VA - Japanhytm

[CERBERUS]

 

Artist.....: VA

Album......: Japanhythm

Genre......: Dark Psychedelic

Label......: Phreex Networx

Catalogue..: PNXCD001

Url........: http://www.saikosounds.com/english/show_la...sp?label_id=745

Rls.Date...: Jan-12-2007

Tracks.....: 10

Playtime...: 75:54 min

 

Trakc List

01. Fatal Discord - Empty Notion [07:33]

02. Fierce - Brutality In Silence [07:39]

03. Noise Gust - Biomechanical Brain [07:42]

04. Stigma - Killer Mind [07:07]

05. Nyarlthotep - Teratogen [07:53]

06. Galaxy Madness - Chaos Theory [08:29]

07. Psycho Wizard - Tamatebako [07:46]

08. Baal - No Window [07:47]

09. Savage Scream - My Law [07:51]

10. Jun - Hitsumabushi [06:07]

 

 

 

Waited for long to bite my teeth in a edition like this 'couse i'm very fond of Japanese culture. And I also know they have a strange (put in mildly) mind blowing, head banging, dissorienting psychedeli trance "stranger the fiction ". Ok let's get back we have the second edition of Tokyo-based label Phreex Networx (debut album "Phenix" was the first edition). This edition is featuring 100% Japanese artists and producers of underground psychedelic trance music. We have newcomers (the Japanese stage is little known for me) Savage Scream, Galaxy Madness, Noise Gust and other promising newcomers will take u to the world in Japanese Rhythm. And like is said on introducing of this compilation "Be Careful! They don't have no words for fluffy!"

 

 

#1 Fatal Discord - Empty Notion

Ah, leave it to the japanese, to confuse you in the begining with those blips and bloops. You get the feeling of the whole compilation that is gonna be in that twisted japanese maner so we have that with the opening track of the compilation a fast, agresive track with a dark-full on base line but something is missing like it has no soul just fast rytm and dissoriented FX it is japanese type of trance but it feels like it needs something, I'll say some pure psychedelia

 

#2 Fierce - Brutality In Silence

Interesting track name it cought my eye imidiatly. As is begins you get that feeling of silenece with the echoes and the crickets in the night like you're in some waste land and there is nothing there but the silenece and you are awaiting for the brutalty which is something well known to the japanese . It doesn't have a spite baseline that i mostly value in a dark track but it has some trippy FX, bloops, bleeps and flashes that make up for it.

 

#3 Noise Gust - Biomechanical Brain

Here we have a little try to bring that psychedelic feeling we are used to, a combination of a european psy style and japanese psy style that at the end will be something like psychedelic, fast and brutal. And the name of track is right "Biomechanical Brain" it will make you feel like you have one instaled in youre head

 

#4 Stigma - Killer Mind

This is my favorite, it has that spite base line, strange noices, evil FX. It's full with that speed and agresion but the most important ingridient the psychedelia is also here. There is no story in the trac none i can find maybe you'll find one but it's plain and simple as it's title "Killer Mind" or should i say mind killed great track exelent for the dance floor, soo all you DJ's have a taste of this include it in you're set.

 

#5 Nyarlthotep - Teratogen

Okkkkk the compilatain get's better and better, again a spite baseline, tipical japanese undefined FX, and a nice sweet sound of psychedelia (i must say the begining was a lil bit lame) as the track progreses. It's an very evil track like a some kind of monster form the manga comic's named Teraogen mashing up you're brain with his sonic "special weapon" , nice psychedelia ending the track, enjoy.

 

#6 Galaxy Madness - Chaos Theory

Have you ever watched rain drops on a calm lake wather? Yeah you got that feeling here, watching one drop doing it's disturbance in the calm water in a form of a circle then comes another from the other side you rise you're head and you see CHAOS, what once was calm now is so chaotic you're trieng to find something that means something in all that chaos hehehehe wasn't that the cahos theory . Great track not to spite baseline but a greatttt psychedelia combined with exelent FX.

 

#7 Psycho Wizard - Tamatebako

Stomping effect at the begining, you know the one when the baseline makes you stomp youre feet like in some crazy tribal dance,and that's all you get from this track. There are som wicked FX, and some pschedelic moments but not by my taste. After listetning the previous two tracks this one will come as a let down, it get's one step better to the ending but not a great one not a bad one, you know that numb feeling when you say it's ok.

