Bass

"For Steve Goodman, the idea of Bass connects with childhood memories triggered by the sound and the accompanying scent he remembers of a broken, burning vacuum cleaner. Geza Schoen translated this to a scent which opens with woodsmoke and rum notes, developing into leather, mastic, and tea notes, and finishing with castoreum and moss, among other scents". *Bass* is based on a pattern of sounds by musician Steve Goodman aka Kode9, owner of the UK-based electronic / dubstep / bass-msusic / post-techno label Hyperdub which is responsible for more than 100 releases by seminal artists such as Burial, Fholston Paradygm (aka King Britt), Martyn and DVA amongst several others. The fragrance strikes as one of the most relevant mastic-prominent compositions currently available on the market. A mix of woody notes which is somewhat related to the work Geza Schoen did for german designer Anat Fritz, enriched by smooth smoky elements and hyper-green / almost astringent angelica while a warm, deep and completely enveloping combo of leathery castoreum and mastic gives birth to a fragrance which is pulsating, throbbing and well rounded, just like low frequencies are. There's a remarkable human factor to Bass, something about its warmness, its animalic facets, its ability to feel alive but, at the same time, it's juxtaposed to an overall sense of detachment. It's like part man part machine. It's warm, bass-driven music generated by a human via electronic devices such as synths, softwares and controllers. It's a human sweating while dancing in a club with the biggest subwoofers ever. To sum it up, we've experienced several fragrances which included mastic amongst their notes (Masque Terralba, Sysley Eau D'Ikar, Comme Des Garcons Chalayan Airborne and Testa Maura Carticasi to name only a few) and while I liked most of them, none has represented such a vivid and realistic interpretation of this note as Bass did. Bass, not only accomplished its purposes in this synesthetic experiment, but it's also a tremendous (and honestly quite unique) piece of modern perfumery. Solid, original and completely wearable. Great stuff. Rating: 8.5-9/10

This opening is just absolutely fantastic. I totally get the connection to a malfunctioning vacuum cleaner. Theres a bit of "burning dust" that reminds me of turning on my heater for the first cold night of winter after it was turned off for months. Theres also a big old dose of Castoreum, rum, and a sort of lapsang-souchong-esque smoky tea. Theres so much more going on, but It's blended so well that it comes across more like a real-world smell than a fragrance (as intended, I'm sure!). Despite this, it wears very naturally. It's smoky, slightly metallic, inky, dark, and pleasantly stuffy. Out of the three ephemera smells this one has the most muscle and it comes across as extremely masculine to me. While kode9 was the inspiration behind this fragrance, It reminds me more of the music of Burial. It's dusty and dark and sombre in a dystopian,transmetropolitan way. It dries down to an enveloping cloud of smoke. Its got an over-heated, burnt-toast vibe that is hard to really explain. The castoreum is the main player in the dry down but unlike some other castoreum heavy scents it doesnt get boring or grating. I totally love this. While I love noise slighty more for it's unabashedly robotic nature, bass is more natural and wearable. The quality is pretty great, it lasts 12 hours on me and it projects like crazy at the beginning before softening dramatically in the drydown. 8/10

A shape-shifting olfactory work of art. A perfume with at least a couple different personalities, much like most of us. Come too close to it, and it's digital, dystopian (adjective masterfully used by a fellow enthusiast in a review here), industrial, in grayscale. Let it come to you from a distance, and it's green, a damp evergreen forest at night kind of green, and suprisingly natural. Persistent and consistent, and definitely worth the price (80EUR for 30ml). One of his close brothers, Noise, is not as masterfully crafted, but has got one of the best burnt wood openings ever. Thanks Geza Schoen!

Dont be alarmed by the castoreum; there isnt anything in the way of "animalics" here. There is a soft, warm pungency to it. The comparisons to heated electronics are really only apt in the beginning (Noise, one of the other fragrance in this line, is more along those lines). There is a specific smell that arises when dust that has been settled on electronics (especially on high-power units like motors and power supplies) gets toasted when the circuit flows. Its not an unpleasant smell; it is not "burning", but rather a diffuse, general "warmth". After this opening, the fragrance settles into a fuzzy, warm, green fragrance. Im not familiar with mastic, but I assume this and the incense is what gives you the warm haze, along with the moss and the tea for the greenness. I cant say it smells like "rum" specifically, perhaps whiskey would be a better description, harmonizing the woody notes. A good mental image is that of a warm dry-sauna, minus the sharp aromatics of cedar, replaced with a more diffuse, ever-so-slightly sweet woodiness, with more gentle herbs taking the place of something like eucalyptus. Once it gets into the heart, darker facets emerge, with hints of smoke. You could call it leather, but it is not the obvious black leather of some other leather fragrances; it is more of a dry, bitter base, singed at the edges. There is an earthy component as well; more mineralic, like that of dried clay versus fresh wet dirt. The more I wear this one, the more I feel it is a sleeper hit. This could have been a 70s or 80s release, as it has a very traditionally "masculine", strong aroma. Fans of classic chypres would probably find something to like here, as it has a thick body typical of this category. Fortunately, it is absent of the musks and animalics that taint otherwise classic creations of the past. Those of you who actively seek out dry, dark green fragrances are encouraged to try this. It doesnt have vetiver specifically, but the hazy, earthy, dark greenness does recall some of the smokier vetivers that have fans around here. At first sniff, it comes off as a more cold weather fragrance, but with a lighter application, would work in hot weather as well. Performance is good, easily reaching into the 8-10 hour range, with solid projection. A very unique take on the subject matter of leather, earth and greenery: avoiding the tropes common to both fougeres and chypres, maintaining heft, and separate from oriental altogether. I will likely order more samples (and potentially a bottle).

Like a stripped down Kinski, almost no castoreum, only a bit pepper, incense and Iso-E Super, but it's classy and best suited for suits lol A bit on the colder side and official. One of the best incense perfumes that I've tried. 7.5