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Koxbox - U-Turn (Twisted 10.06)
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psyreviews
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Sep 22, 2006 07:22
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http://tinyurl.com/efsew
In the movie Snatch, when the black guys from the pawn shop rock up to the bookie’s to rob it, the shorthaired chick behind the counter repeats a mantra in ultra-skanky cockney: “All… Bets… Are… Off.” This line was cranking around in my head for the entire duration of this album. All bets are indeed off, and this is the sound you have been looking for.
I have been banging on about to all and sundry in the week since it’s been part of my life. I have been staggered by it in the car, staggered by it on headphones in the supermarket and staggered by it while walking to catch public transport. I love it. It is living, breathing proof that there IS, after all, an alternative to shit psytrance. Trance CAN be psychedelic, it CAN be original and it CAN be good – so good, it reaffirms all sorts of things it shouldn’t. Okay, let’s step back.
Koxbox produced some of the finest moments in psytrance history. Their original CD’s change hands for silly money on ebay, and I thought we’d heard the last of them. Frank E is widely considered one of the best soundsystem engineers on the planet, and Koxbox are finally back with this, the best piece of psychedelic music released in years. It is telling that it’s coming out on Twisted; original Nuttah of the psychedelic trance scene, back with a bolt delivering us this slice of dancefloor bliss.
Four minutes into opening track Crazy you’ve been drilled into the floor, swung around the room by your genitals, then lifted up into a melodic run that sounds and feels like it could be from seven years ago. It’s a whirlwind, with a sound pitched somewhere above the earthy Doof Records sound but it happily miles and miles away from the post-Protoculture mess that infects the current scene like syphilis. The opening strains of Buffer Overdrive are immaculate: it sounds significant, it sounds intriguing, it sounds EXCITING – a word I’ve put in capitals because it singularly sums up what elevates this so far above the rest of the pack. There are twists, there are turns. There are elements of progressive, of dub, of oldskool psychedelia, of vintage techno. It’s not so much a new album as a rewrite.
No More Ghosts – a collaboration with Eat Static is an instant winner, with morphing textures, quirky glitchbits and more attitude than Snoop Dogg. It sounds at times like the stereo is coming alive, crunching into action. If I’m making it sound like it’s a clunky, thunky album then I’m only getting half the point across – so much of this is effortless, funky, smooth stuff and that clash of styles is what gives it its power. Next Stop, with Christof, opens up sounding more familiar to your standard psytrance ears, and then adds insane sounds and depth to create something that is – once again – genuinely exciting and thoroughly compelling stuff.
FM17 has a crazy introduction and then flirts with X-Dream, with an insane acid-ish line leading to a breakdown that is likely to really make you spin out, before culminating in an oldskool run that The Infinity Project would have been proud of. This Can’t Be Real is another winner, a complete ground-up reworking of the concept of psychedelic techno. The groove here is so sheer, so solid that it’s almost not true – this ought to be the hit out of all the assembled material here.
The final three tracks see Frank E get back with Ian Ion: Acid Drome sounds like you would expect it to from its title, Side Effects is a relentless bashing that sounds like the boys are beating the living breath out of the psytrance community (let’s face it, we’ve had it coming) and Voice Of brings the album to a close in a frenetic, buzzy style.
So what have we got? Well, at a risk of repeating myself ad infinitum, this is seriously – and I mean this – the most significant psytrance album of the year. While others use formula and similar sounds to – for better or worse – create new trance music, only Koxbox have gone that step further, using new sounds, new ideas, new voices and new personalities. It really is that good. In the light of this release, every other album I have ever reviewed and thought was a classic fades into distant obscurity.
To repeat, this is the sound you have been looking for. We have just progressed to the next level; about bloody time.
10
1. Crazy
2. Buffer Override
3. No More Ghosts
4. Next Stop
5. FM17
6. This Can't be Real
7. Acid Drome
8. Side Effects
9. Voice Of
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The Green Channel
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
41
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1025
Posted : Sep 22, 2006 09:56
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Off-course it's released on Twisted  !.
 "Love is a way of life"
(Gaia, Love, Nature, Shamanism (.2A.y.0a.hu.1a.sc.2a.), Terence McKenna) |
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shift
Shift
Started Topics :
38
Posts :
319
Posted : Sep 22, 2006 10:10
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great review - i'm going to buy this now - 
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Gumbo
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Sep 22, 2006 14:18
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i have to say something about this review.. and about the release..
well the review is realy magnificent ,and how can i say it ............ well this is a selling review!! and i cought by it.. the album is indeed nice but u should be cautious befor u buy it...! it only for the progg', full on lovers.
i bought it with out listen to it.. only beacuse i love they're old music and beacuse i respect them.
but to tell u the truth it didnt realy amazed me that much.. its another progi-full-on-psychedelic trance album.. in botom line its all a matter of taste so if u'r not a fullon'er or proggi lover this release is not for u..
Follow u'r Spirit without hesitation. |
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clown
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Sep 22, 2006 20:20
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DETOX
IsraTrance Senior Member
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296
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6194
Posted : Sep 22, 2006 22:46
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Quote:
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On 2006-09-22 14:18, Gumbo wrote:
its another progi-full-on-psychedelic trance album.. in botom line its all a matter of taste so if u'r not a fullon'er or proggi lover this release is not for u..
