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Waterjuice - "Liquid Journeys" - [Vaporvent, 2008]
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BrettFromTibet
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Oct 29, 2008 18:57:54
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Artist: Waterjuice
Title: "Liquid Journeys"
Label: Vaporvent Records, San Francisco, USA - http://www.vaporvent.com/home/
Available in HQ digital download @ Beatport https://www.beatport.com/en-US/html/content/release/detail/138688/liquid_journeys
Tracklisting:
1. Are You?
2. Don't Kill It (featuring Blane Lyon)
3. Next Steps
4. Psychic Dissent
5. Swamp Planet
6. Liquid Journeys
7. Back to Ibiza
8. Bells
Review:
Q: What do you get when you distill organic Goa trance, dub, bewitching breakbeats, smooth downtempo funk, psychedelic guitar wizardry and celestial trip-hop into a pure crystal goblet?
A: A tangy, highly-intoxicating elixir called "Waterjuice."
The San Francisco-based duo, Waterjuice, is among the most underrated live electronica acts in North America. Party people go crazy over Bassnectar and The Glitch Mob, they love Bluetech, and they worship Tipper and Shpongle DJ sets... but when it comes to an actual "live" performance, Waterjuice's beats and grooves hit the dancefloor just as hard, and they're more interesting to watch on stage. The third Waterjuice album, "Liquid Journeys" pushes their classic 'electronica jam' sound to a new level of refinement and contemporary influence. The sound is quirky like the trigger fish on the album artwork: colorful, FUNKY, liquid, and submarine... with a few shadowy crevices between the coral, a couple of spines and nips from tiny teeth.
"Liquid Journeys" stands apart from countless generic, laptop-produced downtempo releases (with ethnic wailing ripped from the same sample CDs).
This is proper music: hand-carved, slow-cooked sonic artwork.
Individual tracks:
1. "Are You?" is a monster opening: a moody, post-terrestrial psychedelic-tech-funk sojurn. Melodian synths, vocoder syllables and strange sine waves are soldered together into something epic and haunting. I get the same excited feeling as the first time I heard tracks like KoxBox - "Go Fly A Kite" or Shpongle's - "Dorset Perception." Listen to the gorgeous melodic solo 4'24" and you will feel it, too.
2. "Don't Kill It" drops some serious trip hop knowledge. Accelerating didjes and pulsing grooves push the breathy, high-vibration rhymes into the meta circuits of your mind - and keep them echoing around in there.
3. "Next Steps" squeezes out juicy, funky basslines and fat percussion grooves that could take on James Brown or George Clinton... A 70's detective show interlude with extra-terrestrial flair. Midway through the track..a UFO turns on its transporter beam and things get weird for a moment, before dropping you back into funky, familiar terrestrial realms.
4. "Psychic Dissent" - A clever, cheeky sample about an unauthorized party at a kid's parents' house sets the stage. A curtain of sound flows out of the speakers as cool as spilled liquid nitrogen, sublimating into FAT breakbeats -- fatter than your momma standing on a black hole after drinking 1000 lead milkshakes. The seductive, wommpy basslines and percussion synthesesia is beyond hypnotic. If the bass groove that drops 2'00" doesn't make you dance... there's no hope left for you. Nothing will.
5. "Swamp Planet" opens with a slow, classic Waterjuice techy interlude until 1'05".. KA-POW!..a soft gunshot sound pops the track into high gear.
Delicate, complex pummeling percussion and liquid melodic swirls percolate over whispers of ancient Tuvan throat singing and future robot voices. FUNK!
Watch out at 4'08" for a heady drum solo and bass attack!
6. "Liquid Journeys" gallops right into bumping, driving downtempo with a sublime underwater vibe. Colorful calypso grooves and shimmering metallic tones swirl and dance about like schools of tropical fish in coral atoll water.
7. "Back to Ibiza" is slow-burning, punchy new-skool Goa trance. An unexpectedly complex sound fractal that's triple-acid-dipped and bursting with original flavors. This monster track has a decidedly split personality... its legs are rooted deep into the mud of a primordial swamp... the upper limbs and tentacles flailing high into the stratosphere.
8. "Bells" is a slow, staggering, darkish 'come down' track. Sounds kind of like NES Metroid or Sci-fi music. This is the most 'average' track on the album.
Best Tracks: 1(!),2,3,4(!),5,6,7(!)
