|
REVIEWS
yui onodera / Rhizome
Gears of Sand Recordings (USA) 2007
Recorded & composed in Tokyo, 2006-07.
All sound sources are environmental sound,
electronics, voice, guitar and piano.
In general terms there are two ways of approaching a new product when starting to
review. First is to take it face value: is the music good? And take nothing else in
account. The other is to take the rest of what the musician in account and/or place it
in a larger reference. Is it good what he does now, and in what way fits this his work,
and how does it relate to what else is done in similar direction. If you paid attention
over the last twenty-two years (Vital started in 1986 as a magazine), then you know
I am very much a reviewer that searches for the second approach: is it new, how does
it relate to the rest of the work and the scene where we can find the artist in. This is
a long introduction, which could no doubt be longer, about these two new works by Yui
Onodera. We have reviewed him before and we learned to know him as someone who
treats field recordings on his computer in minimal, sketch like soundscapes with little
movements per piece. On 'Suisei' he has only one, forty minute piece, 'composed from
environmental sound and pump organ' and it fits what he know of him. Despite being one
piece, it has various parts through he moves. Whatever environmental sound is in there
is hard to tell, save perhaps for some rain sounds and also the pump organ is heavily
treated. In the world of Onodera nothing new under the sun, and something can be said of
his role in the endless amount of 'field recording computer/microsound artists'. When we
look from it the first approach of reviewing, then this is a great work. Calm, quiet, moving,
atmospheric: non harsh ambient/drone music of a refined nature. About 'Rhizome' we can
pretty much say the same thing when it comes to the first approach of reviewing, except
that it's divided here into seven different pieces, like some of his previous releases. Shorter
pieces, a bit more loop based than 'Suisei', but throughout - again - no news. No big deal,
since it's beautiful too - the kind of music I play a lot. Onodera here uses, besides the field
recordings, piano, electronics, guitar and voice - and some of these are clearly recognizable,
unlike the pump organ on 'Suisei'. A very fine work also this one, but for thrill seekers finding
out new movements in microsound, this is all perhaps a bit too much of commonplace.
Frans de Waard (VITAL WEEKLY 611)
”SIGNAL to NOISE #49”(USA).
yui onodera / Substrate
Mystery Sea (Belgium) 2007
Recorded & composed in Tokyo, 2006-07.
All sound sources are environmental sound,
electronics, voice, guitar and piano.
Yui Onodera is a bit better known for he has releases on his own Critical Path label,
but also on Drone Records and And/OAR. Here he appears on Mystery Sea, but his
telescope is not pointed towards the sea but to the sky, to the various stratospheres
above us. In eight pieces Onodera takes us sky high where oxygen doesn't exist,
everything is pitch black and weightless. His compositions are highly ambient in approach
too and represent the 'one stroke of paint' approach: one sound, set forward with not
much change or movement. It lasts a few minutes and then the next track appears.
Quite a minimal approach, but seeing all tracks are called 'Substrate', it's perhaps
better to think of this one track in eight parts then eight separate tracks. It's a work that
has no water references, which is kind a odd for this label, but music wise it fits well
among his fellow sailors. Frans de Waard (VITAL WEEKLY 608)
We recently reviewed Yui Onodera’s “Suisei” (on the And/OAR label), whose basic character
derived from different treatments of recordings of water. One supposes that there’s water in
“Substrate” too, given the by now famous aesthetic foundations of Mystery Sea. Yet that, and
all the rest of the sources that Onodera decided to exploit, are here decidedly unrecognizable -
probably for the better. What this writer didn’t know before is that the Japanese artist is also a
composer of soundtracks for experimental films, contemporary dance and Butoh. It makes sense,
as the succession of the eight parts of this CD lets us think about the gradual development of a
choreography, one that starts with movement and nearly ends in total standstill. At first there is a
degree of slight interference amidst the droning calmness: parallel nuances, rippled complications
and deviations attempting to barely blemish an otherwise almost too perfect beatitude. But as
the music keeps flowing, the intense beauty of these undistinguished radiations comes in rivulets,
creeks and small rivers to finally be channelled in a static suspension of such grace that I had to
associate it to Klaus Wiese (precisely, his singing bowl trilogy “Space”, “Neptune” and “Uranus”).
Sounds that hold us to ransom until the piece - a masterful one, if you ask me - completes its
cycle, a sentiment-less microcosm traveling towards the unknown with absolute tranquillity.
Splendid release, among the Belgian enterprise’s very best.
Massimo Ricci (TOUCHING EXTREMES)
and more..
yui onodera / suisei
and/OAR (USA) 2007
Recorded & composed in Tokyo, 2006.
All sound sources are environmental sound and pump organ.
Suisei translates from the Japanise with a number of meanings. It could be a comet,
or the Japanise name for the planet Mercury, or an adjective for "aquatic", particularly
with reference to the strength of a river current. In the case of Yui Onodera's album,
the watery metaphors apply. Sourced from field recordings and pump organ, Suisei is a
meditative album which transitions effectively between humble drips, wet smacks and
lulling patter of water tumbling through the landscape. Onodera doesn't pretend that his
field recording techniques enjoy the pristine fidelity of Chris Watson or a Douglas Quin,
rather his mottled sounds embrace the abstraction produced through contact microphones
and consumer-grade dictation mics. Sustained drones from his pump organ buttress the
quiet hypnosis of these field recordings, thanks to the instrument's woozy oscillations. The
organ's harmonics gradually swell as ghostly slippages of sound descend gracefully into
compressed wintry din and aquatic percolations. THE WIRE #288 (UK)
Suisei is a composition by Yui Onodera that I like very much.
