V/A - Kokopelli

[Rotwang]

V/A - Kokopelli (Conscious Dreams)

 

 

Press Release:

 

From the center of Amsterdam comes the refreshing chill out compilation Kokopelli compiled by Veer and Supergroover. A single release to celebrate the 10th anniversary of smartshop Conscious Dreams Kokopelli. Chill out has been the soundtrack of this famous smartshop over the years and after listening all those years they decided to release some of the tunes that have spiced up the shop. A nice and relaxing track by Tom & Gijs starts the cd, to be continued by Siebzehn, a german producer that has no problem writing beautiful music. He delivers 3 lovely tracks. Prosect from Israel is a famous name on the scene already with an album under the name sound field. He brings us a orientally influenced track which becomes a little upbeat in the end. Moravec is another promising Dutch producer. This track has a lovely gentle hypnotic chilled out vibe to it. Next is Organix, a duo from Amsterdam that focused on a progressive sound but lately start to make some more chill out tracks as well. They are fully dedicated to producing music and are doing a good job. Their track makes you wanna swim and glide Last but not least is Samorost, a Costa Rican producer that surely doesn't have a problem to put emotion in his music. A very relaxing track to end the musical journey.

Tracks (click titles for Saiko Sounds sample):

 

1) Tom & Gijs - Whale 9:39

 

First up we have a rather slow, slightly melancholy ambient piece. While an ethereal flute melody gives it direction, the most memorably feature of this tune is the percussion line, in which a collection of watery noises trace out an unusual rhythm. By the end of this track the listener's mind could not be further removed from the busy streets of Amsterdam, and this very nicely sets the stage for the rest of the album.

 

2) Siebzehn - Kali yuga 6:39

 

Kali yuga sounds a lot more upbeat than the previous track. After a short beatless intro a sequence of different melodies keep it interesting, while a dub-influenced rhythm section holds everything together.

 

3) CloudWalker - Green radiance 8:35

 

A truly fantastic tune up next. It opens with a huge, sweeping synth which sounds like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket. The track builds gradually, sprinkling melody on top of melody until around four and a half minutes, before giving way to a stringy midsection with no bass or percussion. Then it builds up again before being gradually dismantled. I hope to hear some more from this artist soon.

 

4) Siebzehn - Hangar 6:08

 

Another dubby piece from Siebzehn, this one opens with some nice distant bagpipe sounds before returning to more familiar territory. I find it slightly nondescript compared to the previous tracks, but it's nice enough.

 

5) Siebzehn - Interzone 9:49

 

This, however, is marvellous. It begins with some very atmospheric chimes, and a wonderfully soft, muffled bassline. Then out of nowhere a harsher melody announces its presence like some kind of alien voice. But the best is yet to come, namely the lovely staccato melody which starts at the five minute mark.

 

6) Prosect - Palenque 7:09

 

After scaring the shit out of the listener by sticking something which sounds like the snarl of Cerberus into the middle of an ambient intro, Palenque moves into fairly familiar ethno-chill territory. But don't take that as criticism, because this is far from run of the mill. Lots of nice tribal drumming, this is a bit faster than the rest of the album but there's enough variety on this CD that it doesn't sound out of place.

 

7) Moravec - Hyperion 9:56

 

This track is built around a somewhat folorn melody. It doesn't progress much over the course of its ten minute length, but there's enough going on over the top to keep it from getting boring.

 

8) Organix - Swim & glide 8:04

 

Up next is another track which is built around a slow, low melody, though this one has a mildly sinister feel to it. Some really nice, deep synth noises here.

 

9) Samorost - You 5:45

 

Not sure about this one. It's nice, no doubt, but every time I hear that piano line I can't help but think of Essential Coffee Table Chillout with a Photo of a Woman's Silhouette in front of a Sunset on the Cover: Volume 41 or something. This is surely a product of my own prejudice rather than a problem with the track itself, but it does make it harder for me to enjoy.

 

 

 

Overall:This is a great compilation; a nice tracklist which has a lot of variety, without sacrificing coherence. Pretty much every track is good, and a few are really, really good. It's also worth mentioning that the album artwork, made by Dutch artist Dadara, is very nice. Thoroughly recommended. 8.5/10

 

Favourite Tracks: 1, 3(!), 5(!), 6, 7