1200 Mics Heroes of the Imagination Tip.World (UK)

1200mics’ last album was undoubtedly one of the talking points of 2002. You either loved it, or you hated it.... though, from the countless conversations psyreviews has had with people who appear to remember a certain psyreviews incident, it seems that most of you bought it anyway. And so... is the new album better than the last? In several words: yes it fucking is; but wait. For a start, there’s nothing about drugs here, save Acid For Nothing (more of which later). Shaking what some saw as a childish subject matter is a no-brainer in terms of music evolution... and happily, 1200 mics’ very sound has matured as well. In much the same way as Wizzy Noise’s sound matured and mellowed into the outstanding Electro Theater, Heroes of the Imagination is deeper than last year’s offering. There’s more thought evident in the music layering, there’s more surprises, there’s more intricacy in the melodies and there’s more depth. If the first album was Star Wars (blasters, more blasters, get off with the princess, then blow up the death star), then this is The Empire Strikes Back – more sinister perhaps, icier, more to question, more to become involved with. The subject matter is a welcome step forward; Raja evidently knows his stuff, as this concept – eight thinkers and inventors who have changed the way we live – betrays an intellectual maturity glossed over by lets-all-take-some-mescaline-isms and dropping mr mackie samples at every given opportunity. Leonardo and Galileo are cute, deep fullon grooves, and the tempo raises with Faraday and Einstein’s tunes, the latter an especially fluffy, knees in the air bit of outdoor madness. Key talking point is the Hoffman tune – Acid For Nothing. If you were at Samothraki you know this as “that rinsing fing tune with the dire straits sample”. Oh and how we went mental... and went mental again... bobbed about till it was replayed, then we went mental again... and if you’ve not heard it since then, woah I’m jealous – we’re talking full energy, we’re talking full volume... Yes, we are effectively talking a sample from your dad’s cd collection over a shamelessly large GMShuffle, but isn’t that part of the fun? Looking around and seeing all these gorgeous trance people going ballistic... to... Mark Knopfler??? Anyway – to some this is a cheesy abhorrence, to others it’s the finest piece of party trance ever commited to binary. Maybe being on that greek island is the difference between the two stables, but whatever... my money’s on this, and you can have that for nothing. Hah. DNA and WWW are the two closing tunes, and probably the most intelligent of the lot – yeah, it’s still arms-everywhere stuff but these two kick a particularly deep bit of backside. I suppose, the key question with Heroes of the Imagination is: what are you expecting? If you want the trance mould reformed and lots of hallucinogenic jellies subsequently made, then perhaps look elsewhere. If however you want a chunky, succulent bit of fullon that captures the heady 2003 outdoor vibe, retaining something of that classic TIP sound, then check it out. One thing’s for certain: psyreviews fing loves this to bits.