Psy Stories II

Parvati are an institution, and I don’t just mean that in the sense of a mental institution.

Time after time they’ve come up with seriously good, seriously kicking psychedelic music that delights on pretty much any level you care to throw at it. Psy Stories II picks up acts from Sweden, Japan, Macedonia, France, Russia as well as the label’s native Denmark, into one hell of a package that, yet again, is one step in front of the direct competition.

Psilo Cowboys kick off with Sneaky Vibes, starting with the parent-bothering sample “we’ve been injected with an opiate overdose.” It’s pacey, fragmented stuff that bolts along at 149bpm, freckled with those liquid-y nosies that Parvati have made their own. Derango has evidently still got it going on after last year’s album, Oscilla being a frenetic and tight bit of doofage that doesn’t lose its focus for a nanosecond. Towards the end the kick becomes so shattering, you’re not sure you can take it any more; then, just in time, the bassline and the whole groove change into a more harmonious, comfortable pattern – though of course, it upsets you again before the track finishes. Yum.

Hokus Pokus’ Rock On is 200% freestyle, colourful stuff; plenty of ideas and images float in and out of the music while it keeps its deliciously simple footing on terra psychedelia. Red Eye Jedi returns with RP5, a track I wouldn’t let look after my houseplants, let alone my kids. Positively dripping with lysergic ‘wisdom’, it’s also the track that rambles on and on to you at a party, banging on about David Icke and Consciousness before asking if you’ve got a spare beer, which you give him just to shut him up and then you realise that he’s well aware you did this just to shut him up, and he looks at you as if to say “I’ll be back for you, and possibly your girlfriend as well, if I can remember where I put my hacksaw.”

Encephalopaticys’ Intellectual Homons is a more sophisticated track: the approach here is thoughtful, easing up on the gas and letting the music breathe and speak for itself. The sounds that pan around the stereomix are astonishing in places – this begs to be played out on a bit system. And then there is Galaxy Madness, a new name to me from Japan, and whose Parvati Cream is possibly one of the most queasy listening experiences I can recall. It shifts, it wobbles, it dissociates and then it dissociates some more. I couldn’t listen to it every morning for the rest of my life, but it’s a dazzlingly accomplished bit of psychedelia – which, after all, is what all this is supposed to be about.

Atriohm’s No Name Channels nudges back toward normality and recognisable psytrance standards. It’s also bloody lovely. Colourful sounds fleck and flock over a mulchy, I-mean-business backbone, and it makes you feel happy that you’re losing your mind. Kindzadza & Kaliflower’s Viva Tempo is like urban 2-step through a Parvati blender: the beats are so thunkily relentless, the groove so incredibly staccato, so deeply psychedelic – it’s nice to have Kindzadza back on form. Finally, Tsabeat from Israel does well with Magletcha, a distinctive array of mess, twist, and craziness that should by all rights carry an eighteen certificate.

So it’s more of the same madness from Parvati. I for one am glad that in this world of Skazi and Protoculture and Nano and progressive crossover, there’s still a place for Parvati – and there always will be. Sniff.