‘This is the Harsh Trip for New Psyche’ by Dope Purple & Berserk | Album Premiere
Exclusive album premiere of ‘This is the Harsh Trip for New Psyche’ by Dope Purple & Berserk, out March 1, 2024 via WV Sorcerer Productions and Riot Season Records.
Three years have passed since the release of their acclaimed album ‘Grateful End.’ Following the successful reissue of their live release ‘Psychedelic Scum Freaks’ last year, Taipei’s underground psychedelic maestros, Dope Purple, are back with their latest offering, ‘This Is The Harsh Trip For New Psyche.’ Once again co-released by Riot Season and WV Sorcerer Productions, the album is available in three vinyl variants as well as digitally.
With ‘This Is The Harsh Trip For New Psyche,’ Dope Purple delivers a blend of harsh noise and psychedelic rock. The noise elements are meticulously recorded, offering a detailed sonic experience that seamlessly intertwines with the other instruments across the entire frequency spectrum. Each track on the album embarks on a journey through spectral sadness and insanity, drawing inspiration from classic Japanese bands like High Rise, Mainliner, and Les Rallizes Dénudés.
A collaboration with Berserk, an emerging underground talent from Taipei known for their chaotic frequency manipulation and meticulously crafted post-apocalyptic soundscapes since 2015, adds depth to the album’s sonic landscape.
Featuring hand-drawn artwork by Japanese artist 柏木辿 Ten Kashiwagi, and with mixing/mastering once again handled by 濁朗 Darklaw from Japan, the album perfectly captures both its aesthetic and technical essence.
In the band’s own words;
“This is a Sci-Fi story about Norman the Sinner.
Like the concept of Yin and Yang, this album has the concepts of Moon/Earth and Curse/Blessing, and under this structure we try to present a narrative of psychedelic rock fused with noise.
Musically, this album is the opposite side of our last album ‘Psychedelic Scum Freaks’. For me, ‘Psychedelic Scum Freaks’ is the “fiercest” album I’ve ever accidentally made, and it’s one of the achievements I’ve had in mind for a long time.
It gave me a great sense of achievement, but at the same time it gave me a sense of pressure.
Dope Purple had to go beyond ‘Psychedelic Scum Freaks,’ but I didn’t want to do it in exactly the same way. So for ‘This is the Harsh Trip for New Psyche’ we invited Taiwanese noise musician Berserk to do the same approach as on the last album, fusing “psychedelic rock” with “harsh noise”, but instead of “extreme” we explored the possibilities of “experimental”.
At the same time, this album is a collection of my “love songs,” every song is filled with my “love” and “challenge” for my favourite bands. You could also say that I reinterpreted my favourite songs in the style of “Noise Rock”.
One of the reasons was that due to the pandemic we couldn’t do a cross-country production as smoothly as before (the album was mixed at 濁朗 Darklaw’s house in Japan).
But the other reason is that I couldn’t deal with the chaos of that time either. It was only after a period of calm that I was able to face my inner turmoil and chaos, and I finally realised that I had sacrificed a lot of people for the sake of making music.
Therefore, I changed the lyrics and reconstructed the album under the theme of Sci-Fi Fable.
Norman of the Moon is you and me.”
Dope Purple Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Berserk Facebook / Bandcamp
WV Sorcerer Productions Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp
Riot Season Records Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp / YouTube / Soundcloud
