Customer Reviews

Renaissance Presents 3d: Satoshi Tomiie

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There is a survey here that Renaissance wants us to take with this release, maybe subliminally, but they still would like to hear our feed back. I could be wrong, but I also could be right. The idea to put out this release in such a fashion; Electro/Tech House (CD1), Prog/Trance House (CD2) and a decoy, blas? music (CD3) could be to evaluate how the Electro/Tech House is doing compared to the beloved tempo, groove, trip and intelligence of the Progressive and Trance-House, that made Electronica believers out of the lost souls of POP chart worshipers.

As for me, the electro house presented in CD1 (Club) is the best I have ever listened to so far. I actually think that there is a bleak hope in this genre of house making it somehow. All thanks to Satoshiie's excellent taste in music that doesn't exaggerate the newness of it. On the contrary, Satoshiie gives you just enough fresh Electro sound to make it... well...fresh. This is exactly what DJs, that jumped on the band wagon of the Electro House, should have introduced us with as a smooth transition from Prog. Unfortunately, they all wanted to make a BANG with the new stuff, but all they got was a poof.

CD2 (Studio) is nothing short of AWESOME. Yes it does have some several tracks that I (and many others) have heard during the past years; I can even say that some of them are classics. Still, the joy of listening to them once again especially when remixed by one of the best in the business is nothing less than breathtaking. CD2 alone is worth purchase of this 3XCD comp.

Home (CD3) is love it or leave it kind of thing. It is definitely no what you might call `Chill out', `Lounge' or even `Down tempo'. It is what I would call a mixed salad of `Personal' favorites of the artist's listening enjoyment and influence. OK I guess, a private look inside the artist's heart and soul never hurts, however, not along with this comp, it just clashes........but hey....to each his own.

So, which do I like best? I have to say that Progressive House is my favorite by far, even when comparing it to the new sound of Electro by the same DJ. So here you go Renaissance (Thrive) note it down for your reference.

All in all, great comp. from a genius artist.

P.S: Satoshiie's Nubreed is mind boggling, check it out.

With Renaissance 3D Satoshi Tomiie steps up for this first instalment of the new series. I must say I had my skeptic thouhgts at first but after a few good days with all three cds I can HONESTLY say this is truly a great mix all around. To start off Satoshi kicks it off with the club disk. On the first listen I got the feeling it was going to be the usual tech-house electro house dribble that seems to be on every new mix cd to date.But,as I got more into the mix the more I liked it. More so the first 5 or 6 tracks of the cd. Now, for CD2 the studio disc. If anyone who claims to listen or like Progressive house/house/trance(dance music in general)has not heard of more than half of the songs on the studio disc you need to do your home work. I would call this disc a type of greatest hits but even better. In my opinion these are some of the most note worthy tracks in the scene, and there all remixed/tweeked and polished for this cd(worth the purchase of the set alone). Now disc three is a love it or hate it situation. Some very good tracks a type of managers choice dish, tracks that have been influential in Satoshi's life. Over all a GREAT CD and a must for any house/progressive listener out there. Also recieved comp. of the month by M8 and well worth every penny.

i'm constantly searching for one of those mixes that stays in your car for months, and you just listen to it over and over with amazement each time at how fabulous it is. with staoshi's studio mix, i've found my latest obsession. his remixes are mind blowing, and i hear tracks like "love in traffic" which i haven't heard in 5 years. he really shows his mad skills on this disc. the other two are okay, but this one blows the others out of the water. if you're like me and are looking for the next hot mix to add to your collection...then buy this immediatly!!!

With its 3D series, Renaissance asked several big names in electronic music to create mixes separated into three CDs titled "Club", "Studio", and "Home" respectively. The first installment went to Satoshi Tomiie, a Japanese-born resident who has been in the house scene for nearly two decades, but whose output on disc was rare until recently. I was blown away by his 2002 mix in Global Underground's Nubreed series, so I decided to check this release out as well. Unfortunately, the format that Renaissance came up with doesn't work out too well.

For the first disc, "Club", Tomiie chose the sort of tunes he was playing out in early 2006. While another review has called this mix electro, I must respectfully disagree, for this is mainly the sort of traditional house mixed with progressive that Tomiie has carved his niche in. Indeed, the lack of electro stylings sets this disc apart from other releases of the same era. Tomiie takes the opportunity to promote the work of Jim Rivers, a producer brand-new to the scene who contributes the solid tracks "Future" and "Restore". Vocals are sparingly used, making their first appearance only in the eight track, Electrochemie LK's "Big One", and subsequently serving as the climax of the disc in Cass's "I Love Your Shoes". This is a rather average disc.

