DeathPosture Posted July 19, 2005 Share Posted July 19, 2005 V/A - Fragile Life Artist: Various Title: Fragile Life Format: CD (amaray DVD case) Label: Cosmicleaf Records (Greece) Cat. #: CLCD02 Distribution: Unicorn Music/Ultimae Date: June 2005 Track listing: 01. 06’44” Will-O’-The-Wasp – Fall Out 02. 06’45” Zero Cult - Tripsphere 03. 07’17” Omegahertz - Cosmovatis 04. 06’37” Side Liner – Screaming Tears 05. 05’50” MLT – In A Cell 06. 06’00” D. Batistatos – Criminal Intention 07. 06’50” Zero Cult – Night Out (Max Mix) 08. 04’30” Omegahertz – Nostos Vocal Edition (Radio Cut) 09. 06’58” Del feat. Cydelix - Epiros 10. 07’46” Red Eye Express – Song For Alex 11. 06’42” Goasia – Pray For Rain Review: Intelligent elevator muzak… Cosmicleaf Records is the chilled sub-label of Greek label Unicorn Music… Last year’s compilation Chill On Ice was a nice little surprise with loads of debuting artists – and journey-wise that compilation was quite impressive… And now it’s time for the second release – with many of the same artists… Let’s have a closer listen… Let me take you thru the tracks… #01: Will-O’-The-Wasp – Fall Out The Wasp is Vasilis Miamis from Greece and AFAIK this is his debut release… This is wholesome electronic downbeat… Chilled soundscapes and laidback, yet stiff beats… Dubby without really being dubby… Yeah, I like this… ;o) #02: Zero Cult – Tripsphere Zero Cult is Israeli chill producer Emil Ilyayev who also had two tracks on Chill On Ice… Both were nice, and so is this… A mixture of organic ambient and spacy electronica…Beautifully executed… I like the eerie melodies here – spooky, but very memorizing… This is a stand-out track for sure! #03: Omegahertz – Cosmovatis Demitris Pouranis from Greece was also on Chill On Ice – with a very nice track… Here Demitris is joined by his eternal love Maria on vocals… Singing about faith, love and tripping to light… Hippies! …This is floating, melodic downbeat electronica… Synths are everywhere, as are filters and electro-pads in the background… Nice, but not as great as the two previous tracks… #04: Side Liner – Screaming Tears Cosmicleaf label manager Nick Miamis impressed me with his psy-crossover track on Chill… And sure enough, this angst-ridden track also has enough psy-elements in it, to keep me interested… The percussion section is cool and laidback, whilst the surroundings are kinda haunting – paranoid even – which is backed by the thoughts printed in the DVD inlay… Another great combo track! Sweet! #05: MLT – In A Cell “Let me breath again. Let me see the light. I feel nothing anymore. Like a butterfly in a cage. As much the blows have gone. I don’t care to fly anymore. The world now is visualized in my mind. I’m a spirit, in a cell!” Mitiades Shimatariotis was another newbie that impressed me on Chill… Here he is joined by Vicky Fysika on vocals… And DAMN, the girl can sing! Holy shit, this is some great stuff… The first part of the track is forgettable, but once she starts singing I guarantee you, you’ll wake up… Too bad about the Engrish lyrics, but hey – still an impressive track! #06: D. Batistatos – Criminal Intention Dimitris Batistatos from Greece also did well on Chill… The intro here is very original – all kinds of sounds from the city – mixed up with tight percussion… An overall laidback rhythm section and nifty little synth melodies… Perhaps a little boring in some parts, but overall not a bad track…The sounds of the city parts are very cool! #07: Zero Cult – Night Out (Max Mix) As usual we get a second dose of Zero Cult… This time a more upbeat, yet chilled track… It’s kinda trancy as the title imply… All that sounds great in theory… And for the most part it is a great track – it’s just I’m not too impressed with the main melodic lead here… It annoys me somehow… But hey – the crossover appeal is huge here – this could easily have been on one of the countless Ibiza chill compilations… A very epic, floating track… #08: Omegahertz – Nostos Vocal Edition (Radio Cut) More Omegahertz here… This track was also on Chill On Ice – and now it’s conveniently chopped for radio-length… This is a very spiritual track – with a nice acoustic guitar and rich ethnic influences… World beats, orchestral pads and twirling electro pads… Very Juno Reactor’esque – and still a smashing track! Another stand-out! #09: Del feat. Cydelix – Epiros George Deliginannis is joined by Cydelix here (on vocals I presume)… The thoughts behind Eva Rentifi’s vocals are printed in the DVD inlay – and they revolve around stars… Both inner and outer stars… A very emotional track here – and totally downbeat… I’m not sure what to think of the vocals though – a little too hollow perhaps… But still a decent track! #10: Red Eye Express – Song For Alex As on Chill we get a guest appearance from Tempest Recordings in Australia… The guys behind this project are Giorgio Giampetri, Christopher Innes and Damiano Verna… This is highly original downtempo stuff – a big old melting pot of many different styles… Tribal percussion, acoustic guitar, trance, electro and ambient… Very experimental and very original… Not a bad mix, but not my fav’e track here either… #11: Goasia – Pray For Rain Balint Tihamer from Serbia & Montenegro had on of the best tracks on Chill On Ice – and his dance offshoot on the Apsara compilation released by Suntrip Records also impressed me… And yeah, this rain dance track is almost as good… Floating, soothing chill-out – with a steady, rich rhythm section – and sweet little melodies that never gets too cheesy… This is the way to end a chill compilation! Good work! Ahh – what a nice compilation here… The first compilation from Cosmicleaf was nice – and this is even nicer… There are no bad tracks here, and we get a bigger percentage of stand-out tracks – great! …Again I’m impressed by the flow here – it’s a continuous journey and the tracks seem very carefully selected to ensure the best possible voyage… Also the packaging is pretty stylish with the DVD amaray case and cool artwork… Well done Cosmicleaf – keep evolving this way, and you’ll soon be one of the leading chill-labels… That being said, I could still have hoped for a little more psychedelia here… I’m a nostalgic trancer you know… Some of the tracks are a little too epic for my taste and generally I need that little extra spice to rank this as an essential release… But yeah, the cross-over potential is evident and you can play this for both your parents and non psy-friends easily… They’ll love it… I recommend this compilation to fans of smooth, melodic downtempo music… And I’m looking forward to the next step… Enjoy! Favourites: 2, 4, 5, 8, 11 DeathPosture External links: Cosmicleaf: http://tinyurl.com/bq3vl Amboworld: http://tinyurl.com/8b4ne Beatspace: http://tinyurl.com/dsgnc Psyshop: http://tinyurl.com/9ws3k Wirikuta: http://tinyurl.com/9t6oo Ultimae: http://tinyurl.com/bbhh4 Unicorn: http://tinyurl.com/cwarb Wakyo: http://tinyurl.com/c7nd5 Saiko: http://tinyurl.com/c6qa6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amphiton Posted July 31, 2005 Share Posted July 31, 2005 Cosmicleaf always gives us something different. As I understand, Unicorn (-› Cosmicleaf) is based on a mp3-label or something like that ...like Resonant Earth for example, so the artists are true music-lovers and making music is their hobby in the first place. It doesn't sound that proffesional, but it has a soul... and it has greater value. This is what I like about their releases. Still, the music is wonderfull, there really are no bad tracks! What I would like hear from the artists on this compilation are faster tracks, I suppose they would sound very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.