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Skyhighatrist and Galactic Monkey- Strangely Obtuse (Catawampus Rec)
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kazuku
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
100
Posts :
1123
Posted : Feb 10, 2009 18:32:08
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Artist: Skyhighatrist and Galactic Monkey
Title Of Album: Strangely Obtuse
Year Of Release: 2009-02-09
Label: Catawampus Records http://www.catawampus-records.co.uk
Genre:Psytrance
01. Skyhighatrist - Brain Altering Unskank
02. Skyhighatrist - Weird Stuff
03. Galactic Monkey - Creak And Twist
04. Galactic Monkey - Bits From The Bong (Skyhighatrist Rmx)
05. Galactic Monkey - Rhombus
06. Skyhighatrist & The 233 Project - Psybabble
07. Galactic Monkey - Fiddlesticks
08. Skyhighatrist & Hazak - Strange Oscillation
09. Galactic Monkey - Boooo
Skyhighatrist and Galactic Monkey are talented producers from England, this is their debut album ¡§Strangely Obtuse¡¨, released on UK based label ¡§Catawampus Records¡¨. Catawampus Records was founded in summer 2008, Skyhighatrist and Galactic Monkey themselves being originators of this label. According to the founders Catawampus Records strives to be the vehicle label of deeply underground and boundary expanding Psytrance producers..¡¨.
The reason I have decided to review this album is that the release struck me as being fresh and original in the sea of mediocre and formulaic stuff that has come out so far this year, and actually radiates something that I find has been missing more often then not: Pure fun¨. It is one of those CDs that refuses to be forced into a certain style because it is so bubbly and full of surprises.
First lets have a brief look at the tracks to get a general impression:
01.Skyhighatrist - Brain Altering Unskank
Sets the mood and vibe of the album well, after a very nice ¡§slow motion¡¨ winding build up we are off at 146 BPM. Quirky effects flow and buzz over a rather bouncy, fun bassline. Samples are a little bit B-Movie like, fit in nicely and are kept at a minimum. Everything comes evolves very nicely and has a very psychedelic playfulness about it as it twists and turns.Although there is a lot going on the listener never gets the impression of the music being ¡§overloaded¡¨ which can often happen when producers ¡§force¡¨ themselves to be original and quirky. Also has a very wobbly, shroomy quality to it.
02. Skyhighatrist - Weird Stuff
This comes out with a very impressive, determined, extra fat bassline which drives us forward towards robotic data-exchanges and optimistic pads which weave in and out seamlessly. Although this track runs at the same speed as the first one, it feels faster for some reason. Around the 5.30 a mysterious melody surfaces, adding another dimension to the swirling and morphing chaos.
03.Galactic Monkey - Creak And Twist
The first offering by Galactic Monkey continuous to ooze shroomy vibrations and builds upon the mischievous mood created in the first tracks. Style wise this slots in well and take the madness one step further with more short breaks and tempo changes. Despite this, the song knows exactly where it wants to go and achieves this in a very determined way. What continues to impress is the amount of elements which are introduced, nothing ever lingers too long to get boring. More samples used here, but in intelligent ways, like samples morphing and acting as rhythmic elements. The craziest track so far, and in many ways the strongest.
04. Galactic Monkey - Bits From The Bong (Skyhighatrist Rmx)
Begins with some moderately irritating marijuana samples and some other cheesy drug references which, as we know from the ¡§worst sample ever¡¨ discussion in the trance forum, some people tend to find rather annoying.
Track is comes across crunchy, fat and funky but did not impress me as much. Solid, but imo missing the same strong personality as the previous songs.
05. Galactic Monkey - Rhombus
Ah, that¡¦s better ƒº Fastest track so far @ 150 BPM. This one takes the cake so far. Teases around a lot at first, coming across funky and stuttering around a little bit before the beast is let out of the cage around 2.17. Exciting twists and turns throughout mixed with short discord inducing breaks and subtle (or perceived) tempo changes.
Around 5.10 we take another unexpected turn with an atmosphere enhancing mystery-melody while hi-hats drive everything along very nicely at times against the morphing leads. Cheeky, cheeky monkey¡K..
