Liquid Sound Design 'Society Of Inner Light' Compilation Review

Artist: Various

Title: Society Of Inner Light

Label: Liquid Sound Design

Released: 9^th of September

Youth started the Society For Ancient Enchantment in 1999, with the intention of combining ritual, music performance, spoken word and DJ's to be able to dive deeper into the mystery and meditation of the music.


This created some legendary events and recordings and is directly connected to this Society of Inner Light album and future events. The inspiration behind this compilation goes back to the 1930's and "Dion Fortunes Order Of Inner Light ".

Some of her rituals in Bloomsbury were said to have ushered in the 1960's flower power era ... Our intention here is to facilitate that same intention and free the spirit of those times for our present and future tribal, dance floor, chill out gatherings and facilitate and create an esoteric counter culture that communicates to mind, body and spirit.

The album begins with Tripswitch 'Collider' which begins in a tribal dub fashion before adding his  distinctive progressive touches applying plenty of reverb in places and the balance of the two styles on the whole works rather well. This is followed by the Youth re-mix of Kuba's 'By The Foot Of Your Mountain' Where classic ska, dub, spoken word samples, horns and harmonica are chopped up with the original Indian vibe to great effect.

The next track takes a more chilled out eastern dub-step approach with the Youth re-mix of Elfic Circle's 'Om Beach'. The chilled out atmosphere continues with Mixmaster Morris and his Ambient Sunrise Mix of his alter ego Irresistible Force featuring Nick Turner (of Hawkwind fame) and Youth's 'Duende' a stunningly gorgeous piece of ambience further enhanced with Nick's accompaniment on the sax.

Then we enter the dub wise riddim's with Brother Culture vs Youth in Dub 'Urban Rebel Dub' a stereotypical speaker shaker featuring the dubbed out lyrical meanderings of Brother Culture. This is followed by the Outer Space Chug Dub of the Dub Trees featuring Jah Wobble 'King Of The Fairies' and it's an aptly titled track where the tribal drums chug along with plenty of dubbed out fx with the odd vocal snippets sounding quiet different from the original piece. The album closes with the Youth re-mix of Mycal 'I Wonder What Happened In The Future' which picks up the pace somewhat and utilises those classic ska sounds again along with the catchy vocal chant.

Overall I really like this album I'd go as far to say it's probably my favourite of the L.S.D. releases over the last couple of years. It may not contain a great number of tracks but everyone's a winner for me.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

Links

https://liquidsounddesign.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/LiquidSoundDesign?fref=ts

The Dub Trees 'Celtic Vedic' Review

Artist: Dub Trees

Title: Celtic Vedic

Label: Liquid Sound Design

Released: 10^th June

The Dub Tree's are a collective of dub producers and musicians with Youth at the helm and this latest release draws on Celtic and Hindu fusions featuring a host of collaborators such as Jah Wobble (P.I.L./Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart), Matt Black (Coldcut), Micheal Wadada (Suns of Arqa) and Shridevi Keshavan (Gods Robots).

The album commences with the Distant Green Shore Dub of 'Return to the River Ganges' and LSD fans will remember the Ozora mix was featured on their compilation 'Dakini Mother Tongue' last year. This take is a lighter version with more emphasis on the bansuri flute, pipes and harp. Around halfway through the Tablas come to life and everything comes together to great effect. The Ambrosirius Dub of 'Mediolana' begins in a haunting beautiful fashion before the drums kick in admist tribal chants and sampled monologue are introduced alongside Carnatic vocals. While the Fiery Pharaoh Mix of 'Indika Keltika' is a knees up fusion of Celtic fiddle that springs off the bansuri flutes, harmonium and dub fx.

The Pagan Dub of 'Voyage of Pytheas' places the emphasis on the vocals of folk singer Lisa Knapp (imagine Delirium in Dub). The Demnoriax King of the Lower World Dub of 'King of the Fairies' is another fiddle fuelled Irish Jig this time fused with more of a bubbling dub. The album draws to a close with Aeduan Odyessy Mix of Deer Hunter which has more of a house sound than dub reggae complimenting the Celtic/Hindu thread of the release.

To summarise I think this is a bit of a marmite album as apart from the last track and the two fiddle numbers the pieces (including the ones I haven't mentioned) are very similar. That said, if it grabs you then you're not going to stray into territories that don't appeal and the standard of musicianship and production with those on board speaks for itself.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

Links

https://liquidsounddesign.bandcamp.com/

Liquid Sound Design 'Dakini Mother Tongue' Compilation Review

Artist: Various

Title: Dakini Mother Tongue

Label: Liquid Sound Design

Released: 10^th October

Liquid Sound Design was created in 1998 by Youth as a sister label to Dragonfly showcasing the more down-tempo output aimed at post-club listening. Eventually, the management of the label was taken on by Pathaan and is currently in the capable hands of Robin Triskele.

The album commences with the Ozora mix of 'Return To The River Ganges by Celtic Vedic and features a wealth of established talent from the world music scene including legendary dub bassist Jah Wobble and Youth himself. As you may of anticipated the track is a heady exotic fusion of Celtic and Indian vibes easing you in gently before dropping the dubby bass line and introducing Shri's sultry vocals (who some may recognise from previous work with TaTva Kundalini and Gods Robots with Janaka Selecta). This is followed by the Bhanda Dub of 'Amethyst Corrida' by Wadada Youth Mundy which maintains the theme with tribal drums rolling along behind melodic harp strings, flutes, sitars and an orchestral violin break which complements the piece perfectly.

The album then moves away from the eastern mood with the Irresistible Force Dub Mix of Tecktures feat. Mixmaster Morris 'Giant Robots In The Sky' which is frankly a beautiful piece of dubbed out choral ambience. The compilation then switches back to the eastern fusions with Kuba's 'By The Foot Of Your Mountain' which begins with a Ravi Shankar'esque Sitar intro slowly teasing intermittent drum hits before the laid-back dub and Indian vocal takes full effect.

With the general stance of this compilation so far it's no surprise that Youth's Navigator Dub of Suns of Arqa's 'Navigator' is plucked from the previous L.S.D. re-mix E.P. packed full of tribal chants  & flutes that provide the listener with a dubbed out chill before exploding into pounding drums with trance like sequencing sections. The mood switches once again with the Bhanda Dub of Brother Culture vs Youth on 'People Love The Music' a bass heavy dance hall riddim bringing the reggae back into the dubs.

Yet again the style reverts back to the east with Ghostliner's 'Phoenix' an exotic dub with tribal vocal stabs and percussion that's rather fitting to the compilation as a whole. The album closes with the long awaited return of the Dub Trees (Youth, Greg Hunter and Twisted Records Simon Posford) where the Youth vs Cosmic Trigger Dub of 'Future Roots' is a lovely fusion of speaker shaking reggae dub and psybient sounds.

To conclude this is a solid release and continues the quality and style fans of Liquid Sound Design have come to expect. There's a heavy eastern element to the album which made me wonder why they didn't stick with that format throughout the whole release. However, I can answer my own question as the tracks that didn't fit that pigeon hole are too good to leave out.

Reviewed by Woodzee.

**For the chance of winning a Bandcamp redeem code for this release tune into the Chill Out Sessions on Boxfrequency.fm at 20:00 G.M.T. on Sunday the 25^th of October and keep your eyes peeled on the facebook event page https://www.facebook.com/events/1494797440820745/ **

Links

https://www.facebook.com/LiquidSoundDesign

https://liquidsounddesign.bandcamp.com/

http://www.triskelemanagement.com/