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V/A - Nova Natura


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Title: Nova Natura

Label: Cosmic Leaf Records

Catalog: CLCD03

Released: 2005

 

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Tracklist:

 

1.Minos - Introitous

2.Terra Nine - Circle Maker (Hesius Dome vs. Arcane Trickster rmx)

3.Zero Cult - Redreaming

4.Side Liner - Haunted Thoughts (Omni Festival 2005 Live Mix)

5.MLT - Ravine Echoes

6.D. Batistatos - Drift Memories

7.GEO - Mitosis

8.The Omm Squad - Strange Harvest (Side Liner rmx)

9.Will-O-The-Wisp - Touching Stars

10.Omegahertz - Ionian Seas

11.Cudelix - Anama

 

Cosmic Leaf is the chilled subdivision of the greek trancelabel Unicorn Music. Compiled by labelmanager Nick Miamis, this is the third compilation comming out of their camp. "Nova Natura" is also a radioshow in Greece, hosted by Nick himself. On this compilation we're introduced to quite a variety of names, most of them unknown - at least for me. Musically this thing operates in a rather loungy landscape, most of this stuff isn't your "deepest" flavour of psy-chill.

 

Let's take a closer look at the tracks...

 

 

01: Minos - Introitous

To start off this compilation Minos gives us a really epic piece. This is massively orchestrated chill with all the ingredients you can possibly imagine. Horns, percussion, stings, both male and female vocals - and thats just the tip of the iceberg. It sounds like Minos might have picked up a trick or two from someone like Vangelis. For me this is a bit too much, it just gets too grandiose, filled with too many clichès. It's basically a bit over the top if you catch my drift. I know however that alot of people appreciate this kind of flavour in their chill, and if you do - check this out.

 

02: Terra Nine - Circle Maker (Hesius Dome vs. Arvane Trickster rmx)

From the epic sounds of Minos we turn to Terra Nine's "Circle Maker". This is also a pretty massive track, but in a completely different way. It has a darker, more eerie atmosphere and the sounds here have a distict metallic feel to themselves. Even the violin sounds techy in here. What really makes the track stand out though is the hypnotizing, tribal beats, constantly driving you forwards. It's both groovy and calming at the same time, and I really like this. One of my favourite tracks on the album!

 

03: Zero Cult - Redreaming

Zero Cult takes us over into the more smoke-ridden realms of dub. It's a pretty straightforward track, with plenty of bass and reverb. The melodies and beats change every now and then, but overall this track comes across as pretty monotonus. That being said, there are interesting elements here. I for one really dig that spacey bassline thats sort of lurking in the background here at times. This is by no means revolutionary stuff, but I think it's a nice enough listening-experience.

 

04: Side Liner - Haunted Thoughts (Omni festival 2005 Live mix)

Side Liner is the chill project of Cosmic leaf label manager Nick Miamis him self. I haven't heard the original version of this track, but the live Mix is nice enough. I get the feeling that Side Liner gets alot of inspiration from mid-90's chill - this track ceirtanly has alot of the elements I remember from that era. There are plenty of of those catchy melody-lines, a pretty heavy breakbeat and massive amounts of bass. This would probably be one of my favourites on the album if it wasn't for one thing - there's this sound thats repeated so often... it's like a bark...or a cough perhaps...I don't really know what it is, but it irritates me! I think it might be an effect added for the live mix, but I'm not sure. Pretty nice track, though

 

05: MLT - Ravine Echoes

This is a track that begins pretty straightforward. A bassline, some brakbeats, and for a long time you think that this, together with the odd blipp and blopp is all there is to it. Luckilly this is not the case. It slowly builds and incorporates more elements. Towards the end it's both dubby and massively orchestral at once. Trumpets, pianos and huge sweeps blow towards you. Some might find this a bit to epic, and possibly even cheezy, but in my book this avoids falling in to the latter category.

 

06:D. Batistatos - Drift Memories

"D. Bastistatos". A name like that has got to be greek, right? Annyways, this is a pretty straightforward chilled breakbeat-track. It contains the usual elements - a nice breakbeat, and loads of bass. It does however have one thing that makes it stand out from the bulk of rather boring chill of this category; it draws quite heavilly on greek folk-music, and it does so without becoming overly cheezy. Again, this is by no means massively revolutionary music, but if you take this for what it is and play it in the right context you should be able to enjoy it.

 

07: GEO - Mitosis

This track opens with three elements: 1) The sound of birds sqeuaking. 2) The sound of waves crushing. And finally 3) Long "atmospheric" synthsweeps. Now put all ingredients in a blender - add a dash of beats and voilà - cheeze of the worst smelling kind! Luckilly the track doesn't turn out to be a total catastrophe, there are some nice elements in here as well, like some of the melodies. For me however this is just too much. Like my constantly weed-smoking friend said when I played him this track: "Duuuude! and I don't really mean that in a good way, ya' know?"

 

08: The Omm Squad - Strange Harvest (Side Liner rmx)

The track opens with a voice-sample I really can't make out. maybe it's Greek, I don't know. The feeling here is dubby and oriental, and the hippie-factor is definently present. The bassline is somewhat oldschool, like it's some kind of extremely downbeat goa-track(but not really ofcourse). There are also lots of different squeaks around in the background and all these sounds work really great together. The beats of the track are filled with tribal elements and work wonders together with the rest of the sounds. Very nice track, one of my favorites here!

 

09: Will-O-The-Wisp - Toucing Stars

Will-O-The-Wisp definantly has the artistname of this compilation, no doubt about that! Also this seems to be heavily under the influence of oldschool goa, as it's melodies, bass and general production all hints in this direction. It sounds kind of outdated, but definently has it's moments. The melodies are nice, and again this is an example of a track where things aren't overdone. Not a perfect gem and if you hate the oldschool sound - skip it. I for one enjoy this.

 

10: Omegahertz - Ionian Seas

This track is quite suprising to find on this compilation. It's a very downbeat, yet hypnotizing 4/4 track. It's very oriental in it's expression, and if you enjoy your chill with a touch of ethnic flavour this track alone is worth buying the album for. Imagine dead can dance tripping on some beach in Greece, while all kinds of funny characters dance around them. Omehahertz is a new name for me, but I'll definently be tuning in if he releases anything simular to this. A definite favourite here, and I'd love to see an entire album of his style.

 

11: Cudelix - Anama

Cudelix gives us another one of those pretty epic tracks that's been a major factor throughout this compilation. The violin-like work here sounds like it could have been taken straight out of the soundtrack from "Lord of the Rings" or some other fantasy movie. The beats are pretty much your average chillout breaks, and the singing here doesn't really do it for me. With that awfull vocoder it reminds me too much of that old cheer-hit or something like that. Definently not my favourite track on the album.

 

Final remarks:

First of all, if you buy this compilation hoping to find the next pioneer of psychedelic chill, you've purchased the wrong disc. You'll find no new Shpongle, Solar fields or Bluetech here. That however doesn't mean it's a bad compilation, it's just not an outstanding one either. A coupple of the tracks I really didn't like, most of the tracks are rather average, and then there are two or three tracks that really stand out in a positive way. If you feel like checking out some greek chill, this would be a good place to start. This is also an album I'd recomend if you need something less intense, something more down-to earth and straightforward than is often the case of psychill.

 

Tomas(Psychedelic Mustache)

 

Get it here:

Saikosounds

Psyshop

Amboworld

Discobole

 

 

More reviews, interviews, artucles and a nice little forum at www.sonic-energy.net

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