Reefer Madness

Further evidence of psytrance’s current shift is to be found in Reefer Madness, nine new-sound showcase numbers compiled by Lucas. Initially, this’ll take a little while to get your head around (it did mine) – a progressivey album? On tip? Good lord. Delve deeper, however, let it sit and it’s a remarkable collection. Dickster’s Dizzy Drops moves from a smooth, indoor sound to a smooth and dreamy pattern that’s every bit as two-drops as its name and sample suggest, and Bamboo Forest’s Parallel sees their sound making perhaps more sense than it ever has, nestled in the context of the prog/fullon crossover. Orion’s Activity is a cleaner cut on his usual sound that still delivers the goods, and Sybarite’s Mint Condition keeps things flowing nicely. Pixel vs Wrecked Machines’ Help The Situation is an adorable bassline with plenty of chuggychunks, pokeypokes and daftydinkums to keep pixiepeople hippyhappy. Lucas teams up with Aphid Moon on OK People, a peak hour darktime stomp that brings back summer memories of wondering what the hell your friends/car/lighter/brain as it pumps out from soundsystem to treeline. TCD’s We Can Still Make It Change throws noises around and creates a wicked wiggly space in between to shake your fluoro booty, and the piledrive comes courtesy of E-Jekt’s Afrikan, that just picks y’up and grabs ya. Hazy Mazy Cave isn’t one of Logic Bomb’s best, but it ends the album in a distinctive style and respect to all concerned for its inclusion, we prefer an oddbeat, quirky number to a downtempo half baked dub opus anyday. All of which means then, that Reefer Madness is one of a cluster of albums that are dragging this music every which way at the moment…. setting the standard for 2004.

4/5