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 sixth original album and features compositions by Ryo Watanabe, Keiki Kobayashi, Hiroshi Okubo, Shinji Hosoe, and Ayako Saso.

Body

"Futurefront," composed by Hiroshi Okubo, is a marked improvement over his NanoSweep 5. The beat is really hypnotic, while the use of vocal samples really helps to pump you up. In addition, the synth effects in the melody line really give it a nice spacey vibe, while at the same time, providing a nice club mix.

The biggest surprise for me, personally, was Keiki Kobayashi's "4:00pm." While it starts out with a beautiful light jazz melody, creating an almost ethereal atmosphere, as the piece progresses, it moves into a faster paced jazz session with hints of some funk and disco sections as well. It's truly an impressive composition that really makes me feel like I'm exploring an urban environment.

"Flare," by Ryo Watanabe, continues his streak for excellence. It's got a slight disco vibe to it and he manages to add some nice piano lines into the melody. It makes for a really entertaining trip as the various synth effects and the intoxicating beat really help to heighten the experience.

Shinji Hosoe's "Pollution Field" is another one of his interesting experiments. It's an appealing fusion of industrial techno, futuristic synth with some slight jazz and ethnic influences, and a variety of other effects, that he uses to create an extremely jumbled sound. It really is pretty damn creative and I do find myself listening to this one a lot.

Lastly, "true or false," by Ayako Saso, is my favorite theme on here. This seems to be becoming a recurring theme, but I just love how diverse she is. This piece is a nice industrial techno piece that employs some amazing synth effects, an awesome melody and beat, and the vocal samples give it a bit of a menacing sound. Hell, I don't even dance and I could see myself wanting to constantly dance to this.

Summary

NanoSweep 6 offers a ton of excellent themes. Saso, Watanabe, and Kobayashi offer some of the catchiest themes on the soundtrack and each create a unique environment to the whole album. Hosoe and Okubo also do excellent jobs, especially with Hosoe's experimentation in "Pollution Field." This is easily worth picking up.