Title: A Frozen Stream Artist: Yamaoka Label: Carpe Sonum Product Type: COMPACT DISCS UPC: 708527190029 Genre: Electronic Release Date: 2019-02-15 Number of Discs: 1
2019 release. Once a duo, in 2007 Yamaoka became the sole province of Kenichi Oka, and if nothing else, the man hasn't lain fallow since. On the contrary, he's continued to ply his trade across a veritable smorgasbord of labels worldwide, and, thankfully, virtually all of it has been on our blessed CD or CDR formats. Making his Carpe Sonum debut, it's easy to understand why the nomadic Yamaoka is one of electronica's great hopes for the future. Style-wise, he doesn't relish sitting still very often, and the remarkable thing is that he traverses such swift alterations in form and function with a singular dexterity. "On Switch" makes mincemeat out of hoary old drum 'n' bass flexisms due to it's liquifying background wetwork and spastic yet cooling synth tropes. Conversely, the achingly lovely chordal loops ringing throughout "Duet" truly paint a picture of what you soul might look like. And "Three Stairs" reasonably 'remixes' Tangerine Dream's lost sequencer art for 21st century nu-school converts, suborning the genre while systematically tweaking it to suit those whose sensibilities arose from IDM's golden era. Wow and flutter, with emphasis on the wow.
Tracks: 1.1 Small Town 1.2 Shaman 1.3 Three Stairs 1.4 Blue Tone 1.5 Wipeout 1.6 Reply 1.7 MB (Short) 1.8 Duet 1.9 Seat 1.10 Room (Fade-In Version) 1.11 On Switch 1.12 Small Town (Reprise)
Audio Sample: All soundclips are provided by Tidal and are for illustrative purposes only. For some releases, the tracks listed may not accurately represent the tracks on the physical release.
