Nanosweep 23

Rating: ★★★½☆ (3.5/5)

	Album Title: Nanosweep 23
	Record Label: Nanosounds, Supersweep
	Catalog No.: NS-023
	Release Date: December 31, 2016
	Purchase: Buy at Sweep Record

Overview

NanoSweep is an ongoing series of original music that was initiated in 2004 by various members of NanoSounds and SuperSweep. It usually features members from each of these companies and occasionally a guest composer. This is the twenty-third original album and features compositions by Hiroshi Okubo, Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso, Fumihisa Tanaka, and Takahiro Eguchi. How does this album fare as a whole?

Body

Hiroshi Okubo opens up the album with “Air Vibration,” featuring a heavy focus on percussion and distorted synth work. Overall, there’s a nice futuristic vibe with some atmospheric sections, some Middle Eastern influence in the accompaniment at times, and an industrial sound. Shinji Hosoe’s “Repeated Life” is a more hard techno inspired affair that has a club feel to it. There is modulated synth that helps give it a bit more of an industrial tone as well with the end result being quite enjoyable. Ayako Saso’s “Aerial Cloud” is a dance tune with jazzy undertones. It also contains some vocals that give it more of a disco/soul influence while the horn solo accentuates the jazzy feeling of the electronic sounds.

 To me, the most enjoyable tune belongs to Fumihisa Tanaka’s “Ikebukuro.” The overall tune has a lot of energy to it, thanks to the constant percussion, but the most successful aspect of the piece is the extremely catchy melody. The tune feels like it could fit right in as a shmup stage theme and the overall progression is quite entertaining. Odd man out is the bit of trap that comes in towards the end, but it doesn’t feel too out of place and does manage to work with the tune. Lastly, Takahiro Eguchi’s “check before fire” is also quite high energy, but suffers from repetitive measures. There is a bit of a funk flavor and a lot of distortion in the piece, but the end result isn’t nearly as strong as some of his previous works.

Summary

With Nanosweep23, the end result is a bit mixed. While most of the tunes are enjoyable, it doesn’t feel as cohesive as some of the other tunes. There are certainly some standout pieces, but most don’t particularly reach the same level. It’s still recommended for fans of the series, but if you are looking to get into the series of albums under this moniker, this one might not be the one I’d start with.