Search - Makigami Koichi :: Koedarake

Maybe better for someone else....

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 03/30/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Let me start by saying that Makigami Koichi has a rather stunning array of vocal expressions on here, and that I'm not entirely unused to the idea of solo vocal performances, and I've got an extensive background in and love of avant-garde musics, but this one just didn't work for me at all.



Conceptually, the idea intrigued me-- from the Tzadik website: "Makigami fuses the avant garde with Tuuvan throat singing, cartoon music, Japanese traditional music and more to create a private universe of sound and silence". This is a pretty accurate assessment of the music. The problem is, to my ears the majority of this never gets above the level of burbling and moaning-- there's quite an emphasis in my ears to the sort of cartoon music sound. This results in large portions of this being burbling and groaning. One track is dedicated wholly to laughing sounds. One is a polytonal groaning sound for three minutes. Not this can be (and sometimes is) interesting, but for a whole album, I found it someone tedious.



Noentheless, this does display a phenomenal control over voice and certainly there are some startling moments on here, both of bizarreness and beauty, but as a whole, the piece just didn't grab me."