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Monday, August 29, 2005
PURO
Nobukazu Takemura
Milano - For Issey Miyake Men by Naoki Takizawa
1999
WEA Japan
Out of print
The other day I was DJ'ing at this club here in Portland and a friend came up, curious to know what I was playing. It was the "Meteor" 12" by the often-brilliant Nobukazu Takemura. He couldn't believe the track was from 1999. "But it sounds so fresh!," he actually said. This got me thinking about Takemura for the first time in awhile, and I dug out Milano. I remain blown away by this album, and by the 36-year-old Kyoto resident in general.
Takemura records for Thrill Jockey in the U.S. and has toured the States several times. And there was a time there when everyone was raving about his 1994 release Child's View on Toy Factory – and rightly so. He created the sounds for Sony's AIBO robot dog and is on a major label in Japan, so I'd never call him unknown or anything. But why his best music - and these two albums are probably his finest two hours yet - was never more easily available here remains a mystery to me. (Another mystery: why has this man not scored any films yet?)
All the songs on this track were sampled or computer-generated. This was more laborious seven years ago than it would be today. The song is deceptively simple and nursery-time-like, building upon itself slowly, in layers. I listen and I hear little tastes of Yellow Magic Orchestra, Steve Reich, OMD, and Moondog, as well as Japanese sacred music, gamelan, chamber, and computer game music. I also hear Takemura's longtime companion, Aki Onda. Her voice is pretty unmistakable.
The CD jacket folio packaging has a die-cut of Italy stamped onto the front of it, printed in lime green (you can sort of see it here). It's a very pretty little thing, this CD, as is its clearly Murakami-designed companion, the darker and slightly less interesting Finale. Both records were released at the same time, as they contained the music commissioned by Miyake for the Naori Takizawa fashion show. They weren't cheap at the time; I believe I paid thirty bucks a piece. But I had a fancy Internet job with benefits and stock options through the roof in '99.
When I think back to the bubble days, I don't miss my cramped cubicle or 11-hour work day, but I do miss the exhilaration of discovering this guy's works, which made a perfect soundtrack to my dot com gig somehow. I do miss Takemura himself today. The once super-prolific musician/ producer's not released any new music in two years. Is he so busy creating synthetic yelps he doesn't have time for music anymore, or is he at work on a masterpiece? I really don't know, and not even the Internet has provided answers to me.
Posted by Mike McGonigal
posted by James
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