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V.A - Fierce Imaginary Oddities (Catawampus Records)
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kazuku
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
100
Posts :
1123
Posted : Oct 20, 2009 17:07:45
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Artist: V.A
Title Of Album: Fierce Imaginary Oddities
Date Of Release: Oct 09
Label: Catawampus Records http://www.catawampus-records.co.uk
Genre:Psytrance
http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/car/car1cd002.html
Tracklist:
1. Saucy (Skyhighatrist rmx)
REV
2. No Fire
FRACTALFUNGI
3. Hairy Potter
GALACTIC MONKEY
4. Quiet night in
SKYHIGHATRIST
5. Tribal Bibal
OVERDREAM
6. Drugability (Skyhighatrist rmx)
ERROR CORRECTIVE
7. Shrooms in Vegas
GALACTIC MONKEY AND SPEKTRAL STORM
8. Ambience Scandale
IPOTOCATICAC
9. Wrong Turn
LOOSE CONNECTION
10. Comic Reality
NYAMA
I had just finished drinking my morning cup of mushroom tea when my attention was drawn a mysterious squelching sound. Focussing on the strange squelch revealed it was was coming from outside the front door so curiosity took over and I carefully went to investigate. At first I thought my 80+ year old land lord couple were living out there strange Donald and Daisy Duck fetish again, but as moved in on the squelching became clear: It was calling me, talking to me in a language my subconcious mind could recognise, a strange yet lucid calling. Was it Pleidan? Was it an ancient pygmie cursing me in their archaic language? No...something different....
As I soon as I opened the door a green tentacle slipped around the corner, a package attached to its suckers. Now I remembered..........something was talking to me in Catawampish, the linguistic code of the Catawampii. My CD had arrived. The agent of the Catawampii urged me to take the package with a friendly yet determined squelch, and waved its tentacle enegetically. As I pulled the packet there was a bit of resistance from the suction knobs which were stretched untill there was a loud "plopppp". The tentacle waved and retreated around the corner, squelching a a catawampii interpretation of "singing in the rain".
What a nice suprise! Now I could finally listen to "Fierce Imaginary Oddities", the second release and first V.A on UK based Catawampus records.
The first release was the Skyhighatrist and Galactic Monkey Album which I enjoyed alot, you can find my review here: http://forum.isratrance.com/skyhighatrist-and-galactic-monkey-strangely-obtuse-catawampus-rec/
It really brought the fun back into psytrance for me with a lot of mischevoius humour and cheekiness, so I was eager to hear what the Catawampii had been plotting. Having wiped some green ooze from the cd cover I took a look at the artwork. A big change from the art on the last Catawampus album, colours more subdued, the crazy comic look has been replaced with a more subtle, (imho artistically more appealing) look. The comic playfullness is still present, a huge mushroom overlord towers above groups of mushroom headed aliens, on the reverse side we can see lizard like beings travelling the shroomy plains of otherworld. The art is done by Izwoz.com.au and this australian/aboriginal art influence can also be found in the little details...like aboriginal art on sci-fi or something, thats what it looks like to me. Lots of detail, interesting cover, in line with Catawampus style imo.
First up is the Skyhighatrist remix of Rev-Saucy. I have not heard the original track so I can only comment on this stand-alone. Track is driven by a powerful bouncy yet growly base line while in the background a lot of Catawampish is being spoken. For me this is a real night time track, I like the atmospheres that kick in around the 4 minute mark, giving this track another dimension. Track becomes increasingly playful, listeners who have enjoyed the Skyhighatrist tracks on the "strangely Obtuse" will propably also enjoy this due to the everpresent psychedelic gurgling and Catawampii communication going on here. Definetely a fat and playful track. Like I said I cannot judge what Mr.Skyhigh has done with the track as I dont know the original but to me it seems he has done quiet a bit of sonic surgery here.
