For as prolific as Sula Bassana is, it’s hard to believe he has a brain left, let alone one to wash. But he does, and so does Modulfix, and they had the good sense to have another meeting of minds and drop the magnetic and groovy Brain Wash {Sulatron, 2010}. Thoroughly modern and of another time simultaneously, Brain Wash is a hypnotic, psychedelic slab of instrumental ear, and brain, candy. Lava lamps to planet caravans, Brain Wash spins and spirals a full and trippy load.
Opener Svensven Der Froschfosch oscillates along an electro roadway with dense layers of keys over a pumping driveshaft. Just as Svensven Der Froschfosch takes you up to the appointed apogee to fully break free, Brain Wash kicks in the big engines for a space rock exodus worthy of Hawkwind or F/i in prime flight. The drive thrums with the sort of subtle menace of Floyd’s One of These Days, stetching out so you can really sink your teeth into it. Brain Wash gains maximum height, fades out, and you’re eased into Horta, kicking in with a languid acoustic seduction. More melancholy than menace, Horta disperses out with the acoustic lines folding in on themselves and the background ingredients spiralling into a chorus…sung on Titan…Horta unfolds and churns until the ghosts are all blown away.
Marshmellow, acting as a kind of intermission, is more ambient and chilled out pushing another facet of the pairing to the forefront. Mutated Riders on the Storm keys layer up with the others, coolly snaking it’s way into Fortschritt. More stripped-down and straight-ahead than the other tracks, Fortschritt is still a great electro-space piece that continues the mellow set up one track back. Which makes perfect sense when you get to Rossos Traum, which, rather than being mellow, seems to be simply taking it’s time working to the close. It’s a perfect closer to the platter and we even get some didgeridoo thrown in from the incomparable Lulu for the ride out.
For all the electro-tinged elements that are swirling around the rinse, Brain Wash has a warm and rolling production that is just gooey enough, pushes back in all the right places. It feels very comfortable and works itself out at its own pace, never feeling rushed or in a hurry to prove something…or get somewhere…Electronic, spacey, ambient in places…Brain Wash works best in the spin cycle. And the best part is you don’t have to worry one bit about shrinkage.
You might just expand a little…in all the right places…Instruction manuals say that’s just what a good brain washing is supposed to do.
"This show is 110% … one of the most consistently awesome programs we have come across."
The Sunrise Ocean Bender sets sail every Monday morning, 1 – 3 a.m. on WRIR lp 97.3 FM, to find something for your ears, and something for your head … From psych to prog to pop and whatever tributary we can find on the way … and right back around again. There might be a map, but the destination is up for grabs. If it all goes right, we may just get lost. Meet me at the muster station … it might be a long week.
For as prolific as Sula Bassana is, it’s hard to believe he has a brain left, let alone one to wash. But he does, and so does Modulfix, and they had the good sense to have another meeting of minds and drop the magnetic and groovy Brain Wash {Sulatron, 2010}. Thoroughly modern and of another time simultaneously, Brain Wash is a hypnotic, psychedelic slab of instrumental ear, and brain, candy. Lava lamps to planet caravans, Brain Wash spins and spirals a full and trippy load.
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