Zone Music Reporter reviews Sensitive Chaos 'Remembering Chestnuts, Icy Cold, and Bells'

http://www.zonemusicreporter.com/recording/viewreviews.asp?rvwbrdcmmt=947 Sensitive Chaos Remembering Chestnuts, Icy Cold, and Bells Subsequent Records (2011) Over the years I have reviewed some unconventional holiday music releases, but Remembering Chestnuts, Icy Cold, and Bells by Jim Combs, aka Sensitive Chaos, is likely the most unconventional one yet. Combs is an electronic music artist well-known for his affiliation with the City Skies concert series. Rather than take the "safe" route and merely use his arsenal of synthesizers to record the classics, Combs has instead created seasonal soundscapes that, through his choice of synthesizer sounds, captures the festive magic of this special time of year. In his liner notes, Combs recalls listening to holiday records with his family growing up, with music made up of bells, organs, pianos, and choirs. He also recounts being deeply affected by a holiday recording on the pioneering digital label Second Hearing. All of the myriad influences have culminated in this unique combination of lively electronic pieces, punctuated by twinkling bell tones, crystalline textures, and syncopated rhythms, the latter of which may call to mind wooden soldiers marching round the Christmas tree. Besides the cheery selections on the CD, which I found to be charming and refreshingly light-hearted, there is a well-done ambient number, Winter Winds Across the Heartland, that evokes the titular picture of a stark and somber, yet beautiful, landscape, via icy synth pads, whistling quavering tones, and underlying drones. The other selections on the disc are variations on the formula heard on the opening title track, althoughRemembering Chestnuts, Icy Cold, and Bells (prologue) has a more overt retro-EM feel to it, and less of a holiday-esque coloring, especially when the rhythms drop off and Combs moves into flowing ambient territory. One last fact that may amaze you (it did me) is that all but one of the pieces (the sole exception is the non-holiday-themed bonus track at the end of the CD) were recorded at live concerts! Color me mega-impressed! Rating: Good+

- reviewed by Bill Binkelman on 11/27/2011

KCBX 90FM Last Jazz Show plays Sensitive Chaos "Carillon et le Champagne"

Entire Day of 11/22/11      Today's Playlist       Weekly Schedule       Program List      Archives

Last Jazz Show with Sal Espana      [email host] Tuesday 10:00pm - 1:00am Nobody's really sure, but we think Jon Iverson started hosting The Last Jazz Show on Tuesday nights at KCBX sometime around 1980. A refugee from free-form FM rock radio, he quickly dove into the KCBX jazz library and systematically worked through the decades only to end up hovering around today's music fringes. Sal España began co-hosting with Jon around 2004, eventually going solo in 2009. Like most of our audience, Sal ponders the name of the program, as little actual "Jazz" is played. Neal claims it's Jon's sense of humor. Neal's usually right. Since we follow "Pickin' Up The Tempo," we usually start with something acoustic - often a guitar, sometimes edging towards Rock. But, this being a public radio station, we veer off into the night spinning the latest ambient, electronic, classical, world music hybrids. Playlist for: Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Time	Artist	Title	Album	Label
10:01 PM	Ancient Future	14 Steps	World Without Walls	Soma Gaia
10:06 PM	Chinmaya Dunster	Ocean Emotions	Gaia's Garden	New Earth
10:14 PM	Paul Avgerinos	Fertile Soil of Peace	Bliss	Round Sky Music
10:22 PM	------------------------------------- break -------------------------------------
10:23 PM	Double Fantasy	Food for Fantasy	Sample 1	Innovative Communication
10:31 PM	Jean-Michel Jarre	Magnetic Fields Part 1	Magnetic Fields	Dreyfus
10:48 PM	------------------------------------- break -------------------------------------
10:49 PM	James Asher	Northpoint	Return of the Tiger	New Earth
10:55 PM	Michael Stribling	Alchemists Workshop	Safely in the Arms of Love	Leela Music
10:59 PM	------------------------------------- break -------------------------------------
11:00 PM	Sensitive Chaos	Carillon et le Champagne	Remembering Chestnuts, Icy Cold, and Bells	Subsequent Records
11:13 PM	Alexander Berne	Flicker 1	Flickers of Mime	Innova Recordings
11:21 PM	------------------------------------- break -------------------------------------
11:22 PM	Stanislav Kreitchi	Ellipsada Part 1	Ansiana	Electroshock Records
11:37 PM	Henry Wolff/Nancy Hemmings	Journey to the End	Tibetan Bells II	Celestial Harmonies
11:58 PM	------------------------------------- break -------------------------------------
11:59 PM	Kathy Raimey	Still Life	Still Moving	Spiral Soundcase
12:06 AM	Mingo	Translation of a Lost Consciousness	The Light That Bends
12:13 AM	Patrick O'Hearn	Well Mannered	Transitions	Patrick O'Hearn Music
12:19 AM	------------------------------------- break -------------------------------------
12:20 AM	Anna Thorvaldsdottir	Streaming Arhythmia	Rhizoma	Innova Recordings
12:38 AM	------------------------------------- break -------------------------------------
12:39 AM	Patrick Gleeson	Rainbow Delta	Rainbow Delta	Passport Records

