Dynamo - The Acid Daze

Dynamo is the collaborative project of two big names in full-on psychedelic trance: Dynamic and Eskimo. Dynamic is one of Israel’s many formula-driven artists, and I can’t say I’ve ever flagged any of his released work as worth a second listen. Eskimo is another story entirely; as the son of John Phantasm, he was raised into psychedelic trance culture and began producing at an uncommonly young age. Together they have put together a whole album full of tunes for Phantasm Records which went largely unnoticed in online reviews. The market is simply saturated with this stuff, so it’s no real surprise. I ended up snagging it as a freebie on an order at Saikosounds long ago, and decided to write the review to sort out if there was anything worth saving from the batch. At 74 minutes in length, I figure there’s got to be some dope-ass tracks in here somewhere.

I’d have to disqualify the opening track Here They Come for the use of Anne Clark’s “Castles in the Sky” speech. It didn’t work for Black & White, and it doesn’t work here. Additional insult is caused by some stupid sample about stereo tuning in another break later on. It’s not looking good, but don’t despair!

In the Igloo works well precisely because the producers really let their love for the old school sound shine through. Highly synthetic drum patterns churn up substantial energy to begin with, and the leads grow to reach intense sparkling peaks, further compounding the exciting rush that this track may provoke. The arrangement is solid, there are no samples to be heard, and overall it feels as if Dynamo hit the jackpot with this one. It is easily the best track of the album.

Wildstyle starts setting off my bad sample usage warning signals fairly early. It sounds like every other Eskimo tune, with the same belligerant bass lines and sharp leads. There’s a rather cool lead thrown in there for a while, sounding somewhat like the “speaking synths” of Hallucinogen and early Double Dragon, but it seems tacked on. The arrangement is sort of all over the place, going through the motions without delivering a very cohesive tale. Mediocre.

Dyn-E-Motion is an incredibly intense full-on track full of aggressive sequences and hyperkinetic hooks. While it can get very busy at times, the artists break the tension now and then, boosting the power of the far more active segments. There is no shortage of sudden drops and filter tricks on incoming beats, so anyone who isn’t into that is going to be mighty pissed. The sample isn’t bad for once: “I think for almost human being, the picture of another Earth orbiting another star would be like looking in the mirror, but not the mirror you see in the morning…” The return from the breakdown that follows is full of more trickery, surging forth with ecstatic energy in back-to-back build-ups. It really could have used a huge new melody to top it all off, but I still think this works fairly well for high energy trance.

Into the Magic is much more typical of the duo, dabbling around with straight epic leads and some disagreeable sample usage. It seems to lack some of the liveliness of a few of these other tunes, and it doesn’t seem worthwhile to write much more beyond that. The same goes for Maniac Saiko, which is another unremarkable exhibition of the usual formula.

Spun Dry hypes it up with a 150 BPM blaster, returning to the old school influenced leads which worked so well on the second track. They aren’t quite as effective at this speed, or perhaps it’s just way too frantic to really make an impact. In any case, the song is too short and undeveloped for it to make much of a difference.

The title track The Acid Daze is a mash-up of classics; the artists are clearly paying tribute to some of psychedelic trance’s biggest crowd pleasers. Themes and sequences from Astral Projection’s People Can Fly, Man With No Name’s Teleport, 1200 Mics’ Ayahuasca, Infected Mushroom’s Roll Us a Giant, Transwave’s Land of Freedom, The Overlords’ God’s Eye on Goa, and Deedrah’s Reload, are put to good use. In addition, they coyly make use of two of their own bigger tunes: Eskimo’s Party Pooper as well as Dynamix from Dynamic. Does it work? I’m not convinced, but it could go well at a party. It does seem a bit schizophrenic at times, but that’s part of the fun of it. Somehow the producers manage to hold all these different themes together and make it sound like a somewhat cohesive journey through the history of trance. As a DJ tool it is sure to spice up some full-on sets with a blast from the past, but surly fans are just as likely to declare a cheap rip-off as dance their asses off. It’s bold and unprecedented, that’s for sure. There’s nothing else quite like it!

Say That You Love Me is the rather cheesy finale, and it’s another popcorn tune in a hurry to get somewhere. There’s more of an emotional approach exhibited on this one, but with daft samples like “this is how it feels to fuck on cocaine” it requires a tremendous show of effort to stay with the storyline. Though it may sound hollow, at least it takes sweet time leading out into the silence that follows.

Predictably enough, The Acid Daze is not a very good release. A few of these tracks really kick it, but most of them are too indistinct, bogged down by questionable sample usage, or otherwise unsatisfying. Though it may be obvious that these producers (mostly Eskimo, I suspect) have considerable talents for throwing together high-tech sounds, there is definatly something lacking in terms of overall musicianship. Overall it sounds very rushed, despite the slick polish that is sometimes in evidence. Some people are really into this superficial plastic sound, but it takes a rare song to really appeal to me. In the Igloo manages to come across as a great piece of trance, and the title track is certainly noteworthy. Dyn-E-Motion is okay for filler, but the rest I wouldn’t bother with. It’s not a release I’d recommend to anyone, but some full-on DJs could make use of it for sure.

Purchase Options

Saikosounds // Physical mail order shop based in Hong Kong.
Wirikuta // Physical mail order shop based in Austria.

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