06. Skyhighatrist & The 233 Project - Psybabble
Here we shift gears down a bit to the slowest pace so far, 145 BPM. This track didn¡¦t really do it for me. It comes across fat and chunky but I found some elements irritating, a bit too screechy and unpleasant on the ears at times, but hey that¡¦s just me.
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kazuku
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
100
Posts :
1123
Posted : Feb 10, 2009 18:32
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07. Galactic Monkey - Fiddlesticks
This has some pretty crazy and dramatic tempo changes, starting off slow and extremely creaky with lots and lots of rhythm creating ¡§crazy cartoon effects¡¨ before speeding up dramatically later on. We have some mad short guitar samples adding to the confusion over a helicopter bassline. Very trippy ƒº.
08. Skyhighatrist & Hazak - Strange Oscillation
Whereas I believe almost everything on this CD could be played at any day or night time, I feel this one would most rock at night, a bit more aggressive and less playful then some of the other tracks but sure to make a dance floor explode none the less, very driving and sure to make acid drip from the ceiling.
09. Galactic Monkey - Boooo
Begins with the 20th Century Fox fanfare and continuous in a similar as the previous contributions by Galactic Monkey, very strong track again. Creaky, with plenty of short breaks without throwing the dancer off their trance grove. Not annoying ¡§now your peaking¡¨ breaks, just short, confusion promoting breaks before the pushing bassline picks up again. Nice. ƒº
Conclusion
I really, really like this as it has everything a psychedelic trance release should have in my opinion. It is groovy, fat, chunky and extremely fun and playful. It is not dark and it is not fluffy, it rests in its own ¡§grey zone¡¨ defying categorization. The tracks by Skyhighatrist are generally more powerful and driving whereas Galactic Monkey tracks round this of with more playful, surprising and groovy elements. Both fit together really well, build upon each other and create a good synergy which holds the album together and promotes variety.
The CD has plenty of twists, turns and surprises, and, very importantly, something that is missing from most releases these days- humor, cheekiness and fun. I think these tracks would work well around the clock most part, whereby I can really imagine some of the Galactic Monkey tracks would make for a really mad psychedelic carnival atmosphere in the early hours of the morning.
If I were to sum up everything in 3 words: Cheeky, playful psychedelia.
Overall the Galactic Monkey tracks suited my taste a bit better, with my favs being 3, 5 and 7. I hope to hear more releases like this from the label and the artists!
Well done!
8.5/10
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skyhighatrist
skyhighatrist
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
101
Posted : Feb 21, 2009 03:20
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galactic monkey
Galactic Monkey
Started Topics :
84
Posts :
975
Posted : Feb 25, 2009 01:02
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thanks for your time and honest review mate!!
cheers
trev
 Skyhighatrist and Galactic Monkey - Strangely Obtuse CD available for £6 delivered worldwide from www.catawampus-records.co.uk |
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Balcannibal
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
19
Posts :
696
Posted : Feb 25, 2009 20:32
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For me it's a weird, groove and funny psychedelic experience with lots of trippy moments!!! Original sounds indeed !!!
Good job mates!!!
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nyama
Nyama
Started Topics :
45
Posts :
745
Posted : Mar 17, 2009 19:12
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after sooooo long time of eagerly awaiting my copy to arrive it finally happened and the mailman threw it in 
man, what a nice treat the catawampii cooked for us with this one!
really trippy, funky a loota groove and on the top of the cake some extraordinary voicesamples... i really (REALLY) dig this style!
must be sooo good to get to hear these two on sunday mornings or even better all sunday long on a nice festival....
very good job indeed....
i simply love it... so different to usual releases in this genre atm... i guess a lot of producers will follow
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www.catawampus-records.co.uk |
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kazuku
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
100
Posts :
1123
Posted : Oct 3, 2009 11:56
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First VA coming soon from Catawampus, should be lots of fun.
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kazuku
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
100
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Posted : Oct 19, 2009 14:39
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skyhighatrist
skyhighatrist
Started Topics :
6
Posts :
101
Posted : Oct 19, 2009 16:54
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