Vibravoid: Minddrugs (Deluxe Re-mastered 2CD Set)

Stoned Karma Recordds (SK004CD)

Minddrugs, originally released on Sulatron-Records in 2011, was the fifth actual studio album by Vibravoid, Germany’s number one psychedelic acid rock band. The band leader Christian “Dr.” Kerch has not been 100% happy with the sound quality of their old albums and this is the third one to get a thorough remix/remaster and reissue procedure. It’s great since the original albums have been sold-out for a long time and it’s also great to get loads of unreleased and ultra rare bonus material with the new editions. This 2CD-version begins with the original album that only has better sound quality, so I’ll just start with my original review from 2011…

”Seefeel” is wonderful psych pop and proves that the good doctor can also make a bit more melodic, catchy tunes. The lush Mellotron layers add their heavenly dose to the tremolo-soaked, pulsating mass of guitars and the groovy beat reminds us of the 60s and modern psychedelia at the same time. This is amazing and heavy stuff! The going just gets better when the album’s hardest hitting killer track “What You Want” blasts out of the speakers. The main riff is somewhere in between “Lucifer Sam” and “Magic Potion” and this number rocks tightly and hypnotically and doesn’t show any mercy to the poor brain cells. The heavier stoner/space rock chorus sounds like Farflung and there is a lengthy, psychedelic jam section in there as well. It’s nice that this one also has some backing vocals. We’ve got heavy and unbelievably amazing boosting for over 12 minutes! “Do It Alright” has a nice tom beat and gives some space to breathe for a while and I really like this one too. The last minute is just hallucinatory space sounds. “You Keep on Falling” was previously released on a Greek single but now we get an almost 9-minute-long version. This monotonic acid boogie is somewhere in the Spacemen 3 and Loop territory and pretty heavy and mind-blowing stuff! The under three-minute “Lost Intensity” is a bit experimental, more small-scale instrumental where the organ gets more room that usually. On their What Colour Is Pink? Vibravoid already released a great version of Floyd’s ”Set The Controls for The Heart of The Sun” classic but now we have the pleasure and honor to hear a close to 23-minute-long version of this track! This is a real trip and the best version that I have heard since the original. The organ sounds really good and there is also some stylophone, for example. The vocals are mixed in a very psychedelic way and this piece blissfully melts down reality in other ways too.

The first two bonus tracks on the first CD are two Pink Floyd covers from Vibravoid’s very sought-after Floyd cover EP on Fruits de Mer: “Let There Be More Light” and “Saucerful of Secrets”. I’m sure many fans who have not been able to buy this holy grail of a 7” will be very happy… I just love these versions and they sound super crispy and psychedelic on this release! Then we’ve got the shorter and a bit different single version of “You Keep on Falling” and finally an unreleased, alternative and much shorter (6:29) version of “What You Want”. Great!

The second CD starts off with some stuff recorded for radio sessions. Tracks 1-5 originate from Kozmic Ken Experience Radio Session UK, January 2014 and have been previously available on Ken’s internet radio program at Aural Innovations. The band performs excellent, powerful renditions of “Save My Soul”, “Magic Mirror” (Aphrodites Child), “Gravitation Zero”, “Colour Your Mind” (Turnaround) and “The Golden Escalator” and I’m loving every second of it. It’s amazing how strong and trippy the band sounds with just three guys playing. Next we’ve got six tracks from Piotre Benton Radio Session, Italy, February 2014. The sound quality might be a little inferior but still excellent. “Poupee de Cire” is energetic chanson pop like it should, then their pretty and deep original “Seefeel”, another version of “Magic Mirror”, old favourite “Playing with Beuys”, great rendition of “Incense and Peppermints” by Strawberry Alarm Clock and finally a fast, highly hypnotic and trippy version of Can’s “Mother Sky”. The last two instrumental studio tracks “Black Light Mushrooms” and “Vibraphased” were originally released on the limited Triptamine EP Vol. 4. I don’t have the limited 2LP version of this great reissue yet, but it has a few tracks less and comes in a special blue splatter vinyl…

www.stonedkarma.com/vibravoid