I am keenly aware that electronic
formats are increasingly making my CD collection anachronistic. Why do I persist
in this losing battle? One reason is that scanning through my CD collection to
pick an album has a visceral quality that a playlist can’t reproduce.
Another reason is I like having an
accompanying booklet. Not all CDs include a booklet, but for those that do,
here’s a list on how best to make them:
·
The booklet should be
an actual booklet, not an accordion fold or poster format.
·
It should include core
information like the song list, writing credits and year of release.
·
It may or may not
contain interesting photos, artwork, anecdotes or stories, but it should always
contain the lyrics.
·
Those lyrics should be
printed in a readable font, not some scrawled script approximating the artist’s
handwriting.
·
Bonus point if there
is a short list of who played what instruments on each song.
Of course, no booklet, no matter
how perfectly formatted, can make up for an album full of bad music.
Fortunately, this was not a problem on this next album.
Disc 1010 is…Sonderlust
Artist: Kishi
Bashi
Year of Release: 2016
What’s up with the Cover? A piece of art by Ssin Kim pretentiously
titled “End of the Beginning”. The colour scheme is nice, but this isn’t my
preferred art style. I’m a bit more of a fan of realism or romantic art. Not
popular in these troubled times, but it’s what I like.
How I Came To Know It: My friend Kate introduced me to
Kishi Bashi, I believe by sending me a “first listen” link on NPR. Thanks,
Kate!
How It Stacks Up: This is the only Kishi Bashi album I own, so
it can’t really stack up. He has released two other albums, but I’ve given them
a listen and I don’t feel sufficiently inspired to pick them up.
Ratings: 4 stars
Kishi Bashi
is the stage name of American multi-instrumentalist Kaoru Ishibashi. “Sonderlust”
isn’t a word at all, but it sounds like it should be, and on an album as
beautiful as this one I’m willing to forgive a little wanton neologism.
“Sonderlust”
is well outside of my usual musical comfort zone. It is a mix of dance beats, strings,
and electronica, all coalescing around Kishi Bashi’s gorgeous high tenor. The dance
beats have a very distinctive disco quality, and Kishi Bashi has managed to
update how they are put to use so beautifully that it feels like the genre has
been reborn in all its former glory and excess.
The
record has the perfect balance between classical musical structures and modern
music. On top of it all the pop hooks on these tracks are ridiculously
compelling. The fact that this album only made it 153rd spot on the
Billboard top 200 last year is yet another reminder of why I don’t listen to
the radio anymore. If radio stations can’t embrace a record this good, then all
hope is lost.
The
opening track, “m’Lover” is a slow
building anthem, complete with mandolin picking (I think), tribal drum beats flourishes
of electronic organ, and Kishi Bashi’s urgent vocal. It is a slow-building wave
of energy which breaks down mid-way through, only to build up a second time
with even more intensity. This is music for driving fast in a convertible. This
is music for racing after your lover before they board that plane, and embracing
them as some crane-shot spins wildly around you.
After
all this emotional draaama, enter track two “Hey, Big Star,” a song with an easy going organ riff and disco beat
that makes you want to dance around the room like a total goofball, hopefully
while everyone is watching. If you’ve ever seen David Boreanaz’ dance on "Angel" then yes, that kind of dancing, but with better music.
“Say Yeah” features what I’m pretty sure
is the sound of an earl eighties video game (maybe “Centipede” or “Space
Invaders”). Usually that kind of thing would annoy me, but Kishi Bashi makes it
work, energizing the track and then slowly moving it into a slow soul groove reminiscent
of Marvin Gaye or Isaac Hayes, but with more beeps.
“Who’d Ya Kill” sounds like Pink Floyd with
its slightly unnerving melodic structures. A fuzzy jazz piano riff takes the
place of David Gilmour’s guitar; just as atmospheric, but…different. It isn’t
my favourite track, but it is solid and worth mentioning just to show the myriad
musical forms Kishi Bashi borrows from on this record, twisting each just
enough so that it blend into a cohesive collection of songs that together are
something altogether original.
The
strings on “Honeybody” would be at
home in a Mozart concert, and are then combined with a Caribbean rhythm. The
result is a delightful little love song about how sometimes it is fun to hang
out with your girl and play some board games. At one point he even reveals his
inner geek, when he mentions his girl is welcome to bring six-sided or dodecahedron
dice. If you call a die “six sided” (and you know who you are) you are a bit of
a nerd.
Whether they
are confessions of love or nerdom, Kishi Bashi is not afraid to expose his
inner self, and this emotional honesty is at the core of “Sonderlust”. Sure he
is having fun with groovy beats, but he’s also got something to say. That you
can dance along while he does so is just an added bonus.
I
listened to this album yesterday while on a long wander in the spring sunshine
and it filled me with such a sublime combination of positive energy and relaxation
that I think I walked an extra three or four kilometers just to prolong the experience.
This is
a record that has been sitting in a rack of about a hundred other ‘recent’
purchases, some of which I haven’t played since I first bought them. Not so, “Sonderlust”
which I have regularly been pulling off the shelf lately. If you are looking
for some happy pop music, written in a thoughtful manner and performed
masterfully, this record is for you. Hell, if you just want to feel happy, this
album is for you – no deeper analysis necessary.
Best
tracks: m’lover,
Hey Big Star, Can’t Let Go Juno, Statues in a Gallery, Flame on Flame (A Slow
Dirge), Honeybody
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