V/A - Sympathy In Chaos 1

[Guest gizmo]

I think it's very very good ambient album, one of my favourites. There's lot of

great dark ambient tracks. Tripitaka, Massimo Vivona, Mantaray. 8/10

[bomble]

V/A - Sympathy In Chaos 1

 

 

Artist: Various

Title: Sympathy In Chaos 1

Label: Matsuri

Date: 1997

 

Track listing:

 

01. 15'52" Vux : 13 Floor Spectrum

02. 02'28" Mantaray : Zentral Wheel

03. 06'42" The Liquid Dub Connection : Floating Through The Air On Gossamer Wings

04. 10'07" Prana : Geomantik (Fire Dragon Mix)

05. 05'07" Triptaka : Monkey On A Cloud

06. 05'03" Ju Ju Space Jazz : Pizza

07. 06'00" Massimo Vivona : Vice

08. 06'10" Anand : Atmosphere

09. 08'49" The Irresistible Force : Space Is The Place (Intergalactic Ambient Mix)

 

Review:

 

Perhaps the best of the three Sympathy in Chaos albums - certainly in terms

of continuous listening potential. What I like about this album is that as a

whole it works very very well. It is not a track-by-track experience -

probably because Tsuyoshi in his best days was a very gifted dj - but

overall it is a blissful journey.

 

The structures are not the simple feel-good melodies of many Ibiza-styled

chill sets, but rather complex workings that gradually pull your mind down

into the chillspace. There is a strong electro feel throughout - plenty of

weird and wonderful noising but without being too invasive to the relaxed

state that this creates.

It starts in a very gentle and subtle manner, developing rhythms and beats

as tunes progress.

 

Vux is the ideal opener, with a warm, delicately soothing sound that keeps

on developing through it's 15 minutes ... beats enter and depart - weird

seti-type samples, gyuto chanting monks and psychedelic screechings abound.

The liquid dub connection track is equally interesting - searching, deep

intelligent music.

 

Of course, the tempo peaks a bit with the remix of Prana's (Tsuyoshi's own)

Geomantik ..... if you don't know this tune then you didn't get to a dance

floor in '97 ! This is a very psychedelic piece, and probably a bit strong

for the general feel of the album, but I guess he was proud of himself !!

The Triptaka tune is also too heavy to classify this as a purely chilled

album - though I don't think it was ever intended to be pure ambience.

 

The Ju Ju Space Jazz tune is predictably unpredictable - though it's

certainly not my favourite of theirs. I think you either love these guys or

hate them.... I'm a lover !

 

Massimo Vivona provides a nice tribal style - if a little uneventful - but

it becomes the launch pad to the arabic mayhem of Anand. The finale is a

beautiful Mixmaster Morris track - perfectly formed and highly emotionally

charged.

 

The one let down about this album is that in, my view, the extra noising

that Tsuyoshi added reduces what would otherwise be near-perfect production

quality ..... was this a paranoid dj trying to keep his tracks to himself ?

Who knows... but for that reason, and because the tunes are heavily

interwoven, this is probably not a dj's best friend. But for the bedroom

listener, this is a journey worth taking many many times.

 

7.5/10