CoC : Shalabi Effect - Shalabi Effect : Review

Shalabi Effect - _Shalabi Effect_
(Alien8 Recordings, 2000)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (7 out of 10)

It would seem that my reviews are growing more and more fringe to the associated CoC musical style as I now explore the psychedelic works of Shalabi Effect. Comprised of two CDs which clock in at 131 minutes, it has taken me nearly three months of on/off listens to properly formulate my thoughts on this recording. Psychedelic music is by no means my forte. In fact, it comes as not even a fringe interest. Perhaps due to my disdain for hallucinogenics and narcotics (the key, I hear, to finding Jefferson Airplane an "intensely interesting and fulfilling listen"), I wrote the genre off as being a nice compliment to drug culture and spiritualism through a needle. Shalabi Effect has helped alter my view on the matter considerably as they construct warped sculptures of sound that borrows as much from the electronic as it does the acoustic. Noisey in parts, musically transcendental in others, there is a battle of light and dark which finds synthesis in a sea of blinding color. There is nothing harsh about the works contained on this album and it is quite enjoyable that it be the case. "Harsh" and "extreme" are words too often seen as synonymous in the evaluation of music. While there may be appeal in the darker side of that which is extreme (especially to the CoC reader), no soul is so absent of color that nothing but the blackest of the black come crashing out of one's stereo all the time. There is nothing maddening about the sounds here and the delight (even if it be an idiot's delight) walks hand-in-hand with the music. Recommended.

Contact: http://www.alien8recordings.com

(article published 13/3/2001)