Things improve greater with the second disc. For "Studio", Tomiie has put together a mix consisting only of various remixes that he has done of house and progressive classics from the late '80s to today. A mellow version of "Tears", the collaboration with Frankie Knuckles that made his name in New York, helps start things off. Cass' "Mind Rewind" is elegantly extended through the middle of the set. Things reach their highest point with the succession of Kosheen - "Hungry" (probably Tomiie's finest remix), Photek - "Mine to Give", Tomiie and Kelli Ali - "Love in Traffic", and Future Sound of London's "Papua New Guinea" (in its umpteenth remix). Tomiie winds the set down with an eerie dub of Hybrid's "Higher Than a Skyscraper".

The third disc, "Home", is a complete disappointment. Tomiie shows off his wide taste in music with this unmixed succession of tunes from the Sneaker Pimps, Miles Davis, Dexter Wansel, and Weather Report among others. The progressive house fans buying a mix from the progressive house label Renaissance are obviously wanting, well, progressive house, not some fairly mundane jazz and pop. It is a pity that Tomiie hasn't adopted Sasha's Ableton Live style which would allow him to integrate these personal favourites from other genres in a house set.

Tomiie is a talented DJ, producer, and remixer, and this disc may be worth getting from budget outlets for the second disc. If you haven't encounted his work yet, however, the old Nubreed set is highly recommended.

Interesting concept behind this one...I enjoyed listening to all three discs, but it was the first one, the Club mix, that did it for me. Every time I listen to it, it grows on me more and more. I have never heard an electro mix sound as solid and deep as this one. Every single track on the mix is mint, especially Jim Rivers' "Future" and Martin Eyerer's "Wicked Line". Like I said, with every listen, it gets better and better... If you like good, hypnotic electro and progressive house, then I highly recommend this release. Satoshi is a master producer and programmer.

CD's 1 &2 do have some brilliant NEW tracks, although the old tracks mixed in on CD 2 do throw you off a bit. I'm all about respecting "classics" but I only continue to buy mix comp CDs looking for new musical innovations. On a few of the tracks, here, you definitely can find that, which I'd say makes the 3cd comp worth the price, and is the reason for my high score.

As for CD3, it might be cool to hear if you were trippin off some acid. Otherwise it functions nicely as a coaster.

There are a couple reviews here that baffle me. I enjoyed all three discs. I will admit that they didn't blow my mind like a few other Renaissance and Satoshi products, but there is plenty to groove with here. I'll listen to this in my car, in the gym, and in my cubicle.
If you're not a complete snob you will enjoy this.

The Renaissance label has done much to keep the spirit of electronic music alive, giving time-tested DJs a chance to stretch their creative limbs, and allowing lesser-known faces a moment's glimpse of sun. Or glimpse of club-flashing strobe, as the case may be. Whatever you want to call the work produced under this label, it can all be described as great, ground-breaking, description-defying DJ-ing.

Well, almost all of it.

This three-disc set proposes to introduce you to Satoshi Tomiie, a Japanese DJ who is responsible for the lanky lounge club classic, "Tears." He didn't really get started until he moved to New York and started spinning with the Def Mix crew. Compared to what's out there these days, he's not exactly a Big Name, but if Renaissance is willing to give him his five seconds, he must be worth a shot, right?

Ummmmmm, not exactly.

Disc One ("Club") is supposed to be a representation of Tomiie's live work. Tomiie takes his time massaging the funk into Spirit Catcher's synth-heavy "Polysquasher" before popping the clutch and driving the whole thing into Berkson's bare-boned "People," a weird digital trash ditty that features a looped vocal that sounds an awful lot like a robotic donkey doing its best impersonation of a robotic chicken. Tomiie's style never gets too flashy, and although his restraint means some of his work glimmers with the beauty of clean-lines and uncluttered melodic mosaics (see the raunchily retro "I Love Your Shoes" and the nimble-toed "Somewhere), it also means that his weaker spots are all that easier to see (you might want to skip the exhausting duo of "Wicked Line" and "Big One," two uninspired and grating messes that bog down the entire heart of the set).

Tomiie went to the "Studio" for the second disc to remix some of the old "favorites" that he's played before (I'll have to take the liner notes at their word for this one). The sound is definitely more accomplished, rounder, and cohesive. He lets you know with his opener -- the simple piano of Loop 7's "The Theme" -- that things are going to be low-key this time around. A lazy lounge mood warms up the start of the disc before picking up some energy in Chab's dangerously sexy "Lover" and the psycho-scape of Cass's "Mind Rewind." The first half is far superior, a well-woven and delicately muted chunk of deep house harmonics. There's some faltering near the last half of the album, especially in Ali and Tomiie's "Love In Traffic" (a song that drones so repetitively that you have to wonder if Tomiie didn't leave the studio to grab a sno cone in the middle of recording). He wisely slots Hybrid's "Higher Than A Skyscraper" as the album's finishing touch, a tight, electro-orchestral soul sweeper that's as deliciously dark as it is inspiring.

