Decolonize Your Mind Society

Inspired by non-European traditional music, non-standard tuning systems, psychedelic ritual performances, and the legendary Jon Hassell's Fourth World music, Budapest-based Decolonize Your Mind Society was founded by Nicolas Jaar’s Other People label and Opal Tapes affiliate Bálint Szabó Gosheven as a natural continuation of his creative focus and work. The band has an absolutely unique sound thanks to the special instruments they use, like the award-winning glissotar wind instrument designed by Dániel Váczi or the refretted just intonation guitar and fretless guitars, not to mention the retunable analogue synthesizer that further expands their mindblowing musical planet. They float in a hazy no man’s land between psychedelic microtonal jazz, rock, avant-garde, and experimental music.

Just intonation music needs new approaches and new instruments, and their effort on their debut record seems quite extraordinary. On “A Courteous Invitation To​ ​An​ ​Uninhabited Anabatic Prism”, they tried to celebrate life through the sheer joy of playing together. They wanted to present these extremely colourful tunes to the public as a reminder that there is always a bright side to this amazing magical universe.

With their second album, “A Second Invitation To An Uninterrupted Katabatic Lens,” released in March 2023, the band has created a similarly unique sound world, this time using tempered tunings derived from equal divisions of the octave, odd rhythms, and playing more instruments with flexible pitches.

"The world heard through their music's lens may seem warped in relation to Eurocentric norms, but it never sounds arcane or frivolously decorative." (The Wire 2023, Julian Cowley)

"It's the same kind of healing through sound that Decolonize Your Mind Society are aiming for on this irresistible debut - and exactly what the world needs right now." (The Wire 2020, Daniel Spicer)

“NYC’s 75 Dollar Bill is a useful reference for Balint Szabo’s guitar groove, but the ensemble playing fills out the picture over a wide horizon ... [their music] travels far on a pulse of Can, spiritual jazz and resonant folkloric melodies.” (John Robinson, Uncut)

“Modern Marrocco’s sound moved somewhere in the ‘70s of European psychedelic period of Don Cherry’s with a lot of twisted synth ... organic heavy kraut-rock sound which can enhance the experience adding a new layer of beauty for each audition – a psychedelic ritual performance.” (George Staicu, Muzica De Vest)

Album of the Month by The Attic