Various - Alpha Rhythms

When I heard first Wildthings Rec.’s releases in 2005, their sound has immediately caught my attention – full speed acid-drenched psychedelia, with sharp, metallic sounds, deep bass and lots of attention to the detail. It’s not melodic in a direct, old-school fashion, but it’s still musical in the way that certain layers of sound interact with each other, creating rhythmical & melodic patterns.

They’ve set the quality level very high with their 2005 debuts: V/A - “Wild Rumpus” and EVP’s “Harmonic Module”. Could they possibly move it even higher?

V/A - “Alpha Rhythms” features ten brand new tracks. We start with two tracks (“Twisted Reality” & “Feedback Therapy”) by Reality Grid, which is a collaboration of Alex Diplock from EVP and Leon Kane from Avalon. Both tracks are very similar, based around deep bass line and slowly evolving, flanged acid lines, coupled with random squelches & burps. Unfortunately, there’s something missing in those tracks. The bass sound seems to be slightly out of tune, creating a weird, disjointed feeling. Also there is nothing really happening there – they build for 3-4 minutes, then there’s a 1 minute-long acid riff (a really good one at that, I have to admit) and a wind-down… The second of the two tracks is slightly better, with more interesting arrangement and it has its moments, but still it does not impress as much as their debut tracks on V/A - “Wild Rumpus”. I guess in this case we have some kind of negative synergy effect, because those two artists write much, much better tunes when working alone.

The next track, Avalon’s “Stars”, seems to prove my theory. It’s totally different stuff, faster and more powerful, but still with that Wildthings Rec. underground edge. There’s a rolling bass line with melancholic accents every 2 bars, some generic squelches and simple 4/4 drum loop. But then, right in the middle appears a wonderful, twisted melody, played with very fat & drill-sharp lead sound. It gets even more FX treatment at the end of the tune, where it bends, twists and turns in all possible directions. Great track, with much more emphasis on melody & arrangement than the first two. Simple, yet deadly effective!

Next one is a tune by DJ Beardy (the label manager) & Nick Howdle-Smith from Error Corrective. From what I heard so far, DJ Beardy is more into dark stuff than the rest of his crew, and it’s evident in the title track “Alpha Rhythms”. It doesn’t waste time for long introductions and immediately gets down to business. It’s dark & spooky with all sorts of ghost-like voices, strange noises and awesome spoken samples right in the middle. But what is best about it, is the acid melody (well, it’s simple riff really) that appears before the break and at the end of the tune. The sound they used for it is simply incredible – very dry & “thin”, but at the same time it feels like it could tear the paint off the walls if it was played loud enough! Kickin’ tune - the best one so far!!!

As DJ Beardy went out to take care of label’s business, the guys from Error Corrective (Nick Howdle-Smith & Dan Warburton) took the studio over and created “Drugability”. This one is slightly similar to Avalon’s track described above, in a way that it features a full-on bass line and therefore seems smoother & much faster. However, it’s not the kind of full-on we’re tortured with by Israelis nowadays. This here is a fine example of UK’s psychedelic techno – it builds for 3 minutes, adding layer after layer of squelchy madness. At 4-minutes mark, when you think it can’t possibly get anywhere further, it shifts gear up once again and does it so well, that it sends shivers down my spine every fuckin’ time! It’s not overly melodic, there’s not much acid-lines, but the way those waves of squelchy-ness evolve and interact is simply brilliant!!! Guys, bring out that album already!

Hoodwink (Kelton Jones) takes the driving wheel now and presents two new tracks: “Monomaniac” & “Prismism”. His music is a bit more minimal than other stuff here – I’d say it’s similar to GoW & Metaloids’s “Tits on fire”, in that it rarely gets melodic, more often it relies on weird noises, screechy acid-lines & alien atmosphere. But that’s not a bad thing at all! In fact, both tracks are extremely good, with a funny sample from “12 Monkeys” in the first track and lots of tiny, wicked & brain-melting noisy acid-lines going in and out of the mix, attacking you from all the directions. What I especially liked here, are the break-beat drum loops he used in both tracks – I’m a sucker for breaks in psy-trance... Essentially, Hoodwink’s music may seem a tad bit slower & more laid back than the rest, but it’s powerful nonetheless. Amazing work!

