2005 saw the release of Nanosweep 2 from the artists aka SuperSweep. After setting the tone for hard hitting bass in the first CD things are a little more relaxed this time around…but not much!
Opening with bird song is “Birds Eye” from Nakany which has a beautiful ambient glow and haze all the way around it. The percussion is fast but light to match the synth pads whirling around the speakers. It’s a complete contrast to anything on NanoSweep.
“Dazzling Rays” from Ryo Wantanabe teases you with a nice electric acoustic guitar sample and electric piano riffs to gently tease you into a great dance track. It reminds me of something from Sudeki in a way with its pace and urgency crossed over with some simple but effective guitar work.
Hiroshi Okubo raises the beats higher with “PLANET FUNK” which has a kind of stuck tape effect running throughout. That fused with some seriously jazzy keyboard playing makes for a funkfest that I could boogie to for ages.
“Sage” from Shinji Hosoe uses the saxaphone for random effects and is the busiest track to date with lots of chord changes going on while the notes decay from the speakers. Its intricate and well executed.
“Like a Clock” sounds to me just like a level clear screen! Masashi Yano creates the typical offbeat and over happy melody for a level clear screen and it works very well and is different to anything else on the album.
Ayako Saso’s “Junk Plant” is the closest you’ll get to NanoSweep 1. This is a mega rave up. At god knows how many BPM that bass drum bangs out to computerized rapping and wailing sirens.
Finally “Neutral Network” from Yousuke Yasui straddles the divide by giving us a song that I’d imagine would be used in an arcade shoot-em-up. I can just see myself blasting away the big boss ship with this blasting its beats and grizzly bassline.
Overall I think Nanosweep 2 is a more cohesive piece than its predecessor. There’s a lot more variety and much more melody involved this time around. I’d recommend this to any fan of arcade game music. It’s good stuff!