We have been testing PsyMage, a prototype hot from the workshop of our in-house skunkworks one man band Jimmy Chombo. It is quite a simple concept really- a suite of virtual reality helmets built with the detritus of an abandoned research programme which, when activated, generate an interactive visualisation of the swirling maelstrom which is our collective psyche. We call it ‘joining up’.

If we could decouple the VR rendering algorithm from our unconscious we would rake it in by selling it to product designers, architects and the like, and use the  licensing fees to fund the construction of a goliath-class battlecruiser forever orbiting in Earth orbit’s, fucking up satellite communications and spicing up your mud dwelling existences with the constant threat of a planetary reboot. But our models of the brain are still too primitive, and when we have tried to sever those links we have ended up with rather insipid experiences- a bit like Second Life with an improved user interface.

So the materialisation of our Robur-like ambitions will have to wait, for now we simply put some records in the turntable and jaunt across the weird landscapes that they inspire in our frazzled limbic system- it’s a bit like the Merry Pranksters meets Lawnmower Man. You should give it a go one of these days.

International Feel’s The Coptic Sun, coming out in November as part of the selfsame label’s IFEEL Studio Series generated, in PsyMage space, a blueprint of the Cathedral which is the hub of a future 20jazzfunkgreats religion, like that apocryphal chapter of Invisible Cities that Italo Calvino wrote under the influence of a particularly strong strain of Peyote, or the destination point of Conan’s pilgrimage if Thulsa Doom was only a conduit into the psychedelic stargate, rather than a dirty reptilian worshipper. All of this projected not in the conventional 1970s style of Jodorowsky’s hallucinated opus one might expect , but rather of his majestic work with Moebius (as exemplified above).

Upon listening to Coptic Sun we feel like believers rewarded with a glimpse of the second coming, the second coming of that bearded prophet who transmogrified fish into dragons and walked the waters of the Aegean on a Summer night, that man behind so much Byzantine excess eventually corrupted by the forces of his misled followers. We are talking about Vangelis here pals, because this is the closest we have heard anyone getting to the feeling of expansive, ponderous yet placid radiance that pervades the music of our heterodox pope, at the height of his preternatural powers.

And as far as 20JFG compliments go, they don’t get any better than this.

International Feel- The Coptic Sun

(Picture from Rom Villaseran as found in wonderful sci-fi-o-rama)

PsyMage works better with instrumental music where there are no words messing up our honest to God sensory response to the vibes. Also, it is preferable to avoid dark stuffs, as these have been known to produce bad trips. Say, Juan 20JFG had a psychopathic episode last time we tried to ‘join up’ with a ‘Now this is what I call D/R/A/G’ compilation, he broke all the mirrors in the lounge and didn’t leave our (admittedly lush, Argento decorated) toilet for 5 days. He also tried to kick the cat but we managed to restrain him in time.

By contrast, Freescha’s classic ‘Slower than Church Music’, released in 2002, is an example of what to go for. Indeed, we were entertaining the idea of including it in our PsyMage Starter pack when we launch in Christmas. Gole is the choice cut, as first imprinted upon your scribe in the closing phase of La Station Radar’s sweet mixtape for us not that long ago. It is befitting that it is accompanied by the longest image ever to be featured in 20jazzfunkgreats- in the lovely ochre tones of its descent, and in its melancholy psychedelia (think of Fantastic Planet as shot by Terrence Malick) we find reflected the twisting yet steady tone ballad of this song, if Boards of Canada were to produce a heartbreak themed release for Hyperdub, it would sound the way this sounds. Blows us away every time.

Freescha- Gole

By the way, La Station Radar just released a couple of 7s by Norse Horse/Antient Crux and Jeans Wilder. Go get. We shall be telling you about them very soon.

Epilogue -
This post is tagged with italo prog