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Infected Mushroom - IM The Supervisor
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| Dan1584 |
TRACKLIST
01. IM The Supervisor
02. Ratio Shmatio
03. J.Views - Muse Breaks (Infected Mushroom Remix)
04. Meduzz
05. Cities Of The Future
06. Horus The Chorus
07. Frog Machine
08. Noon
09. Bombat
10. Stretched
Release Date: September
A good friend of mine who's great at hunting down albums located the new Infected Mushroom album. Now now, IM is my favorite group and I have EVERY intention of purchasing this album...it's only right to respect my favorite musicians and support them, but it doesn't hurt to have a full length preview :) hehe
So here you go, a little less than a month in advance, my in-depth review as promised :)
Template
track # track title -- score out of 10.0 -- review
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note :: If you don't want to read the track reviews you can always skip down to the end to read my overall review)
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TRACK REVIEWS:
01. IM THE SUPERVISOR -- 7.5 -- The title track starts off the frenzy of songs. The intro is taunting and very dark sounding with bass piano notes with a like piano notes playing as well, very good intro. Soon a vocal sample jumps in and says "I'm the supervisor can I get the taxi numer?" and after a few repeats of that the hard pounding kick and attacking bassline jump into take you away. Effects soon litter the song very well. The vocal sample comes back in but it's only bits and peices off it chopped up into effects, very creative. At 2:15 a dark low toned bass driven melody comes in and creates small groove. The at 2:27 some vocoded whines come in to add even more strangeness. This is then followed by some more good effects that are very crisp and clean sounding like in Converting Vegetarians. At 2:56 the track starts to pick up again with it's intense rythm. The bassline is killer might I add once again. The track starts to calm down and at 3:36 the beat leaves and is replaced by some haunting synth pads and some strange effects. At 3:50 the pads leave and the effects change and now there is a distant dig sound ever other bar, very nice touch. You can tell something is coming. Then at 4:03 comes the best groovey melody I have heard in a long time. It's almost disco like but in a very Infected psy-trance type way. Some drums jump in to join the groove. Then at 4:30 some crazy funky high pitched and vocoded vocals come in and sing "dance with me, come on come on, dance with me." I love it! The the track builds with the vocals getting choped up and bouncing around like effects and then explodes into mayhem at 4:55 when the bassline and effects return to join the fray. At 5:54 another groovey melody comes in to add more funk. The drums kick back in and your soon led back into the orginal vocals from the beginning. Soon after that at 6:36 that great groovey melody comes back and has fun with you again, but this time with a different bassline. Soon enough the track winds down and your onto the next track. Good track, but you hope there is better to come.
02. RATIO SHMATIO -- 8.0 -- This track starts off very intense with a slowly building bassline that gets you right from the very second. Then of course the kick gets thrown in and bam your moving into the song! Effects are obviously present and doing their tricks. The track starts to progress and change a little at 1:06 and maybe it's just me but this section of the song reminds me very much of "Yanko Pitch," so much that I'm wondering what they were thinking, but none the less it's good, but a little too familiar for my tastes. At 1:45 the melodies take you into a good psychedelic trip. Then at 3:31 a strange twisted piano comes in and toys with you having fun with your ears with effects wrapping themselves around the melody. At 4:30 is when a great melody comes in a build and builds until it explodes into...you guessed it. Nothing climactic. Once again, like in Horus The Chorus, your tricked and teased. But this tease is a little more enticing because after it builds it drops you into some great effects work, so it aint all that blue balling. The effects and fun leads to a melody which builds and builds, yes this is what you have been waiting for. And finally at 6:54 you are thrown into a great psy style chaotic masterpeice of synths, go Infected! This lasts until 8:38 when your finally dropped back into beats and a totally different bassline. Some effects are added in and then the track ends. I can't say that I like the ending since it is off putting to me. But oh well, I'll let it slide this one time.
03. J.VIEWS - MUSE BREAKS (RMX) -- 7.5 -- Great intro!!! Very dreamy bell-like synths, very beautiful. Weird effects enter followed by some strange old sounding vocals some in which lead up to a nice strong kick, very Infected. Great effects soon follow. Some attacking effects come in to build strength in the track. At 2:04 some cool effects come in and give it a little bit more groove, nothing major though. At 2:18 some more effects come in layering on top adding more groove as well, much better now. At 2:31 there are some very neat effects that kinda sound underwater, very hard to explain, but very kick ass. At 2:48 comes some female vocals that sings some lyrics, not bad. Then at 3:23 some synth pads come in and guides you into some male vocals that are semi reggae-ish. Then after a short rolling build up comes the vocals from the very beginning on top of a good strong kick. Some synths get added to give it more umff. Then a yelling voice leads into some cool effects which leads into a rolling build up which semi explodes into a decent psy-trance chaotic climax. Joyfully at 5:32 a 303 acid line gets thrown in for good measure. The chaos stops at 5:55 and goes into a breakdown with great synth pads and violins. During the breakdown at 6:20 the female vocals come in again which eventually leads to the dreamy bell-like synths that lead you out of this song.
