Catching The Waves

Trail Mix

Raised in Bogotá, Colombia and of Japanese descent, Nobara Hayakawa is trained in jazz singing, holds degrees in Graphic Design and Fine Arts from Universidad Nacional de Columbia and Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and is currently a lecturer at two Colombian universities. But I won't hold that against her; CTW accepts anyone, no matter how clever.

In the first track out of six, Trail, Ms Hayakawa sings in Japanese and wordless vocals; the latter are used for most of the album (with a splash of English), so all you monoglots out there can relax. It's about "the love/hate pendular movements that one experiences under the effects of a caprice” and there is indeed a little tension in the stunning wash of vocal harmonies that dominate this song. The luxuriant vocals are panned either side of the insistent, tinny percussion that nags away as though someone was tapping on the computer screen to get your attention.

Nobara Hayakawa - Trail

Now you know that Ms Hayakawa can hold a note or three, you might expect some decent singing in the next track. Clever you; you're right on the nose. In fact, there are some lovely swooping vocal phrases that are strongly reminiscent of Kate Bush. What you might not expect is a hoover, even though the track is named Hoover Love. Take your mind out of the gutter. It's surreal to listen to this charming song's tick-tock percussion and piano and then hear a vacuum cleaner start up in the background, begin to roar like a jet engine and then, for a few enchanting seconds, match the song's pitch before slowly fading away. If nothing else, it'll change your opinion of carpets.

Alas is a gentle vocal workout with a soothing piano accompaniment and synth embellishments. Towards the end of the track, a bass pad underlines the wistful atmosphere. Nobara responds by exploring her lower vocal register.

To Desalejar, where the listener will enjoy some crusty distorted vocals, a memorable synth melody and another lovely bed of vocals. Again, her swooping lines, overt emotionalism and willingness to incorporate unusual ambient sounds into her songs lead me to think that Ms Hayakawa is a Kate Bush fan – and that's before I mention the steam whistle coda. Of course, I might be wrong. We all know that I'm an idiot.

The hums and ambient noises at the start of Fuzzy Lady are interrupted by an amplified, reverberating slow drag down a guitar string - it's the nastiest sound you'll have heard since your least favourite teacher last scraped chalk down a blackboard. It's followed by a piano, the obligatory enchanting vocals and - to continue the earlier household cleaning theme - a washing machine. There's also a voiceover from an ancient detergent advert, jazzy piano chords, cooing vocals, sleepy guitars and a drum machine that sneakily ups and drops the tempo as the mood takes it. Would you expect anything less? I didn't like Fuzzy Lady at first, but subsequent listens have revealed it to be a beautiful piece of ambient-ish, atmospheric electronica.

Finally, the first minute of Homelessness, consisting as it does of lacklustre synths and distorted rumbling, is rather disappointing, but its second is fortunately hijacked by a very low-fi drum beat and an ear-meltingly gorgeous melody – sung in English, no less. It was written "after reading too much Paul Auster and crying too much for the same ghost". Artistic hangovers are evidently more spiritual and productive than my cheap and nasty alcoholic ones.

There's no Donate button on the album's release page at Intervall-audio, but the netlabel does have a shop dedicated to German & Japanese electronica, mainly from Düsseldorf & Tokyo, so feel free to let your wallet run amok. Nobara Hayakawa's website is similarly absent of shiny money buttons, but I'm sure she'd be delighted to receive a few emails saying how her album has made the world a better place. She's also on the lookout for musical collaborations, so don't be shy.

My thanks to Phlow, Free Albums Galore and everyone else who has already commented on Trail. I have never claimed to be original - just handsome.

Nobara Hayakawa - Trail EP (zipped album and preview mp3s on netlabel release page)

Nobara Hayakawa - Trail EP (zipped album and full individual mp3s, baby, at archive.org)

Nobara Hayakawa home page

Intervall-audio netlabel

There's no beer and everyone is ugly

I've a good reason for recommending Erdbeerschnitzel's Pathetik Party so soon after reviewing his Tracknames I Can't Pronounce EP. Party was supposed to have been released by a record label, but the label apparently dragged its heels so much that Erdy (Tim Keiling from Mainz) decided to release it himself under a Creative Commons licence. So, why did these ten tracks not find favour? What will you find if you go to this party? Well, the Schnitzel claims it will be dubstep, electronica, freakhouse, and "whatever", though I could easily describe it as glitch-hop, drone, electronica, minimal and "you're not the boss of me". It certainly has a far wider scope than the excellent Tracknames EP. Indeed, the Schnitz admits the album is his personal goodbye to genre-specific music.

The title track is an atmospheric and dubby piece of electronica whose gold-plated production should convince you that you're on to a good thing - just like most parties I attend. Heh. Ein Tag Namens Higke is a swinging piece of, er, freakhouse(?) where the chops come fast and funky. Now, let's have a glass of cassis to clear the palate. One and a half minutes of a curiously uplifting drone should do the trick. Thank you, Kurzer Einwand Nummer Eins.

Distantanz starts off as a fairly standard piece of minimal until it almost stops and some gorgeous synth chords gently ring out amid processed vocals; it then moves back up the gears to become a relaxed dance track with grade-A production skills. Think of it as an aural Bentley.

