Question: what is a ScullaMook? Answer: it’s a rave-dwelling creature that only comes out at night to feast on the elation of sweaty trance addicts. Only two exist in the vicinity of Melbourne, but when they’re placed together this elusive species cultivate a strand of psytrance that sounds like it’s been syphoned through a black hole and magically fused into the little plastic discs that bear the title, The New Mythology.
Things get trippy on here – real trippy. Snippets of LSD-inspired meanderings preface heaving slabs of electronica that bubble beneath the surface before disappearing into the abyss again. Otherworldly beeps, blips, and bursts of noise rain down and sizzle over throbbing bass grooves. Each track is accompanied by its BPM, with most whizzing by around the 130 to 140 mark. It’s all a little disorientating – but that’s the desired effect. The ScullaMooks want to warp your perception of reality without the use of mind-altering substances. Instead, they rely on improvisation, experimentation and mixing ideas together like watercolour to create mind-fucking soundscapes, from the eerie interstellar haze of Earthrise to the bongo-happy Mook Runs The Mushroom Down. Proceedings have an organic feel too with each track slowly contorting into the next.
If you’re a frequent visitor to Earthcore, Rainbow Serpent Festival or any outdoor techno fest, you’re going to be lapping up what The ScullaMooks are laying down without a second thought. But if you’re yet to dip your toes into the psytrance side of things, best approach this one with caution and/or an open mind (otherwise it’ll spin you out completely).
BY JACK PILVEN
Best Track: Psysm Part II
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: SHPONGLE, INFECTED MUSHROOM, OPIOU
In A Word: Mindblending
