Album Notes

After years of playing in various bands in the St Louis area, Shinma was formed in 1999 by Ken VH, accompanied by a diverse group of live members and collaborators. His eclectic electronic music is heavily influenced by anime and horror films, Latin culture, and video games. Download.com editorial This Belleville, Illinois industrial-electronic outfit classifies itself as “intelligent techno,” which makes one wonder about the IQ of all those other beatsmiths. But if Shinma are snobs of the synth boards, they deserve to be, what with tracks that shift nimbly between spooky ambient, hard European house, and the industrial grit of the American Midwest. Shinma - FLUSH (2002) on “Best of 1999-2002″ With titles like “Ghost Within a Whisper,” Druids Rising,” “Accidental Reality,” and “Doubting The Concept Of Reality,’ it should be obvious where the heart of Shinma (Ken Van Hoose in the studio, ably assisted by various musicians in the live setting) lies. Well, maybe not… Shinma’s music is the type that you’d expect to hear as the soundtrack to some of those ultra-violent anime movies. Much of the sampled dialogue, in fact would appear to come from films and song titles like “The Noh Agents,” “Slayer Kid,” and “Kabuki Girl” virtually screams “Anime!” The thematic threads that run through the ten songs (and the four “segues” of dialogue) are of a haunting hopelessness and despair amidst the violent turmoil of a dim future just beyond the threshold of tomorrow. Now, that’s just my fancy way of saying that this collection can sit comfortably between your Marilyn Manson albums and your “VAMPIRE WARS” DVDs. A quirky, post-modern soundtrack for your next Doomsday Party. Playback (August 2003) on “Mechanical Dreams” These four tracks do, indeed, sample lines from DJ’s and spoken word. The music is heavy industrial dance; the only vocals are the sampled lines incorporated into the dark techno sound.