Origin: Japan
Genre: Ambient, Downtempo, Experimental, Modern Classical
Label: Lo Recordings
Site: http://www.susumuyokota.org/
Tracklist:
1. For The Other Self Who Is Far Away That I Can Not Reach
2. A Slowly Fainting Memory Of Love And Respect, And Hatred
3. The Loneliness Of Anarchic Beauty Achieved By My Ego
4. A Heart-warming And Beautiful Flower Will Eventually Wither Away And Become Dirt
5. The Sin Of Almighty God, Respected And Believed By The Masses
6. That Persons Hearsay Protects My Free Spirit
7. The Things That I Need To Do For Just One’s Love
8. The Scream Of A Sage Who Lost Freedom And Love Taken For Granted Before
9. A Song Produced While Floating Alone On Christmas Day
10. The Now Forgotten Gods Of Rocky Mountain Residing In The Back Of The North Wood
11. The Sacred Ceremony Conceived By Chance From An Evil Lie
12. The Destiny Of The Little Bird Trapped Inside A Small Cage For Life
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Susumu Yokota returns with another glibly titled album (Love or Die) with ornately titled songs (“The Destiny of the Little Bird Trapped Inside a Small Cage For Life”, “A Heart-warming and Beautiful Flower Will Eventually Wither Away and Become Dirt”) that pairs classical melodies with Spartan, Japanese house beats. Also the modus operandi of his 2004 full-length Symbol, it’s not an entirely strange pairing, echoing as it does the melodic theatricality and mechanical functionality of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s early 80s soundtrack work, but the twist here is that the contrast between the high-culture melody and functional rhythm is heightened through the use of lush samples — not shop-worn synthesizer patches — for the orchestral instruments. Production quality has advanced so much since the halcyon days of early pop-electronics that the overlapping textures of the album can be contrasting where Sakamoto had to elicit contrast through ingenious arrangement.
It’s on the tracks which exploit the textural contrast and dramatically play the carbon-copy drums off the high-fidelity orchestral samples — like “For the Other Self Who Is Far Away That I Can Not Reach” — that the album comes closest to vibrancy. When the melodies are interpreted digitally (“The Loneliness of Anarchic Beauty Achieved By My Ego” and “That Persons Hearsay Protects My Free Spirit”) that contrast disappears and the songs more obviously belong in the contemporary Japanese canon. On these tracks the melodies are composed to compliment the sparse backing rhythms, but it’s to their detriment as these routine songs demand much less attention. When the tension of hearing classical western melodies filtered into minute repetitions is gone so too is the reason to be fascinated with Love or Die.
Yokota is an accomplished and prodigious composer, releasing one or two full-lengths every year for nearly a decade, but the vague identity of his songs – never mind the albums – is not overcome just by giving them unique, oblique names which seem like fey, Asian versions of Emo song titles. Where so much of Symbol coasted on the intense drama of the source material, drawing as it did from some of the greatest – and most overwrought — music ever composed, Love or Die is by comparison wan, thin and worst of all meandering. The album doesn’t demand attention by having a dramatic arc and simply drifts from one polished vista to another. It could be worthwhile to listen and meditate on the emptiness at the core of the electronic-music sect that considers embracing the contemporary world a betrayal of artistic vision, but as a lively musical experience Love or Die falls flat and lives in limbo between the two actions of the title.
Site: http://www.susumuyokota.org/
Tracklist:
1. For The Other Self Who Is Far Away That I Can Not Reach
2. A Slowly Fainting Memory Of Love And Respect, And Hatred
3. The Loneliness Of Anarchic Beauty Achieved By My Ego
4. A Heart-warming And Beautiful Flower Will Eventually Wither Away And Become Dirt
5. The Sin Of Almighty God, Respected And Believed By The Masses
6. That Persons Hearsay Protects My Free Spirit
7. The Things That I Need To Do For Just One’s Love
8. The Scream Of A Sage Who Lost Freedom And Love Taken For Granted Before
9. A Song Produced While Floating Alone On Christmas Day
10. The Now Forgotten Gods Of Rocky Mountain Residing In The Back Of The North Wood
11. The Sacred Ceremony Conceived By Chance From An Evil Lie
12. The Destiny Of The Little Bird Trapped Inside A Small Cage For Life
__________________________________________________
Susumu Yokota returns with another glibly titled album (Love or Die) with ornately titled songs (“The Destiny of the Little Bird Trapped Inside a Small Cage For Life”, “A Heart-warming and Beautiful Flower Will Eventually Wither Away and Become Dirt”) that pairs classical melodies with Spartan, Japanese house beats. Also the modus operandi of his 2004 full-length Symbol, it’s not an entirely strange pairing, echoing as it does the melodic theatricality and mechanical functionality of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s early 80s soundtrack work, but the twist here is that the contrast between the high-culture melody and functional rhythm is heightened through the use of lush samples — not shop-worn synthesizer patches — for the orchestral instruments. Production quality has advanced so much since the halcyon days of early pop-electronics that the overlapping textures of the album can be contrasting where Sakamoto had to elicit contrast through ingenious arrangement.
It’s on the tracks which exploit the textural contrast and dramatically play the carbon-copy drums off the high-fidelity orchestral samples — like “For the Other Self Who Is Far Away That I Can Not Reach” — that the album comes closest to vibrancy. When the melodies are interpreted digitally (“The Loneliness of Anarchic Beauty Achieved By My Ego” and “That Persons Hearsay Protects My Free Spirit”) that contrast disappears and the songs more obviously belong in the contemporary Japanese canon. On these tracks the melodies are composed to compliment the sparse backing rhythms, but it’s to their detriment as these routine songs demand much less attention. When the tension of hearing classical western melodies filtered into minute repetitions is gone so too is the reason to be fascinated with Love or Die.
Yokota is an accomplished and prodigious composer, releasing one or two full-lengths every year for nearly a decade, but the vague identity of his songs – never mind the albums – is not overcome just by giving them unique, oblique names which seem like fey, Asian versions of Emo song titles. Where so much of Symbol coasted on the intense drama of the source material, drawing as it did from some of the greatest – and most overwrought — music ever composed, Love or Die is by comparison wan, thin and worst of all meandering. The album doesn’t demand attention by having a dramatic arc and simply drifts from one polished vista to another. It could be worthwhile to listen and meditate on the emptiness at the core of the electronic-music sect that considers embracing the contemporary world a betrayal of artistic vision, but as a lively musical experience Love or Die falls flat and lives in limbo between the two actions of the title.
Review taken from: http://www.panpot.ca/reviews/renderAlbumReview.php?id=177
Download link: http://rapidshare.com/files/164157081/Susumu_yokota_-_Love_Or_Die.rar
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