Ajana Records is out with their third release, and this time we're treated to the debut of 27 year old Yosi Shamay aka Capsula. After releasing a few very promising tracks on compilations earlier this year the expectations are high for his first full-lenght album... …

First of all this entire package oozes of maturity and musical knowhow. Even though it's his debut, you can clearly tell that this is a guy who knows whitch knobs to tweak in order to create those crisp, buzzing sounds of pure relaxing psychedelia. What also strikes me is the intense feeling of melancholy found in many of the tracks, but then again the album touches upon the entire spectrum of feelings. Before we start - a quick piece of advice: enjoy this album as a full piece from start to end - this is nothing to pop in if you have five minutes to spare before rushing off to catch the bus. Intense and focused listening is recomended! Now let's take a quick peak at the tracks:

#01: Mulholland Dub
This track is first and foremost an excellent opener to a great album. The track is actually not made by Capsula himself, but by someone who goes under the name of "Radius". Even so, its a nice tease to what your about to experience for the next seventy minutes or so. It rolls of in a dubby pace with massive amounts of bass, lulling you into a dreamlike state. It tears you out of it every now and then, as you are met with angstridden sweeps reminding you that reality is never to far away.

# 02: Retro Inversion
Still within the dubby realms but with a more urban attitude this time. The beat of the track is a bit rougher than on the first one and bass is again a key-element. Huge variety in sounds and instruments also make the track a unike ride. Flutes, an organ(?), and a ton of sythesized sounds together with a 'shpognelesque' warping of various voicesamples should make this psychedelic enough for annyone.

# 03: Dont Wake Up
The third track of the album opens as an absolute dreamer. Soundscaps and harmonies blend into eachother creating a fluid symbiosis of sound. Again the use of many instruments stand out. Electric guitarsolos(!) panflutes and acustic guitars drive the track as it eventually becomes more breakbeat oriented and upbeat. The transitions from the slow parts of the track to the speedier works well and there is allways a sense of progression as it gradually builds and gets stronger. Nice!

# 04: Gates of Heaven
First of all – This is a beautiful track. Period. It has a horribly cheesy title, but it actually manages to live up to it! The driving force in the track is a simple relaxing beat together with an acoustic guitar playing a simple, repetitive set of tones. Beautiful simplicity! Thats not all, though - as he key here is also to listen to everything going on in the background; complex, everchanging patterns of sound create these amazing sensations(This goes for most of the tracks here, by the way) - No chillout has made me feel like this for quite some time! And those weird voicesamples...God damn, this is great stuff. Towards the end of the track it becomes more intense - more hypnotic, and I for one am completely lost in this stuff... Very beautiful!

# 05: The Chemists Choice
This is also a very good piece of music, though not the stongest track on the album. More driven by repeated basslines than other parts of the disc, this really makes me curious as to what this guy could do if he decided to do psychedelic trance instead of chill. I sense a bit of an olschool-morning vibe in some of the melodies here – it ceirtanly pleases my ears!

# 06: Inorganic Creatures(Laugh of the Goblin)
«And now for something completely different...» This track is again more beat-oriented. The bass and the drums push the track which starts off in a dubbish-triphop'ish manner and after a while moves into something that could perhaps be described as very spaced out drum'n bass. After a few tracks of intense introspective mindwork it's a nice change to notice your right foot starts moving a bit as well. Towards the end of the track it's again taken down a notch. Expect to laugh along!

# 07: I Know that I Know
This is as far as I can tell the only previously released track on the album, as it was part of peak records "Chilling Godess". The feeling I get here is....PARANOIA! Dark(ish) hard edged sounds twists this track far into the not-so-plesant parts of your brain. Again - the use of voicesamples is very prominent, and works well. My advice: be carefull with this track if you're tripping..

# 08: Out there somewehere
If you manage to get through the intese headtrip of "I know that I know" there is however a reward as we step in to the morning sun with this one. The track has a more upbeat feeling and is definetley the "feel-good" track of the album. A nice piano and some violin-like instrument puts you in a cheerfull mood. The voicesamples are entertaing as well, and throughout the track you are bombarded with small little impulses creating an overall psychedelic feeling.

# 09: Human Mentality
If you manage to get through the intese headtrip of "I know that I know" there is however a reward as we step in to the morning sun with this one. The track has a more upbeat feeling and is definetley the "feel-good" track of the album. A nice piano and some violin-like instrument puts you in a cheerfull mood. The voicesamples are entertaing as well, and throughout the track you are bombarded with small little impulses creating an overall psychedelic feeling.

# 10: Second attention
Atmosphere is the key in this track, and it's one of the less melodic ones on the album. The main focus here is on shifting soundscapes as well as small constant changing of noises. The rythm is also an important aspect as it's more tribally oriented than on other parts of the cd. Capsulas love for voicesamples is once again demonstrated, but luckilly he doesnt overdo it.

# 11: Ride the wave
The last track of the album sums it all up beautifully - the cycle has come to an end and we are slowly taken back in to the real world. As you surface at the end of this track you realize you've experienced something truley special, beaytiful and pretty unike.

Final remarks:
Damn! That was some some trip! It's nice to see that electronic music comming out of Israel is more than the average killaaaargh full-on releases we're getting so used to. I'm extremely happy to report that this album actually lived up to my extremely high expectations - and perhaps even delivered more than I had dared to hope for. There is so much going on in every tack here,but it's never overdone - it's never too much. The wonderfully complex melodies, all the work being done in the background, the beats, the use of voicesamples, the constant sonic manipulation - it all seems to melt together in a near perfect manner. Ajana records made a vice choice signing this guy and the result is a unike journey of chilled dub, downbeat and sometimes almost ambient music. The flow of the album also work out really well and there are no tracks here that stand out in a negative way. No less then a highly recomended album for the dedicated psyhead!