TS: Markus Guentner's "Audio Island" vs. Kaito's "Special Life"

Markus is an interesting figure though: it would be nice to see him somehow unite his various tastes in ambience, neo-trance and pop (see "Syndrome") into something new. I could imagine him doing some amazing dream-pop-house.

I initiated this string because Audio Island, as a whole, strikes me as a more cohesive, balanced effort due to its diversity (and the vocal tracks help to nip monotony in the bud), while Kaito's disc sounds a bit samey in parts.

But I happily concur, and hotly anticipate Guenter's bringing his multiple loves and talents together in one delicious stew. We all know he's capable, it's a question of whether he's willing to let his multiple personalities coalesce.

sometimes 'special life' is my favorite album ever.

I prefer the beatless ("Love") versions of Kaito's albums, and Special Love is my favorite of them all.

i need the propulsion

closer to the heartbeat imo

I like falling asleep to Special Love.

hundred million light years!

I need more music like this in my life

Who are the spiritual successors to Kaito?

I am just getting super nostalgic right now listening to this and kompakt total 3. Kompakt was best when it was at its warmest and most emotional imo

though when I talk about kompakt 3 I am mostly talking about that sascha funke opener and of course so weit wie noch nie

I’ve been listening to a lot of Kaito in the past few weeks.

Unfortunately I haven’t found any spiritual successors. =(

random trivia: kaito was, for a minute, a collaboration between hiroshi watanabe and todd osborn (they both have sons named kaito).

i love that on ilm I can find someone else listening to the same 10 year old minimal trance record that I figured most people forgot about already

Special Life is still a classic, "Peace of Landscape" even better (even though it's oft mislabeled "Soul of Heart"), and the awesome vinyl version of "Awakening" is underheard and possibly the tranciest and most maximal Kompakt ever got. Hundred Million Light Years and Trust are solid but a bit of a step down, but, try as I may, I could not get into Until The End Of Time. Never heard the beatless version of it though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuFhlA5viyE

Also, I thought Audio Island was not good at all!