VA

Amalgama

Transition / Dark Prisma (Argentina)

Compiled by the Megalopsy boys, Amalgama is the first compilation from Argentina, and a definite sign that things there are on the up. After Prismatix’s swirly intro, Frantic Noise open up with the chunky, pleasing Blues Brothers (remix). It’s got a fairly snarly vibe to it, the bass is definitely in keeping with harsh, mushroomy nighttime music, but with a more accessible topend edge. It’s a pretty good cover of the Blues Brothers theme, with a few extra added twinks. Not bad. Prismatix’s Tallarins With Tea plods, as does Pragmatix’s Relacion De Esencias. Nothing wrong with these tracks, the sounds are fine and everything but… they just don’t have a lot of energy to them. Pragmatix is half-saved by a nice, mesmerising ending section but it’s lost its punch by the time it drops properly. Much more interesting is Cosmos Vibrations’ Genoma, which is the best newskool oldskool track yet. It’s got phasing like Infinity Project, and the balance of the sound plus the way the melodies don’t so much layer as conspire, all makes it sound very exciting, very fresh. Like finding an undiscovered gem: in fact, I would go so far as to suggest that we all submit our copies of Tip Yellow to have it re-pressed with this track included. Durbamata’s This Field is a quirky one, it has that rumblerumble bass and layers fairly odd sounds over the top – sounds a bit like you left an oldskool Talamasca out in the forest for a couple of nights with only a water canteen, spiked with LSD. Best track on the album alert: Frantic Noise vs Pragmatix’s Balada Hardtrance. It has everything you need. From the opening rumbles you know it’s going to be a belter. Deep, bubbling, with a great balance beteren hellish nighttime and melody-driven oldskool psy. The riffs are individual and effective, the sucks-you-in motion is strong, and its final run is an utterly sublime little magic carpet ride to hades (in a good way). Perfect. Up next, psyreviews’ serial 2005 favourites Megalopsy, and Megalupis is full of what I love about these fuckers. Deep, swirling stuff that almost makes you forget how frantically you’re dancing. The wedge here is more over to the manic side, and I’m sort of reminded of older dark-matter stuff; with edgy, fairytale melodies sitting uneasily over the top. Genius. Mindprobe’s Where Do They Come From has a very acidy, lysergic wobble going on. Pretty nice stuff, and incredibly clever in the way it moves around, but I can see its relentless topend getting a bit much for most pairs of ears. Finally, Prisma step forth with possibly the most worrying track on here… Goblin Twist is a wonderfully fucked-up piece of music, that I would urge every chillout DJ to play so they can get all the people who are “peaking a little bit too much” out and off the fucking beanbags and back into the mainroom where they belong. It’s like every horror film you’ve ever seen coming back to scare the shit of you. All at the same time. A nice ending to a patchy album, basically: there’s some great stuff here, and while the remainder are mostly interesting and slightly quirky tunes, it’s not an essential purchase.

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