Ritual Chants' is a stellar earthbound and outer space odyssey spanning 3 discs, respectfully embellishing Psychemagik's taste and passion for the wonderful, the sublime and very often unusual.
Ritual Chants skilfully shows insights into applying retro finds into a contemporary setting, much of the material acquired via world tours and capturing the excitement of finding lost jewels and sharing them to crowds across the planet. Compiled by Danny McLewin, the renowned record digger of the duo, the 3 discs are carefully programmed and sequenced into 3 themes: Beach, Love & Dance, all of which tenderly demonstrate curious ears with a respectful nod to the past and the future via such touchstones as the pre-new age emanations of 'Water Sports' by Man Parrish, a beautiful tranquil and cascading synth poem which soothes and pulses, and the sublime and haunting 'God's Garden' by John J. Francis, which hints at a forthcoming new age of thinking.
On disc 2 (Love) the semi discordant funk of Zru Vogue's 'Do the Zru', reminiscent of a later era Can, laced with thumb piano and an addictive head nod groove finds its place alongside the Gallic seduction of 'L'Amour Joue Au Violon' by Jeanette, a real string-swept lost masterpiece reminiscent of 'Melody Nelson' era Serge Gainsbourg. The booming drum machine mechanics of 'Hangin' Out In Space' by Tony Wilson does exactly what it says: a galactic deep fried boogie which will have even robots shaking their metalware into the long wee hours, as will the hypnotic Arabic infused brew made by Golden Hands on 'Take Me Back'.
While disc 3 (Dance) opens the door to the thick of the night, with phenomenal and unknown cuts such as 'Love and Happiness' by Mansour Sallas and Ennio Morricone's disco infused hybrid cut 'Dance On' adding magic and mysticism to this bountiful line, and high quality floor polishers such as Popcorn Makers 'Nothing', a sweaty gyrating slice of European sleaze bringing the delightful 3 course meal of 'Ritual Chants' to a close.
Psychemagik are unique in their perspective, not only is their ability to seek out rare musical treasures from the worldwide musical domain astounding, but there's also a supernatural nature to their curation. They are a duo as infamous for their production technique as their DJ skills, their prolific edits laced with subtle studio production re-interpreting vintage gems and giving them a contemporary bounce. Mixmag named them their 'Stars Of 2012' and their remix output includes Bryan Ferry, Roisin Murphy, Noel Gallagher, Haim, Azari & III, Wang Chung, Paul Weller and Metronomy, with FACT mag summing up their skills best when they observed their "ear for mind-expanding dance floor mysticism".
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http://www.eskimorecordings.be/
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