Voice Of Cod - We Are Free

Organic Records

Author: Damion
Date: Oct 13, 2005
Views: 2271

Voice Of Cod

We Are Free

Organic (UK)



UK duo Voice Of Cod made serious waves with their We Are Free track in 2003. “That Drop” was talked about in hushed tones and caned at loud volumes, and while this album’s been a long time coming it certainly doesn’t disappoint. Bubbles Of Nothing kicks off, and instantly you remember why those early tracks got you so excited. The kick is smooth and chunky, less cumbersome than the bottomend on a lot of standard fullon. Here as elsewhere on the album, there’s a lot of yummy phasing on the sounds: they pan all round the room and beg you to crank the volume up. And, in true Cod style, the drop is breathtaking – from a clear, shining breakdown it plunges into the motherlode, an awesome riff that’s simultaneously clear and kicking, driving and smooth. The Unknowns hooks a Donald Rumsfeld sample and builds up a squelchy, spacious orb of sound around it. Once again the panning and filtering is top-notch; most noticeable in the breakdown, where a clean high-end synth is anally raped by a kicking, angry riff before dropping into pure London psychedelic goodness. The Art Of Funk Shui is one I’ve played so many times it’s like an old friend – but remastered here it sounds even more (cue bad kungfu pun) “punchy”. The lazy pitchbends drive it along, amid more comedy soundbites than the Montreal Just For Laughs festival... and THAT trouser-tightening melody that runs into the breakdown never fails to get the hairs on the back of the neck standing up. Go Downtown eases the foot off the gas a little, and takes its time to build itself up into a very wobbly, very m.d.m.essy trooper, which at +5 sounds like it could be released on a Parvati compilation. Misinfotainment sounds a little like a cleaner Cosmosis, with a great upward progression running up to a break that gives way to an unbelievable run. It’s magnetic – just… gah!! It sucks you in, it’s clean and it’s got that ‘plateau’ feel to it that’s so rare in psytrance these days. Bakelite Satellite is a cheeky one as well, more in keeping with the Voice Of Cod sound from previous compilation tracks that you’ll know. The mini-collapse into Star Spangled Banner, followed by a GW Bush sample, certainly gets the dancefloor giggling, and the electro-ey slowdown sound of the main break is smashing stuff. We’re talking silky-smoochy dancing here people, before it’s powerup time again and the launchpad flings you out into the chunkyverse: great samples, great acid, great stomping power. Fark. Slysis Me has a lumbering, pissed-dinosaur feel to it. Languid groove meets plinky percussion and holds the attention well, and the final riff is as big as the tits on a trucker’s wife. Just A Ride gets a remix here from Zuloop, and if you thought that Voice Of Cod’s high-watermark couldn’t get any higher, then think again. All the best bits of the original have been preserved and tweaked, but in such a way that when it’s mixed in, people will recognise it in phases. Additional topend melodies are spot on, and it just… well, you know what the original did. This one does it better. Finally, Heart Of Gold (again, nothing to do with Neil Young, dad) gets the cremaster muscle on overdrive once again, a great fusion of shitkicking at the bottom and fluid-melodic at the top. Which kind of sums this album up really – on the strength of this, they deserve to be promoted from the Championship to the Premier League. The sound may not be instantly accessible to those dancefloors hooked on music made by Israeli teenagers, but the depth and variety (not to mention the comedy) means this deserves to do rather well.



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