Mr Peculiar - Ritual

I´ve been a big fan of Mr Peculiar (Dustin Bint) since his psy-trance album Mind - Dala was released in 2005, (although I found his last cd-release on Hadra somewhat cheezy). His latest three releases are only available for download through his bandcamp. This album, entitled Ritual was released in June 2013, and is the first full-length chill album from this Australian musician. We are treated with 9 songs following the same formula - a dubby electronic vibe (sometimes bordering to lounge), nice melodies, quite a lot of singing (in what appears to be languages from the middle-eastern / asian part of the world) - but also a lot of atmosphere with floating pads and nice effectual sound-creations. Second song Sunrize quickly became on my favourites, with not too heavy dubby beats, nice pads, a floating flute and some beautiful vocals; also you are not too far from some quirky psychedelic sounds and melodies.

Song no.4 Moonbeams is a more groovy, loungy number - also with nice vocals and a very nice melodic part; I especially like the vocals in the end, intensifying and rooting the song. Next song Buddha Bounce starts out with a heavy dubby feel, a lot of rhythmic parts and even some nice acoustic elements. Closer to the end comes a part with a nice sitar-like instrument, and adding some more rhytms, closing it up with some vocals and a proper reggae vibe - electronic style. Listening to song no.8 Around the World, you can´t help but be reminded about a lot of what Shpongle does, it obviously has a smell of the work of Posford and Ram, build-up, vocal parts and also the increased tempo towards the end turning it into dance-explosion. Mr Peculiar finishes off this enjoyable ride with Wormholes, ending on a brighter, lighter side of chill, letting the listener floating towards the centre. All in all a very nice album, following a red thread never confusing the listener; and for 5 Euro it is a definite value for your money. Cheers, Dustin.

http://mrpeculiar.bandcamp.com/

matt-in-orbit 2013