Disc Three is called "Home." I made the mistake of listening to it before reading about it. "Home," to me, calls up images of even lankier and less tangible mixes, stuff to make the candles burn brighter and to help the shadows float higher. In fact, the word "Home," here, is meant to imply that we are being given a glimpse into Satoshi's own tastes. These aren't club or dance mixes; this is more like a personalized mix tape of all of the songs and tracks that have inspired Tomiie throughout the years. Hence, you have Sneaker Pimps's "6 Underground" dissolving into an overlong recording of Miles Davis's "Solea." You have the almost unbearably peppy jazz muzak of "Palladium" placed right next to Pastorius's annoyingly anorexic "Portrait of Tracy." Thrown in is the way out-dated "Song of the Siren," MFSB's "Mysteries of the World" (a song that sounds like something a store might play over the loudspeakers while you shop for socks), and James Brown. James Brown!

I actually like some of these songs, in their own right. Of course I'm a fan of James Brown, and I dig on Sneaker Pimnps. But hearing them on the same disc grates. I get the idea that we might want to know more about Tomiie's roots (that's debatable, given his status in the clubbing scene isn't what I would call gelled), but I don't think this is the best way to go about it. An interview and a brief list would be enough. Even if you're going to go to the trouble to slap together such an odd track list, at least take the time to give 'em a brush up with the mixing board. Tomiie IS a DJ after all; but he barely touches these songs, presenting them pretty much as is. "Here," he's saying. "This is the kind of music I listen to when I'm not listening to house."

Well, I bought this set expecting to listen to house, which means that the third disc (mockingly called the "home" record) is not just weird and unnecessary and presumptuous, but it's also kind of a slap in the face. Does ANYONE perusing the Renaissance titles want a disc with an unaltered version of Azymuth's high-concept jazz jingle "Fly Over The Horizon"? I doubt it. But, hey, if you do, you know where to find it now.

The rest of you, well, I wouldn't give up on the fine folks at Renaissance. After all, D's one and two, in spite of their various shortcomings, aren't all that bad. If you're a Renaissance die-hard like myself, you could do a lot worse than this triumvirate of Tomiie's. Still, you could do a whole lot better, too.

Satoshi has released some good stuff for John Digweed to compile and for his album, such as "Up in Flames". I like his compilations, such as the acclaimed Nubreed disc. On the beginning of the Renaissance 3D series, he did a good job. However, he needs to be careful of using tracks that are too familiar. I'll just describe each disc.

Disc 1 starts off with Satoshi's latest club gig reminding me of the 2nd disc of Nic Fanciulli's Renaissance Vol. 1, which got high ratings. It took a couple of listens to really get into it, but love it a lot. One of my favorite tracks on the disc is by Cass & Mangan. I would give it 4/5.

Disc 2 is good, but where Satoshi needs to be careful the most. He needs to be careful about using tracks that are too familiar or not giving enough of the 3D sound where they sound almost the same. In other words, the track by Photek or Satoshi's "Up In Flames" does not sound much different from John Digweed: Los Angelos (Global Underground). It sounds fun to listen to, but maybe a little boring. Overall, 3/5.

The third disc I don't mind, exspecially with hearing a track with James Brown. However, I am not to used to hearing stuff I either heard or that is too popular. It is good though. I don't know how I would rate the third disc.

Overall, It may not be what I call Renaissance, but okay. Satoshi needs to be careful about how he mixes tracks and not using tracks that are too old. I would give 3/5 for Satoshi's performance for the beginning of the Renaissance 3D series.

This is still a fun 3CD set to listen too, but could see improvement for Satoshi's release of Renaissance Master Series 10. It is a situation where whoever listens to the disc either likes it or doesn't.

Listen to samples of this 3CD before buying it. See what you think!!

I am a huge Satoshi fan. When I purchase a compilation from a well respected DJ from such a wonderful series such as Renaissance...I expect to get something..well...a little more than what I got. I expect to get a release full of new tracks...and not simply remixed versions of older works found in other CD's.
Don't get me wrong...there are some excellent tracks on these discs, however...there is the occasional old and played out selection that throws me off. I want to hear some new stuff...definatly not the exact same tracks found in previous releases.