Naked Tourist - Mad Different Methods

Wow, this might be the most difficult summary I’ve written in years. First, I believe that the general trance-Joe will fully enjoy this piece while the music-fetishists, record collectors and early Parvati/Tourist-fans might think a bit different about it. Just a theory, that’s all. There’s a few tracks here that I like and there’s even fewer tracks that I really, really hold dear. Generally speaking, this album has some fresh ideas that I find myself enjoying. I could split this album in two; one piece being the “screamy” leads group with the many, many squeeks (i.e. “Noname”) – while the other being filled with surprises, fresh ideas and some serious business that at least got me going (i.e. “Chopper” or “Fairchild”). The first group mentioned above is not poor nor bad, but I just don’t connect well to it. The second group is o la la – al dente and simply sweet. All-in-all, I believe it’s a good debut album even if I weren’t too spellbound by the vast majority of the tracks here but the piece still feels “complete” and I know that there are people out there who already do or who will really enjoy this one. Hats off for the Tourists.

Favorites: 1, 3, 8(!) and the hidden track (!!).

Naked Tourist based in Berlin, Germany has got pretty good reputation in the so called darkpsy scene lately, with tracks on several different labels such as Glowing Flame, Spontaneous Aerobics, Peak, Manic Dragon, Alkaloid, Temple Twisters and Dropout. Now they are finally out with their debut album on Danish Parvati Records.

Naked Tourist gives us here an album purely for the night. Here we get thrown into the darker side of psytrance through most of the journey. Except for a hidden track at the end here, all the tracks brings us into a very intense, rolling voyage with mostly dark, intense sounds and groovy basslines. A lot of this becomes way too intense for my homelistening, but in my ears, several of these tracks sounds slightly more powerful than a lot of other darkpsy being released these days. Some of the sounds are a bit too repetive and nagging for my taste, but I’m sure some darkpsy night trippers will enjoy some of these tracks in a night time set anyway. They have also remixed a couple of tracks here. One originally made by Double R.E.L. from Israel, and the other one originally made by someone called Limbogott. The hidden track we get at the end here, is some kind of break beat/drum n bass track, which is actually my favourite track on this album. It reminds me a little bit of the drum n bass style Eat Static has served in some of their albums.

With this album, Naked Tourist will definitely be a name we will hear often during night time hours at various festivals and parties around the globe this year. Parvati usually keeps the level a little bit above most other darkpsy labels, and it seems to me that this is no exception. If you are into darkpsy, get your hands on this one. If not, stay clear...

Dilated pupils…

Naked Tourist are German hard-trancers Martin (Z-Neo) & Björn (DJ Iguana) and I’ve been looking forward to this debut album for a long time… I really have a soft spot for their drug-crazed, acid-ridden, relentless night trance, and pretty much all compilation tracks I heard from these guys have been pure gold… Also, it’s Parvati Records releasing it which IMHO always vouches for a quality release… Nuff said, on with the music…

When was the last time Parvati Records let you down? … I didn’t think so! This is indeed a fine debut album from one of Germany’s finest night trance exports… There are no bad tracks here, and most of the tracks are real fucking sweet… So, anyone who liked the compilation tracks so far will love this album… It’s just what you’d expect + a lot more!

The glossy digipack cover art is pure eye-candy as we’ve come to expect from Parvati, and the DJ case friendly tracklist will come in handy to Case Logic diciples… All in all, this is a great, value-for-money package that I will not hesitate to give my warmest recommendations… Enjoy!

Favourites: 1, 2(!), 5(!), 6(!), 7(!) + the hidden track