Tanzmuzik – Sinsekai

The funny thing is, it's much closer to "Technodon" by YMO which saw its release only one year before.

the first track on the album was scheduled to be released in 1994 by kyoto's electronic music label TOY Label before being included on the album, but it fell through.

the second and third tracks on the album were included on their 12inch Tan Tangue EP, released by Rising High Records in 1994.

The sixth and seventh tracks on the album are unreleased track.

An outstanding album, and hidden gem of the 90's. Alongside other great IDM releases of that time, what sets this release apart is the frequent key-changes which is used to great effect. Most dance music releases just pump along in the same key, not this one.

Tanzmuzik produced some of the most forward-thinking electronic music of the mid-1990s. Isolated from the "IDM" trend, they simply pursued their own aesthetic, borrowing freely from breakbeat, electro, techno, ambient, acid house, and hip hop. To this day, no other artists have mined the intersections between these genres that Akio and Okihide discovered, and the end-of-millennium utopian zeitgeist that inspired their music has died. This version of Sinsekai is harder and more industrial than the UK version, featuring distorted, snarling synth sequences that tear through spacetime, counterbalanced by delicate heavenly ambience. The percussion programming frequently fuses metallic breakbeat with urgent, four on the floor techno in ever-shifting, nervous patterns with tricky edits every few bars. There are some very wet, heavily modulated acid lines that form introspective melodies without the cheesiness or over-emotive excess of a lot of bad IDM - the effect is like meditation in the midst of surging information chaos. "Kar," "Postlife" and "Recyne" all sound like Dougans' recent Humanoid material but recorded on 90s gear - Akio & Okihide were clearly some of the most impressive synth programmers in the global electronic community of their day. I can't recommend either version of this album enough. I mean listen to this and then "I Care Because You Do" back to back and you'll wonder why all the fuss about post-1994 IDM? Where's the deluxe remaster of this unique masterpiece?

Fantastic album spanning everything from lush ambient to relaxed trance rhythms and complex IDM designs. Very versatile and not a bad track in sight. Beautiful synths melodies everywhere. All tracks are very memorable; nothing feels like filler. If classic Plaid and Autechre is up your alley, you will probably love this. One of the best Resing High releases!

I wouldn't consider this Blade Runner territory as the previous reviewer wrote alas it is all electronic in nature. This is however a fine slice of later period 90s IDM and a smattering of ambient. You get quirky early WARP like rhythmic statements replete with chunky kicks and plucky Roland synths with layers of lovely swept string pads. I would go as far as to say parallel to anything R&S/Apollo released during the time period.
This is really a fine album and many of the tracks where licensed for other label compilations because there really isn't a bad track on it. The music is all well composed sort of dreamy meets beat oriented techno. Rising High knew a good artist when they heard them. Miss the 90s!

What ? Still no reviews for this unsung classic after all this time ? C'mon !

Listening to Blade Runner OST again just now made me think of other music that channels the same sounds, tone and feel.....and unless I'm very much mistaken this splendid CD is an aural tribute to Blade Runner or at least massively influenced by it...most tracks are excellent and deserve a sci-fi film all of their own....

A classic of soundtrack-y IDM, and as such sits a bit weirdly on Rising High..... a precursor, in some ways and perhaps not obviously, to Kuedo's Severant too (another Blade Runner channeler if ever there was one....)