Next in line is Fractal Fungi (David Beer...Beer..ahhh I want to be called beer too  ) with his track "No Fire". Stylistically we have a smooth continuation, again we have a powerful, optimistic base line giving determination and direction to the alien communication massacre unfolding. Nice curve again becoming increasingly entertaining as several strange dialects of Catawampish are spoken. I like this style because it works on several levels: Fat bouncy base for the body (wall of sound massacre), for the mind(alien communication surgery massacre) and smile (grin massacre).
Now we have my favourite track so far, Galactic Monkey - Hairy Potter. I already loved the Galaktik Monkey tracks so far but this one is definetly on par with the rest. First reaction: I want to dance to this, extremely groovy, the Harry Pothead samples make me laugy. Hairy Pothead and the Phillosopher get stoned  . Lots of variation, mischevious beat patterns, some wicked leads, some coil and release action. A bit less Catawampish is spoken here, I think alot of them shut up and danced instead.....I could imagine playing this during early morning.
Next track sees Skyhighatrist unleashing an extremely wild and hungry hoard of cuddly, hungry monsters. Did somebody agitate them? Hm, maybe they are just playing. Inside the CD case we get the following message: "These Catawampii are in waiting ready to release their full scale Technicoloursquelchcore". I find this is a pretty good discripription of what to expect from many of the tracks on this album. Buzzes, squelches, squelchy buzzes and squelchy blurbs alongside blurby squelches of highly diverse tones. This soundscape which I choose to call "alien communication massacre" is what creates a major psychedelic aspect in this track and many others on the album. Shroomy ooze vibes with long hairy tentacles.
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kazuku
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
100
Posts :
1123
Posted : Oct 20, 2009 17:08
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Overdream (Ukrainian duo Markus and Dana) pour some new ingredients to the brain-soup with their contribution "Tribal Bibal". Definetly a suitable title for the track as it does have tribal flare to it along with an extremely driving baseline. Thhhhhuuuuuuump. WTF? Whoa, that just made my 80 year old land landy fly out of her rocking chair. Most Catawampii are taking a rest now, but really they are just pretending to sleep, keeping a little bit quiet to lure us into false safety. Atmosherically dense track and another fav. Something that listeners could enjoy even if they dont find the idea of technicoloursquelchcore that appealing due to its drive and energy.
Uk based Error Corrective - (Drugability (Skyhighatrist rmx) )are up next, things kick of with a very full-on sounding baseline, luckily the layers of psychedlia that move in swiftly put my mind to rest that we are not dealing with a shallow track, and indeed it involves into a strong night-time track, very dancefloor orientated but with some depth. Still I still cant help finding that baseline a little bit annoying, is fun but a little generic imo. Track goes more nuts later on and redeems itself, but still not a fav.
Next we have a very trippy one, Galaktik Monkey and Spektral Storm -. Shrooms in Vegas. Funky, shroomy, more clear and atmospheric then some of the other tracks on this album. And again, very playful. Like I mentioned before, it is the playful, mischevious nature of the Catawampus sound I like the most. As somebody who has listen to "Strangely Obtuse" alot in the past months I find Galaktik Monkey manifests this attitude and phillosophy the best. The tracks with Trev invovlved always loaded with humour. Very Dawn suitable imo.
Ipotoctaticac.....omg, imagine having that one in a school spelling test at the age of 8....I cant even try saying that name, makes my head hurt trying to look at it, a linguistic abomination. English teachers, get that one ready for foreign students in their first class oO
Anyhow, very trippy track, as wierd as the producer name. Funny sax samples create the "atmospheric scandal" prophesised in the track name. A little more on the intense, darker side of things, but with comic relief. Definetly one for night time or very early morning in a scary forest (with trees that look like scarecrows, witches and trolls and move in the corner of your eye). Catawampii are out again, doing psycho-aerobics this time, reflected in the rubbery gooey nature of the sound. Now I feel tempted to do some psycho-aerobics myself. You know the kind when the dancefloor is dimension shifting and alien doctors gently perform deep trance psychic surgery while we make slicing and rewinding movements with our arms, powering the subatomic reactor core until b0000m.
