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Tristan - Chemisphere (Nano Records, April 2007)
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pr0fane
Multiphase
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Posted : Apr 4, 2007 22:18
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Artist: Tristan
Title: Chemisphere
Label: Nano Records
Format: CD
Released: April 2007
Cover: http://217.160.138.169/pic_b/nar1cd017_b.jpg
Review:
"Chemisphere" is arguably one of the most anticipated releases in the psychedelic trance scene this year, being the 3rd album from one of the big boys on the scene, Tristan Cooke. Tristan had his first track released back in 1995, and has since then appeared on practically all the major festivals worldwide, collaborated with artsts like Process, Prometheus, ManMadeMan and Dick Trevor and released on influential labels like Flying Rhino, Matsuri, TIP and TIP.World, Dragonfly, Tristan and Twisted, where he released his first 2 albums, "Audiodrome" and "Substance" - so naturally the expectations for this release are enormous.
Surprisingly enough "Chemisphere" is released on Nano Records, and not on his long time home Twisted Records (the label who, in the minds of many a psytrancer, can't do anything wrong) - and in my opinion it was a mistake by Twisted to let Tristan go to another label. Let me tell you why.
01. It Depends On You [140 BPM]
Opening the show is "It Depends On You", which was recently remixed by UK duo AMD on the 3rd "Origin" festival compilation. It starts with a 1½ minute long intro with the easily recognisable and very well-chosen voicesamples I've come to love from the remix and then it kicks into action. In short this is happy outdoor trance - more fluid than the AMD version, but still with a lot of dancefloor punch.
02. Focus [142 BPM]
"Focus" is, like the opener, rich on well-chosen delusional voice-samples, with especially the catchy "You ain't got a body no more son, it's all up here now!" standing out. The track itself contains a bit more bouncy bassline than the opener, and is generally slightly more on the darker side with hints of acid here and there. Another solid tune.
03. Dream Machine [142 BPM]
The aptly titled "Dream Machine" takes over, and it's undoubtedly the must blissful dancefloor track on the album, with less of the Twisted-power, but a more traditional morning full on approach. Dreamy pads, fragments of female vocals and delicious understated melodies, but never ever getting cheesy or predictable - amazing morning tune, a sure favourite in my book.
04. No Guarantees [144 BPM]
From dreamy morning trance we again move towards the slightly darker, more psychedelic trance. "No Guarantees" is a real stormer of a night time tune, with more than a few hints of the oldschool Twisted Records vibe. This will surely become one of the most played tunes by DJ's looking for massive UK psychedelic trance. BIG.
05. Spiritual Excitation [145 BPM]
The promo-material for the album says that he started studying guitar, and in "Spiritual Excitation" we get the first result of that. Again moving from darker psychedelic trance to more epic morning trance, with some guitar-riffs for added effect, but never going over the top. A bit more on the funky and playful side compared to the first 4 tunes, but still maintaining the high quality.
06. Toad [145 BPM]
"Toad" again bring us back to the more night-time oriented sounds - it sounds quite a lot like something which could have been featured on the "God Save The Machine" compilation last year, meaning high quality UK psychedelic trance, with just a little hint of larger-than-life guitar-riffs somewhere out in the distant background. Great tune, and the album is still going strong.
07. Terrordactyl [144 BPM]
The intro in "Terrordactyl" is my favourite on the album, starting with a heavily filtered female vocal, chopped up and sliced to pieces, and with a hint of something that sounds like the theme from an old 30's movie in the background. Sadly the rest of the track doesn't quite live up to the promising beginning - there's some great grooves and energy, but where the guitars in the last couple of tracks where more on the subtle side, we're given the whole in-your-face guitar treatment here. A bit over the top for my liking.
08. If Only [142 BPM]
The last dancefloor minded track on the album is "If Only". The overall mood in the track starts out rather positive, but slowly gets more intense and gloomy, and after the peak around halfway through we're introduced to some harsh, strong melodies that sadly seemed a bit too heavy and grim to me. One of the weaker tunes on the album in my opinion.
