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V/A - A Walk Through Neptune's Garden (PAR-2 Productions 2005) CD
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DeathPosture
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
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Posted : Sep 7, 2005 17:46
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V/A – A Walk Through Neptune’s Garden
Cover: http://tinyurl.com/9mkxj
Artist: Various
Title: A Walk Through Neptune’s Garden
Format: CD (jewel case)
Label: PAR-2 Productions (USA/Japan)
Cat. #: PAR001
Distribution: http://www.par-2.com
Date: 28 Jul 2005
Track listing:
01. 11’46” Keiretsu vs. Soliptic – Ripples (Imprint Of Creation Mix)
02. 09’11” Jikkenteki – Slippery Slopes
03. 07’12” Zekazy - Unicorn
04. 06’44” Phi – In The…
05. 06’30” Zekazy - Broadcast
06. 09’23” Jikkenteki – Modori Odori
07. 12’50” PAR-2 – It Is (What Isn’t)
08. 09’56” Anjin – Nesta’s Soft Escape
Review:
Liquid trance…
This is the first release from PAR-2 Productions - an American-slash-Japanese outfit for organizing parties, producing and now also producing music. It’s run by childhood buddies Patrick Huneke (Katapult) and Rennis Buchner (Jikkenteki) from their offices in the US and Japan… This first compilation was more than a year in the making and has no overall distribution – it’s only available through the PAR-2 website @ the low price of $10 (including free shipping worldwide!). Kinda like what Schlabbaduerst Rekkords and Sanaton Records are doing… This is different style wise though! Water in its many shapes and forms is the overall theme here… Let’s find out what that’s all about --- let’s take a walk through Neptune’s Garden…
Let me take you thru the tracks…
#01: Keiretsu vs. Soliptic – Ripples (Imprint Of Creation Mix)
“This is basically what the early universe looked like before the galaxies were formed. And it is out of those ripples which are really density perturbations in the early universe that the galaxies and the clusters of galaxies formed. So, eh, in terms of theory they provide you with the imprint of creation!” … These guys from the UK are remixing themselves on this monster of a track! This is a great, great track in many aspects… The most visible being the track length – but also the sheer magnitude of the music is so strong here… This is melodic trance with all kinds of musical influences: old school goa trance, drum & breakz, teKkno, electro, etc… The lengthy, flowing intro – and the full-on technoid middle part – the spacey bridge - and the tribal second half… All great stuff! What an amazing journey track! I really, really dig this one!
#02: Jikkenteki – Slippery Slopes
American born/Japan-based producer Rennis Buchner has been in the game for several years – he’s a founding member of PAR-2 Productions and he’s a raging music collector and DJ… Jikkenteki is his solo project and his debut album should be in the pipes… I can’t wait for that, coz this is some goooood sushi! The first half of the track is kinda rough, technoid progressive trance – but after a couple of minutes we get some nifty space-like stabbing synths… Star Wars acid trance attack! Oh yes, I’m a sucker for this kind of shit… Full-on is the best sense of the word! Guitars are great and the break is particularly well executed… A wonderful cross-over track!
#03: Zekazy – Unicorn
Zekazy is 23 year old Jari Rönkkö from Stockholm, Sweden… Apparently he’s been producing music for a long time, but this is my first encounter with his music… The intro sets the mood for the entire track here – electro/synth galore! Melodies all over the place – kinda old-school I guess, but the production sounds so very, very crispy here… Kick-ass! I like the many little twists and turns this track takes… Very trippy – and very rewarding for the listener… I’m not sure what to think about the huge orchestral part towards the middle here – it’s on the edge of being a little too Balearic… Anyway, I’m sure this will tear any dancefloor completely apart… It’s so full of surprises and it changes direction constantly… Brilliant!
#04: Phi – In The…
Phi – the kings of Japanese tweakage and Engrish track titles! Shuji Ichimura & Shinnosuke Masuo released their debut album Phinalizer on Elf Music in 2004 – and that album still has a very special place in my heart in all its old school glory… This track ended being the last track produced within the Phi framework – these guys are broken up now and Shuji is working as Slum and Shin is working as Symphonics… Anyway, this track is reminiscent of the album sound – the first couple of minutes are a little bland perhaps, but the acid is unleashed soon enough… Yeah, I really like the melodic leads here – though perhaps I could have wished for more power during certain passages… But still – a nicey nice track!
#05: Zekazy – Broadcast
Jari Rönkkö from STHLM returns for a second track… The intro is more old-school than Donkey Kong with its grim electro bits – but soon we’re exposed to a phaaaat basslead and some sonic sound trickery… As with the previous Zekazy tracks, this is highly experimental stuff – we get all kinds of cool influences and constant changes in direction… Also, this must be among the fastest tracks on this compilation – full power avant-garde psytrance – galloping away at an incredible pace! Fuck yes – this is another great track!
