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 | Katsuya Hironaka:Golden Days (BLT - 1997) With the Portland-based Hypnos label recently announcing new collaborative efforts to be undertaken together with the Japanese electronician Katsuya Hironaka, I find the moment opportune to review this artist's excellent solo release on his own BLT label earlier in 1997. |
| Golden Days is packaged with an insert that reminds one of Brian Eno's seminal Another Green World , and indeed, the Ghost of Eno Past does seem
to lurk somewhere in the background throughout this recording - acting as
an influence on Hironaka, not turning him into an epigone.
The CD begins with a track invitingly enough entitled Pause, where the welling up of Tokyo street sounds ebbs away to be replaced by a soothing synth, soon punched up by a loud, tinny beat, which far from jarring the senses, sets the foot a'tapping. Passing combines reverberating, English-language (newscasters? politicians?) soundbytes with a little electric piano riff which puts me in mind of West Coast Adult-Oriented Rock, for some reason - Bruce Hornsby territory. But looped into this context with the samples and increment electronics, it becomes the exact opposite of AOR - ie., supple artistry which is eminently engaging. This electric piano is the scarlet thread throughout the album, its unique characteristic, weaving the tracks together. Track three Preview, once again imposes insistent, sampled voices on a bed of soft electronics, while the fourth track breaks both the alliterative as well as the stylistic conformity. Entitled Cast, it puts the same talented fingers to work on similar electric-piano riffs, but now backed up by distinctly (though discreetly) drum-and-bass rhythms. Things drift a little aimlessly after this until the momentum is regained with a vengence on the track Cloud 12, where jazzy doodlings and waftings are punched awake by searing electronic combinations. And just before rounding off, Pause returns in what one might characterize as an electronic-dub arrangement of the number subtitled (Gallery Mix). Can't decide which version I prefer - the original, more condensed, driving one, or this more relaxed, drawn-out (over 10 minutes) and sparse rendition. |
| Luckily, both are to be found on this full-length. I look forward to any and all new releases by this promising artist.
(This record seems to lack European/American distribution, but can be ordered directly from BLT's website.) (SF) |  |
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