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Talpa

The Art Of Being Non

Sundance (Australia)

And let me just start by saying that I’ve been referring to this album in colloquial circles as “The Art Of Being Blimey,” and I suggest and rather expect that you might do so too. From start to finish this is utterly staggering – this has to be one of the most original, deep, and completely adorable artist albums of the year. After the brokenbeat, hung-melody intro of First Ray Of Light, it takes no time to establish its groove with My Kingdom: a tune with big stabs, big chords, and big crunches. When the huge melodic flurries give way to insane drops, you are for the first time left thinking that this may be the sound Infected Mushroom could have achieved if they stayed on the same track as The Gathering and Classical Mushroom. Trust No Goblin is bonkers for breakfast, moochy breakbeat for lunchtime, and dresses up for dinner in a bangin’, pacey trancey top hat n’ tails before it chases you around the buffet table, laughing inanely. No Place To Hide has utterly staggering production, again reminiscent of Infected with melodies washing back and forth over a hard-as-nails backbone. Dragon Tale rather leaves me speechless, the melody here is (and I mean IS) genius, and I mean GENIUS. End of. The Infected Mushroomyness resurfaces loudly on Flybeereligion; you can taste and smell all those things that made them great, and in any case when something as inventive, deep and downright joyous as this appears on the radar, it's cause for celebration. Flybeereligion’s distorted leadlines have the hairs standing up on the back of your neck every time, and the way it runs into a delectable, kaleidoscopic ending is sheer class. For me though, it all comes together with Rebirth; an amazing, fully-danceable groove that just evolves by itself, taking the entire dancefloor and a sizeable amount of reality with it as well. And did I mention the production? I’d estimate that for every noise you notice, there’s about eight others in there that you don’t. The effect of this album is simply staggering. In a climate where so many people bemoan the “lack of anything psychedelic these days”, this album deserves to sell millions. Actually, make that billions. An outstandingly good standalone artist album that will change the way you think about psychedelic trance.