REVIEWS

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Psyche
Babylon Deluxe

Artoffact Records

Posted: Thursday, March 16, 2006
By: Keith Rose

Initially, when seeing the word Babylon, I immediately think of that annoying fuck David Grey, chanting "Babylon" in his nasal little British voice; nightmares soon follow and I am unable to sleep for months. Psyche, on the other hand, have been able to give me a bit of a different view of the word, with their latest album Babylon Deluxe. Upon starting up ye' ole digital jukebox, I was a bit perturbed. This music was not like that I had grown to love; it was different. What the hell is going on here? I was expecting to hear something repetitive and boring, much like many other bands I hear daily; but no, not at all. Psyche has to go and fuck things up by putting a twist on everything I've grown to call my musical diet. A bit of geekiness mixed with some chunky lo-fi synths and you have something really fuckin' grand. Eat that Skinny Puppy! "X-rated" is the first stand-out track, speaking of Internet porn in a song's lyrics and touching my erogenous zones to the porn on the 'net is a great way to get my attention. Thank god someone recognized the joys of a UGAS password. "Edge of Seventeen" scared me initially and I thought one of two things was going to happen: A) a Stevie Nicks cover, or B) a coming of age song. I was hoping for the latter. Thank sweet cocaine-sniffing Texans, it was the latter. Lord, the days of being 17 and having leather, if it weren't for Psyche, I would have forgotten those feelings from yesteryear, but now I feel like a young homo once again. Praise Allah, youth, and a libido. "Sacrament" is a song of pure chunkiness and it can only be compared to the sound of Alanis Morissette CDs, almonds and milk being mixed into a sweet jagged little song by a sassy pink Wesson blender. "Nightwalk Theme" is a great song. I originally heard this song by a local band called Mulch, and they were horrible. It was a horrible little indie band with a Robin Hood: Men in Tights reject as a guitarist and an Asian lead singer who preferred to be called Tree. Thank god someone took this chord progression and did something with it that didn't make me want to shit in the doorway of the oval office. Now that I think of it though, nothing is stopping my dreams of ruining age-old carpet with my bodily waste; Psyche will just make me feel even better while doing it. "Nobody Superstar" gives me feelings similar to watching the intro to the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead. It's eerie, frightening, but most of all, extremely pleasing. I was so pleased upon hearing it that I hit my head on the wall after trying to stand up from my sofa, while I was drunk with audio ecstasy. Overall, the Psyche sound is the electro equivalent of Weezer with a dash of Duran Duran beats to make a quirky blend of pop, industrial, and smooth synthpop edge. I'd say buy this album, but that's an understatement. Buy this album or else I'll mail you a copy of the new Hanson album.