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Infected Mushroom Cause Dance Epidemic
This weekend, world-famous psytrance group Infected Mushroom played a hard-hitting show at M2. Admittedly, I am no expert in psychedelic trance music and I must say that my expectations at first were quite low due to the fact their name sounds like something out of a Middle School battle of the bands. However, their performance was nothing short of riveting and was arguably Shanghai's best show yet of 2011.
Infected Mushroom formed over a decade ago in Haifa, Israel when beat mastermind Erez Eisen teamed up with Mr. Clean look-a-like/lead singer Amit Duvdevani. Since joining forces, these two have released seven albums, added on two more members, and have been on a non-stop world tour that began all the way back in 1999. Their latest stop was at M2, Shanghai's large industrial club that has a penchant for bringing in world-class acts.
By now, you're probably asking yourself "What the hell is psytrance?" Infected Mushroom's sound can best be described as high-tempo, dark, electro house that is melodically and rhythmically more complex than most music you would hear on a regular Saturday at M2.
Even though Infected Mushroom began as strictly an electro duo, they have brought on a live guitarist and a drummer to fill out their sound. Lanky guitarist Erez Netz strutted on stage with his long hair covering most of his face and a cigarette dangling from his lips to kick off the set with an impressive, wailing guitar solo. Brazilian percussionist Rogerio Jardin's main purpose in Infected Mushroom is to add some much needed power and Latin spice to the often-repetitive drumbeats of trance music. Even while reading music off of the iPad placed next to him, Rogerio quickly worked up a sweat and got the crowd rocking up and down.
The ten plus years these guys have on the road was clear from their stage presence right from the get go. After Netz's stone-faced solo intro, lead singer Amit Duvdevani came bouncing on stage and immediately got the hundreds of glow sticks in M2 all waving in the same direction. Once Eisen laid down the first nebulous, heavy beat, the constant thud never ceased for the rest of their two-hour set.
The climax of the concert was when Infected Mushroom dropped their catchy fight song "Becoming Insane". The group's Israeli roots showed through in Netz's identifiably Mediterranean melody. Amit completely controlled the crowd as he screamed, "I'm becoming insane" over and over again with a devilish grin on his face. Eisen finished off the song with a killer piano solo, effortlessly displaying his mastery on top of the driving beat.
All in all, Infected Mushroom's set was a two-hour tour de force, seamlessly combining the best aspects of both the electro and the rock worlds. Big-name acts are nothing new to M2, but the pure level of intensity and power brought by Infected Mushroom - that's a disease you don't catch every day.