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WROTE FOR LUCK

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Transcendental Funk Soul Soldiers sent from another dimension to change the course of modern music!

 

Hey up loyal Readers….Hope this finds you well?

 

Tony The Cat here, the Listen Up Music Collective’s reviewer in chief, with another instalment of Wrote For Luck

a weekly review of the best new and exciting music around!

 

This week, it’s only a WORLD EXCLUSIVE preview of the new EP ‘Intoxicated’ by unorthodox psychedelic trip hop funksters and Listen Up favourites, Winachi!

 

And holy fuck, I don’t think there are enough words in my vocabulary to adequately describe this EP.  It’s absolutely insane! A non-conformist, uniquely innovative, experimental wall of sound that seems to crawl inside your head and hypnotically dance around your brain, disarming you into a trance like state….think being caught in the glare of a King Cobra, and you are somewhere near to how this EP grabs you…I’ve never known a record like it! It’s safe to say that the band have once again taken a leap forward from their previous releases and created something that is not only truly original, but truly memorable too.

 

In the lead up to their debut feature album release later this year, Winachi have been trawling through their back catalogue of previously unreleased works during their time as China White, a previous incarnation of the band, to rework and re-imagine these songs into something truly special.

 

Winachi, who are not known for doing things in the traditional sense, offer up three versions of the same song, ‘Intoxicated’…and yet all three songs sound almost disparate to each other…to the point that they actually become their own individual entities. This is not new territory for the band, who managed to do something similar with the title track on their last EP, Parasitical Elimination.

 

Kicking off this glorious EP is the bands original mix of Intoxicated – a darkly seductive, dreamlike soundscape that is disorientating in its delivery and leaves you in a mesmeric haze at its conclusion. The instrumentals engulf you from every direction and feel almost claustrophobic, Liam Croker’s low growling vocals across the track are at once alluring and yet dangerous and this lends itself to the overall sleazy ‘after dark’ feel of the song. It really is an extraordinary track, and it is hard to imagine a more apt title than ‘intoxicated’. By the conclusion of the song, you are left wondering what the fuck just happened…..but you want to do it all over again.

 

Next up is remixed version of Intoxicated, featuring renowned global fusion and psychedelic mix master, Rafael Aragon. And this song really is something special. Taking the foundations of the original version of ‘Intoxicated’ and layering it with evocatively cinematic, almost spiritual musical rhythms, Aragon has created an altogether different beast. It feels so far removed from the original that it is like listening to a completely different song. There is an added depth sonically to this version that gives it an even darker tone than the original. it’s almost like a demented musical trip into drug fuelled stupor, manifesting itself as madness! This really wouldn’t be out of place on a David Fincher movie soundtrack. Powerful basslines, beguiling percussion and deliriously hushed whispers wash over you, literally making you feel like you are part of a dirty secret. It is a fucking tremendous and completely unforgettable tune.

 

Finally, we come to a live version of Rafael Aragon’s remix of ‘Intoxicated’, recorded in Istanbul. In an inspired twist, the song opens and closes with a provocative and beautifully enigmatic female solo vocal sampled by Aragon from some obscure old movie, that completely sets the tone for the rest of the track, entrenching it with an air of mystery and secrets. The tribal like instrumental is once again hypnotic and claustrophobic, Croker’s stripped back, hushed vocals feel menacing and the whole thing makes you feel like you are witness to some kind of twisted ritual incantation.

It is a fitting end to a frankly, brilliant little EP from Winachi.

 

It is truly a pleasure to review Winachi’s body of work, it’s always interesting, always unique, and always fucking brilliant. They are a band who dare to be different with absolutely no fucks given. Another job well done fellas.

 

Much Love

 

T.O