Daisuke Fujiwara on Jazz of Japan | Brian McCrory https://www.jazzofjapan.com/tags/daisuke-fujiwara/ Recent content in Daisuke Fujiwara on Jazz of Japan | Brian McCrory Hugo en-us Sun, 22 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 Rabbitoo: The Torch https://www.jazzofjapan.com/rabbitoo-the-torch/ Sun, 22 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.jazzofjapan.com/rabbitoo-the-torch/ <p>Opening with a single-tone drone, electronic jazz music group Rabbitoo continues their retro-futuristic sound on their second album /The Torch /from 2016.</p> <figure><a href="L1230323x-1024.jpeg"> <img loading="lazy" src="L1230323x-1024.jpeg"/> </a> </figure> <p>Digital and analog sounds swirl and mix through Motohiko Ichino’s guitar, laden with textural effects and deploying modern music and rhythms alongside carefully tuned sound and static in an audiophile’s frame. This is vibe-setting music that wouldn’t be out of place in a fan playlist of lofi study beats or on the edges of a digital-future jazz collection.</p> Opening with a single-tone drone, electronic jazz music group Rabbitoo continues their retro-futuristic sound on their second album /The Torch /from 2016.

Digital and analog sounds swirl and mix through Motohiko Ichino’s guitar, laden with textural effects and deploying modern music and rhythms alongside carefully tuned sound and static in an audiophile’s frame. This is vibe-setting music that wouldn’t be out of place in a fan playlist of lofi study beats or on the edges of a digital-future jazz collection.

The Torch/’s nine songs explore territory that blends digital and analog sound, with effects and filters added to the saxophone and guitar as they play looping patterns over the webs of modulated synths, drums, and bass. Alongside the spacey orbits, as on Rabbitoo’s first album /National Anthem of Unknown Country, there are also comforting echoes of old-fashioned primal humanness inhabiting the frequencies as well.

Listening to this album creates these sorts of impressions: A visual prism broadcasting waves…Monochrome soundtrack music, comfortably robotic/human labwork…Layers of melodic interlace cascading down Escher staircases…Sinister underground synth beat, chewy notes, and floating sound waves…A drifting mix of clouds and snowflakes…Bubbling and frothing uptempo odd-meter club beat…Sliding westward roots to country…Circular spiraling groove a la Medeski Martin & Wood…Slow slices of sound intersecting and reflecting…

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]]> Rabbitoo: National Anthem of Unknown Country https://www.jazzofjapan.com/rabbitoo-national-anthem-of-unknown/ Sun, 26 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.jazzofjapan.com/rabbitoo-national-anthem-of-unknown/ <p>The textured sound of Rabbitoo makes a lasting first impression on their debut album <em>National Anthem of Unknown Country</em> from 2014, a fusion of jazz, rock, and electronica influences.</p> <figure><a href="L1220801-1024.jpg"> <img loading="lazy" src="L1220801-1024.jpg"/> </a> </figure> <p>The five-piece group led by guitarist and primary songwriter Motohiko Ichino produces otherworldly atmospheres with loops of sound and cascading sheets of melody set against precise rock and dance-inspired beats. The instruments riff and interlace, fitting together like puzzle pieces at times, an intense chorus at others, while swirling over underlying rhythmic grids for a dusky, spacey, trance-like aura.</p> The textured sound of Rabbitoo makes a lasting first impression on their debut album National Anthem of Unknown Country from 2014, a fusion of jazz, rock, and electronica influences.

The five-piece group led by guitarist and primary songwriter Motohiko Ichino produces otherworldly atmospheres with loops of sound and cascading sheets of melody set against precise rock and dance-inspired beats. The instruments riff and interlace, fitting together like puzzle pieces at times, an intense chorus at others, while swirling over underlying rhythmic grids for a dusky, spacey, trance-like aura.

Definitely not following the typical jazz formula, this beat-centered music with some live jazz improvisation incorporates electronic loops and samples in real-time along with their primary instruments – guitar, sax, keyboards, bass, and drums – modified with echoes, distortion, and other effects. Another clever addition, the Minimoog synthesizer’s characteristic sounds enrich the music greatly with a haunting, retro-futuristic feel, evoking popular songs and suspense movies from the past and strengthening the sensation of this dramatic, mood-pushing music.

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