Alex Diplock is next, with two brand new tunes under his EVP alias. Those tracks are similar to what he already has shown on V/A – “Wild Rumpus” and his debut album. It also shows, that he’s the most experienced from the bunch – there’s this self-confidence in his music that makes it all sound so effortless & easy. The first track is similar to Error Corrective’s tune – it builds & builds, adding layers of sound, but here it’s all even more melodic and tortured by FX-units, with more variations of tone and texture. At points, EVP sounds like modern-day Cosmosis, with plenty of delightful acid runs, mixed over powerful drum & funky bass groove, surrounded by an array of squelchy noises. And you got to love that “I hate those fucking hippies, man!” sample. The second EVP’s track slows things down a bit – it’s more experimental than driving, focused on textures and sounds rather than groove. It has all the required ingredients, but somehow pales in comparison to the first one.

And the last, but not least is a new kid on the block – Psymmetrix with “Universal”. I couldn’t be bothered to check it, but it seems like it’s the fastest track here. At first it appears pretty simple in structure and I was a bit annoyed because of that, but it gets more & more interesting with every single passing minute. Plain acid sounds get heavily distorted, the bass line is thrown in different directions, simple 4/4 drum beat has a break-beat loop added and so forth... All this constantly evolves shifts & morphs, creating a sort of claustrophobic feeling, like you are being held against your will in some unfamiliar & hostile place. Even though the sample says “You are free”, you feel like it’s not safe to go anywhere, when all you can hear around sounds so alien & frightening. Marvelous track, mainly due to the suggestive atmosphere it creates!

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So, to sum things up I can safely say V/A - “Alpha Rhythms” met my (very high) expectations. It’s a bit more melodic than their debut compilation, but the style has not changed that much - it still sounds very British & underground, with lots of techno influences & enormous dose of energy. No cheese in sight! I’m not sure if it’s better than V/A - “Wild Rumpus” though. The tracks there were all equally good and here we got some proper belters (#3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10), mixed with couple of average tunes. But there’s one thing that has improved for sure – on their debut compilation Reality Grid’s tracks were quieter than the rest and Error Corrective’s were louder. Here, it’s all perfectly mastered and production really shines – it’s crystal clear, pumping & meaty, balanced and without unnecessary compression.

If you liked their previous releases, you should get this one immediately – it’s more of the good stuff. If you’re not familiar with Wildthings Rec.’s sound, you should get it as well, especially if you’re into dark-psy or full-on, as this one is somewhere between those two sub-genres. It might be a bit to hectic for prog-trance people, but you never know until you try…

Dance, trance & no pants!

Remember Sebastians Taylor’s experimental Somaton album Future Memories released on Phantasm Records in 1997? If you do, you prolly also remember the melodic-slash-breakbeat-filled classic goa tune Alpha Rhythms!?… I sure do! And though I can’t really back it up, I’d like to think that this new compilation from Wild Things Records is somewhat of a homage to those golden days of goa trance…

Wild Things Records is one of my fav’e new labels. Both the first compilation Wild Rumpus and the following debut album Harmonic Module by EVP stood out from the crowd positively. Hi-quality, non-conformist, unique underground neo-psychedelic trance released by dedicated trance folks living the dream… So yeah, I’ve been looking forward to this third release since it was announced… Let’s find out if it’s up to the usual high standard…

Strap on your electroencephalographic goa helmet! The radiating alpha rhythms are off the charts!

This is one hell of a compilation packed with stand-out tracks… Sure, a couple of tracks are outshined by others, but generally the quality level is VERY high here… Just take a look at my indication of fav’e tracks below for rock-solid, totally biased documentation. That’s right; this is the third consecutive Wild Things Records that’s absolutely essential! Those are some pretty damn impressive statistics, huh?

Again the cover art fits the underground theme of the music, and it fills my heart with gladness that there are still dedicated trance hippies out there living the dream and letting the rest of us mortals enjoy a slice of the good life… Fans of the previous Wild Things releases will absolutely need this, and n00bs can start, what will undoubtedly be a lengthy love-affair with this label, here.

Enough blabbering. Go exercise your credit card and get this essential, value-for-money piece of plastic… Enjoy!

Favourites: 1, 2, 4(!), 5(!), 6, 8(!), 9, 10(!)