VIBRAVOID – 2001 The Archive Collection (2021, 3LP Stoned Karma Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Stoned Karma Records

Format: *3LP, Album, Limited Edition, Deluxe Set, Random Colour Vinyl, 28-page Booklet, 500 copies

* Pre-orders of the first 100 copies include:

– original 25th-anniversary edition promotional 2CD from 2015 with special op-art gimmick package cover

– original posters, flyers, inserts, folders, stickers, misprints

– original SIGNED overstock record sleeves

– misprints of Timemazine Woman 7” Single

– special deluxe cover to hold singles and memorabilia

Release Date: January 2021

Before the Pandemic strange 2020 comes to its end (Good Riddance!!!) Vibravoid throws in the market another one Release in order to celebrate 30 years of Maximum Psychedelia, 1990-2020! It was scheduled for a late December ’20 release but it’s going to ‘hit the stores’ in January 2021. Earlier this year, Vibravoid released “Out Of Tune In Rosenheim – 2LP”, “Kursaal Psichedelico – Picture Disk by Vincebus Eruptum label”, “The Decomposition Of Noise – LP”, “Im Zeichen Des Zwilling – 2LP”, “Black Corona Death Mantra – Digital Single”, “Psychedelic Blueprints Volume 2 – LP), “Mushroom Mantras – 2LP” and “Delirium Der Sinne – LP”… “2001” was Vibravoid’s debut album from 2000 and it seems that the band had “honored” this album quite well because this is the 6^th Re-release of the album!

These are all the previous release of “2001”:

◊ Triggerfish Music, CD, 2000

◊ Nasoni Records, LP, 2001

◊ Fall Out Boy, Japan, LP, 2005

◊ Stoned Karma Records, 15^th Anniversary Edition, 2CD, 2015

◊ Stoned Karma Records, 15^th Anniversary Edition, 4LP, 2015

So, the 2020 edition of “2001” is called “The Archive Collection”, and someone could easily think, that “I’ve got the 4LP with the unreleased stuff, demo, and alternate versions, so I’m OK”… Well, No! Of course, you’re not OK! Because this new Re-release except for the debut “2001” LP and except an LP with unreleased recordings from 1990-1996, it also includes an UNRELEASED album that was intended to be released in 1994, pre-dating their debut album for 6 years! I asked the Doktor why this album remained unreleased and he confided: “… there was an up and coming label named ‘Magical Jack’ that could have gone big as the guy bought the publishing rights of Tangerine Dream which no one else wanted at that time – imagine what this could have meant for the 2000s and later!!! – but sadly died and so did the label and the plans to release the album”…

So, here’s a first chance opportunity to experience the band’s sound, prior to their debut LP! Can you think of a better way to celebrate 30 years in the scene? I don’t think so…

The 1^st LP of the Box Set, obviously, contains the “2001” album. The original order of the tracks is changed in this deluxe release. The playing times are more evenly distributed to increase the quality of the vinyl playback and probably the side effect could be a different listening experience to the previous releases. “2001” is a classic album! A must album! An album with tracks that still after 30 years have a strong impact on Vibravoid, a strong impact on fans too, and that’s why Vibravoid are still including them on their setlists after so many years! Songs like “Lovely Lady Deb O’Nair”, “Psychodrome”, “(She’s Just) 13”, “The Mystique Ship” and the Infinite the Absolute the Psych-Master the Mind-Expanding “Ballspeaker”!!! “2001” it’s not only one of the best “Psychedelic” albums of the last 30 years and it’s not only one of the best albums of the 21^st century… For all of us, devotees out there to Psychedelia and Psychedelic Rock, “2001” is the “Holy Grail” of the new millennium. I dare you to go and place yourself in this specific ‘timeframe’, go back to 1998-2000, and check the bands, the albums, the genres… I’m certain that you’ll come to my conclusion,  “2001” is the album that opened the Gates so Psychedelia could enter the 21^st Century… period!