04. MEDUZZ -- 8.5 -- Well not the most impressive intro, but it's ok I guess, nothing special to describe. The bassline enters soon and it's very groovey and playful. The percussion is slowly getting layered drum by drum on top of the bassline and kick, very experimental and empty sounding like in Converting Vegetarians. Not to worry though, at 1:30 some attacking effects come in and at 1:47 it steps up another notch too, it's all about progression and building up I realize, and it's done very well. By 2:13 the song is at full steam but soon enough at 2:26 it jumps into a little breakdown with some playful synths and effects which are pretty fun to listen to. Then after a small build up it thrusts you into a very attacking synth at 2:58 which carries on for a good amount of time, very nice! Then at 3:38 you are dropped off at some basic percussion and effects. Approaching the 4:20 mark some fun little effects come in which slowly builds with more layers of percussion just like before, clueing you in that something is coming. Finally at 4:45 the climax begins to unfold and what a way to start off with than a great violin medley that makes takes you back to the 1600's dancing to classical music. Soon an electric guitar plays over that melody and takes over completely at 5:17 making your mind and body going crazy with groove. Absolutely great guitar might I add. A slight build up comes again, and back to the guitar melody which gets layered with the violins for a climactic finish and then BOOM it ends leaving you very much craving for more. The downside is you your almost left too abruptly as the track ends very suddenly, oh well, so much for a winding down outro.
05. CITIES OF THE FUTURE -- 7.0 -- This intro is pretty cool but not impressive or that creative either. It's basically a bunch of muffled percussion that slowly gets un muffled as it progesses. The kick and bassline enter and everything is all gravy and attacking. Some weird digital barking effects come out and snap at you around 0:45. Then at 1:09 some vocoded male vocals come in that say "We're gonna run run run to the cities of the future, take what we can and bring it back home. So take me down to the cities of the future everybodies happy and I feel at home." It repeats once again and then explodes into a hard bassline and kick and more of the same vocals but this time they are digitalized to sound harder and more rock oriented. The lyrics are weird but very catchy, it's just a matter of personal taste whether or not you like them. The vocals end at 2:08 and some synth pads come in to add emotion while the bassline, beats and effects do their thing. At 3:02 there is a breakdown which contains the synth pads and some twisted effects. The breakdown leads to a section of percussion and groove which eventually gets more human sounding vocals thrown on top that sing "I find myself, going away, never wanted any to go back again. Leaving all my thoughts behind, searching for some new ones inside." After the vocals stop, a vocoded voice repeats "I find myself" over and over again building and building and his final screa, turns into a mayhem of psy-trance chaos, superb! The chaod ends at 4:52 and your left with some beats and effects that lead to more synths, some groovey ones too. Out of know where at 5:31 the first line of vocals returns and brings you to the synths that came in at 2:08. The barking effects come back and get twisted and sped up faster and faster and then the song exits.
06. HORUS THE CHORUS -- 8.0 -- The intro is strange but simple, nothing too creative or entertaining. Soon a clap enters followed by a nice kick and bassline. The song is very dependent on it's good effects and beats to create the groove. This song is like Meduzz, it progresses slowly. At 1:36 a cool synth and effect comes in that helps build the track even more. At 2:05 and eerie piano comes in to guide you somewhere unknown. Then at 2:33 a melody comes in that slowly builds to what is seemingly going to be a great choatic psy-trance moment, but just then at the end of the build it drops you back into beats and effects teasing you so much with it's lengthy build into nothing. Some may enjoy that, some may be disapointed. I find that the teasing was very well done and makes you want more. The effects come in strong again and twist around nicely. At 4:35 more effects get layered down and build the track even more. Then once again, at 5:01, the piano comes back in taunting you one more time. Will there be a climax or will I be teased again? Now the track builds just like before and finally it treats you right at 6:20 when it explodes into an awesome twisted 303 acid melody! This is what Infected is known for, moments like this. Superb job and this part. Then it starts to unfold at 7:01 and winds down into the outro. Kinda empty overall, very much structured on beats and effects like in Converting Vegetarians but the builds are nice and teasing and it definetly is worth getting to the climactic end.
