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 | Lagowski:Ashita (Side Effects - 1997) "Ashita" is the Japanese word for tomorrow, and Ashita is Andrew Lagowski's latest - a nanotechnology-influenced musical glimpse into the future. Apparently dark, beaty times await us... |
| I don't profess to know enough about nanotechnology to see its effects on the music here. The titles are the most obvious pointers, I suppose, and the pieces are all built from similar space-age materials and have an electrical/industrial aura. The percussion may work its way to the front in most of the tracks, but the true beauty lies in the microscopic details of the backgrounds. An electric hum and occasional mechanized bursts of sound are joined by solemn strings, a synthetic bass riff pumps like a robot-heart... faltering, stop-and-start drum and cymbal beats begin... Replicator comes to life thusly. Like most pieces on this disk, it remains subdued, yet energized by slow-beat percussion. Maitresse opens to shimmering electronics and rides on the slow rhythm that unfolds soon thereafter. Various sounds originate in this zone, including tastefully applied bits of radio static, beeps and a deliciously dark layer of resonating emptiness. Liquid flows through reverberating swells on an urbane electrobeat. The foreground elements are smooth and sophisticated, while the distance rings with a hollow air. Against a deep, shifting backdrop Assembler does its thing with drum and cymbal beats and elasticized, stretching bass tones. Don't think Drum 'n' Bass though; it's much more relaxed (and more relaxing). Megascale is Ashita 's long runner, clocking right at 12 minutes in length. Various pitches shift and resonate, soon to be dominated by a slow bass groove which is subtly funky (subtly funky!? That seems contradictory, but it's apt). The beat drops out for about two minutes midway through, allowing some of those elusive background textures to be revealed. Register's fairly straightforward beat and rolling space-organ is peppered with low-key bits of radio static. Again, the rhythmic and electronic elements are enhanced by restrained use of what could have been cliched "ambient music" sounds. And we close with my personal favorite, S.C. Alloys, the only beatless track, and consequently the most ambient, in my mind. It rumbles, rolls and creaks... it clunks, clanks and hisses; angelic tones rise skyward while darker hummings hang low... all very subtly, of course. It feels mechanical, yet supernatural, powerful yet serene. Beautiful!
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| Nanotechnlogy or no, Lagowski knows what he's after in the studio. Ashita is a masterful example of his work, and should be ambient enough, yet percussive enough to satisfy a wide range of listeners. Personally, I'm giving it Both Thumbs for the almost-hidden treasures it contains. |  |
| For more information, read the AmbiEntrance Exclusive Lagowski interview, and then visit the Official Lagowski Website. | |
This review posted November 16, 1997
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