09. Suriname
The last track is "Suriname". Generally I must say that it's rather unoriginal to end an album with a downbeat track, but in this case the result is quite good. Tristan is no stranger to downbeat (just listen to his older projects Delusions Of Grandeur and Event Horizon), and "Suriname" is a lovely, thoughtful chilled out tune with some excellent acoustic guitar work. Certainly a worthy way to finish the album.
Bottom line:
As a DJ-tool, "Chemisphere" surely delivers - I can't say that it really contains any big surprises or major landmarks in terms of musical creativity, but for its intended use, it works really, really well. Tristans experience in playing on practically all the important festivals shines through - put this CD on a big rig, and you have some of the best music for being played outdoors. Really loud.
Now, for homelistening I'm a bit more critical - stylistically it is more restricted to one sound, compared to his first 2 albums, and I think the overall flow seems somewhat odd, moving from uplifting morning tunes to twisted nighttime full on, back to morning sounds and back to darker, more psychedelict trance once again. I would have preferred a more coherent flow.
At the end of the day, this is another great release from Nano Records though. Definitely comparable with the recent AMD-album (although more floaty and organic), and the quality is just as high. Recommended buy.
Favourites:
1 (!!), 2, 3 (!!), 4, 5, 6, 9
Verdict:
8/10
Links:
Tristan: http://www.djtristan.com/base
Nano Records: http://www.nanorecords.co.uk
Tristan at Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tristancooke
Nano Records at Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/nanorecords
  DJ pr0fane (Iboga Records) | Multiphase
www.sunrisesupplies.com | www.iboga.dk | www.soundcloud.com/pr0fane |
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J
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
193
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3858
Posted : Apr 5, 2007 16:16
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Finally.
Tristan never disapoints us.
Neither does Nano.
Great album.
My favorites are Dream Machine and Spiritual Excitation.
And great review as well Pr0fane.
Regards!
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Timetwister
Started Topics :
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109
Posted : Apr 7, 2007 02:13
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pr0fane pretty much summed it up nicely. There is just one thing I would like to add
Suriname is fuckin avin it!
A lot of albums close of with a piece of almost obligatory chill, but in this case it truly is a piece of art.
I don't think it an overstatement to say that Pink Floyd could've been proud to write this, and that for me is quite a compliment. This is just pure quality. Kudos for an amazing album with a kicking closing! |
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DeluDe
Started Topics :
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15
Posted : Apr 7, 2007 23:52
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Quote:
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On 2007-04-04 22:18, pr0fane wrote:
moving from uplifting morning tunes to twisted nighttime full on, back to morning sounds and back to darker, more psychedelict trance once again. I would have preferred a more coherent flow.
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i only think the expendable tune is the 9th... other than that its just awesome music by one of the best
DeluDe on www.divinemusictribe.com
"Does anyone knows who might have any trance to sell at this drug party?" |
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Pavel
Moderator
Started Topics :
312
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Posted : Apr 8, 2007 14:38
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Tristan Cooke, one of the British Psy Trance veterans who previously released 2 brilliant albums on Twisted Records unleashes upon our hungry ears his 3rd album named Chemisphere. Personally, i was a bit skeptic about this one seeing this one released on Nano records instead of his usual home, Twisted Records, but my doubts dissipated as soon as the first sounds landed on my ears. I could easily write a long essay about each track here but it's one of those cases that one sound worths 1000 words. So if you're into energetic fast paced psychedelic trance, do yourself a favour and get this before it becomes a collectors item. Although it has it's weak moments it's still the best full on you're likely to hear at the moment. Add the Floyd'ish Suriname as the last track and you got an instant classic.
9.5/10
A special note to Infected Mushroom and Skazi: This album shows the proper usage of Electric Guitar in Psy Trance. Listen and learn! Everyone in the world is doing something without me |
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Pete Sideburner
Started Topics :
4
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67
Posted : Apr 10, 2007 11:06
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Well, I hoped to be the first to review it, but as I was with my girlfriend's familiy around Easter, I am to late. :-(
So, I won't blather around too much about the single tracks, because pr0fane hast discribed them very well already. This is some very fuckin' good sound. Tristan remains true to himself - which is a great thing these days where lots of experienced artists jump on the commercial bandwagon - and still manages to increase the punch of his music a lot.
