This review covers the psychedelic trance track Infected Mushroom – Bust a Move.
This track was released in 2000 on the album Classical Mushroom.
The track starts with a guiro. A guitar then joins the track. Some other percussive elements join the track. The bassline then joins the track for a bit before dropping out. The guitar continues and is backed by some synth strings.
A vocal sample makes an appearance before the bassline returns. A synth joins the track to provide a subtle melody. There is a brief drop before those elements return along with an additional drumkit.
Then, the track largely drops out, leaving a repeated voice sample. Some reverse kicks make an appearance. The vocal sample drops out and a synth effect takes over. A synth melody joins the track along with the drum kit, bassline, and other elements.
A large number of elements drop out and the guiro makes a return. After another appearance by the voice sample, a large amount of elements return. A new synth melody joins the track with a lot of sliding note going on.
The synth melody drops out and the guiro returns. A synth string appears with a more subtle guitar. The guitar then largely takes over as the drum kit and bassline drop out. Everything drops out and a synth effect takes over. This is gradually layered by a synth melody.
From there, the bassline returns with these effects and melodies playing out. The synth melody drops out and is replaced by the string element. A phaser effect makes an appearance, though it doesn’t sweep that much.
Portions of the track drop out and the guitar returns. The bassline backs it and the guiro makes a return. Piano then makes an appearance with some arpeggios.
The piano drops out and a synth melody returns with a sliding note arpeggio. A synth string appears to back it along with most of the other main elements in the track. At the end of that section, the synth drops out and the synth strings largely take over. The track gradually breaks down with the synth strings contininuing to play a dominant role.
After that, the piano arpeggio’s return as the other parts of the track drop out. After that, the whole track simply fades out.
One thing I do like about this track is that there is a huge amount of variety in this track. A lot of people out there think that “electronic music” is primarily synths and a drum machine. This track incorporates a lot of acoustic elements, mixing it all down into a psychedelic trance track. It ultimately challenges some of those notions. For me, it works quite well.
A risk of incorporating so many elements is that it simply winds up being more of a collection of sounds more than a cohesive track. The more elements you bring in, the more you run the risk of this. Impressively, this track manages to find cohesive harmony with all of these different elements and executes a well thought out track.
My only real problem with this track is that it does lean a bit too far into the realm of skilled sound. A track can sound complex, but sound great. A track can sound simple, but sound. Sometimes, a track can be complex and only sound half decent. I feel that this track falls a bit into that last category. As a result, I feel small portions of an audience can be lost in all of this.
Still, it’s a very solid track. It has an impressive level of complexity without losing cohesion. It might lean a bit too much into the realm of showing off skill, but otherwise, I think it’s a worthwhile track to listen to. So, overall, it gets a thumbs up from me.
Score
7/10
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
