Infected Mushroom – Songs that Shaped Us

Published Jun 15, 2016

Electronic duo Infected Mushroom share 6 songs by their favorite artists and from their own career. Hear their playlist and read about the influences that helped them shape their signature psy trance sound.

“Infected Mushroom” may sound like a shroom gone bad, but don’t let the name fool you. Since the mid-1990s, the dynamic duo from Israel have been creating and performing some of the most exciting and progressive live electronic music around, combining complex arpeggiated trance melodies with distorted rock guitars and vocals. Their brand of psy trance has achieved massive success, leading to collaborations with Lady Gaga, Zedd, Paul Oakenfold, and even rock legends the Doors. We caught up with the duo’s members, Erez and Duvdev, to find out which three songs by other artists have had the biggest impact on them, and which three songs of their own they consider special landmarks in their career.

We are pleased to feature Infected Mushroom in our first installment of Artist of the Month – your place to get a more intimate look at Waves’ affiliated artists, their personal tastes and their career growth.

1. Shpongle, “Divine Moment of Truth”

“No other EQ shines up a lead vocal like Waves’ SSL Channel. Dial in a nice top-end boost around 8 or 10 kHz and a slight hi-pass filter to eliminate rumble, and you immediately have the vocal sound of countless hit records. You get all the sparkle and clarity without any harshness – a purely analog-sounding silky high end. Add in the compressor for some punch, and your vocal tracks are ready for airplay on the radio!”

2. X-Dream, “Radio”

“This is another great song (and album) which changed our whole perspective, not only about sound quality, but also about how trance music works on the dance floor. It made us respect and fall in love with the more minimalistic side of trance.”

3. Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”

“‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has got to be in there. This song has it all – the journey, the quality, the technical mastery. It’s timeless, and we can only hope to transcend time in the same way.”

4. Infected Mushroom, “Montoya”

“In terms of our own music, let’s start off with ‘Montoya’ from 1996. One night we were experimenting in the studio and accidentally discovered our signature “lead distortion” sound by connecting our old-school Juno 106 to a fully gained Mackie mixer channel. The result was a distorted sound with lots of resonance which screamed beautifully into our ears. At the time, we thought it was as monumental as creating a time machine!”

5. Infected Mushroom, “Dancing with Kadafi”

“This tune is important to us because it was our first time creating a long downtempo track that continuously evolved every minute, like eight songs in one. At the time we were heavily influenced by Dream Theater and Shpongle. The song involved a random violinist that we picked up off the street, which is pretty psychedelic in itself!”

6. Infected Mushroom, “Riders on the Storm” (Remix)

“We are always proud to collaborate with other artists, but if we had to name just one, it would have to be our remixes for the Doors. This project was made for use in Warner Bros. films and TV. We were offered to remix and collaborate with the Doors’ keyboard legend, the late Ray Manzarek. He was a super-humble person and an amazingly sharp and talented artist.”

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