| |
| Author
|
Battle Of The Future Buddhas - Digging Mud (Self-Released,2011)
|
nick_InZoMNiAC
Started Topics :
5
Posts :
123
Posted : Oct 12, 2011 22:53:40
|
=-=
Listen all tracks and buy!
http://battlebuddhas.bandcamp.com
=-=
http://www.discogs.com/Battle-Of-The-Future-Buddhas-Digging-Mud/master/373422
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
=-=
Listen all tracks and buy!
http://battlebuddhas.bandcamp.com
=-= |
|
|
Sunai
Started Topics :
7
Posts :
1406
Posted : Oct 13, 2011 11:15
|
|
the best psy trance era!,1995-2000!!!..great album btw..
|
|
|
|
nick_InZoMNiAC
Started Topics :
5
Posts :
123
Posted : Oct 13, 2011 14:50
|
I agree! Let's make it 1995-2005 though!  |
|
|
|
Carbuncle
Moderator
Started Topics :
99
Posts :
958
Posted : Oct 29, 2011 10:32
|
great album 
|
|
|
|
|
|