#06: Jikkenteki – Modori Odori
Rennis Buchner returns for another dose of samurai-trance… This one is a tad more introvert than the first one – I’d even go as far as saying that you can hear this was produced in Japan… So yeah, this is experimental – with some serious pad action going on… Extremely atmospheric and when the bass finally kicks in it will scare the shit out of you, as you were floating around in dreamland… The second half of this track is nothing less than brilliant – a gargantuan wall of melodies and tribal percussion… I liked the first Jikkenteki track better, but this is also very good… Can’t wait for the debut album!
#07: PAR-2 – It Is (What Isn’t)
Patrick Huneke (Katapult) and Rennis Buchner (Jikkenteki) are childhood friends – and the PAR-2 freestyle collaboration project was where it all started… This track was conceived back in 2003 and just like the first one on this compilation; it’s a journey track… These guys had plenty of time to experiment and pretty much just play around… So we get long, organic pads of soft trance here… But that’s not all – as mentioned earlier this is a hybrid track with all kinds of different influences: Ambient, dub, electro, drum & bass, breakz, trance, goa, etc… It’s all good music, but to be honest I tend to skip this track… It’s too damn long! There’s much more interesting stuff to be found on this compilation…
#08: Anjin – Nesta’s Soft Escape
And now it’s time to chill out with Anjin…This is Blink – a producer from the US – and this is as chilled as it gets… Virtually beatless ambient that will send you straight to dreamland… Kinda reminds me of Ishq at times… The tribal percussion is a nice touch, which sends the mind on a journey to far away places… The vocals seem oddly out of place though!? Good thing they are only there for a short while… All in all this is a nice little downbeat tune – not the best I’ve heard, but certainly it does what it’s supposed to: help the listener come down after the walk in Neptune’s Garden… ;o)
I’m not sure how much I got from the whole water-is-the-common-denominator-thing, but who gives a shit!?… This is a solid compilation – especially the first couple of tracks are downright amazing – and the quality continues all the way though… There are no bad tracks here, though I have to be in the right mood to fully enjoy the last couple of tracks here… Anyway, I like how there are no musical boundaries here – pretty much everything goes… So here’s a big phat double thumbs-up for musical diversity!
I like the cover-art here – maybe the font used isn’t too exciting, but besides from that I think Kaori did a good job… And you can get it for only $10 – including free shipping worldwide! I think that’s a damn good deal – coz this is a pretty damn good compilation! I recommend this to fans of border-crossing trance with rich influences from all over the place… Enjoy!
Favourites: 1(!), 2(!), 3, 5(!), 6
DeathPosture
External links:
PAR-2 Productions: http://www.par-2.com (samples available!)
Discogs link: http://www.discogs.com/release/485082
  On really romantic evenings of self, I go salsa dancing with my confusion... |
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Le Lotus Bleu
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
114
Posts :
438
Posted : Jan 12, 2006 15:09
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This compilation was mastered by Katapult & the artwordk done by Kaori@Future History.
1> Soliptic (member of Keiretsu, a drum n' bass band) proposes a remix very Pynk Floydish of this title. Imagine Pink Floyd making tunes with a little hint of psytrance and hop you obtain Ripples (Imprint Of Creation Mix).
2> Slippery Slipes is nocturnal with a pleasant & atypic lead at beginning then it becomes puffing on the last third.
3>Zekazy (Jari Ronkko fromdu Sweden) opens on a whistled melody, it's the kind of tricky tune for dj's as it's often changing.
4>Phi (Shuji & Shin) delivers here the same standards which contributed to their success with their debut album Phinalizer. The atmosphere is more tournmanted & slighty sour with more triturated sounds but the delight remains the same.
5> Tempt the alchemy between psytrance & électro, some have already tried without lot of success; with Broadcast, Zekazy managed to cook something well done up with a funny & evolutionary rythmic.
6>For his second track, Jikkenteki gives us a long tune based on an latent atmosphere eitheir mysterious or hypnotic, it's at the same time a mental & dancefloor production..
7>Par-2 invites you through a long morning trip which turns into tribal during the journey. It's the kind of song in parties that makes you think you gonna stop easily dancing on it & finally roots you to the spot, achieving to fully destroy your tired legs.
8> You might thought the last track was already chill but not at all, here's the true one with Anjin (aka Blink,Organic Paradox,Goofy Gaijin) . It's a sweet chill with in background, samples of cricket's chant during the summers night; the whole thing accompanied with percussions, all as softest it could be.
We could almost believe we came-back to the golden age of goa, giving a look at tracklenght which for major part, oscillates between 9 et 12 minutes; yet this well concerns a 2005 psytrance compilation school goa with simply old school goa accents.
Favourites:1,4,5,6,7,8
8,5/10 recommended
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