KUAC 89.9FM Nightlight plays Remembering Chestnuts, Icy Cold, and Bells

KUAC Playlists

NightlightLocally HostedNov 20, 2011
11:00PM - 1:00AMhost / produce, andyb, "bringing in music that falls between the cracks"

Name	Song Title	Name of CD
catherine marie charlton	introspection	red leaf, gray sky
kathey raimey	bear dreams	it is always now
sensitive chaos	nightshift at the baby mecha nursery	remembering chestnuts, icy cold, and bells
darshan ambient	sun fade	dream in blue
paul winter consort	trks 2,3,4,5,6,13,11,12.	crestone
hennie bekker	comfort	spa
rudy adrian	passing through familiar hills	atmospheric works
sogar	sonst wesentlich	apikal blend
near the parenthesis	not here not tonight	music for the forest concourse
deep sky divers	gradually becoming cyclonic	incandescent
pheo rose	help me	healing earth life
mike howe	island of anywhere	island of anywhere
fred thrane	moraga raga	angels of the sun
steve roach erik wollo	first twilight	the road eternal
justin vanderburg	the path	synthetic memories
patrick ohearn	restless	transitions
darshan ambient	upon reflection	dream in blue

WYSO 91.3FM Alpha Rhythms show plays more Sensitive Chaos "A Piece of Stars"

WYSO Playlists

Alpha RyhthmsJustin Vanderberg, Jerry Kenney and Juliet FromholtNov 20, 2011
8:00PM - 11:00PM

Name	Song Title	Name of CD	Track Label	On-Air Time	Purchase
Huun Huur Tu & Carmen Rizzo	Ancestors' Call	Eternal	Electrofone Music	8:00:00PM	Amazon
2002	Flight of the Swan	Damayanti	Galactic Playground	8:05:42PM	Amazon
Karsh Kale	Island	Cinema	Six Degrees	8:11:15PM	Amazon
David Arkentstone	Star Fall	Ambient World	Domo Records	8:16:59PM	Amazon
Brainscapes	Earth-Link	ChakraDance	CyberOctave	8:25:39PM	Amazon
Jonsi & Alex	Indian Summer	Riceboy Sleeps	Beggar's Group	8:32:58PM	Amazon
Sensitive Chaos	A Piece of Stars	Seeker After Patterns	Subsequent Records	8:43:34PM	Amazon
Justin Vanderberg	When I Walk	Synthetic Memories	Spotted Peccary	8:49:47PM	Amazon
Catherine Marie Charlton	Red Leaf, Grey Sky	Red Leaf, Grey Sky	Catherine Marie Charlton	8:53:56PM	Amazon
Michael Brant DeMaria	Sarasvati	Gaia	Michael Brant DeMaria	9:00:41PM	Amazon
Sajjad	Unseen Sacrifices	Where I Belong	Sajjad	9:06:18PM	Amazon
Banco de Gaia	Sinhala	The magical Sounds of	Six Degrees	9:13:32PM	Amazon
Darshan Ambient	Talking Books	A Day Within Days	LotusSpike	9:23:08PM	Amazon
William Ackerman	The Wheel	New England Roads	Compass Records	9:33:20PM	Amazon
Yann Tiersen	Comtine D'un Autre Ete: L'apres Midi	Amelie	Virgin	9:36:22PM	Amazon
Jonathan Elias	Trinity	Path To Zero	Across The Universe Records	9:38:42PM	Amazon
Mogwai	Kings Meadow	The Hawk Is Howling	Matador	9:48:42PM	Amazon
Lisa Gerrard	The Valley Of The Moon	The Silver Tree	High Wire Music	9:53:27PM	Amazon
Stanton Lanier	Awaken The Dawn	Unveiled	Pianist Of Peace	9:56:59PM	Amazon
Enigma	Why!...	Enigma 3: Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!	Virgin	10:05:41PM	Amazon
BT	Remember	ESCM	Reprise	10:10:30PM	Amazon
Paul Ellis	The Click And Chime Of Passing Time	From Out Of The Vast Comes Nearness	Lotuspike	10:18:30PM	Amazon
Sam Rosenthal	Rae	The Passage	Projekt	10:31:18PM	Amazon
Steve Roach & Brian Parnham	Ancestral Passage	The Desert Inbetween	Projekt	10:41:18PM	Amazon
Jonn Serrie	The Stars, Like Dust (excerpt)	The Stargazer's Journey	New World Music	10:50:37PM	Amazon