Album Details

• Artist: The Time And Space Machine
• Album: Pill Party In India
• Label: Tirk
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2012-02-07

Devoted to fat trippy funk, The Time and Space Machine abducts both electronic and acoustic instruments to build a massive sound that is as fun and kickass as it is dense and unpredictable. Consisting of title song and two remixes, "Pill Party in India" offers often dizzying variations on a theme, draining the song and the listener dry of emotion and groove and sweaty insanity.

The Time and Space Machine's own mix kicks things off, with the bass heavy, the percussion (courtesy of Wildcat Will) tribal, and the twang of the guitar riffs enhanced by the fact that the instruments are homemade cigar box guitars. Prime mover behind the band, singer, instrumentalist, producer Richard Norris layers his sounds thin but raw, creating a live band feel; even the dizzy psych grooves seem organic.

Mojo Filter's remix is gooier, a slowed down original melody overlaid with insistent disco and Arabic chanting. Here the guitar lines are provided by instruments that sound like sitars or bouzoukis, though they may be generated. This is funk made for dance and for meditation, and it sticks close enough to the original to be a tribute as well as its own piece.

The final remix by Psychemagik is more insistent then either the original or Mojo Filter's remix. The percussion is more brisk, the electronica more vibrant and dominant; some of the Middle Eastern motifs of the Mojo filter remix occur at the end, along with a hardcore 70s disco groove that winds things up in a sweaty satisfying fashion.

"Pill Party in India" is all about trance funk that is fun, inspired and flexible. The Time and Space Machine and their guest remixers wring a lot of soul out of just one track, and this quick EP is one to explore and savor through endless repeated listening.

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