The Shamen – Axis Mutatis

I'm not sure why the track Agua Azul never made it to these vinyl releases. Sad. It's one of the best songs on the album!

Axis Mutatis has some inspiring moments - but I personally can take it or leave it. However the second Arbor Bona Arbor Mala is worth the investment alone. Some of the finest sounds I have ever had my soul blessed with. It is the music of magic mushroom consciousness - pure concentrated sound that to me moves only the soul alone and little to do with the physical. The layering of the soundscape makes this piece a trip unto itself as you follow the number of variations going on at once, I have heard nothing quite like it. In a world the right way around where the majority of people were actually sane, this music would be considered a masterpiece and lauded for the genius it is

Surely one of their best records ever. Warehouse music, I think. All drugged, spaced out. Cool trance. All instrumentals are incredible. The angel-like singing is rare.
Sounds really fresh in 2016.

the reviews below are notwrong. This album is an intriguing and multi-faceted journey pushing underground sensibility against the commercial juggernaut that dance music was becoming 20 years ago.

Want to piss off a record company pressuring you to release another pop hit? Then record a double vinyl album with some lovely pop sensibilites and add another double album for free containing strickley underground electronic music. Stick that up your 21st century EDM marketing campaign ;)

Dig in. Search. Enjoy.

OK, I was skeptical when I read the reviews on here about the "Arbor Bona Arbor Mala" bonus album—basically I'm a big fan of The Shamen's "En-Tact" era, select moments of "Boss Drum", and I don't need a lot else that they did. However, upon reading the glowing reviews of "Axis Mutatis" and "Arbor Bona Arbor Mala" on here, I decided to give it a go. It's definitely a worthy continuation of the positive/bright landscapes of the original UK release of "En-Tact": "Possible Worlds", "Omega Amigo", "Human NRG", etc. I've always enjoyed the group best when they were using brilliant, buoyant melodies but not really creating songs necessarily for TOTP, so elements of "Boss Drum" really turned me off. After reading recently about how much pressure the One Little Indian label put on the group to be pop, I feel I misjudged the group. There's so much good music after the garish mess of "Ebeneezer Goode", I regret not hearing it until today. If you've done the same thing, it might be time for you to reappraise "Axis Mutatis" and "Arbor Bona Arbor Mala" yourself, despite the lack of Will Sin. They're much more "En-Tact" than "Boss Drum".

If you are looking for a 2nd Lifeforms (FSOL's masterpiece) then try out the bonus disc Arbor Bona Arbor Mala which comes with Axis Mutatis.

For myself, at least, this is probably the Shamen's one great crowning moment in their musical career as Techno Shamens. It demonstrates a time when all of their work and research (both in music, science and shamanism) ultimately came together into a detailed analogy of interconnected energies that stem throughout this galactic and dimensional existence that we find ourselves in... Having been a big fan of their music since the release of In Gorbachev We Trust, I kept a keen eye on their somewhat satyrical take on the then exploding London party scene, where... Boom! Colin Angus and Will Sin are meant to have met Mr C at the then Famous Clink Street parties.

So... Who are the Shamen? A lot of people I know think that they were just a cheeky (and somewhat cheesy) pop culture band who simply flashed the notion of drugs into a nations consciousness because it was nothing more than naughty, and would get them noticed. Fair enough... But I think they missed the point behind it all. For me, at least, The Shamen meant a lot, lot more. Always seeking to push out musical and communication boundaries, they see themselves as an information band, spreading the wisdom that sacred plants share with us and unlock within our consciousness. To demonstrate this in a metaphorical sort of way, their Internet site "Nemeton" has constantly played host to unique Web based events, including the releases of the first ever UK band single and LP's on the net, and provides information on the band and Shamanic literary information.

To top it off... Via ISDN link ups (way back when) they've broadcast live on-line gigs to Nemeton, enabling fans to enjoy the show "live" anywhere in the world. "Nemeton" also features a remarkable piece of software devised by Colin to convert the DNA structures of human life into electronic music. S2 Translation, a track featured on Axis Mutatis, was generated using this software. But I digress somewhat...

While In Gorbachev We Trust was a great cohesion of effected guitar rifts, funky programmed beats and lyrics inspired by the unified vibe of the acid house movement, their later release, En-Tact, seemed to captivate the future mode of their work to come. Whether this partly due to the arrival of Mr C, who brought a slightly more popular edge to their music with his rap attacks, it can only be speculated at. But either way, the heavily drenched synth music that filled En-Tract obviously provided the music technology lessons needed to pave the way for this future release.

As reflected by the album’s title, Axis Mutatis, it refers to the tree of life, the ancient symbol found in virtually all Shamanic cultures, which links the underworld with the earth and the heavens. This is obviously where founding member Colin Angus' erudite research into the mystical world of Shamanism, which gave the band their name, tie heavily into his passion for psychedelic 60's music.

The original release of this album (one CD only) is somewhat more complex in production than the popular preceding album "Boss Drum". While this album's lyrics also cover socio-political issues, such as the earth's growing eco-crisis and the Criminal Justice Act, it does so without the somewhat slap dash ideals that were found in Ebeneezer Goode's faulting attitude. Still pop-ish in many ways, it does draw great attention to the spirituality of Shamanism in a way that their past works might have only suggested. According to the One Little Indian website, "Musically it linked the multi-dimensional possibilities of electronic music, from melodic pop through to sequenced epics and onward into atmospheric spacey techno."

However... As a signpost to future direction, the band simultaneously released this as a limited edition companion album, which contains Arbor Bona, Arbor Mala, an extra CD that is composed entirely of radical instrumental mutations on the Axis Mutatis themes. And when I say radicial, I do so with a capital R. This is where this release of Axis Mutatis really comes into its own... As the title of this bonus CD procures, we all have a choice about which path we take during our lives here on earth... Good and bad; light and dark, we move between them both perceptually and meaningfully. And this idea is beautifully illustrated in these lush synthesizer work outs that have been captured in this 71 minute and 50 second seamless mix. Awesomely composed, mixed and programmed, it is in my opinion where The Shamen leave any trace of popular culture behind and delve deeply into a heady world of melodics, rhythms and suggestions of greater beingness, all interconnected in a higher, multidimensional plane... Mind blowing in its own right, this is as psychedelic as any Shaman could ever get.

With the Arbor Bona, Arbor Mala bonus CD, this release easily swipes a 5/5!