07. FROG MACHINE -- 8.0 -- The intro is very strange and twisted. But boy once that bassline hits you are ready to go as it's thickness is very powerful and it definetly drives the song well. At 0:40 the bassline changes and calms down a little but then some really weird burp-like effects come in and add a really strange Infected effects vibe to the song. The mushies are so weird, it's great! At 1:13 a cool melody comes in and adds a lot of groove to the song. Soon after that even more groove comes in with some energetic synths, at this point I'm thinking "wow this track is really going strong." The groove ends at 1:46 and you thrown back into strange effects that bounce all over the place. Then the beat fades out and then back in bringing you to another attacking groove, this one a lot different than before. It builds slowly adding more effects and layers. At 2:34 your then pushed into another groove, yet again different than before. This one is nice and you can tell it's ment to build and guide you towards something. Then after a good build up your thrown into a great melodic climactic moment at 4:06, it's very fun and energetic. About 1 minute later your back to beats, bassline and effects. At 5:41 you hear a great little melody come in, very beautiful sounding, which leads you to the end of the track.
08. NOON -- 1.0 -- So far in this album there has been an emphasis on good melodies strung along with great percussion. This song starts off with a generic sounding synth, very amaturish actually. Finally that famous Infected kick comes in and starts thing off. Some effects get thrown in for good measure. Nothing too exciting really happens but beats and effects. The track keep progressing. Then at 1:36 comes a decent melody which adds groove to the track but nothing more. At 2:16 some cool effects get thrown in, very Infected style. The song progresses with nothing much to mention except for that I'm patiently waiting for that "wow" moment as with all of the other tracks. Hmmm, more effects and percussion, ok...? Still waiting for something to happen. Ok here it is, no wait it's more effects and cheap 303 acid loops which are neither exciting nor entertaining. At 1:48 that same groove comes back in that appeared at 1:36. At this point I swear that this song is just being replayed as I hear nothing changing and no progression other than nestalgia from earlier moments in the song. And then, it ends and I'm left thinking "what the hell was that?" As I revist my thoughts the one thought that was running through my mind while listening to this song was, oh my god when will this song end? Sad but true, I personally detest this song, pure crap to me and it really doesn't belong on this album since it doesn't have the same feeling as the other tracks. What a damn disapointment.
09. BOMBAT -- 8.5 -- Nice strange and Infected intro, with weird effects and soft synth pads. Once the bassline hits you know it's on! The bassline is very prominent where the kick isn't equally as powerful. The track progresses very nicely and builds and builds. At 1:50 some synth pads come in and guide you into the weird effects that appeared in the intro now at 2:15. Finally at 2:42 a build up comes thats very intense and explodes in melodic madness! Then at 3:20 it gets even stronger and more intense. This melodic psy fest doesn't end until 4:01, so thats a major plus! Now we are back into beats and effects which are very good and psychedelically pleasing. The bassline returns and drives the track once more. The track slowly builds and progresses again. At 4:55 some synths come in and direct you to a cool melody made with some interesting synths. You can tell it's going to take you somewhere very pleasant. Then the track slowly builds with rolling beats and thrusts you back into that melodic psy fest like before, crazy stuff! Finally the track winds down slowly and finished around the 8:20 mark. Very good track.
10. STRETCHED -- 9.0 -- At first this track starts out sounding pretty generic with not a super great sound to it, but oh does that change quickly. The percussion is very break beat and the effects are really attacking, not to mention the bassline is nice. It has a great groove with some soft melodies flowing in and out with some good synth pads. At 1:28 a beautiful guitar comes in and takes you away with it's amazing sounds, this is what music is all about. Thankfully this melody doesn't go anywhere anytime soon. So damn beautiful, probably one of the best guitar riffs ever in Infected history. After the guitar exits you get attacked, or rather slammed, with some powerful purcussion and synths. A weird voice soon comes in and whines it's away into creeping you out. Then comes back in the powerful attacking that came before. At 3:53 a nice piano comes in to take you away which tne leads into another amazing guitar solo at 4:23, this one is so powerful that it would kill your grandma if she was listening to this on acid. Infected selects great guitar players. Then comes back in some attacking power. More beautiful synths come in at 5:00 and carry you to some more guitars, but not like before, just simple guitars. Then at 6:40 after a mild build up the music starts to sound like it's getting farther away and is getting muffled by walls and then it fades out and the album is finished.
