REVIEW: The Diaphanoids - 'LSME' (Tirk Recordings)

The Diaphanoids are an Italian duo with very interesting backgrounds. One of them (Andrea Bellentani) wrote songs for Pavarotti, and the other half of the duo (Marco 'Simon' Maccari) is an Italian dance producer who worked with 'Ride On Time' hitmakers Black Box. So to many people, it would seem unlikely that a pair with such form could make one of the most immersive psychedelic records of recent times. But they've done it. Consisting of eight trippy instrumentals, 'LSME' is described as an "acid psychallucisergic album full of seventies kosmische flavours fuzzed-out guitars and motorik rhythms." Its creators have also dubbed it "ferocious. Masterful. Demented." They're not wrong.

40 minutes of madness begin with '55th Dimension Nervous Meltdown' launching a smash and grab raid on your headspace, with tough breakbeats establishing a strong driving force as unsettling tones and cosmogonal howls build and mutate throughout. Think the more left field factors of 90s dance and big beat seen through psychedelic-tinted glasses, a bit like UNKLE or Death In Vegas on a collision course with a load of acidheads from the 60s. The spell is truly cast with the creeping mesmerism of 'You Can’t Shine If You Don’t Burn', which isn't a million miles away from what Portishead covering Funkadelic's 'Maggot Brain' might sound like. Throbs of noise and chaotic stringed instruments recall Sun Ra in places, while swirling patterns of celestial light and the clarity of delicious percussion make this definitely one that really comes to life through headphones.

'How Can I Distinguish Sky From Earth If They Keep On Changing Their Place' is a dirty slice of cosmic funk where meaty stabs of bass lay under awesome guitars that glide across the surface. The bleak drones of the freeform 'Alltheconstellationsouttherearen’tworthapinpointofliquidlightinyoureyes' play partner to swells of sci-fi sound, providing a calming prelude to the bonkers title track, which is like an intergalactic downwards rollercoaster in constant motion. Driven by relentless drum n bass rhythms, cries of feedback and heavy space rock vibes, the effective repetition of its foundations is countered by the growth of the otherworldly noises that build throughout, a trick also repeated masterfully on plenty of this record's other tracks.

The tempo is slowed right down for 'The Blackest Sun', a fine example of how they initially give the false impression that nothing much is going to happen, before fascinating elements drop in and transport the music to other places while blowing the mind. The insistent 'Our Own Private Elsewhere' could be the Chemical Brothers remixing Can, while the closing 'These Nights Wear Three Heads Five Arms And Ten Legs' takes its lead from Pink Floyd's 'On The Run', pacing with urgent electronic patterns as dissonant guitars lash out at your ears.

Simultaneously repetitive and progressive, it's brilliantly inspired music embedded with a power that picks the listener up and carries them along into other dimensions. Dynamic peaks and troughs counteract with nagging rhythms and unstoppable beats, while prog, krautrock and 90s electro sounds cruise their way through a series of awesome psychedelic explosions. In short, an excellent record. 8.5/10

According to the group and their press people, 'LSME' is out now digitally and on CD, with a vinyl edition expected soon... Purchase it HERE.