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Artist: Various
Title: Electric Kool-Aid
Label: Kavator Records
Catalog numb: KAVCD01
01. PeLinPaLa - Dance like a tree (Fin)
02. Rastaliens - Sativasaurus (Ger)
03. Paranoic sensations - Vinylling (Rus)
04. Logic bomb - Rotation generation (Swe)
05. TransLucid - Metabolic (Uk)
06. KaSol - Tracy snakecharmer (Swe)
07. HuxFlux - Degauss (Swe)
08. Weirdo beardo - Mentallica (Swe)
09. Twin freaks - Gizmos turned on (Swe)
This is Swedish Kavator Records first compilation. It's a collection of
tunes played by Richard Ahlberg (Kavators owner) at parties around the globe.
If you've heard him spin chances are that these are some of the tunes
that made you go nuts.
The name of the compilation is taken from Tom Wolfes book "Electric Kool-Aid
Acid Test" about Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters.
When Finish people speak I don't understand a thing as their language is
very weird, their music is even weirder! :)
PaLinPaLas "Dance Like A Tree" has a slow but steady groove and lots of
liquid synth sounds that literally flows out of the speakers. One among many
cool things in this tune is the use of a voocooder for some "hidden"
messages! I imagine the effect of it in a deep forest would be very mind
bending! Warped forest music, very good!
"Sativasaurus" is one heavy stomper, maybe even too heavy! The kick could
have been a bit lighter. Fortunate enough there's more than just a fat kick
in this tune; growling synths, liquid sounds, outdoor samples,
liquid-mumbling-phaser "melodies". Oh, and the sound at 2:42, yummy!!
Once again it's forest music, and it's good!
Paranoic Sensations, never heard of them? Well, you've probably heard their
tunes at parties played by the DAT-mafia and seen them on various top tens.
Kavators "Electric Kool-Aid" and TIP Worlds "Divi:nations" are the first
labels given permission to release their music.
Probably one of the most sample heavy tunes I've heard in a very long time,
and the result is good! Crashes, voices, noises all over the place!
The "reversed" pad (or what to call it) in the tune is, um, a bit too much
in my opinion, but by the end of the tune a good old melody enters to ease
things up a bit, I imagine the effect would be stunning on any dancefloor. I
wish they had brought in the melody earlier though and with a bit higher
volume. Any way, it's a good track and with lots of creativity! Oh, and all
this is backed up by the standardised 16 note baseline.
I'm really looking forward to hear their tune on "Divi:nations"!
Logic Bomb is Hux Flux minus Dennis Tapper, but this tune does in no way
remind me of the new Hux Flux sound. This is actually a full on melodic
night stomper with some fitting weird noises and a booming baseline.
This is such a goood track! Should send just about any dancefloor into a
frenzy!
TransLucids "Metabolic" has the most horrible baseline I've heard in ages!
Fortunate enough sound after sound is added on top and soon your attention
focuses on the various strange "melodies" and sounds in it. The melodies
seem to be some strange flangered thing. Once it gets going there's some
really warped moments in it! Intense and weird!
KaSol might be unfamiliar to those of you not living in Scandinavia, they've
had a previous release on a compilation called "A State of Mind 2" released
by Sweden's most well known techno/trance-club Docklands. Their tune "Earth"
was a storming night track, and one of the strongest tunes on that
compilation. And now, finally, they're back, and it's a new stomper!
X-Dream fans will absolutely love their baseline, that's for sure!
The cool thing about KaSol is that they make weird music (almost evil at
times) with melodies, and they make it sound really good! Besides the
melodies there's some really, really cool robotic sounds and strange tweaked
sounds that almost sound like mumbling voices at times, very surreal!
Hux Flux' "Degauss" must be an old one, it's only Dennis Tapper this time,
and the sound is reminiscent of the Hux Flux tunes pre "Cryptic Crunch",
meaning more melodies and lots of slides on the melodies.
There's some voice samples from Terence McKenna talking about psychedelic
experiences and some vibrato on top of the samples.
I really like this melodic side of Hux Flux and I wish there could have been
more tunes like this one, "Perceptor", "Time Slices" and "Re-Flux".
Just as good as any Hux Flux tune, and with some good melodies and lot's of
weird sounds fitting for the darker hours, I wish the volume would have been
a bit higher though!
Ulf Gustavsson (Twin Freaks, Little Blue Men, Von Aum) this time teamed up
with Richard Ahlberg as Weirdo Beardo delivers one piece of a bent track
called "Mentallica".
There's some really fun and weird things in this track, and as you've
probably already figured out because of the track title, it has something to
do with guitars, but I won't spoil the fun for you, just be sure to play it
loud for maximum effect! ;)
Twin Freaks "Gizmos Turned On" is the last tune on the compilation, and as
such down tempo. There's lots of samples from "Independence Day" in this
one, and they work very good with the sounds of the Twin Freaks. Lots of LFO
modulation, deep base, good percussion to get lost in and of course just as
many weird noises as you could ask for!
Definitely one of my absolute favourites! A compilation with this style of
weird down tempo grooves would be very interesting!
To sum it up, this is forest and night music, and as such, weird music to
lose yourself in! The sound of it all is very psychedelic, things popping
up now and then, twist and turns, lots of samples, even some powerful
melodies at times and a good laugh now and then!
This is a good first compilation, with some really strong tracks. The only
track I dislike is TransLucids "Metabolic" although it has its moments. The
rest is good (Rastaliens, Paranoic sensations, Weirdo Beardo) or very good
(PeLinPala, Logic Bomb, KaSol, Hux Flux, Twin Freaks).
Erik Svedman
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