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Just in case you didnt noticed mate this is a psychedelic trance forum so this is exactly the kind of music people like around here
Sorry that Koxbox arent making music on 170bpm with satan symbols on their cover,i will let Frank'e know about that next time he decides to release an album
Toodaloo Motherfuckers!!!!! |
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full_on
IsraTrance Team
Started Topics :
279
Posts :
5475
Posted : Sep 22, 2006 23:12
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Where can I buy the album? Please give me some link...
Respect!
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...Be gentle with the earth...
...Dance like nobody's watching...
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...I don't mind not going to Heaven, as long as they've got Coffee in Hell... |
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Wizack Twizack
Wizack Twizack
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239
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3486
Posted : Sep 23, 2006 03:26
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psyrexian
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
114
Posted : Sep 23, 2006 03:59
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Quote:
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On 2006-09-22 22:46, DETOX wrote:
Quote:
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On 2006-09-22 14:18, Gumbo wrote:
its another progi-full-on-psychedelic trance album.. in botom line its all a matter of taste so if u'r not a fullon'er or proggi lover this release is not for u..
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Just in case you didnt noticed mate this is a psychedelic trance forum so this is exactly the kind of music people like around here
Sorry that Koxbox arent making music on 170bpm with satan symbols on their cover,i will let Frank'e know about that next time he decides to release an album
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I think he said that he liked there old stuff and style ...and that is pure psy trance not
mental dark 666 mechanical violence on 170bpm
but pure intellegent twisted PSYTRANCE...
LIFE IS GOOD ON TRANCE! |
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TrippyJohnny
Inactive User
Started Topics :
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445
Posted : Sep 23, 2006 13:19
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is it ok to be controversal and say that I find it to be too much with all those full on basslines and fast bpm's?
BUT the last 3 tracks done with Ian are wicked and got much more to do with Koxbox (in my opinion) than the other tracks which i frankly have a hard time excluding from all the rest of the kilarghhh basslines and full on kik's the psyscene have to offer today. Yes there's the koxbox trademark of twisted sounds and very nice details BUT I just can't help thinking that those horrible boring basslines and KIK's destroy what could have been a 9-10/10 CD. Now it's just 6-7/10 at best and that thank's to Ian's contribution.
Give me some of Koxbox's old masterpieces anyday instead of this CD.
my 2 cents.
http://www.peopleagainstpeace.net/ |
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full_on
IsraTrance Team
Started Topics :
279
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5475
Posted : Sep 23, 2006 22:34
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Quote:
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On 2006-09-23 03:26, Wizack Twizack wrote:
psyshop..
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Not on Psyshop, or Saikosounds or Beatspace... Seems it's still not released... Can't wait...
Respect!
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...Be gentle with the earth...
...Dance like nobody's watching...
.
...I don't mind not going to Heaven, as long as they've got Coffee in Hell... |
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Rui Ferreira
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
43
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744
Posted : Sep 23, 2006 23:15
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Twisted records newsletter about Kox Box album
Dear Twisters,
We are writing to let you know that we have a special offer for you... the faithful elite who have signed up to our mailing list. We are here to reward you for your patience.
You can now get the latest Twisted Records release which is Koxbox 'U-Turn' from our website two weeks in advance of anywhere else! We appreciate enthusiasm and loyalty amongst our followers and here is your reward! Click the artwork below to go straight to our shop to buy the album. You can also buy tickets to our party on October 27th in London too.
We would also like to tell you that we have left the price of Unusual Suspects 2 and Twisted Sessions Vol.1 at half price (4.99gbp) so if you fancy making a killing on the postage and packaging then you might as well get them all! Three cd's for 20 pounds... Hard to say "no" surely.
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PoM
IsraTrance Full Member
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162
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8087
Posted : Sep 25, 2006 00:45
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got a chance to listen to the album,some killer tracks ,great for a special morning in a outdoor party.with just a listen i give it a 7.5/10 cause i don t like all tracks ... but in no way it sound cloned,why do you think it s realesed on twisted records? |
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keyop
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
32
Posts :
286
Posted : Sep 25, 2006 11:41
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Got my cd saturday. So far i think it's a great cd, it's going to take a while for it to totally sink as there's so much going on in all the tracks, so much detail.
There's definatley a good few belters on it.
The few tracks with Deedrah i'm really digging.
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Acidhive
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
76
Posts :
2014
Posted : Sep 25, 2006 12:02
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Quote:
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On 2006-09-23 13:19, TrippyJohnny wrote:
is it ok to be controversal and say that I find it to be too much with all those full on basslines and fast bpm's?
BUT the last 3 tracks done with Ian are wicked and got much more to do with Koxbox (in my opinion) than the other tracks which i frankly have a hard time excluding from all the rest of the kilarghhh basslines and full on kik's the psyscene have to offer today. Yes there's the koxbox trademark of twisted sounds and very nice details BUT I just can't help thinking that those horrible boring basslines and KIK's destroy what could have been a 9-10/10 CD. Now it's just 6-7/10 at best and that thank's to Ian's contribution.
Give me some of Koxbox's old masterpieces anyday instead of this CD.
my 2 cents.
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I agree completely. And who said Twisted is above all this copy paste trance? On the Unusual Suspects cd there is a GMS presence, who (at that time) were already slacked for being copy pasters. So I don't get all the Twisted worshippers. To me they're just another label in the sea of psytrance labels. Sometimes they release good stuff, sometimes mediocre, and sometimes shit. This release is between good and mediocre for me.
"Subconscious unravels at the point of death, and all time it has known erupts into a moment. As death extinguishes us, so we become it."
[Esoteric: Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum] |
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