Phi - Phinalizer FLAC

Welcome Japan! Damn, 2004 was a good year for full-on psychedelic trance and I'm only now beginning to discover some of the amazing full-on albums that was released this year (sticking to progressive as I was at the time)!! But who cares? With classy material as this, you're guaranteed a ride, as good now, as it was back then, and as it'll be in .. oh well, 2040! Yeah, it's that damn good.

The problem I often have with full-on releases is that they rarely deliver what they promise. They set out to blow you away, but then chicken out, down the tempo or just plainly loose it because of a lack of ideas. Or they incorporate some cheesy sing-along chorus, that might work the crowd but completely turns off whatever curiosity I have in a track. Few have the balls and the talent to keep the pace up without the music becoming boring and without refuging to a handy modulation encore or a clubby melody. Phi has the balls and the talent. This is AWESOME full-on psychedelia and I know this because it manages to do what full-on psytrance may only accomplish when perfected: tumble you over like a classical Goa track simply by the sheer force of the musical bombardement that is blown in your face.

Thank God I still stumble over full-on releases such as this to restore my faith in contemporary psychedelic music! And happy to see it coming in on my 2004 top 10 as a strong candidate for runner-up album of the year in a tight battle with Quadra's Serotonia, both clocking in just shy of Rinkadink's Rabbit.

How very sad that earlier this year one half of Phi, Shinnosuke Masuo, should end his life so untimely in a tragic accident. But if nothing else this album is a worthy testament of a gifted musician. Highly recommended.

Previous comment says it all. Really top notch production, really musical, and big fat basslines to top it off. Highly effective intense no-compromise stuff. Comes in a really beautiful, if a bit awkward, CD case. I had never heard of this artist (these artists actually, according to the still-beautiful-but-still-weird CD case) previous to hearing this album, but will definitely keep an eye out for them (and also the nicely-named label) in the future. Hard to pick a favorite track, it's all pretty enjoyable, but I have to mention track 1, 2, 4 and 9 as pretty minboggingly good. Also an honorable mention to track 5 "Plz Pass Me Beer & Acid" for the original if a bit daring name.

I give it a note of 11 freaking out dancing goblin robots (out of a maximum of 10.) Highly recommended!

Japanese tweakers…

Phi consists of Shuji Ichimura and Shinnosuke Masuo, both born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. Formed in 2002, they’ve gained massive support in their home-country for their out-standing live performances that are actually as “live” as you can get when we’re talking electronic music. They are touring Europe at the moment, and with this, their debut album these crazy Japanese trancers are sure to turn some heads and gain some fans…

Let me take you thru the tracks…

#01: [142 BPM] An ultra-short intro is soon interrupted by a banging bass, floating analogue synths and good old, pure acid-squelch-a-rama… Very clever use of digital percussion and high pitched melodies… This reminds me of older Infected Mushroom – Very nice! But why is it so short? Should have been much longer… ;o)

#02: [147 BPM] This is the second-fastest track on the album, and that does not go unnoticed… It’s full-power-no-questions-asked from the get-go, and then it just blast its way through your speakers… Full-on goa-trance with a deep, repetitive bassline… The super-fly, versatile, twirling acid-melodies will take you on a musical journey back to 1996 when the TR-303 ruled the scene… Check out the oscillating build-up and climax… Very trippy!

#03: [144 BPM] This starts with some very spacey pitched-up voice samples – and then the mood is set for Japanese psychedelia! Again we are treated to good old analogue basslines with the added flavour of electronic farts, twisted synth melodies and pure acid-lines… Very well structured and there are more layers than you can even begin to count…

#04: [146 BPM] Is that a Tokyo Shock Boys sample in the beginning? And what is Ganja of it All supposed to mean? I’m clueless, but what I can tell you, is that this is still full-on psy-trance but with a darker, more introvert nature… Though there are sweet little acid melodies, they somehow drown in the massive wall of bass and percussion… Well, that is true for the first half of the track at least… Funny Wizard-Demo-like sample btw… ;o)

#05: [141 BPM] “Pass me the beer & acid”… Yes, now I can relate… The acid-squelches have found their way to the top of the sound spectre again on this track... Welcome back! This full-on track has a few changes of pace – at one point it gets almost minimal, but only for a short while and always maintaining focus… The small build-up/climax part that starts @ 4’55 is just pure nostalgic brain food for an old-school dreamer as me… Not bad at all…

#06: [146 BPM] The title track is another fast-paced, hectic track… This time with a more moody, dark atmosphere… Clever use of laughing samples and great synthesizer action… There are a lot of ‘silent’ parts here – and some crazy breaks… I have a feeling the madness is only just beginning…

#07: [138 BPM] Despite the ‘low’ BPM-range on this track, it is a brutal assault on your eardrums… The bass is banging, and the guys are tweaking their knobs like crazy leaving us with a sick, sick tune… And that was meant as a superlative… I mean, that melody is just so damn hypnotizing… Japan meets Finland… Sushi-Sauna trance… *sS*

#08: [145 BPM] Not much is worse than a bad afro – we all know that! Yikes, it gets even darker now as we sound-wise move from Finland across the border into Russia… ‘Cause this is Sushi-Vodka-trance… With all the elements we know from the darker side of the Russian trance scene… The melodies and joyfulness are replaced by darker, more distorted beats… With just a sip of the usual Japanese psychedelia… Great, driving night time track!

#09: [148 BPM] Nice organic intro… After a few secs we launch straight into the fastest track on the album… After a few minutes of hard-hitting night-trance the guys really start spitting out all kinds of trippy FX… A sick, sick melody – some crazy drums – another sick melody – etc… There is SO much stuff going on here, but somehow it manages to stay focused… The absolute highlight is the climax @ 5’07 – I mean, DAMN!! … Pure full-on acid bliss… Well done guys! ;o)

#10: [136 BPM] As legend prescribes it, it’s chill time on the last track… But in Japan chilling is done at 136 bpms… This IS a slower track – with lighter, fluffier melodies… The pillar is some kind of synth-guitar-sound and there is a soothing dubby bassline holding it all together…

This album really surprised me in a positive way… I mean, the production seems flawless to me, the layers are countless and the Japanese creativity unfolds beautifully…At parts it’s a trip down memory lane – with modern production techniques… Not bad at all for a debut album… I could have wished for some of the tracks to be longer though – and at some of the tracks have parts that are not instantly head-bang friendly. But overall I like the variation here – it’s good!

Before receiving this CD, I had absolutely no knowledge of Phi, but I will for sure keep an ear out for them in the future – and I encourage anyone who likes old-school-experimental-crazy-highly-psychedelic trance to do the same…

8.5/10

Favourites: 1(!!), 2(!!!), 3, 5, 8(!), 9(!!)