Almost tactile like use drone material, a seeming mix of environmental
and instrumental sounds (water seems to be a key element, and a pump
organ is mentioned). The piece build slowly and inexorably, with a nice
sense of pacing. We might think it is over after about a half an hour but
happily the work continues even beyond. We never know where the
composer is leading us, but we are happy to find ourselves there.
Carl Stone (Chukyo University Professor)
and more..
yui onodera / le jardin
taalem (France) 2007
Recorded & composed in Tokyo, 2006.
All sound sources are violin, guitar, electronics
and electroanalysis sound of water (by device
"els19"made by manabu suzuki).
'All sound sources are violin, guitar, electronics, electroanalysis of water' we read
on the cover of the 3" CDR. Three utter soft pieces of a highly minimal movements,
if indeed there are movements at all. Things crack, buzz in a delicate ambient way that
is found a lot these days in the realms of computer processing. 'Le Jardin' means
garden in French, but the garden depicted by Onodera in these three pieces is a cold,
winter garden. The music is a bit distant and remote, even though it's quite nice,
if not really a big surprise. Frans de Waard (VITAL WEEKLY 590)
yui onodera / SYNERGETICS
DRONE RECORDS (Germany) 2007
Recorded & composed in Tokyo, 2006.
photography and cover design by yui onodera.
All sound sources are guitar and piano.
Although this name sounded familiar, it seems to be the first time we're reviewing music
by Yui Onodera from Japan, who calls himself a composer and multi-instrumentalist.
He has his own label, Critical Path, but these two releases came from Europe. On the 7"
he plays guitars and piano, not that anyone could easily recognize those here. The sounds
are taken apart and interwoven on the computer into short but highly sweet pieces of
ambient drones, which are also quite musical. It must have been a while since we last
heard something on Drone Records that was so careful and delicate made. It's a pity that
vinyl is not the most suitable format to present this delicacy. Frans de Waard
(VITAL WEEKLY 590)
「A面はギターをサンプルに、B面はピアノをサンプルに使用したとの事だが、
その事を、音を聴いただけですぐに判別するのは難しい。コンピューターで
何度もプロセッシングされ、まったく原形がなくなってしまった楽器の音は、
"それでも"ではなく、"それゆえ"に美しい。音を加工して、別のものに変えて
しまいたいという欲望は社会学的な概念の”世界”に少しでも近づきたいという
表れだと思う。何重にも重ねられたドローンのさらに奥底にある世界の調べとも
言うべき音こそが、このレコードの核心だろう。」 chihei hatakeyama (opitope)
「and/OARからの２枚組CDも控える小野寺唯の新作が、独の７インチ・レーベル
Drone Recordsからリリース。彼を知らずに、この緊張に支えられた酩酊の
ドローン・コンポジションを聴けば、これが日本のアーティストの作品であることを
見極めるのは難しいだろう。「作品を作りたいという欲求が強い、その作品は
音楽でなくても構わない」と言う彼が、私淑するバックミンスター・フラーにその名を
借りた自身のレーベルCRITICAL PATHから発表した作品が、そのわずかな
流通量にもかかわらず、いくつかのリリース・オファーに繋がっていると聞いた。
小野寺自身がデザインを手掛けたパッケージに収められたこの水色のディスクも
その一枚。良質な作品が確かな耳を通じて世に出る事を喜びたい。」（武政 英穂）
「針を落とした瞬間から、す〜っと意識の奥の方へと導かれる。レコードの回転を
見つめていると、さらに催眠度がアップし、いつの間にか注意深く音を拾ってい
る自分がいる。細部まで音がクリアに聴こえ、なんだかとっても耳が良くなった
気分。聴こえてくるのはピアノの断片や、細かいビブラートだったり、無限の音が
交差しては消えてゆく・・。二度と同じ瞬間が訪れないような気がして逆に永遠を
意識させられる。さらに音の調和や響きも美しいので、まさに至福の旅。人生は
よく川の流れに例えられるが、こんな流れにのっていきたい。このような作品が、
ひっそりと東京で作られ、遠い独からリリースされたことをとっても嬉しく思う。」
mondii (SPEKK)
「アナログEPの音の良さを再認識、そしてわかった。これは新しい音楽と古くて
優れたテクノロジーの稀有な出会いの頒布。yui onodera氏は、音の中で
情感を扱う術と明確なプロデュースの視点を持ったアーティスト。この
"SYNERGETICS"は音の練り込みと織り上げが丁寧で、クオリティの高さと
共に繊細な表情の変化を味わえる。特にふと郷愁のようなものが訪れる
ところは格別だ。盤面も美しい。」 tamaru (installing)
「頭の中に浮かび上がるのは残響の中に佇む鳥のような生き物のイメージ。
いまにも羽ばたきそうな姿がスローモーションで何度もリフレインされる。
その生き物は飛び立つことができたのだろうか。」 奥山 心一朗 (Cherry Music)