(2020) Meitei – Kofū


Review:
Info accompanying Kofu references J Dilla and The Caretaker to provide context for Meitei‘s first release for Kitchen. and third overall, the former for his daring use of samples and the latter for the decaying sound fashioned from dusty 78s (Akira Rabelais might also have been cited). An argument can be made for the connection, but it’s also potentially misleading in suggesting the material by Meitei (real name Daisuke Fujita) sounds more like the others’ than it does. His distances itself from theirs in its incorporation of old Japanese vocal recordings and his music’s contemporary recasting of an historical culture that has long ceased to exist.
Immersion in Meitei’s mesmerizing world comes swiftly via warbly, static-smeared piano chords in “Kintsugi” and twang-sprinkled chanting in “Man’yo,” such productions proving beyond any doubt that the sonic space inhabited by Kofu is far removed from others. That said, a voice repeats “Japanese people” during “Sadayakko” in a cut-up manner that suggests the distance separating Meitei and Dilla isn’t so huge after all. Everything on Kofu is drenched in crackle and hiss, the effect less connoting old vinyl than a long-past era viewed through a cloudy lens. Earworms emerge in the form of sweetly singing vocal melodies, the bright one flowing through “Oiran I” a case in point. It’s hardly the only arresting thing about it, however, as an urgent, vaguely hip-hop-inflected pulse and acoustic piano and flutes add to the piece’s allure. “Nyobo” likewise tickles the ear with its swoon-inducing blend of vocal figures, their counterpoint nicely augmented by the pluck of a pipa and the slow lurch of a bass-prodded rhythm. Elsewhere, dusty old strings and woodwinds flesh out the ancient terrain, and offsetting the more action-packed settings are peaceful reveries (“En’nichi,” “Urameshi-ya,” “Kyoshu”). Most of the thirteen pieces are in the one- to four-minute range, the major exception “Shonen,” an entrancing, eight-minute collage that animates its chants, late-night voice loops, and acoustic instrument timbres with snare accents. This final chapter in Meitei’s trilogy plunders the past playfully in a way that invites listeners to ponder it without getting too heavily bogged down in nostalgia; even those with little or no familiarity with Japanese history will find themselves pulled into the recording’s evocative world.





Tracklist:
01 - Kintsugi
02 - Man'yō
03 - Oiran I
04 - Sadyakko
05 - En'nichi
06 - Nyōbō
07 - Urameshi-Ya
08 - Oiran II
09 - Otojirō
10 - Shōnen
11 - Kyōshū
12 - Gen'ei
13 - Sūki


Media Report:
Genre: ambient, experimental
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits