Review by Damion Psyreviews
http://www.psyreviews.comMantrix
Universal
SUB (Australia)
Mantrix are a double-act from Melbourne, Australia who made their name through their live set, fusing organic and electronic sounds into a sound that’s more or less Australia’s best-kept musical secret. There’s a couple of bloody amazing things about this album. First, the production quality; secondly the ballsy oldskool energy running through it; and thirdly, samples that really *should* sound shit and clichéd actually work very well indeed. The opening track Levels kicks off with a bread-n-butter bassline before it takes off. There’s a fat, adorable midrange riff that keeps you hooked. There’s cut up high-end vocals swirling in the background that’ll have you thinking, all misty-eyed, about high-moments in trance’s history. Free Your Soul sounds so clear it’s like the music’s happening inside of your own head. Again we’re being dragged into the music by the midrange, and the smattering of new age-y vocals and samples is a goan delight – trust me, it doesn’t get cheesy. The central run to this track is staggering – the sounds layer and get excited all by themselves, the percussion gets tighter and more frantic, and the overall effect is extremely psychedelic. By which I mean extremely. And by which I also mean psychedelic. Armageddon features live guitar, all whipped up into a veritable frenzy. The live sound moulds well into the electronic and while it gets a tad too heavy for my whiteboy ears, the energy is unmistakeable. Psycarumba has no less than five guest musicians, performing brazilian percussion and vocals. The effect here is like dropping acid at Womad and hearing quality goa ringing in your ears all weekend: I don’t think I can name a psy track that’s got a stronger live-band-feel to it. Gaia takes a shift to the deeper, edgier side of things and the sound here reminds me a little of something Cosmosis might come up with when he’s in a bad mood. Universal Reflections is an utter cracker – the sound is simply vast, spreading right out in front of you. A vocoder gives it a sort of unnerving depth that’s balanced by the earthy percussion going on below. It’s the kind of track that won’t so much as make a dancefloor ignite: it’ll make a dancefloor spontaneously combust. The low-set midrange drives it along, keeping everything grounded before escalating it upwards and upwards. Alpha Beater, however, is the utter ripper here. A barking 303, an incredibly psychedelic set of bleeps and whistles, all underpinned by a driving bassline. And, seriously, it’s as good as The Infinity Project, as good as Cosmosis, as good as Doof, and it even has a movement and passion that should get the Posford-devotees glazing over like Easter buns. Rebirth is another belter – it has a deep, fin-de-ciecle feel about it with a whirlwind of dreamtime percussion, subtly-crafted electronic tickles and more energy than a gazillion duracells. Finally, the two parts of Spontaneous Existence give a thundering close to the album. Starting out chilled (and bloody good chill it is too), it goes through 4/4, breaks, before picking up the lysergic quotient nicely. All in all Universal is a f*ing amazing artist album. Psyreviews often bangs on about artist albums lacking direction, flow, or ideas – all three are in bountiful abundance here. There are some dazzling moments, some real blasts of emotional power, and some ideas and production that border genius. I simply can’t bang on about it enough: utterly brilliant.
9
Europe release date is mid-May -- soon!
Check the samples at
http://arabesque.co.uk//index.php?option=com_artistavenue&task=singleCd&id=147&Itemid=1 
