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If psychedelia was the emblematic expression of the sixties, it has enjoyed a profoundly
greater relationship with the nineties than anyone could have guessed. Drenched in
lysergics, the post-E generation have tripped out to a soundtrack which has proved itself
to be more wildly exciting than anything that was ever dreamt up in the distorted imaginations
of Syd Barrett or Arthur Lee. In the vanguard of some of the most adventurous excursions into
the outer limits have been Heidelberg's Source Records who have teamed up, appropriately
enough, with San Fransisco's Reflective to release this, the debut long-player by Reagenz.
Now this ain't mid-sixties Haight-Asbury, not even close, but what Reagenz offer is a
stream-lined, updated version of those original wide-eyed visions which delivered some of
rock's most enduiring moments.
Invested with a fin de siecle pragmatism, this is psychedelia strained through the coke-fuelled
excesses of the seventies and borne out of a weltenshaung that is soaked with
optimism and experience. Taut rhytms which ripple across a landscape of inspired minimalism,
cool moods and deft melodies woven together in a drop-dead-gorgeous tapestry of sound. Check
out the electric salsa of 'DJ Friendly' for example,
or the lean, honed tachycardiac percussion of 'Long Leaves.'
Brilliant pictures, laced with sounds which are at once breathless and divine. This is the
masterpiece that no one else will tell you about.
***** - Tim Barr, Generator Magazine
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