While our modus operandus at Tuonela Magazine is heavy music, we naturally have other passions as well, such as a soft spot for psychedelic music. Personally, my journey of exploration into the wonderful world of psych came from a discovery of INFECTED MUSHROOM‘s popular 2007 release, “Vicious Delicious,” although this discovery was at least 10 years after its release. However, INFECTED MUSHROOM seems to be one of those bands who always have another album or song tucked away to be discovered, so looking back on their old albums has been a fun adventure to explore. Today, we’ll be cracking open the first of the band’s albums in the “Converting Vegetarians” saga, which was released on April 9th, 2003, as an anniversary special, 20 years after its release!
First thing of note… they really upped the number of songs on their albums over the years, as when we had a look back on 2001’s “B.P.Empire,” it had nine tracks and a runtime of just under 1 hour and 10 minutes. Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock to then crack open “Converting Vegetarians” to find a 20-track behemoth with a 2½ hour runtime, with the first disc being known as the “trance side,” with tracks generally running between 6-9 minutes in length; and the second being “the other side,” featuring more experimental material and a bit more diversity in song length. Clearly, this was going to take more than a few listens to digest.
Trance is indeed the name of the game as the first disc begins, with “Albibeno” starting off on a consistent and rather downplayed note, keeping it simple but interesting by sneaking around without using too many bells and whistles, so to speak, though it does pick up as the song progresses. I suppose that’s the name of the game with trance music (without the psy-), is it not? However, after two relatively consistent tracks, admittedly, I was quite thrown off by the intense tribal-industrial sound of “Apogiffa Night,” which goes in a completely different direction from what came before. The digitized sound of the intro to “Song Pong” then again surprises the ears, making this already a rather diverse release, leading onward in a danceable tempo.
When you reach “Scorpion Frog,” the surprises still continue, as this has a more orchestral sound, while “Deeply Disturbed” shows off some of the sounds that you hear a lot more from them in the modern era… perhaps for the first time? Then, “Semi-Nice” sounds like they were inspired by some chiptunes or perhaps had been into the retro games, and they steer fully into the boogie in the first disc’s final track, “Yanko Pitch.”
“The Other Side” is, of course, noteworthy immediately for a few things, first and foremost of these being Amit Duvdevani‘s vocal debut on “Converting Vegetarians,” which is great and has led to even better things, making the title track fairly iconic, especially with its use of strings and the way it builds up. The sound then swings in a totally different direction for “Elation Station,” which starts on a gentle, spacey note, picking up gently but staying in the soft instrumental territory before the slightly more industrial-sounding “Drop Out,” which brings the vocals back and takes the listener on a rather lurking and somewhat moody journey. Meanwhile, “Avratz” is a rather gentle, ambient track that is by and far the longest on the album at over 10 minutes in runtime. “Blink” features an electro-pop sound with female vocals, “Pletzturra” has something fun that sounds like maybe a distorted banjo, and “I Wish” is a short poppy piece with Amit back on vocals.
“Ballerium” sounds nothing like music you’d hear at a ballet… well, likely the song was likely more related to the video game by Majorem game studio from Israel, which never saw the light of day. Granted, the song doesn’t sound like it would represent any sort of video game based off its sound. However, if you are looking for something that does sound like it came out of a video game, look no further than “Selecta,” at least towards the end! “Illuminaughty” boasts the most clever song title, as well as some more mystery female vocals, going back to that electro-pop sound. The album finishes up with “Elevation,” which is led by a really nice piano melody and wraps things up on a mellow note.
Ultimately, this album was an effort to explore and even listening as many times as was necessary to write this much, I felt as though I only scratched the surface. The album has so many little tidbits to offer if you take that time to explore it. Needless to say, this was a huge step up from “B.P.Empire” and shows dynamic forward motion for the band. You can find some clear influences that led to their current sound, making this for a great album to spin if you’re a little bored and want to shake things up, and a worth album to look back on if you’re a fan of their more recent material!
Tracklist
Disc 1
- Albibeno
- Hush Mail
- Apogiffa Night
- Song Pong
- Chaplin
- Echonomix
- Scorpion Frog
- Deeply Disturbed
- Semi Nice
- Yanko Pitch
Disc 2
- Converting Vegetarians
- Elation Station
- Drop Out
- Avratz
- Blink
- Shakawkaw
- Pletzturra
- I Wish
- Ballerium
- Selecta
