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reviews: combined review of mn009 and mn010two new releases by the excellent minus n net label from japan, and i believe both artists are not japanese, at least i'm not sure if irish is. irish was part of a rock band named cap-d, but out of growing frustration to be part of that band, he started to make his own music. 'manufactures' was originally released as self-released cdr, but now is re-issued as re-mastered mp3 release. irish uses a computer with all the regular software (pure data, ableton live, cubase) as-well as a yamaha dx21, korg electribe em1 and sounds from his own and kitchen. irish main inspiration is the minimalism and mechanical sound of techno. this works best when he implements a 4/4 beat under his music. that backbone always works well. in 'cut my throat' for instance this is very uplifting music, sauced by the use of an electric piano (or perhaps vibraphone?) and electronic sounds flying in and out the mix. sometimes however the marriage is more uneasy, and the time-stretched rhythms don't work as-well, and everything seems to be in an off-beat mode. irish plays with very detailed sounds and everything is excellently produced and luckily there are more good than bad tracks. titan and yez are two norwegian artists, who did an eight hour live improvisation from which they selected eight tracks. four of them are presented in the form of a cut from the original session recordings and four others are edits. they too have a background in rock music, but their release is entirely made with computers and analogue equipment of an electronic nature. titan and yez play also with minimal dance rhythms, just like irish, but are more monochrome in approach. irish sauces his music up with a lot of extra sounds, in the music of titan and yez this is more covered and the rhythm section is the most important thing. here too the main objection might be that the music is not always the most danceable thing, despite the fact that 4/4 rhythms are used, but when it does, those pieces are the best. throughout quite a nice release! by frans de waard @ vital weekly das ist ja schon fast ein trip rund um die welt, nach dem russischen label fragment jetzt -n (sprich minus n) aus japan mit dem release manufactures von irish. ein herausragendes album, das in zwei teile zerfällt. die ersten tracks eher leise, experimentelle töne, elektrofolk ... (?), angereichert mit noise-elementen, aber dezent eingesetzt und man muss seine zahnarzt-phobie nicht gleich mit literweise wohlklang besänftigen. mit cut my throat gelangt mehr schwung in die titel, über den beats schweben besänftigende keyboard-flächen, ohne die wurzeln in den ersten titeln des albums zu vergessen. wunderbare titel: march, cut my throat, japanese speak english... mehr davon haben will... by bernhard straub @ windwalzer comments: post a comment: |
[mn010] irish - manufactures
01. march (06:00) - download this mp3 (192k, 8.28mb) 02. nothing special (08:21) - download this mp3 (192k, 11.5mb) 03. daidokoro 1 -reception- (06:36) - download this mp3 (192k, 9.11mb) 04. daidokoro 2 -cooking- (06:40) - download this mp3 (192k, 9.19mb) 05. daidokoro 3 -refrigerator- (06:54) - download this mp3 (192k, 9.51mb) 06. cut my throat (06:41) - download this mp3 (192k, 9.21mb) 07. 108 (04:51) - download this mp3 (192k, 6.71mb) 08. fear for changes (06:50) - download this mp3 (192k, 9.42mb) 09. japanese speak english (07:47) - download this mp3 (192k, 10.7mb) download the whole release (zip, 84.3mb) download the cover art (double-page) (jpeg, 607kb) download the cover art (for web) (jpeg, 33.4kb) e-mail interview with irish (by kengo miyazaki) 'manufactures' was released as a self-released cdr in 2003. we thought it was too good to vanish in the dark right after listening to it, so to share this nice piece of work with the public, we had decided to remaster it and re-release it here on -N. km: what motivated you to make this album and release it as a self-released cdr? irish: when i made and released this album, i was a member of the rock band, 'cap-d' and had opportunities to play with other bands. they were doing music as business as part of the music industry. that made me feel frustrated, and i wanted to show some complex feelings such as anger, sadness and resistance on music and the music industry. km: your recent tracks, especially the ones from test tube, have totally different atmospheres compared to the ones from 'manufactures.' were there any significant changes in your life that might have affected the way you make music after you released this album? irish: in this album, i focused on the essences of music, and that was my only interest. i took much time, sometimes a few days, to make one piece of sound. that was the process of creating 'manufactures.' i guess i just had time to create something like that then. the work for test tube is different from 'manufactures.' in my recent work, i intend to show my emotions directly. i am currently in a position where i get to meet many people and want to show, in my songs, my personal feelings i get when i meet them. km: actually, the tracks here sound quite intense, and it seems like you had tweaked every little detail of the sounds that were available then and got the best out of them. what kind of equipment did you use for this album, and is it different from what you normally use now? has the method of making music changed? irish: i used a computer that was necessary to create this album, of course, but i wanted to use everything around me to create sounds and used, for example, yamaha dx21, korg electribe em-1 (both 2nd hand), software like jeskola buzz, pure data, ableton live, cubase vst, sounds from my kitchen and my voice. i also created my own vst plug-ins with synthedit. i use faster computers that can instantly and instinctively create or record cleaner sounds now, but i feel like i've lost something that i had in 'manufactures.' km: the last half of the album has more emotional track titles compared to the first half which has a little more towards conceptual ones. were they made in the same time period? what kind of state of mind were you in when you wrote these tracks? irish: songs in 'manufactures' were created in the same time period. i don't care much about song titles. in most of the cases, i name my songs after finishing them. km: what are your plans or goals with regards to making music? please tell us your ongoing or upcoming projects. irish: i would like to continue making music. that is my only interest. now, i am organizing a compilation album, 'pse' that is to resist to the new japanese pse (product safety for electrical appliance & materials) law. in addition to that, i am doing a collaboration album with duff, a japanese hip-hop artist. |
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