Verdict:
"Liquid Journeys" is seriously high quality gear. It surpasses current downtempo cliches and production standards, and it has potential for long-lasting listening pleasure. While Ott's "Skylon" impressed me more in some ways, "Liquid Journeys" has been the most heavily repeat-played album to grace my headphones in 2008. It's also the best Waterjuice release yet... with a more polished, mature sound and complex production than the previous chapters. I dug it from the first track, but after about 25 plays my brain started to grok the subtle flavors and majestic details that "Liquid Journeys" is richly engraved with. Highly recommended! (9/10)
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Written and Produced by Waterjuice:
Cyril Kollock - Logic Pro, pads, drums and bass
Bruce 'Raven' Tupling - live guitars and technical effects
Vocals by: Blane Lyon
Mastering by: L. Henry Sarmiento II. @ Sonic Vista Studios, Ibiza. ( http://www.sonicvistastudios.com/ ) |
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Gunter
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Oct 29, 2008 19:44
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Incredible news! Wooohoo! I wasn`t that excited bout a new album in a long time  |
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intrees
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Oct 29, 2008 19:46
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well thanks for the tip Brett, just downloading right now .. tehe
really like the review too, should turn a few people on to this sound, it's heavy stuff ...
they have definately found their way and progressed their craft well.
happiness to us all    - - It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice... - -
www.revolvemagazine.co.uk |
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Gunter
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Oct 29, 2008 23:02
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OK, I downloaded it from beatport. And I am listening to it continiously in a row. Great shit |
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BrettFromTibet
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Oct 29, 2008 23:57
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Gunter,
I find it keeps getting better and better with each spin 
There are only a couple of albums a year on this level of quality... so I give thanks to Jah when it arrives.
Boom!
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Gunter
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Oct 30, 2008 10:14
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See I guess, that`s a hard to make judgement ... there is (nearly) allways released music in very good production quality here and there ... it´s just different styles ... and I like that style of Waterjuice a lot ... it`s trippy and cool, which rocks and makes good tripped out mood |
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elektric sheep
IsraTrance Junior Member
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315
Posted : Oct 30, 2008 12:05
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this is seriously good shit i'm sure
also available at realistic price from
http://www.dancerecords.com/releases/27502
Price - MP3: $4.49 (36% off)
Price - WAV: $5.99 (46% off)
Date: 11/25/08
but why the loooong wait, come on!
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Alienc
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Oct 30, 2008 16:13
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are all the waterjuice cds available anywhere? |
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LumaDaylight
IsraTrance Junior Member
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48
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202
Posted : Oct 30, 2008 16:13
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wish i could make it out to portland for new years..their playin with ott as well but ill be in atl for sts9 |
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sir eel
Waterjuice
Started Topics :
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Posted : Oct 30, 2008 20:57
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thanks for the support everyone!
as for cds we have made the hard decision to go digital for this release as we believe with oil, shipping, paper, ink, etc... that digital is a better option for the planet.
sorry we'll miss you luma, portland is gonna rock! |
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Alienc
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Oct 31, 2008 14:33
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Quote:
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On 2008-10-30 12:05, elektric sheep wrote:
this is seriously good shit i'm sure
also available at realistic price from
http://www.dancerecords.com/releases/27502
Price - MP3: $4.49 (36% off)
Price - WAV: $5.99 (46% off)
Date: 11/25/08
but why the loooong wait, come on!
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is this a legal,legit site ? |
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sir eel
Waterjuice
Started Topics :
7
Posts :
62
Posted : Oct 31, 2008 20:52
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Quote:
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On 2008-10-31 14:33, Alienc wrote:
Quote:
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On 2008-10-30 12:05, elektric sheep wrote:
this is seriously good shit i'm sure
also available at realistic price from
http://www.dancerecords.com/releases/27502
Price - MP3: $4.49 (36% off)
Price - WAV: $5.99 (46% off)
Date: 11/25/08
but why the loooong wait, come on!
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is this a legal,legit site ?
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YES! and this is a good place to get the wav files at a great price, the catch is you have to wait a bit until their availability date of 11/25.
Liquid Journeys is exclusive on Beatport this month, then it will be available on all the other sites such as itunes, dancerecords, rhapsody, emusic, ++....we have a great rapor with beatport and they are very supportive of us so they got us for the first month. |
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damon
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Nov 4, 2008 13:52
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Quote:
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On 2008-10-30 20:57, sir eel wrote:
thanks for the support everyone!
as for cds we have made the hard decision to go digital for this release as we believe with oil, shipping, paper, ink, etc... that digital is a better option for the planet.
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http://www.chillumafia.com |
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TechMonkey
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Nov 6, 2008 16:32
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Quote:
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indeed. Sad news for the collectors (myself included). Understandable and respectable decision though. |
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BrettFromTibet
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Nov 6, 2008 17:05
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And no 8-track, cassette or vinyl either..!!! damn living in the 21st century!
I guess you could blame the fact that the CD market has almost entirely evaporated and been replaced with (licit and illicit) digital downloading.
Personally, I can live without those crappy, cracked-plastic CDs (with a thin card and not much information) arriving in my mailbox 3 months (+ 11 days shipping) after it was supposed to be pressed. The CD has been dead (or has served as hardcore collectors item, only) for at least 5 years...
I have mad respect for the true collectors and supporters (1 out of 100 maybe) but I recognize that 99% of global psy/party people I know NEVER buy CDs and strictly download and burn... and it's only natural that labels change to meet the times.
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