Nervasystem - Brainradio

I feel a deep gratitude for Nervasystem's fantastic comeback the last few years. It's a breath of fresh air in this digital jungle that is "psytrance" 2017. There's not much to add to Antic's review below, but I just hope that this could be the start of a new wave of psychedelic dance music. A wave not bound to any previous or current dogmas, only to true lysergic curiosity. It's not about belonging to any style, genre or label - in my understanding the authentic psychedelic experience should be about exploring the subconscious, the unknown. To quote McKenna in the classic psybreaks-track Funkopath - Skwirm: "A psychedelic person is not willing to be a good citizen or a good anything that is defined by somebody else. I mean a shaman is a true anarchist...."

Production wise this is perfect, and I simply love the analog depth and spontaneity, it's such a rush hearing this in a hifi-system. If there's anything I'd wish for a follow up is a little more funk, and perhaps more melody/warmth/emotion.

Either way, massive respect to Drezz for his unique work. Please make more like this! And please tell Process and Graham Wood to join your club, full-time.

Last but not least:
Faster does NOT equal 'more psychedelic'.
Darker does NOT equal 'more psychedelic'.

It struck me one day while looking at the cover for Nervasystem’s “Brainradio” that it’s author - inadvertently, or perhaps not? - provided me with an apt description of his music. In mathematics, physics and optics there’s this phenomenon of Moire Pattern, referring to a “secondary, visually superimposed pattern created when two identical patterns are are overlaid while displaced or rotated a small amount from one another”. You know how it looks like? Well, then imagine a similar effect in sound domain :)

Mark Dressler, a.k.a. Drezz / Nervasystem is a veteran of psychedelic trance scene, active from day one and rubbing shoulders with other giants of british underground, with releases on Phantasm / Psychic Deli, TIP Records, Flying Rhino, Matsuri, etc. After some hiatus in 1st decade of 2000’s, he came back swinging with “Time Travel” on Anjuna Rec. - a collection of unreleased, hard and banging 90’s psychedelic techno - and two self-released albums: “3” where he explored the more laid-back, experimental side and “4”, an up-tempo, but still very deep, organic and intricate psychedelic journey.

The newly released “Brainradio” is a spiritual follow up to “4” then, but with the added sound variety brought by collaborations with artists new & old: out of 11 tracks total, 6 were composed with some of the most prominent figures of our scene. Coming back to my Moire Pattern analogy, Nervasystem’s music can be described as an organic, flowing arrangement of ever-changing ideas and spontaneous, one-off accidents - melodic lines, chords, sampled voices, sound effects, etc. - skilfully and meticulously manipulated over a steady 4/4 beat. In a way that’s very similar to what The Orb or FSoL were doing in the 90’s in ambient: producing sound collages, only loosely bound by the formal guidelines of given musical genre. This means that the music is rarely catchy or immediately accessible for a casual listener, requiring a lot of effort and dedication to fully “get” it, as a lot of what’s happening is taking place in the background, on 2nd or 3rd plane and is often very subtle, nuanced and intangible. I always liked the more random, non-direct music, i.e. one without clear, easily separable and distinct melodic lines, where the brain needs to fill the gaps between sounds to the point when I’m not sure anymore if what I hear is actually there, or it is my mind’s construct… - just like Moire Patterns. For some (many, I’m afraid considering current generation’s short attention span) this kind of music will sound empty and aimless, but for me it’s the definition of PSYCHEDELIC - each listen reveals new things that I missed previously and in one year’s time, when I come back to it, it will sound different still, because the brain will have to figure it out all over again. Sure, it might not always work to the fullest, it will rarely provide an euphoric moment of build-up, peak and release so ingrained into expectations of today’s psychedelic trance consumer, but it does have it’s time & place: when you want to disconnect from the outside world, dive into the sub-consciousness, contemplate your inner thoughts and just drift away… Funnily enough, this would be a pretty spot-on and true definition of TRANCE in it’s most primal, basic meaning. “Brainradio” is therefore a pure, classic PSYCHEDELIC TRANCE album.

In the end, I’m not fooling myself that “Brainradio” will achieve some global recognition because it’s at odds with what the larger audience is expecting today - even if it’s more accessible and varied than “4”, it is still too demanding, too out-there and probably not enough in-your-face. I hope it being released on an established label, getting proper CD print (“4” was a CDr) and having for once a genuine distribution will help it reach a wider audience. For me personally, I’m grateful that such non-conformist, intelligent psychedelic music is still being produced and released today. It’s incredibly rewarding, rich experience and shows what psychedelic trance is really all about. It cannot be easy to stick to your guns and go against the trend, but artists like Nervasystem deserve our support ...and money :)

5 / 5