GMO vs Dense – Through Other Glasses

English / Polish version

GMO vs Dense - Through Other Glasses
    ALTAR RECORDS
    GMO vs Dense
    Through Other Glasses
    2010

      1. Morning
      2. Format
      3. Beginning
      4. Just In Sound
      5. Kirk Fart
      6. Letterbox
      7. Seven Weeks
      8. Sur-Prise
      9. Feedback

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For some time Altar Records has accustomed us more to its compilations than to release of a single artist’s album. Is it bad? Certainly it is not, because these compilations in a frighteningly quick tempo have gained favor of a whole downtempo world. Why? The answer seems to be trivial – they are excellent. It is not only a galaxy of stars (those from the top shelf), but above all the tracks are not some supplements, for which there was no place during releasing an album. However, this time Altar sets itself a new challenge, putting into our hands the album, for which GMO and Dense are responsible. Who exactly is this pair of artists? For example, in a case of Astropilot’s album no one even dared to ask himself this question. But GMO and Dense? Of course you can explore the profiles of both artists, using even a treasury called Discogs, but I think that it does not make sense (for now). Judging someone by an alias or name unfortunately requires a particular position and presence on a stage, but in this case we have to deal with some ‘fresh’ artists who are just beginning to put their first steps in this field. Of course it does not matter that they do not have a ‘distinguished brand’. Therefore, let us see whether they succeeded.

The track called MORNING opens the album and this title in an ideal way can be correlated with some summer mornings when the sleepy sun starts to wake up to life, going beyond the horizon and gently sends the first warm rays in our direction. The tiredness after a sleepless night passed a long time ago, and now it is time to start a new day. FORMAT is a perfect continuation of a prologue, which is still drilling a huge hole in my brain. A hypnotic rate, rocking melody and ubiquitous (also in the rest of the album) acidic backgrounds give some goose bumps every time anew. After a total reformat, we can go to a third consecutive track BEGINNING, which (at least for me) grows to become fuga mundi. It is deep, rhythmic and forcing to a reflection. Perhaps such tracks I like the most and that is what I lack in modern, new trends in music. Of course, JUST IN SOUND and KIRK FART do not lag behind. The first one tries to lull us for a moment just to wake us up from the ongoing lethargy with a redoubled force. World championship. It is time for a LETTERBOX, in which again there is no shortage of some sweet (but not sentimental) melodies that sometimes remind me of the best tracks that have appeared under the banner of the British label Twisted Records. As they say in UK: ‘fishing for compliments’. SEVEN WEEKS – and you just want to go into the forest. You want to sit down somewhere in a meadow, or lie down, staring at the sky and remove the headphones just to listen as the wind rustles perfectly complementing the music. From where do they generally take these sounds? I am almost sure that there are no random sounds. Perfectly. SUR-PRISE, and this is a great surprise! Explosion. Fusion. Magic. Bliss. Euphoria. Elevation. Delight. Admiration. Recognition. Applause. You can endlessly describe the emotions that accompany me when I listen to this track, although I am sure that every one of you while listening to it, will add some of your own feelings to the specified list – try it! The album ends with a soft landing, thanks to the track FEEDBACK, which of course is not a neutral, rattling outro, but a solid banger of some psychedelic sounds which make that a body moves spontaneously, rhythmically and what is more, it is difficult to control that (check it out!). A vocal ‘ohm namah shivayah’ melts my heart!

A good review should incorporate some elements of criticism, just in case to not to be accused of a lack of objectivity in the assessment, but here it is really hard for me to attach anything. From the first to the last track GMO vs. Dense try to avoid a situation with some weaker moments in the album. We should admit that they manage to do it in a masterful way. This CD certainly will remain long in my memory, I can not even wait when I had an opportunity to test it outdoors.
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9 / 10
Marion