 

#8 Baal - No Window

Well what to say for this one. Has that spite baseline a nice one too, the japanese agresion and speed but so confusing for my brain . The track get's very spite from the middle to the end and also more mind disorienting don't use any psycotropic substances while listenig to this it will make you loose youre self. And remember the F.B.I.'s warning "Winners don't use drugs"

 

#9 Savage Scream - My Law

Fast aggresive opening in this one folowed by some good FX it will make you dance out of control and spin, spin, spin like there is no law od gravity, law of endurance, law of traction there is just one law - your law. Now i leave you to blow you're mind danceing with this one.

 

#10 Jun - Hitsumabushi

"Shout the f**k up, may i escort you to the party back now". Another one ment to take you to the dance floor, and cranck you to the max, soo you guess it it's another one fast....... should i go one

 

Japanese psytrance it's like takeing wasabi(hot souce) and sake(japanese moonshine) at the same time. Fast aggresive but sometimes with lack of psychedelia, but that's the thing that makes the japanese psytranece so interesting, to me anyways it's a great compilation for you're colection so buy it and support. I give it 7.5/10 ( what can you do i'm fan on the psychedelic moments, not so fast and aggresive, old school baby )

 

Favorites: 1,2,4!!,6!!!,9!

 

Don't froget to support artists by buying their CD'a and 12" visiting 'em on parties and festivals

[kathmandu]

Great CD.

 

Ah, Mc Cain

the Japanese have done it again.

 

Have just heard till track 3-4 cause everytime i find myself rewinding to the begining of the cd when i get there.

The first track, has all these noises coming from all different parts of my room.

The third track has the underground 'crrroup-crroup' sound at about 4:47, feels like using a foot massager on your heart.

 

really good night music, I'm skipping to the Baal track now.

 

edit: track 9 (Savage Scream-My law) is also a great track to play in the begining of your set.

[moni]

Guys, use other sections of our forums to chat!

This section is for REVIEWS ONLY!

 

You can't post things like "looks interesting, i will check it out", cause this is NOT a review!

 

Topic moderated.

[alleycat]

after a couple good listens, I like it! The usual Japanese production quality IE Far East Technology is here as well. Some very clean sounds here! ALthough, a few of the tracks didnt really reach out and grab me...

 

Id say 8/10!

 

If you're into this kind of stuff it shouldn't disappoint. If you're a dj who plays this kind of stuff, Im sure it works wonders on midnight dancefloors...

[alleycat]

After enjoying VA-Phenix I really had to buy this latest from the Phreex, who if Im not mistaken are Noise Gust and Silent Scream, those crazy Nipponese nighttime maestros. Crazy hairdos, the kind you can only pull off if you're from Japan.

 

My impressions of these tracks:

 

Track 1-Fatal Discord-Empty Notion-Nice intro, love the crazy voice speaking gibberish behind it all. Somewhat subdued bassline. Thats a good thing! I can hear what you mean by 'no soul'...

Track 2-Fierce-Brutality in Silence-starts out with a deep throbbing bassline, very clean. Sounds like insect language swirl around, very atmospheric! This is a good one. Sounds like it would make a good night-psy-time starter... It builds in a very pleasant way! Almost subliminal sounds going on back there... Not totally full throttle, this ones a bit smoother, driving in a sort of subdued way.

Track 3-Noise Gust-Biomechanical Brain-Always liked the Noise Gust tracks Ive heard on previous comps, especially Phenix. PRetty good so far, noises like messed up 8 bit video game sounds swirl around. In the back is a sort of chimes melody. Usual crazy noises all over the place. Sounds like they either used the sample from Triac (forget the track, sounds like electronic coughing) or made one similar, or they both used the sample from somewhere else. A nice atmospheric break, pretty short, then a voice-like line comes in, swirling around of course! Pretty good track, not the greatest, but Ive heard a lot worse.

 

Track 4-Stigma-Killer Mind-Nice clean bass and a bit faster feeling than previous. Nice scratchy noises and swirly samples phased to hell abound. A sound of someone gagging, like Angry Kid. *Bluugh* A nice dark rhythm, nice squeaky noises, and a really round kick. Then back to the original kick! Always enjoy that kind of thing... Creepy horror-movie pads in a small break, then back to zombie land! Then the bass changes to what I can only describe as 'bendy', a la Alien Mental. This kind of thing sounds great at a party... 5 minutes in the screechy line comes back uniting with the horror pads, then the rhythm takes a nice turn with all sorts of clicky clacky stuff. This is a good one!

