Shift - Byte Me

Byte Me is the third album from Shift (Chris Hoy), one of the leading names in South African psytrance, a style notorious for incredibly powerful beats, killer melodies, and an extremely fat sound. Shift’s previous album Excession matches that description but this one is a little different. Byte Me is fairly experimental and diverse; Shift explores a variety of approaches while remaining true to his sound.

The album opens in uncharacteristic fashion with a breakbeat remix of Dubmention, previously released on Doppler FX. It is a refreshing change of pace to hear broken beats blended with elements of psytrance but the prominent use of vocals really spoils the track.

The Rift is initially much more stripped-down than the usual South African psytrance tune. It develops toward full power as the track proceeds, unleashing a vicious assortment of snarling melodies and deadly bass line hooks. Solid work, but this is only the beginning.

Dune II is a remix (or update) of a killer song released on Utopia 2 in 2005. This version lacks the theatrical introduction of the original but the rest of the track is much fatter. The beats are smashing, the atmosphere is psychedelic, and the melodic riffs are simply massive. I prefer the original version of Dune for its prominent use of the film score, but this one is good as well.

Pagan Sunrise opens with an arresting atmospheric theme before getting down to the business of building a killer full-on groove. Scattered synthetic flourishes infuse the early moments with an eerie sense of foreboding. The mood is transformed with the return of the mystic morning atmospheres in the central break; from here to the very end, Pagan Sunrise is absolute enthralling. Wow!

Sin In Motion proves to be menacing, twisted, and threatening. The mood is set with spooky atmospheres that shimmer and slide between the pounding synthetic beat. Grinding leads rip into the air with perfect timing. The arrangement is, as usual, absolutely ideal for a good stomp.

Slide wastes absolutely no time in propping up a strangely cockeyed lead, immediately imposing a sense of delirium on the proceedings. Indeed, this is a fairly unbalanced piece of work, lurching from beat to beat with a drunken swagger.

Shift’s remix of Real Men Don’t Dance (originally by DMMT) marks the energetic peak of the album. The cheeky samples from the original aren’t so bad; Shift alters the hell out of them, distorting them into an unintelligible digital haze. There is no time to be troubled in any case, as this track is in constant flux. Cosmic melodies spar with wailing leads that rip into the stratosphere, tribal chants and a hint of drums provides an irresistible rhythmic hook, and the massive bass line runs through all manner of complex configurations. Bloody wicked!

The title track Byte Me shows yet another facet of Shift’s production abilities. This time around the approach is uplifting, lightening the mood toward euphoria—almost sounding positively Israeli at times. In contrast to the hectic segments at front and tail, the body of the song is deeply contemplative, ushered in by an atmospheric break that features a great sample: “on the cusp of the new millennium an eerie anxiety permeates our culture regarding the possibility of extra-terrestrial life.” The sum total of these parts is another blinding dance floor thriller.

The remainder of the album is given over to a pair of short experimental tunes that sound more like Artifakt than Shift at times. Ear Dis features a slow and funky voodoo groove and an assortment of Rasta samples. Komatose is a seductive slice of distorted breakbeats and menacing metallic melodies faintly reminiscent of Xerox & Illumination’s Funkenstein. Both efforts are interesting at the very least, if only for their novelty value.

Byte Me is a daring album that pushes the envelope of South African psytrance. Shift made a serious attempt to try out some new ideas with this release. Some of it works and some of it does not. As a result, reception of this album has been very mixed. Longtime fans of the South African style might find it too cheesy, but I find myself enjoying most of it—particularly Pagan Sunrise, Byte Me, and Real Men Don’t Dance. Whether this will age well is another matter—I suspect time will only serve to highlight the disparity between the successful experiments and those that miss the mark. Still, it is certainly worth checking out, especially if you enjoy the South African style and would like to hear something a bit different from the norm.

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