Infected Mushroom

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Infected Mushroom is an Israeli psychedelic trance duo which has attained significant popularity from the late 1990s to the present time (2006). Formed by Erez Aizen and Amit Duvdevani (also known as Duvdev) in the city of Haifa, located in the northern parts of Israel, the duo has garnered a large international fanbase. Infected Mushroom are known for their consistent sonic evolution exemplified by the subsequent albums The Gathering (1999), Classical Mushroom (2000), BP Empire (2001), Converting Vegetarians (2003) and the recently released IM The Supervisor (2004).

1 Members
2 Albums
3 Other Projects
4 Discography
5 External links

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Members

Erez Aizen was born in 1980 and has early musical training: he learned to play the organ at the age 4 and started studying piano in the Haifa Conservatory at the age 8. At age 11 he started toying with computerized music, first using Impulse Tracker, later moving to more advanced musical composition software. By the age of 18, Erez had collaborated with DJ Jorg and other notable psytrance artists, and had released 3 albums and a multitude of tracks under different psytrance acts (including Shidapu and Shiva Shidapu).

Amit Duvdevani was born in 1974 and has a similar musical background. He played the piano for 9 years, starting at the age 7, before taking a turn towards heavy metal and punk rock. Amit played keyboard and wrote most of the material for a local Haifa punk rock band known as Enzyme. Amit went to his first trance party in 1991, a week before conscripting to the Israeli army (where he was first nicknamed Duvdev). He has more than once described this experience as life changing - from that time onwards all he could think of was trance music. After he finished his conscription, Amit spent a year in India (primarily in Goa), and finally decided to make music himself. He collaborated with a member of Shidapu on 4 tracks but never actually released them.

In 1998, Erez and Amit began playing together. At first they released a few tracks as Shidapu & Duvdev. These tracks were 'happier' and of the simpler side of trance. Later on, they formed the duo Infected Mushroom and started working on their first album. The name Infected Mushroom was chosen to commemorate a disbanded (1989 to 1993) punk rock band of the same name, which Amit had admired.

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Albums

1999's The Gathering was the breakthrough debut album for Infected Mushroom. The album featured a dark, rhythmic atmosphere exemplified in the song "Psycho", which gathered much acclaim and popularity. This album was one of the first albums to bring Israeli psytrance to more 'mainstream' audiences, and contributed to the gradually growing popularity of the genre world-wide. The following year (2000) the duo released one of their best-known albums, also being one of the best-known albums in the genre today, Classical Mushroom (2000). The album showcased a track often cited as their most popular track, 'Bust A Move'. This album is commonly referred to as the best example of the group's talent.

Infected Mushroom's evolving style has also had its share of critics. 2001's BP Empire was well-received by many fans and critics alike. Especially renowned is the musical epic 'Dancing With Kadafi'; seguing numerous styles of music, most notably through the use of strong middle-eastern style melodies and a classial piece halfway through (which showcased Erez and Amit's piano and violin skills). However, the album was not as popular with mainstream audiences when compared with earlier releases, primarily due to the less accessible melodies in most of the tracks. The album was also seen as a break away from the more traditional styles of psytrance by many psytrance purists, who felt that the new territories explored went beyond the bounds of psytrance but not necessarily in a progressive sense.

The group's most controversial album proved to be Converting Vegetarians (2003) which featured 2 discs (also known as 'sides'). The first of the 2 CDs is the inoffensive 'Trance Side', which contains mostly trance-like dancefloor material. The 'Trance Side' is a logical progression of their earlier work (although it is cited by some as less imaginative than their earlier work). The 2nd CD is entitled 'The Other Side', and it contains mostly genre-bending experimental music - ranging from the R&B inspired title track 'Converting Vegetarians' (which was the first true display of Duvdev's characteristic voice) to the more down-tempo laid-back 'Elation Station', and also from the electro-pop tracks 'Blink' and 'Illuminaughty' (with vocals by the well-known UK psytrance vocalist Michele Adamson) to the short and experimental Shakawkaw (later expanded to a full length track). The album also contained the track 'Ballerium', which was originally recorded as a soundtrack to an up-and-coming internet game and later scrapped by the game designers. The remainder of the CD went on to reveal other musical stylings, including 'I Wish', lead by a carefully vocoded vocal line.

The release of the most eagerly anticipated album of their career, IM The Supervisor in 2004 (often incorrectly referred to as I'm The Supervisor), further surprised listeners with yet another cocktail of psytrance elements and many more musical influences. The album was criticized as being too "commercialized" by many fans, but became Infected Mushroom's best selling album none the less. In their world tour supporting this album, the renowned Israeli guitarist Erez Netz was selected to be Infected Mushroom's on-stage guitarist.

In December of 2004, Infected Mushroom have moved from their base in Haifa to a new studio in Los Angeles, California. Erez and Amit plan to produce their new album (Vicious Delicious) in this new studio, all the while maintaining their extensive world tour (one which is still running non-stop since 1999), currently (January 2006) primarily focused at South America.

Infected Mushroom are widely acknowledged as pioneers of the psychedelic trance (or 'psytrance') genre, however, many of their most recent albums are more indicative of an 'electronic band' style of genre (the duo recently professed as much in an Australian music magazine interview). Nevertheless, Infected Mushroom are still considered to be one of the most popular 'psytrance' acts operating today. This has been attributed to their constantly evolving style of music, but also to their tendency to use catchier, more accessible melodies than the more eccentric 'tripped-out' melodies used in most other psytrance music. Some have attributed the difference in the melodies Erez and Amit construct to their classical training.

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Other Projects

Erez Aizen sometimes releases tracks as I.Zen or One Man Crew. He has also been part of the Goa trance music groups Shidapu and Shiva Shidapu.
Amit Duvdevani sometimes collaborates with other artists, such as PsySex, and as Duvdev.

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