Various - Resonance Mood FLAC album

This ripping compilation hails from the glory days of Matsuri Productions. This compilation, together with "Let It Rip" always struck me as one of the first releases to set the ground work for what eventually morphed into today's full-on psy-trance. Compared to today's full-on it may sound a little dated, which a lot more acidy leads and not as beefy bass, but the elements are all there in one form or another. That said, this shouldn't be mistaken for a mere full on compilation. Mood is the operative word here, and as is usually the case with Matsuri, things don't just stay in one place for very long.

Deflo starts us off on the vinyl with Tio Mate, a nice busy number that pounds, rips and slices its way through your speakers. Maybe a hair tame by todays standards, but even when compared to some current releases, it still rocks pretty well.Pulse II, Anti Matter (Tsuyoshi and Mark Dressler)'s offering to this comp, brings some of that lovely Indo-ethnic vibe to the offerings, which I find missing in so much of todays music. It mood of this track is ethno-breaks and shakes up ones expections after the full-on-ness of Tio Mate. While a more chilled track, this has far too much energy to be considered down-tempo, unless there is a full-on downtempo genre I am not aware of.

The ever dark and heavy Charka teams up with Nada to bring us Intesive Psychedelic Care. This one pounds along in the usual Chakra style (which is a good thing in my opinion). Chakra has always had a way of taking sounds that border on cheesy and making them pound in a very hard way and this track is no exception. Chakra's tracks always seem to become a highlight of any comp I find them on, and the usual rules apply here. Lunar Asylum comes up next in a old school tinged number Shadow Five. This one is more of an old school goa number typical of Matsuri's earlier releases. That is to say, goa, but a bit groovier than most goa, with some nice percussion work and egenerally well done overall.

Tsuyoshi returns, this time teaming up with Gus Till of Slinky Wizard under the name Slug. Slug gives us Slugfest. Solidly in Tsuyoshi's full on style, this track will be welcomed by any of his Prana and general straight up dancefloor work. Jaws was one of GMS' first well known tracks before they became a formula driven machine and is a stand out track from their first album on Hadshot. All the GMS elements are here, but here they aren't as flat as they became later on in their career. Closing out the second disc we have ManMadeMan - Athalon. ManMadeMan has been another group I have always been so-so on, but Athalon is a good track. It is also very "modern" sounding considering it came out in 97. Nice vibe, nice groove and its aged well to boot.

The final disc offers us two more cuts, the first being Decoder by Nervasystem. While a solid track, it is perhaps the weakest cut of this compilation (not something to be ashamed of though as this comp is very solid). Nintendo Metal Psy-master Sandman closes off this comp in typical Sandman fashion. Dark and evil touchs, yet somehow still playful. As far as Sandman tracks go, this one is of higher end quality. Better than most, but not amongst his best, it will regardless please Sandman fans and psy fans in general.

Final thoughts - A very solid comp. Not perfect, but better than most with some excellent tracks.