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Younger Brother "A Flock Of Bleeps"
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Finally the long awaited Younger Brother album is out! Younger Brother is a collaboration between two of the most talented artists out there, Simon Posford (aka Shpongle and Hallucinogen) and Benji Vaughan (aka Prometheus and Process). We haven`t got many tracks from Younger Brother earlier, except for the famous Evil & Harm track, first released on the Demented compilation on Twisted in 2000 and several other compilations after that. In 2001 we got a Younger Brother track (The Receptive) on the Backroom Beats 1 compilation on Twisted and last year we suddenly got two great Younger Brother trance tracks on the Unusual Suspects compilation on Twisted (The Finger and Dwarves). Now is the full length album finally here, full of goodies as usual when these guys are involved.
Younger Brother “A Flock Of Bleeps” Twisted Records 2003 (TWSCD24)
1. Weird On A Monday Night
2. The Receptive
3. Evil & Harm
4. Crumblenaut
5. Scanner
6. Even Dwarves Start Small
7. Magic Monkey Juice
8. The Finger
9. Safety Zone
10. Bedtime Story
After seeing their fantastic live performance at Samothraki Dance Festival 2002, when they started the whole festival, I have had big expectations for this album. First out is a track I have never heard before. It starts mystical, with slightly scary sounds and weird beautiful voices. The voices becomes a bit like the Shpongle voice. Weird, beautiful and twisted. Then we get a beautiful guitar alike melody, which they twist into a really Shpongle like melody. Exactly when we needed it, a nice groovy dub rhythm comes in. Wonderful floating melodies and flute comes in, and it just sounds fantastic! The track varies all the way through, with floating relaxing parts, funky jazzy parts and just beautiful sounds coming in and out all the way, funny voice samples and wonderful melodies. Great track from beginning to end! With this one they prove again that they are the masters of sound.
Track 2 is the beautiful track called The Receptive, first released on Backroom Beats 1 on Twisted in 2001 (TWSCD12). Here you get a slightly little difference from the Backroom Beats version, since that one was a Jacuzzi Mix. I can`t find much differences between the two versions. In this track, the vocals are the main ingredient. Simon Posfords girlfriend Michelle Adamson is singing with here beautiful voice, while Simon and Benji works out some great sounds and guitar. She is singing in a few Shpongle tracks too, and has a real talented for singing. Track 3 is the most famous Younger Brother track, Evil & Harm. This is released on so many compilations already, that I was a bit surprised to see it on this album. But it`s a beautiful track, and it fits really well into the album. Deep and heavy dub rhythms which leads into some kind of relaxing country guitar melody. After a few minutes you get this unbelievable beautiful crystal clear guitar (or is it harp?) alike melody. You also get some of those cool Shpongle voices. A classic.
Track 4 is a track I have only heard one time before, in their live set at Samothraki 2002. It starts with those heavy dub rhythms before a beautiful voice floats into the track. This is Michelle again, with her great voice. The sound masters have twisted it around pretty much too, so you get that mystical Shpongle feeling again. You get some breaks, a weird techno voice, and suddenly you get this unbelievably beautiful melody, the heavy dub rhythms comes in and Michelle sings out again. I`m really impressed, and it gives me really nostalgic memories back to their opening at Samothraki. Track 5 starts off with some kind of latino melody or something. Then the light rhythms goes over to really heavy trance rhythms, working hard but pretty slow. If you are after some new Hallucinogen alike music, this one is for you. And it`s just great. It builds up from that weird latino vibe, into more and more overwhelming melodies. Really trippy music that will for sure make people float into dance. You get some nice twisted vocals in this one too. Another great memory from their live show.
Track 6 is probably known for many people already, from the Unusual Suspects compilation. Here it is called Even Dwarves Start Small, but on the Unusual Suspects compilation it is just called Dwarves. It starts off with the psytraveller telling us that he has bin in jail several times and that he doesn`t like to work too often unless it`s for something groovy. Pretty cool voice samples. The rest of the track is even better. With the nice heavy Hallucinogenic rhythms and a build up with beautiful melodies, great sounds and vocals. Then you get this fantastic relaxing break in the middle, before they shoot us out into the trance rhythms again. Great track that was played a lot at parties around the world in 2002. Track 7 is another good memory from their live show. This one is not released before. It starts off with a sound sample of a man re living his old days by playing some loud rock music when he is alone. Then you get some cool rhythms, before a voice says; lets pump ourselves full of magic monkey juice and take a trip to space! Then the rhythms starts really pumping again and we get a cool trancey melody. The track builds up and varies all the way through. We get some really trancey melodies and a beautiful tribal voice screaming above the rhythms and sounds. A beautiful trance track I really want to hear at parties this summer.
Track 8 is a track probably most people heard last year if they went to any trance parties. This is the Finger, which was released on the Unusual Suspects compilation on Twisted last year. A wonderful trance track full of great sounds, melodies, rhythms no one else makes and beautiful weird vocals fitting perfectly in. They finish this fantastic album with two short relaxing tracks. The first one is a slow dubby track, with a voice sample, a nice Shpongle melody and funky sounds. The last track fits really well with the track title. A totally relaxed track with mainly some relaxed harp and floating sounds in the back ground.
This will probably be the best album to come out of 2003. There are only great tracks to be found here. This is a musical journey all the way through, since all the tracks fits so well together, so you can listen to it all the way through. An album with relaxing music for chilling out at home, and tracks for the dance floor. An album perfect for home listening. Just go buy it!
PK
