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DriftingFalling is a label that i have been getting into rather a lot lately, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Brett Spaceman. So it was with some surprise that i opened my mailbox one day to find a promo CD from DriftingFalling. How cool is that?
Sing Me a Song is the debut release by Japanese laptop-artist Taro Kawasaki. The EP is released on a 3" CD, which is very cool. You just don't see enough of these smaller CDs, and i think they make sense for a short release like this. After all, there is only about 10 minutes worth of music here -- why take up all that extra plastic to make a full CD? Then again, non-standard formats are a pain in the tuckus to store. I have probably about 5 of these mini-CDs in my collection, and you just can't file them in with everything else, which means they have to go on a separate shelf, which means that i forget that i have them, which means that they get listened to rarely… It’s a trade off I guess: efficiency of the medium versus a consistency in filing. Take your pick
Anyway, this is Mr. Kawasaki's debut EP, and i think as a debut it does a fine job. He is not breaking any boundaries in the realm of laptoptronica, but he does demonstrate that he has mastered the genre.
The EP starts with Plouf, in which a mangled guitar stutters over a quaint synth drone. On the second track, Poche, the computer processing of the sounds has mellowed a bit, so that this sounds like a backwards masked guitar and some chiming keyboards. Very pleasant in a pastoral sense. Cloudlet, track three here, continues the same general theme. If anything, this is an even slower paced, more subtle tune. Finally, the EP ends with Fossette, where things have slowed down so much that it almost sounds like Kawasaki is playing an acoustic guitar while accompanied by some light electronics.
The EP progresses from highly electronic sounding to more acoustic in nature. A neat effect, and Kawasaki manages to pull it off, making the transition seem natural.
A few comments. First off, the title is completely misleading as this is an instrumental EP. Secondly, for some reason, the music is mixed very loud. That is, i had this on repeat with some denser music, and believe it or not, when transitioning between shoegazer (with full walls of guitar) to Kawasaki, i needed to turn the stereo down. Kawasaki's minimal droning electronica was actually disproportionately loud. I wonder why that is?
Overall, this is very pleasant music, but like i said earlier, it is not exactly ground breaking. Kawasaki does know what he is doing though, and he can make a pretty tune. I just wish he would push himself a little more, really try to create something fresh. I think he can do it. I wonder if he thinks that?
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