Loose Connection- Wrong Turn, again deep deep night, very intense and psychedlic track, high power dance floor action featuring alien surgeons as special guests. Or Catawampii with sharp claws but a big heart, Psycho-aerobics stage 2, tryptamin laden but a little bit more serious faced in the process.
Nyama round off this VA with their track comic reality. If the last 2 tracks were already deep into the forest at night, at this stage we have already gotten lost and dont know where the hell we are. I can see many people who are not used to listening to really high power psychedlic music finding this track too dark and intense, but it does maintain some comic value, although it really is a massacre for dancefloors that are out of control and justing waiting for the last straw to break the camels back and push it over the edge.
Conclusion
On the first Catawampus V.A we get a mixture of elements that made "Strangely Obstuse" fun mixed with contributions from artists new to the label that bring new styles with them. Galaktik Monkeys fun, funky, fat and suprising style once again meets Skyhighatrists mischevious "squelchcore" massacre to produce the atmosphere I enjoyed on Strangely Obstuse. Alongside this this V.A has more really intense night time tracks by artists such as Ipotocaticac and loose connection, shredder-everything sound by Nyama(not for weak nerves) and some more body-driving tracks by Error Corrective and Overdream project, who delivered a remarkable track.
Nice V.A for everyone who likes original nightime sound with some comic relief. For my taste there could have been a bit more playfulness (only Galaktik Monkey, Skyhighatrist and Ipotoctactiac really push this here imo) which is representative of Catawampus records for me, but I nevertheless enjoyed the powerful night time stuff as well as it remains psychedlic throughout.
Overall 8.5/10 - First Catawampus V.A is a strong release, combining the trademark sounds of key Catawampus artists with new influences and styles. 2 key comments- people who have listened to "Strangely Obstuse" should not expect only the same kind of sound but be prepared for some unplanned sonic safaris into the night (some people may even say dark) and some more clear cut sonic grasslands where one might find the odd full-on baseline or 2.
Also I would really like to here more of the Catawampus defining and shaping sound, more Galaktik monkey tracks would be nice, a little more wierd funkyness . Nice work guys keep it up!
Favorite tracks: 2, 3!!, 7, 8.
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Catawampus Records
Catawampus Records
Started Topics :
5
Posts :
41
Posted : Oct 20, 2009 23:24
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Wow thank you so much for such wicked review! You've made some great comments and suggestions which we completely take onboard.
Yep this one is boundary expansion, Catawampus style, it retains our passion for playfullness, here our chosen playground is 'The Forest at twilight' and we are playing with 'Fierce Imaginary Oddities' guided by mischievous agents of the Catawampii.
fancy some more>>>> check
Catawampus Records Special @ AudioAddictz online radio show
(9pm gmt then repeated for 24hours) 21-10-2009
Producer sets from Galactic Monkey, Skyhighatrist, Loose Connection, Nyama, and 2 dj sets from Cheryl (label manager) 6 hours of audio playdough!
http://radio.audioaddictz.com/forum/index.php?article=0
 http://www.reverbnation.com/fierceimaginaryoddities
www.myspace.com/catawampusrecords |
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makus
Overdream
Started Topics :
82
Posts :
3087
Posted : Oct 20, 2009 23:27
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galactic monkey
Galactic Monkey
Started Topics :
84
Posts :
975
Posted : Oct 24, 2009 19:00
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seriously funny review man!!!
nice 1 
Skyhighatrist and Galactic Monkey - Strangely Obtuse CD available for £6 delivered worldwide from www.catawampus-records.co.uk |
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nyama
Nyama
Started Topics :
45
Posts :
745
Posted : Oct 26, 2009 12:35
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psyder
Started Topics :
0
Posts :
1
Posted : Nov 2, 2009 16:01
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Hey man its morris from loose connection, thanks very much man! Its our 1st track out on release, so pleased to be a part of Catawampus.
Your words put smiles on our faces all day, alot ore to come! :-D |
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