Suria Magnitude Magma (Italy)

Portuguese duo Suria have a kind of deep, cartoon-psychedelic sound that’s sort of cinematic but doesn’t really mean it. In other words, while they threaten to be hugely dark and menacing, they always stay on the positive and entertaining side of the psychedelic carnival. Make sense? Next Stop is a shuffled, textured opener with antimelodic 303’s stretching at its insides, sort of minimal but with bags of character. Astro is textured and chunky and rises like your breakfast after a particularly hard night’s drinking, and Magnitude brings in the fullpower, outdoor free party monster sound with thunderous rolling bass, top-end scratches and plenty of stop-start surprises. The final run will bring tears to your eyes, with everything in the right place until it finally boils over and leaves you hanging in mid-air. Just as well then that Rush comes along soon after and wastes no time in picking you back up, shaking the dust off your clothes and throwing you around the place like crazy. Blue Faces is a more stripped down tune that has an easygoing vibe and good texturing, and Dance Oscillator is a deep, energetic and blissful bit of classic trance: 16th bassline, chunky rhythmic stabs forming a sort-of-melody, and escalating sounds all the way home. Very good stuff. Ana&Dani sticks another lysergic needle in the same vein, this reeks of petrol and it goes of in an impressive and adorable way. Taking no prisoners, it’s straight in with a finely-crafted set of hooks that go deep, and take you right out your head by the time the final whistle blows. Finally Test Setting brings things down with a twisty, experimental groove that’s sort of like just coming off a rollercoaster – you’re not sure of your feet, and you’re still reeling from the more intense moments, but you instantly want to experience it again. Sound.

More info: www.magmarecords.it