Waki Music for Waki People Play: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi   Download: Lo-Fi   Mid-Fi   Hi-Fi (Excerpt from track 'Dreams')

Waki is a Japanese musician who describes his music as "techno-minimal-ambient whatever". It's a Databloem release so I expected quality – but the 'techno' adjective worried me a little! Anyway, enough of my prejudices, onto to the music.

'Crystal of Water' opens the album with contemporary, hypnotically rhythmic synth chords and a 'glitch' backing. Slowly a faintly industrial beat joins the mix. Rhythm is clearly the focus of this track; even the melody comes from a 'loop'! A slow, heavily reverberated bell-like sequence introduces 'Dreams'. An ethnic, marimba-like rhythmic loop is added. A 'thumping' beat arrives a minute later. There's no doubting the quality of these opening tracks, but this stuff really belongs in a club. Duty called however, so I kept listening.

To a certain extent I was glad that I did! A beautiful high-register sequence kicks 'Job' into being. Bass stabs and a chugging 'guitar' like sound are added to create a wonderfully syncopated groove. I'm a huge fan of Depeche Mode and this reminded me greatly of some of their instrumental b-sides and album 'link' passages. Moody stuff; I loved it! Two sequences, interweaving beautifully, open 'Asia'. This track echoes some of TD's mid 80's soundtrack work (think 'Risky Business'). Close your eyes and you'll see neon, rain and empty train carriages – totally hypnotic. I began to feel that the album was hotting up at this point!

'Submarine' opens with a cracking, heavily delayed and filtered sequence. A bass loop is deployed to underpin the track. Again I find myself thinking synth-pop, this time the reference is Kraftwerk ('Electric Café' or 'Tour de France'). The sequences build in intensity, the tempo increases, the filters are tweaked – you have to move to this one! 'City' is a short track, just 3.56 minutes. A mid-range sequence moves across the stereo field as a 'glitchy' drone hums away in the background – and that's about it really! In fact, most of the tracks adopt this approach: the elements of the mix are deployed very quickly, and are left to run.

A distinctly, and unexpectedly, Jarre-like sequence and organ auto-accompaniment style rhythm open 'Tapwater'. What sounds like radio-interference hovers in the background. Organ chords add some harmonic detail, but sound a little disjointed. 'Reflection' takes us back to the roots of EM, as the 'ghosts' of Berlin again step across one of Waki's tracks (it consists of two mid-tempo sequences and nothing else!). 'Hotaru' returns to the present day, with a slow but strong beat and an oriental-sounding melody. 'Salvia' again has echoes of the Berlin-school in the sequencing, but it's laid bare, stripped of the harmonic and melodic detail. It's enjoyable, but sounded a little like a sequencer demo. I yearned for a solo, or melody. None came. 'Hinshin Kousoku' is a cool slice of contemporary electronica, though there's a nod to the 80's in the beats.