Psykkle – Mother Monoxide
Released: June 15th, 2013
Label: CRL Studios
Has there ever been a Canadian electronic band that didn’t totally rock? The answer is no. And to prove my perfectly sound logic, I suggest you give Psykkle’s new album Mother Monoxide a listen and tell me how right I am. The band itself puts quite a trancy spin on what would be trip-hop infused EDM; but don’t let that intimidate you. Mother Monoxide is a masterfully blended power-potion of dark atmosphere, excellent electronic progression, and possibly ketamine.
Mother Monoxide (I love alliteration) prologues with the first track titled “The Colony“, a spacey, instrumental EDM song with lots of little futuristic polyrhythms and eerie synth sequences. The album does a great job of easing you in before the rougher elements are introduced. The second song, “Nanonet” loses none of the initial eeriness, but does begin to pick up some pace. A little reminiscent of Nivek Ogre style vocals, the lyrical structure proves to be the perfect and equal compliment to the rest of the music. The next few tracks maintain that same, haunting flavor until about the fifth song, “King Parasite“. The track is definitely a little rougher around the edges, the vocals are more distorted, and the beats are a little harsher. And as the album progresses, I noticed the drama develop musically; it begins relatively down tempo and builds little by little through its course. By the eighth song, the pace completely changes and begins to sound a bit more aggrotech.
I was highly anticipating track number ten as it was chosen to share the album’s name. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed. It’s not that “Mother Monoxide” isn’t a good song, I just think that ANY of the other tracks would have been a better choice to name after the album. The following tracks keep their energy high, and I especially enjoyed “In the Mind’s Blind Eye” and “Tetsuo” for their bizarre, outré charm. The final track “Obsolete Mind Machine” wonderfully wraps up the track list. Bringing everything full-circle, the energy descends back to the more trip-hop, down tempo beginnings of Mother Monoxide; but this time the hard-tuned vocals are brought into the mix.
As a whole, I’ve really got to tip my hat to Psykkle. Mother Monoxide escapes all of the clichés found in most electronic music these days and defies both uniform and predictability. I have nothing mean funny to say, and the album rocked. Thanks again, Canada!