Karmageddon – Mixed by Goa Gil

Various – Mixed By Goa Gil

Karmageddon

Avatar (Israel)

Goa Gil has been mixing psytrance since 3,500 BC. Or something like that. Anyway, you all know who this is: the bloke with the big dreads that are home to several species of endangered wildlife, who plays 18-hour sets without reallybeing asked to at beach parties in India and at Burning Man and that sort of stuff. A hippy of the highest order basically: as much is evident with the opening “aummm” mantra which kicks this CD off. Luckily, this is shattered not 20 seconds in with In The Shadow from The Nommos, him and his wife’s gnarly, evil production project. Hefty in the extreme, it mashes textures about wonderfully and has enough poke to poke you to pokesville and back on the number poke bus poke poke. One sketchy mix later, and it’s Battle Angel from Dominator, another evil piece of the devil’s music which should be banned outright for containing satanic messages (such as “she’s alive,” “incredible” and “hahahah”). Plenty of twists here, some very manic moments with what could be genius shifting beat patterns or could be an aborted mix halfway through. After the breakdown, it drops into extremely homicidal stuff, with screaming and… farken hell. How can Gil be on about love and peace and unity when he’s bashing this stuff out from on top of the mountain? I hope god has a sense of humour. Up next is Kamakazi from the ever-wonderful Kindzadza, more psychedelic in its natural movement and less hellish than what’s come before. This has brilliant movement and change in the middle of it, the noises crash in and out in a very loveable manner, and its overall breathy vibe does well to bring in a twisted melody across the top. Very good record. Matutero’s Pure Evil is one of the most staggering tracks in quite a while, it would in all seriousness have girls running away screaming, and quite possibly a lot of boys as well. Discord, antimelody, schitzophrenia… it’s all here and it all works nicely together. For eleven minutes. I can’t handle it all the way through. Can you? Then you’re seriously disturbed. The best mix on the CD then follows, as it shifts into BigBamBoom from Ocelot, who I’ve not heard much from in the last few years but who is evidently still batty. Great groove here, awesome production, it evolves and mutates and really kicks serious buttski here. Dylalien’s If Only I Had A Brain is another real find, from another San Francisco artist: gorgeously overblown psychedelia, it really puts the thumbscrews on and mashes them clockwise as far as they’ll go. Gil’s mix out is joyous here – he whacks the master tempo on, puts the pitch control on wide, and spins it on and on and on and on, faster and faster and right through the roof, then chops right over (are you listening, Chicago?) to Glossalalia from Quasar, which is chunky and mulchy and has a nice feel of psychedelia bubbling up from its surface. Bloody decent tune, but would have been so much better placed earlier on in the mix. Savage Scream’s Black Dawn has bonkers production, all up in the topend and without much going on down below, which is unfortunate because the way the rest of it moves is a seriously slammin bit of industrial psychedelia. Another great tune finishes it off, Freaking On The Path’s Cacao In For 6 ½ (sic) (don’t ask me, I just copy the names off the back of the CD cover). Deliriously delicious with what sounds like a mad cow in the middle, some great breaks, pushed-up BPMs and lines and riffs jostling about for pride of place. And then it’s back to hippy central for a closing prayer of some description. Okay. All in all this is a bit puzzling. Pretty much without exception, the tracks are all stormers and it’s clear that Gil has a very good ear for a tune. However this is marred by shoddy mixing, and thoroughly perplexing track selection, which make it less like a ride or a journey, and more like sifting through the psychological profiles of murder suspects. Make no mistake, it’s certainly a unique experience on offer here. Though quite whether you’re supposed to listen to this in the living room, the car, office or where is a bit baffling.