When he back announced Ludiomil 75 on his 29/5/93 show, Peel remarked that it, Sounds like, and very probably is, something you’d prescribe. And it turns out, he was absolutely correct.
I haven’t found any evidence to suggest that Aad de Mooy, the man behind Paradise 3001, ever suffered from depression and managed it with Ludiomil. This track is very much at the downtempo end of his work, at least compared to some of his other material that Peel had previously played such as the Shake Inc. track, Adrenalin.
What it does particularly well is establish a tranquilised soundscape, with ambient watery synth sounds which evoke repetitive chemical emotions coursing around the depressed person’s mind and subconscious. It’s all underlaid by a dampened but insistent throbbing beat, like that of a heart in a state of drowsy inertia. Between 43 and 50 seconds in, we hear a set of tinkly sounds, as though the medication is entering the body. Once the last tinkle fades away, the battle is on as the heart rate starts to pick up speed; Van Mooy introduces distorted moans and growls, as though the black dog itself is becoming aware of something which is being smuggled in to subdue it.
There’s a series of “rat-a-tat” beats between 1:26 and 1:56, augmented by other slaps and hits as the cavalry of the medication fights it out with the ground defences of the depression. There are moments after this, where it seems as though the black dog is getting the upper hand, but from 2:25 to 2:37, a rising synth note suggests that the medication is winning out, and, for the next few hours at least, whoever took the Ludiomil will go from a patient to a person again.
However, Van Mooy and his co-creator, J.D. are aware that Ludiomil is an aid, rather than a cure, and as the track ends, we hear those growls and moans during the cut-off as the depression waits for its next opportunity to strike, and licks its wounds until the next battle with the medication.
Video courtesy of Zaqaria.
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