The Kosmik Kommando - Overmind

**Macca** · January 7, 2014

https://soundcloud.com/detuned_retrotechno/sets/asg-de003-the-kosmik-kommando

new stormer from The Kosmik Kommando

lots of fun this album!!!

snag a copy via http://www.normanrecords.com/records/144446-the-kosmik-kommando-overmind-

8 tracks of ammunition for any dancefloor craving a bit of good acid, I'll let the review from Norman speak for this one ;)

"
Original UK Techno Don/ Acid Techno pioneer/ TB-303 Lord Mike Dred (Machine Codes/Rephlex/ R&S/ Diatomyc/ Analog/ Beta Bodega etc.) follows up 2011’s ultra limited private press ‘Analogue Android’ 2LP and the (currently) digital only genius ‘Lunatic Sound Designer (LSD)’ album with the storming ‘Overmind’, his fourth full length as The Kosmik Kommando. We finally scored some copies of this a few weeks late after the distro fell asleep and then was busy celebrating Jesus’ birthday.
The album consists of eight blazing cuts referencing Timothy Leary’s “Eight-Circuit Model of Consciousness”. Where Leary’s work relied on experimentation with chemicals to explore these zones, Dred’s tools are voltage, electrical energy converted into sound via his machines. Drugs and rave culture are intrinsically intertwined and nobody can deny that drugs can be a catalyst to reaching higher states of consciousness but Mike has proved time and time again across his vast catalogue that one can reach these states purely through sound. As he once succinctly put it “It’s a state of mind”.
From the off these are pure dancefloor weapons. Despite forays into experimental sound art, the floor is a realm he’s more than familiar with, having roots spinning wax back in the 80’s; from hip-hop through to electro, acid house, techno and beyond. This oldskool wisdom is immediately apparent on opener ‘Biosurvival’ with one foot in the past, referencing golden era rave but never overly nostalgic. The other foot is firmly in the present with immaculate contemporary production. With a grumbling analogue bassline, functional rhythmic/ percussive framework and bubbling 303 it really builds tension, giving the feeling of embarking on a journey through the cosmos, complete with vocal countdown sample which cleverly anticipates the hyperspace of follower ‘Neurogenetic’. This track is pure energy, total euphoria with one of Mike’s distinctive, trademark killer acid lines - evidence that he’s one of the most idiosyncratic artists to ever tweak the pots on the TB-303. Again a simple one word sampled phrase “Go” provides an additional narrative.
‘Sociosexual’ will tear the fuckin’ roof off any warehouse party, maxed out strobes and smoke with this searing acid spitting, spewing and gurgling out of the soundsystem will have bodies contorting into new shapes and the muntered gurning their faces clean off. You get the picture, those moments that make life worth living, this is the perfect soundtrack and should be the textbook model of what acid techno can be when created with skill, knowledge and passion. There’s a a sample of a girl saying “Prepare yourselves for a jack attack”. She should be saying “Prepare to soil yourself” before the thunderous 909 claps come hammering in and an evil laugh gives the track a darker edge. ‘Neurosemantic’ has some of that ever so delicious 1988 vintage Chicago flavour, with sparse funky snares and a bassline that doffs its cap to Chris Westbrook but again rather than a predictable homage this has KK stamped all over it.
Over on the second plate ‘Psychoatomic’ is a mutant electro-acid-rave hybrid offering a brief respite, the calm before the storm if you will for what is to come next. ‘Neurosomatic’ is a spectacularly uplifting tune with constantly ascending acid whipping up a storm of pure psychedelic dance energy. ‘Emoterritorial’ further increases the intensity with pHace-melting, brain frazzling synths that sound like bolts of pure electricity, complete with peaks and troughs to work the floor into a frenzy. Finally the set closes with a “Red Alert” warning before The Kosmik Kommando unleashes some pummeling analogue Eurotechno with fresh dynamics.
300 copies, 180gm white vinyl with artwork by Mike himself. Your 1210’s need it like man needs boobies - You know the drill.
"

Edited January 7, 2014 by Macca

**Rubin Farr** · January 8, 2014

Nice! I still listen to Valley of the Spirits

**Herr Jan** · January 8, 2014

This album is a killer indeed!

Jason Doppler recently did a show on Intergalactic FM dedicated to the Kosmik Kommando, with a 20 minute or so Skype-interview with Mike Dred + a long mix by Doppler containing Dred's music through the years. They also talk about this release and more! Well worth a listen.

https://intergalacticfm.com/content/audio.php?a=i&i=2840

Cheladrix · January 8, 2014

Whaaat? I thought he had closed up shop and I quit checking to see if he put anything out, so glad he's back in action. Freaquenseize has aged really well, I still remember how pleased I was to finally get a cd copy back when Warp found a few lying around in their warehouse and sold them on Warpmart (pre-bleep). Oddly, everyone slept on Universal Indicator Ultraviolet, you can still get the vinyl really cheap on discogs if you don't have it. I think a lot

**Rubin Farr** · January 9, 2014

Some good shit on Mike's bandcamp, he even found an old box of the Chimera 12"!

Out Of The Valley EP by Chimera (Mike Dred)

**Herr Jan** · January 9, 2014

On 1/9/2014 at 9:11 AM, Rubin Farr said:

Some good shit on Mike's bandcamp, he even found an old box of the Chimera 12"!

Out Of The Valley EP by Chimera (Mike Dred)

Whoaa, thanks for that link man! Never even heard that EP, always thought that Chimera was a Rephlex-only project.

edit; ordered with the Fu Chin Ra EP, I need more of those nostalgic dreamy acid belters.

**Macca** · January 13, 2014

This album is a killer indeed!

Jason Doppler recently did a show on Intergalactic FM dedicated to the Kosmik Kommando, with a 20 minute or so Skype-interview with Mike Dred + a long mix by Doppler containing Dred's music through the years. They also talk about this release and more! Well worth a listen.

https://intergalacticfm.com/content/audio.php?a=i&i=2840

cheers for this Jan! will check the interview out shortly :)

**Macca** · January 15, 2014

worth mentioning this is available digitally now via Mikes bandcamp http://mikedred.bandcamp.com/

Edited January 15, 2014 by Macca

January 17, 2014

Acid!

Mike posted on facebook about a funny altercation with someone trying to get this album for free from him:

So I have this guy on my case named Scott Miller aka 'DJ Last Starfighter' who is too important to put his hand in his pocket and buy a track for £1 because he "always has "Artists" send him tracks for free". So, he rips the 128MP3 from the Bandcamp stream and writes to say that the 'Mastering is bad' (what so you think about that Thomas?) and 'people are complaining' (there is no qualification as to who these 'people' are of course). I explain that if he'd actually purchased the track for all of £1, He'd have an option to download the full res 16 Bit 44.1Khz file. He then calls me a dick and asks who else buys my music anyway!
lolz at that.
And then, he writes again, to ask if he can get the track anywhere else as a FLAC because bandcamp isn't working for him. (note: in order to even steam the track, Bandcamp has to be functioning).
It's gets better... And then, straight away, I receive an email alert because someone with higher (normal) morals has just supported my music by actually buying it.

`Heaven help us!`

**Rubin Farr** · January 30, 2014

Mike sent me an autographed Machine Codes CD with my Chimera 12". Very cool of him.

**Herr Jan** · January 30, 2014

Mike sent me an autographed Machine Codes CD with my Chimera 12". Very cool of him.

Damnit, that could've been mine! He said he was going to send me some extra goodies because he shipped out too late, but he forgot (or mixed up packages?) and later send me the digital version only to make up for it. Still really nice since he only shipped out a week later so it didn´t bother me really.