Albums
Atmogat
Autechre
Autistici
Bitcrush
Black Gold 360
Sylvain Chauveau
Cut Iowa Network
Delicate Noise
Dof
The Element Choir
FNS
Four Tet
Gutta Percha
Greg Haines
Chihei Hatakeyama
Ian Hawgood
Jóhann Jóhannsson
Kahn and Mueller
Konntinent
L/M/R/W
Francisco López
Aaron Martin
Musette
Near The Parenthesis
Offthesky
Dustin O'Halloran
Redhooker
Relmic Statute
Ruxpin
Sintetic-Collage
Sister Overdrive
Starkey
Tokyo Mask
Youth Pictures of F. Hend.
Compilations / Mixes
Agoria
Advent
My Private Space
Peeling
Untitled 10
EPs
Amman.Josh
A Wake A Week
Tolga Baklacioglu
Boxharp
Cursor Miner
Abe Duque
EPROM / Eskmo
Funckarma
Florent Ghys
LJ Kruzer
Lobisomem
Maps and Diagrams
Moving Dawn Orchestra
Marcello Napoletano
Alexandre Navarro
Obsidian
Glen Porter
Nigel Samways
The Soul's Release
Sparkhouse / Jacksonville
Subeena
Talvihorros
Chihei Hatakeyama: A Long Journey
Home Normal
Only a month after a review of his Own Records full-length, Ghostly Garden, appeared, we're presented with another ravishing collection of meditative dreamscapes from Chihei Hatakeyama. In this case, he augments field recording material gathered in San Francisco during 2006 with treated natural instruments (guitar and piano) to create the eleven settings on A Long Journey, which, according to Hatakeyama, is designed to be heard as a metaphor for life and the journey from birth to death.
No one will mistake Hatakeyama's “Morning Arrive on the Island” for an arrival on Skull Island, that's for sure. The imaginary locales he conjures here and elsewhere are peaceful and tranquil in the extreme, settings where one encounters breathtaking scenery and life forms. Hatakeyama's not afraid to encourage programmatic associations in his work either. Even without a title to suggest meaning, “Waves” still would prompt the evocation of graceful movements by colourful creatures far beneath the sea's surface. At times, not just titles but real-world details appear to root a piece in a specific context, such as when sounds of people talking and bustling about surface amidst treated guitar tones during “Within New Trees” and when the clamour of crowds and bells appears alongside watery piano playing in “The Distant Sound of a Bustle.” In other cases, the beauty of pure sound dominates, such as when crystalline guitar shadings course through “Haze From The River” as brilliantly as light illuminating stained glass windows. Regardless, whether it be the becalmed blur of “The Moon Reflecting on the Surface of the Ocean” and “White Light” or the lustrous sparkle of “Calm” (a collaboration with Federico Durand), Hatakeyama's pieces are always transporting.
April 2010