Let’s move on now to the 2^nd LP of this Deluxe Triple Set. The Unreleased album from 1994. It contains a set of 9 songs. “Genesis Of Dreams” is a mystical trippy and full of guitar effects tune that slowly becomes a Fantasia-Delicious Interstellar Overdrive Mind-Expanding Psychedelic version of Syd’s anthem, yeah, Syd would be proud to hear his daemonic riff in here… “Marijuana” is an extremely Eastern-influenced tribal-psych-funk-a-delic tune, trippy as hell, a psych ode to this smoking habit that certainly ‘opens’ doors… On “Pictures From The Looking Glass” we see a different side of Vibravoid, an unknown one, psychedelic, of course, popsik-ish, floydistic, and extra trippy! “Prime Noctis” is another ‘different’ tune, a psychedelic kind of ballad that flirts with Prog with wonderful double vocals, ideal to be included in Great Society’s repertoire! “The Endless Task” is a rather strange song, ’60s inspired but with a lot of ’70s influences and maybe it’s the only time that Christian isn’t on lead vocals! “Free Alice D” is based on an Eastern scale with dual vocals and sitar, this is a Psychedelic Acid-Raga and I’m guessing if we want to trace the ‘Seeds’ that led Vibravoid to their 2017 Manifest “Mushroom Mantras” then we should check here because “Free Alice D.” is a Mushroom Mantra track! The next one, “Adjustment”, is a very familiar song to Vibravoid followers as it was released as a Single in 2002 and also included on “Void Vibration” LP in 2002, but here is presented in a much different version with distinctive dual vocals. The next one is also a known Vibra-Track. Firstly appeared on the “2001” LP, it’s called “Mystery Ship” it’s less acidly drenched than the version we all know but it emerges an intense Proggy feeling! Of course, we are talking about The Mystic Tide’s song from the 60s and one of the most inspired reinterpretations ever been made to this Fantastic song!  The last track of the Unreleased LP is “Solar Discharge”, a surf-a-delic Psych instro showing Vibravoid’s dedication and inspiration to some of the Greatest Masters of Underground 60s Psychedelia, so if you listen carefully you will notice a mixture of Electric Prunes, Floyd, Tea Company, Mystic Tides and C.A.Quintet! “Solar Discharge” is by far, the Best Unreleased Psychedelic Instrumental Song of the 90s! Side ‘D’ closes with 2 tracks, “Orange Coat” and “Mindphaser”. I believe that “Orange Coat” is a totally different track than the giant Mantra-ish one that we see on “Mushroom Mantras” and “Mindphaser” is a raw motor-psych punkish instro with some heavily distorted guitars! Side ‘E’ opens with another version of “Psychodrome”, much different than the one on their “2001” debut, it is also different (and from another recording-session) from the demo version that we first saw on the 15th Anniversary Deluxe 4LP Edition in 2015. “Lovely Lady” is also a different version, also with double vocals with a distinctive ‘flanger’ sound and to be honest I do prefer how they changed and psychedelisized the song and presented it in “2001”, a few years later! “Other Side” is coming from 1993, is a raw fuzz-a-delic psych-acid-delic tune with some great wah-wah grooviness! From 1993 comes also the next 3 ones. “Acid People”, is a wonderful Acid-elic guitar Psych track while “Elevation” is instrumental in which Psych has a rendezvous with Kraut and all of a sudden early Stooges join the company, a really acid-stoned tune! On “Rainwards” Christian plays guitar, bass and sings, the combination of the backward guitar along with some raining effects (real bad weather that recorded from Christian’s open window live onto the track with No Edits) and the use of words like “beautiful” and “wonderful”, makes this song a strange Psych Balladesque acoustic tune… Side ‘F’ contains 8 tracks, all recorded between 1990 and 1991 with a 4-members band, guitar/bass/drums/organ. These are by all means true demo recordings and in relation to the very poor equipment that the band used (cheap microphones and mixed that down to a stereo track and recorded on cassette) the sound is astonishingly cool and incredibly “good”! Christian says: “if anyone has missed the 90s – it cannot be relived anyway – so what we have got here is the authentic stuff and it will never get better than the original, you know, how to recreate the original feeling, that you know you are working with shit equipment and that people have no clue what you are doing. It is impossible to play these tracks now and keep the original feeling. The noise and the bad quality are important to get the full effect of how the times have been”…

The opener is a version of “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, filled with angst, passion, and fuzzy punkish noise! “T.R.I.P.” is a Garage-Punker with an attitude “let’s burn this place down”. The next one is a cover that I would never think that Vibravoid could include in their early days’ repertoire! An unexpected raw n’ wild version of “Knocking On Heaven’s Door”, a psych n’ roll one and for sure the most Stoned Noisy cover I’ve ever heard of this classic tune! “Fuzzpunker” as the title indicates is an aggressive tune, a wild ’66 garage-punk instro while “No Clown” is a fuzz n’ Organ noisy garage-punk shaker! “Hashbury Remains” is a Heavy Psychedelic instro, MC5 on LSD or something like that… “Welcome To Pepperland” is a noisy but groovy garage dancey stomper and the last one is called “Sick Creation (Instrumental)”, an Organ-driven garage orgy ala Davie Allan & The Arrows producing tons of pure acid fuzz!

We need to mention that All tracks from sides C, D, E, and F are restored from original tapes. Also on Side A and B, Christian did some changes in the mastering hoping that they’ll sound a little better! So, of course, you need to get this version of “2001”! The bonus material is a true historical artifact and it shows the early stages of the musical creations of the band and it can help you to completely understand why “Psychedelia” was the only path for Vibravoid to follow! But, of course, the biggest factor was Christian’s “60s Psychedelic education”… Anyhow, “2001 The Archive Collection” is a must album for any fan, Psychedelic related or not, presented and delivered to the world by Vibravoid, The Unstoppable Psych Machine from Dusseldorf! TimeLord Michalis

Order the Deluxe Triple LP directly from VIBRAVOID