OVERALL REVIEW: Infected Mushroom left fans scratching their heads in April of 2003 after Converting Vegetarians was released. This album was released nearly 2 years after B.P. Empire, so fans expected something major but ended up with anything but. However the time spent on this album was mostly due to it being a 2 CD package, CD1 being Trance and CD2 being Freestyle. The problem many had with the trance side of Converting Vegetarians was the songs lack of depth and the lack of driving basslines. What made up the tracks were experimental sounds which were crisp and almost plastic like. The production value was very high but it seems that the song strutures didn't connect with everyone, leaving some very disapointed. I myself wasn't as disapointed as others but I did have a void left in me after hearing Converting Vegetarians, something just wasn't rightly executed...
Now a little over a half a year later Erez Izen and Amit Duvdevani return to center stage with a new album, which fans hope is more fulfilling than their last release. Have they succeeded? Have they filled that void? From this reviewers point of view they definetly have. They have taken it a step further from Converting Vegetarians. The same experimental attitude is present, with unique sounds and ahead of their time effects to add. The all too disturbingly lacking basslines from CV have appeared in full force attacking the listener with intensity, ferocity and groove. The percussion is still top notch and professional. Their famous and trademark 303 acid lines are very present and again make you reminiscent of the glory days. The newly introduced singing vocals Infected has become fond of has returned and are executed in fine form. The biggest addition that needs to be mentioned is the amazing melodies that soar throughout the tracks and their climaxes. Think Classical Mushroom melodies BUT with a Converting Vegetarians edge to them. Now even though the melodies don't saturate the album like in Classical Mushroom they do add that ever so needed "wow" effect to make you smile and jump around your room hysterically screaming with excitement. Another thing that should be mentioned is that guitars have found their way back into Infected's music (though they never did leave in the first place) and they are executed with grace and stunning quality. This album is full of surprises left and right. Infected only faulters once throughout this album and that is with the track "Noon" which simply does not belong in this album. Their track "Cream" or "Something Else" should have replaced that track but need not worry since those 2 songs are being released on a special U.K. Edition of the "Cities Of The Future" single. IM The Supervisor may not be Infected Mushrooms best album, but it is a step and a return in the direction which they are famous for. Their never ending diversity and creativity shines like the sun and by the end of the CD you are left with a far more fulfilling feeling than Converting Vegetarians left. Infected Mushroom has once again reclaimed their thrown to the best and most unique psy-trance act on the planet. Congradulations for an album well done.
OVERALL RATING: A - |
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| Ian^ |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ste
excellent :D:D:D:D |
you just want to eat the cover ;) |
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| FederalBI |
| *clapping* Infected mushroom are so owning |
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| DiMethGuy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Ian^
you just want to eat the cover ;) |
mmmmm...taste like chicken......fesces |
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| djdust |
| awesome- I've been waiting for this one for a while |
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| aspergian |
| I haven't heard all of these tracks yet but I really like the fun track names like "Ratio Schmatio" (what's that one about?) and "Horus the Chorus". I wonder if that one will sound Egyptian or something. The cover is very literal! :) |
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| Dan1584 |
Infected Mushroom is my favorite EDM producers. I have flown all over the U.S. to see as many of their acclaimed live shows as possible, which have only been 2 (Texas and D.C.). I have heard a lot of the new material at their live shows. The tracks I have heard thus far are:
IM The Supervisor
Ratio Shmatio
J.Views - Muse Breaks (Infected Mushroom Remix)
Meduzz
Cities Of The Future
Horus The Chorus
Bombat
All of those tracks a really good. IM The Supervisor, Cities Of The Future, and Muse Breaks all have vocoded vocals. IM The Supervisor has a really awesome groove thats almost 80's/disco-y in a very Infected way. Meduzz is a MASSIVE track with an awesome gothic piano breakdown which explodes into an AMAZING guitar frenzy that BLOWS MY MIND! Horus The Chorus is a melodic masterpeice and Bombat and Ratio Shmatio are really good tracks as well.
The last bit of info I do know about the album is that the last track "Stretched" is indeed a chill-out track with beautiful and awesome guitars.
The vibe I get from the music on this album is a better version of the types of songs that were on the Converting Vegetarians Trance Side CD. They are just as experiemental and strange, but they have thicker basslines, and more melody to them.
This will be a great purchase...Infected fans and non Infected fans, get ready, here they come again :)
I'll update this thread as soon as I get more information as I go to their official website daily. |
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| wwu.punisher |
| I'm really glad that this one is coming out. I haven't heard any psytrance that rubbed me the right way in quite a while. |
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| DJ Cinos |
FINALLY it is coming... I've heard a few samples and it promises massive psy ownage. Just hope they release it in Sweden, too, in september.
I have especially high expections of Bombat. |
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