★★★☆☆
The Devine Xperience unleash their self-titled debut album on Let’s Beat Milo Records. The band is also signed to the legendary DJ Keoki’s label, Keoki Records. The album could be categorized as dubstep, but that wouldn’t do it justice because it crosses over into breaks and electronica. The songs feature lyrical content that stray from what you’d normally hear from club music. Emitting social, political and spiritual messages, it’s clear the band intends to invoke their listeners to think on a deeper level. I’m not saying that they are the only band to conduct conscious lyrics, but it’s a breath of fresh air to hear.
The full-length spans a range of sonic textures and is a melting pot of dubstep, breakbeats and psytrance. Many of the tracks even feature the classic trancy sounds of the ’90s. Add it all up and you have a musical collage created to take you on a genre crossing journey. Robert Devine, Vanessa Garlicand and Enki Siruzis are the driving forces behind an outfit that clearly has some roots in goth — at least in the way that they like to dress. Along with the 11-song album, the band members released a music video for “Completely in a Trance,” clearly a song they are putting in the spotlight. Although it’s a solid track, this isn’t my favorite version of track (there are two) on the album. To me the radio edit gives off more energy, but I tend to prefer tracks that are more intense — the version featured in the music video certainly executes the band’s intention of creating music with a clear message.
If you are a fan of acts like Überzone and Rabbit in the Moon, you’ll want to give The Divine Xperience a shot. This is a solid album that is well produced. The music will take you on a sonic journey and it has a nice flow to it. Perhaps you can pop this in your iPod for your road trip down to Burning Man to get you in the mood.
