Mangadrive - Mechafetish

Last year, Psytek artist Mangadrive released 'Mechafetish', an 11 track album featuring collaborations with bands Torrent Vaccine, Access to Arasaka and Iszoloscope. The album is available on CDr and in MP3 format. The album was released on his own label, Cyberninja.Digital, an Indie label which includes only 4 acts, ranging from IDM to Hip-Hop.

Mangadrive (Bee Teknofiend) hails from South Carolina in the United States. His music can only be described as a combination of Psytrance, Electro-Industrial and Techno which is reminiscent of video game music or soundtracks. Since 2008, Mangadrive has been self releasing eight albums (one on the now defunct label Crunch Pod) and three singles/EPs. He has appeared on over 10 compilations, and has composed over 21 remixes for bands like Lucidstatic, Angelspit, Alter Der Ruine, Iammynewt, Sinsect, Iszoloscope, Diverje, Caustic, and many more. With influences such as Mind.In.A.Box, Memmaker and Astrix, Mangadrive manages to combine the distinctive speedy elements of Psytrance with the heavier synths of Electro-Industrial. His albums take you for quite a ride.

I am big fan of Psytrance, so when I heard of an artist who combines that element with industrial dance music and techno, I was eager to check it out. Mangadrive does one of my favorite remixes for Iszoloscope (for the track 'Raudivian Device'). I must say, I was little surprised at what I heard and I definitely was not expecting it to be what it was. I was expecting it to be more Psytrance based, but his music reminds me of video game music (not Chiptunes though, more like the soundtrack to an intense car racing game). I read in an interview that Bee played animes like Gundam, Evangelion or something similar while writing and recording this album. He wanted you to feel like you are in a mech suit for an hour, but the environment surrounding the listener changes throughout the album. I feel he achieved what he was aiming for. I can imagine myself being in a fighting game or racing game and the music really pumps you up. I'll admit, I was working out when I was listening to this and it made me pedal faster on the bike HA! It was very fun to listen to and I found myself smiling a lot while listening to it. And I'm pretty grumpycat most of the time.

All songs on the album are generally hard hitting, between 140 and 150 BPM. All of the songs are fairly long in length. The shortest ones are around 5 minutes and range up to 7 minutes, but manage to keep you interested despite the length of the track. Many Psytrance songs can last upwards of 10-12 minutes and are filled will repetitive nonsense, so I'm glad that Bee managed to keep the tracks on the shorter side. Most of the songs are complex with many layers to them. They tend to build up throughout the entire song and reach a huge climax at the end (as most Psytrance tracks do), but some do contain points where the music while get quiet and calm the listener down, but only for a minute until the music slams you right back in the face with pounding beats and grinding synths.

I wasn't a huge fan of the collab with Access to Arasaka, 'Future Energy Sources' (which is sad because I ADORE Arasaka with all my heart and I to want marry Robert). I wasn't entirely sure how those two completely opposite genres would blend together and I really just didn't hear a lot of Arasaka in the song. It felt a little forced to me. Besides that opinion, I still like both bands separately. The collab with Iszoloscope, 'Machine Fused From Undead', stuck out a little more for me because it definitely has Yann's noisy influence to it. In general, it's a good track and stands alone on the album as something that sounds different from the rest of the tracks.

Fans of artists such as Xenomorph, Mind.In.A.Box and The Prodigy will probably enjoy this album. If you're into Psytrance bands like Astral Projection and Analog Pussy, or perhaps techno artists like Juno Reactor or Infected Mushroom, you'll probably enjoy this album. Don't expect it to be full-on psy though.

And now for something completely different from Bee, check out Mangadrive's side project Gheists (Downtempo, Grime, Trip Hop, Electronic). May 23 2013