What I particularly like about this is that it takes its time and leaves space for the dancer or listener to get into it, instead of overwhelming him with huge but somewhat pointless walls of sounds. Every little bit here is exactly at its place without being predictable or even thin. On the contrary, this sound is fuckin' massive. Not in a sense of massive like a prole thinks a 1000-Watt-bass-speaker will increase the size of his genitals to become massively huge, but in sense of truely massive. Tristan's music is earthy. It works from underneath but it works its way up to all levels of energy and gets very high. I'm not so much into new age crap, but this seems to me as a much more naturall approach to the flow of human energy in the human body than all that top-heavy psychedlic music around that tries work through you from top to bottom but gets stuck at your throat (maybe that's why people scream so much on dancefloors!?  ) and never touches your heart. Tristan touches you everywhere and this is what I would call psychedelic.
And there is a lesson or two to learn for many massproducers of psytrance like Alien Project and such: To create an individual sound, you need instruments that allow you to be individual and you have to work them all out to get there. As far as I know, Tristan uses the Doepfer A-100 modular system a lot. So not to wonder why his synthie-sounds (especially the leads)sound so different from others. Most artist that don't stop at software plugins (like Hallucinogen, Eat Static, Ott, Slug - to name a few I really like) manage to sound individual. I don't wanna say, you can't produce individual sound with software. I'm just saying that many artist tend to not spend much effort in sound-design and that software often supports that tendency - at least in my experience, because it makes to easy to create decent (or what we Germans call "amtlich") sound. But decency is not enough here. Pavel made the right point regarding the guitar. I hope you know what I mean.
Well, this is *psytrance* that deserves that name. Awsome - I really hope Tristan will come to Germany this season! So, Scotty, if you read this and you really wanna go back to the roots at your now-called "Vuuv", then pleeeeaaaaase book that guy and place him at the transition between nautical twilight and sunrise. I've seen him many times and hat would be just magical...
Cheers, Pete
I love humanity but I hate people. |
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Bender B. Rodriguez
IsraTrance Junior Member
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292
Posted : Apr 10, 2007 13:06
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Very nice album indeed. This is what mornig music should sound (by my standards  ) .
SPQR |
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adi "peter pan"
IsraTrance Junior Member
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14
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245
Posted : Apr 10, 2007 17:48
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i agree this is how it should be .....
great sounds..
U-Kanuba Line ... Soon in MAY !!!! |
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Justin Chaos
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Apr 14, 2007 01:59
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Nice one Tristan...you did it again
My fake plants died, because I did not pretend to water them. |
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Tula
Started Topics :
1
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603
Posted : Apr 15, 2007 00:57
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Quote:
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On 2007-04-08 14:38, Pavel wrote: Personally, i was a bit skeptic about this one seeing this one released on Nano records instead of his usual home, Twisted Records, but my doubts dissipated as soon as the first sounds landed on my ears.
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Nice upturn 2 nano rec, album is even better!!! ma favorite is first track, though all songs is exelent.. again bravo!!!
i rejoiced at it, that he coming soon to belgrade 2 hear it live!!! ppl sya there 
LIFE Is Just The Choice Between FEAR and LOVE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1fDq9LnzFk |
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Nathan
IsraTrance Senior Member
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Posted : Apr 15, 2007 23:53
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O well.... good review by ppl who have good taste. so i must chack this album. 
-=The Meaning Of Life Is To Give Life A Meaning= |
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Kidpsy
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Apr 17, 2007 01:01
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very nice album !! to listen at night
my favorites 1,2.4,5 !!! |
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Djones
IsraTrance Senior Member
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Posted : Apr 18, 2007 14:01
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I actually liked the guitars in his tracks, not to cheesy, but very nice. |
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