Track 5-Nyarlathotep-Teratogen-A Teratogen is a chemical that causes birth defects or deformation, literally it means Monster Maker. Starts out with a similar bass to track 2 and some nice delayed percussion. Crazy manipulated voice samples! Love that kind of stuff. Crazy, almost discordant distorted synth plays around a bit. Nice rhythm, gives it a bit more energy, and of course that kind of percussion sounds great when the consciousness is altered. Ive heard mention of Nyarlathotep (the name comes from HP Lovecraft's fiction, he is the 'Crawling Chaos' bringing the end of... well HPL was never very clear...) and the fact that his stuff is good, and I can now say that indeed this stuff is good. That toilet-noise! I love shit like that... This one's a bit more minimal, long parts of the song without much percussion and just a few swirly synths. Nice LP filter sweep, that too is something Ive always liked. Ending is pretty good, nice energetic percussion. Would work well in the middle of a set.

 

Track 6-Galaxy Madness-Chaos Theory-Another act from the Phenix VA. Starting out with a bassline which reminds me of Audiopathik, sorta. Nice. Strange metallo-liquid synths, high pitched analog-ish sprinkles behind it... "no pain, no gain!" Tasteful glitchy effects. Reminds me of a cross between Audiopathik and Zik. And a chipmunk dosed to the gills on various psychedelics.

Track 7-Psycho Wizard-Tamatebako-More of that clean sound Ive come to associate with Nippon. different basslines change around, then in come the 16th notes! Up and down similar to certain parts of certain Metallaxis tunes. More horror movie style pads, and more crazy voices semi-intelligible in the back. Bubbly liquid synth comes in fading in and out and up and down. Nice chimes again. Another good one! (What does Tamatebako mean? Something about a box?)

 

Track 8-Baal-No Window-Baal was one of the ancient pre Judaic gods of the Fertile Crescent region, and one of the big bad guys on Stargate SG-1 and Diablo 2 . Screechy metal on metal noises IE Tetsuo, those cracy Nipponese... This one is just madness! Some kind of flanged out verbed out... something, then some liquid perc and a liquid synth swirling. Cybernetic metallic noises then ensue. Not sure how fast this one is but its faster than the rest so far. I think... Cybernetic noises like this are one of my favorite thngs about this kinds of trance. Great one, maybe a bit fast but Im sure it sounds just as good at a lower BPM! Id say that this is my third favorite out of all of these.

 

Track 9-Savage Scream-My Law Savage Scream has always impressed me, especially 'Midnight Temple' from Infernal Intuition. This song starts with a differnet style of bass than Ive heard previously from Savage. Of course its got those really big sounding acid screeches and scratches. Another somewhat minimal tune. Again with the different bass, more percussion comes in, then more scratches. A jack-in-the-box ish line, going at its own speed it seems, comes in behind it all. "Motherfuckerrrrrss!!" This has to be my second favorite on the cd.

 

Track 10-Jun-Hitsumabushi-Something about a warrior, if I translate correctly, 'bushi' as in 'bushido'. This one doesnt waste any time picking up the pace, starts right off with the bass and percussion with a squidgelly line above it all. You can escort me to any party that plays stuff like this! Swirls and twickering, another fast paced song which Im not too sure the actual speed... More chipmunks here, sounds like the same ones from earlier, just tripping harder on more stuff! And it sounds like they brought a few of their birdy friends with them. Sorta ends with the same power it started. Nice.

 

All in all this is a great second compo from the Phreex of Japan. The production quality compared to Phenix is really a whole step up. No complaints there. Sometimes the songs can be a bit familiar, a bit... usual. There are some real gems here, but truth be told there were more gems on Phenix. But that may have been because of the Terminator track, which IMO was worth buying the cd for just that. I could say, too that the Fierce and Savage Scream tracks are worth buying Japanhythm for. If you're into Japanese trance, or the crazier side of the night, this one won't disappoint. So far its a good sign for 2007 releases in this style.

 

Favorites: 2, 5!, 8, & 9!

 

all in all 8.4/10

 

Looking forward to more Phreex in the future!

[amphiton]

Phenix > Japanhytm

 

This is more underground release, compared to their previous compilation. Best example and my fav so far - Baal (156 bpm) o_O Interesting track, but I usually don't listen to that stuff at, would work great on the dancefloor.

 

Will give it a few more listens.

[alleycat]

Far East Technology is better than both Phenix and Japanhythm for having more varied styles, but as far as full powered releases go, Phenix>Japanhythm.

 

 

What are you crazy people doing over there to make such good, clean, driving sounds!?

 

Arigatou Gozaimasu! Daisuki desu!