Some of these tracks are simply prime electronica. Air, Groove Armada, Björk and particularly Leftfield could release Wogenbeugel and you'd think, "Hmm, they're on form." Its woody synths take their own sweet time in getting to the end, thanks in no small part to chopped vocals and popping and snapping percussion coming out to play, but you honestly won't mind. In the less than three minutes of Kurzer Einwand Nummer Zwei's robotic glitch-hop, you'll find yourself trying to work out how much work went into making it, but you'll probably get distracted by its insistent swing.

By the time you've regained control of your body, it's time to let your brain loose on Die Leiden des Jungen S, where the next eleven minutes - a wild guess, but perhaps it's at this point that the record label got nervous - go some way to creating a minimal equivalent of Dark Side of the Moon. Yes, I quailed at the idea of this track. Now I love it. Erdbeerschnitzel has the ability to develop his musical ideas and does so via a reverberating soundscape, swooping, otherwordly synths, a groove that won't quit (except where Erdy decides that we all need to chillout) and a genuine sense of development. Die Leiden des Jungen S is eleven minutes long because it needs to be. It's not dance and it's not thoughtful electronica: it's both. That's a rare thing.

The last of the ten tracks, Singular, is noteworthy for warm, spliced vocals and a reminder, as if the listener needed it, that Pathetik Party is an unpredictable collection. Each fresh outing of this album reveals something new to enjoy; it has more unpredictable chops and ideas than a drunk sushi chef.

Did I say ten? I'm such a tease. You came here to earn the praise of your friends and a pay rise from your newly impressed boss by becoming Mr Cool, thanks to your discovery of the musical equivalent of a Stealth Fighter. Right. See if this gets your earlobes flapping:

Erdbeerschnitzel - Walkampfchampagne

Yes, you are now a sex god. This transformation has been achieved by a hollowed-out, distorted bass line that rolls like a loaded dice, lazy processed brass stabs, honky-tonk synths and some of the most beguiling glitchy percussion you'll hear this side of a scratched "Drums on 45" record. It's a trippy, jazzy funkout. Play it loud and you'll lose weight through involuntary movement and cut a swathe through your profession/college/nightclub/underpants. (I think the track on the Soundcloud release page is a slightly different edit to the zipped album track. I much prefer the latter so that's the one on CTW's cuddly media player.)

Why was this album not taken on by a record label? You tell me, because I don't know.

There's a prominent Paypal icon on the album's release page. Please think about pressing it or at least sending Erdy a "thank you" email. He's even been so generous as to provide you with an action figure. You could turn it into a piggy bank and save some cash for him. Just be careful where you put the slot.

Erdbeerschnitzel - Pathetik Party (link to zipped album and individual files)

Erdbeerschnitzel website

Dial M For Mmmarvellous

Here's a short but sweet package: M, a three-track EP released by British netlabel Minordust, is full of aural goodness for chillout and minimal fans alike.

Tobias Lorsbach, alias Keinzweiter, must be one of those strange beings who haunt record shops, working their fingers to the bone as they search for a rare vinyl cut, taking home nothing but the choicest grooves - only to disregard everything on them apart from the dusty crackles between the tracks. This perverse discard-the-fruit-but-keep-the-peel attitude is especially evident on the first track, Magnolia, where close-up pops and crackles are spliced with field recordings and slotted into a cool rhythm to the accompaniment of slowly alternating cool chords. A jazzy hi-hat drops in to keep things ticking along until Keinzweiter, unable to resist displaying his production chops, plays with its pitch and filtering. Like the other two tracks, Magnolia is ostensibly a restrained exploration of "noises off" and clicks 'n' cuts, but if you turn the volume up your cranium will belatedly discover that the rest of you is sitting on the washing machine and enjoying the spin cycle. See what you think:

Keinzweiter - Magnolia

Now you know what to expect - namely pops, crackles, a dash of jazz topped off with field recordings and nougaty vinyl static - you can relax, safe in the knowledge that you're now trendier than everyone else in your social circle. Put that hand-mirror down. Things get even funkier with Mircoobee, wherein a swinging jazz drum rhythm kicks off a beautiful minimal–techhouse track. Speaking of jazz/be-bop, who'd have thought, back in the '50s, that music production would advance so far that a talented producer like Keinzweiter could add myriad rhythmic clicks 'n' cuts to a fast drum beat without swamping it? Take any ten seconds from this and count the number of things going on: there's echoing conversations, crackles, synth embellishments, a bumping bass, the aforementioned jazz drumming, a lovely high-pitched synth run, and numerous tics and pops, yet they all blend together perfectly in a light stew that instantly makes Mainz, where Keinzweiter has his Batcave, one of the cooler places in Germany. Oh, all right. You all know you can twist me round your little finger:

Keinzweiter - Mircoobee

Now, off to bed with you, stopping only to give Moriaan a goodnight kiss. Let the adults dance to its funky and cheerful style. No, you can't stop to listen to its upbeat crackly goodness. And don't poke your tongue at me, you young scamp.

M is a free Creative Commons-licensed taster of a talented electronica artist. Should you wish to hear more of Keinzweiter's stuff, his new album Globus Cassus is now available for free (at an ear-shreddingly low 128 Kbps) from spontanMusik netlabel or you can buy it (at an ear-caressingly high 320 Kbps) from Beatport. My thanks to Mike Gregoire of Blocsonic for releasing netBloc Vol. 22, Life On Ceres, where I first heard Mircoobee. By the way, Vol. 23 is out today and it's utterly free, hipsters. Yes, I'm good. Daddy loves you too. Now run along.

Keinzweiter – M (link to individual files & zipped album - click on the album title when you get there)

Keinzweiter website and MySpace

Minordust netlabel