Sensifeel - Vision of Life (Domo Records 2004)

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Sensifeel – Vision of Life

dom1cd005.jpg


High-res cover: artwork

Artist: Sensifeel (France)
Title: Vision of Life
Format: CD (jewel case)
Label: Domo Records (Israel/Germany)
Cat. #: DOMOCD 005
Distribution: Sigomus
Date: 6 December 2004

Track listing:

01. 07’42†A Breath
02. 07’33†Extremely Good
03. 06’34†Back to the Future (FREq Remix)
04. 07’40†Dirty Beach
05. 07’27†Dance for Peace
06. 06’49†Who’s Going?
07. 07’57†Open Air
08. 07’48†Explorer (Rmx)
09. 08’43†Kim Sam

Review:

Progressive croissant…

Vision of Life is the debut album by 26 year old French proggy producer Philippe Sancier, and to be brutally honest, my knowledge about his stuff was limited to that one track of the Widescreen compilation released on Plusquam last year… But that was a pretty good track… When this album was first announced it was scheduled to contain both a Yumade rmx of a Sensifeel track & a Sensifeel rmx of a Hilight Tribe track, but for undisclosed reasons neither are included on the album… However my eye immediately stumbled upon the magic word ‘FREq Remix’ on the tracklisting - So here’s hoping for some smooth progressive trance…

Let me take you thru the tracks…

#01: A Breath
Oriental atmosphere in the intro… Static hisses and slowly evolving percussion combined with a deep, digital bassline… The chanting is a good touch and steadily the bass level deepens and this turns into a rich, smooth progressive track… Not bad at all!

#02: Extremely Good
‘Tall puppy syndrome’ is unbeknownst to Sensifeel, but sure, why not toot one’s own horn… ;o) Though I wouldn’t go as far as calling this extremely good – but it’s definitely not bad… It’s groovy progressive trance with tight percussion including bongos, nifty little synth-lines and a steady pace carried by the deep bassline… Nice track!

#03: Back to the Future (FREq Remix)
The original version of this track was releases on the Domo compilation The Swiss Connection earlier this year… I haven’t heard the original though, so I cannot compare it to this FREq remix… Ahhh… FREq! ;o) Aran Gallagher’s debut album Strange Attractors released on Iboga was one of the best progressive albums of 2004… So as always when it’s FREq my expectations are high… And yes, I’m happy to report that FREq delivers once again… I dunno how the hell he does it, but somehow he manages to totally soak this track in big, phat grooviness… Another rich, driving, trademark FREq progressive stomper … Excellent!

#04: Dirty Beach
This on the other hand is a very aptly named track… On one hand its progressive trance with crude, unpolished beats – and on the other it’s smooth beach house trance… Unfortunately it suffers a little from stand-still syndrome for the first part of the track… Second half is better and the strings really lift it… Ok track!

#05: Dance for Peace
Forget about your inhibitions and dance for peace! This is one of the fastest tracks here… Jumping for joy, this is a very well-polished track – and sadly a little too well-polished… I could’ve used some edge here – something to erect this from the vast, endless pool of mainstream progressive house…

#06: Who’s Going?
Now this is more like it! Interesting intro with cool voice samples – sounds like a conversation between someone… After that a very interesting beat and pretty smooth groove… Metallic sounds, melodic pads and nice twisted bleeps & blops… Much better now Philippe! Parts of this remind me of the Atmos album 2nd Brigade ~ though this is different altogether… This track is kinda mysterious, yet funky… I like that! Nicey nice!

#07: Open Air
And now we dig deeper… The phat proggy bassline is introduced immediately, creating the foundation for one hell of a funky track… Ahh, what depth…Great use of strings and other downtempo elements alongside the funny voice samples… Overall, at nice little track!

#08: Explorer (Rmx)
The cover doesn’t go into details about this remix, so I can’t really tell you about who did what – so I’m guessing it’s just Sensifeel remixing Sensifeel… What I can tell you though, is that this is blechdrummel-like progressive trance…Great use of filters and some pretty twisted FX… Groove-a-licious!

#09: Kim Sam
Last track is Kim Sam which is a downtempo, experimental tune… The acoustic piano is really effective – it could easily be the soundtrack to a sad scene in a movie… Also the percussion work here is impressive – very well constructed… Overall, this is damn nice tune… Great way to finish the album!

Besides the FREq-remix the second half of this album is really where the gems are hidden… From a general viewpoint, this album isn’t bad at all – there are at least a handful of very nice tracks, but unfortunately there are also a couple of mediocre tracks… But at least the less-good tracks are easily outnumbered by the good tracks…

Progressive trance with housey elements have had an amazing year in 2004, and my appetite is virtually endless when it comes to smooth, funky, groovy tunes – and we’re treated to more than a few of those on this album… It doesn’t reach FREq, Kooler or Son Kite heights, but there are definitely parts that would mix well with those… Seen in that light, this would be a handy DJ-tool…

I’d also like to accentuate the cover artwork, which I didn’t really like at first glance… It looked way to cliché and the colours were tacky – but it has actually grown on me (first time a cover has done that I think…) After I studied it more closely, I’ve come to like it. Great paintings by Mae & Moe… Anyway, I encourage fans of groovy progressive trance to sample this album… Out 6 December 2004. Enjoy!

Favourites: 3(!!), 6, 7, 8, 9

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External links:
Sensifeel: http://sensifeel.online.fr
Domo Records: http://www.domorecords.com
Psyshop: http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/dom/dom1cd005.html
Beatspace: http://www.beatspace.com/dettagli/dettaglio.asp?id=1772

And most other well-known online shops soon…
 
woah, loved all the sensifeel releases so far, didn't know this was on the way. Domo records one of my fav.s especially after Swiss Connex
 
Any one got this ?

Is it any good ...... I like the sound of it from DP's review but wandered if anyone else has an opinion ?

ta muchly.

James
 
what great album can'nt go wrong with domo the two rmx tracks are phat :P

Tomtron and Liesegang is another good one from domo ;)
 
mullett said:
what great album can'nt go wrong with domo the two rmx tracks are phat :P

Tomtron and Liesegang is another good one from domo ;)

The Audiomatic album is quite tasty too !!! And on sale at Chaos I noticed the other day .......

Cheers Mullett - I'll have to check this one out ......

Tomtron and Liesegang - is good apart from that one track with some repetive annoying sample which escapes me right now as the track always gets skipped straight away. Nice proggy trancey sound though .....
 
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