UK-based producer Simon Posford is easily one of the global psytrance scene’s most visible figureheads, through his prolific output either alone as Hallucinogen, alongside Goa veteran Raja Ram as Shpongle or working alongside fellow producers Ott and Prometheus as Celtic Cross and Younger Brother. While more recent Shpongle releases have seen Posford diversifying his sound into such disparate areas as dub, world music and even industrial-edged rock, it’s been a full five years since his last release as Hallucinogen, 2002’s aptly-titled ‘Hallucinogen In Dub.’ Recorded in May 2007 at a packed Brixton Academy live appearance, the nine lengthy tracks here see Posford assembling a live five-piece band featuring himself and Ott on electronics / guitars / FX and Killing Joke’s Youth on bass to perform the majority of that aforementioned album as well as a smattering of other favourites from the Hallucinogen backcatalogue.
As you’d expect given the quality of the players involved and Posford’s own established high production standards, the results are consistently impressive and even manage to eclipse the original studio versions at several points here. The echo-chamber laden ‘LSD’ and ‘Spiritual Antiseptic’ set the scene perfectly for the expansive, highly-detailed dub aesthetic that dominates this album – one that throws plenty of live drum muscle and visceral bass presence beneath a vivid, electronics-laced palette that takes in everything from feathery flamenco guitar strokes, to spiralling synth arpeggios that nod straight towards Posford’s trance roots. In many senses the overall effect generated here is similar to that of the late great Audio Active, with the heavy crunch of a hard rock band fused deftly to a hard-edged post-On Us Sound dub aesthetic – something that becomes even more evident with ‘Cicada’ and ‘Rent Boy’s ventures into straight-out rock explorations reminiscent of Bill Laswell’s Material and Praxis. In short – this rocks hard enough to throw the smokers through the livingroom wall – and is highly recommended to anyone with a taste for live dub given a harder rock edge.
Chris Downton
