Miwa Ogasawara - Ausgang (2007)
It's been a few since I did one of these. Probably a little rusty but there can't be much to go wrong. Starting off with a recent addition to my library that will not stop haunting me. And I mean that quite literally, I know I say it for a bunch of stuff in my collection but I could quite happily live in that melancholic intro for ever and ever (I even sampled it on my latest EP in the post below!). SiLC as a band existed only very briefly towards the turn of the millennium, though from what I gather from a bit of reading this was intentional, you can definitely hear that not-quite-pop feel that was so prevalent at the time but even with some slightly dated sounds, SiLC have been a very interesting addition to my listening. To be honest I'm just amazed I could find this on streaming.
The Flashbulb has come more into the fold for me recently too, I think the mistake I made last time was going all in on the IDM front and gathering as much stuff as I could that fit the admittedly broad definitions o the style. Since dialling it back I've a newfound appreciation for it and some other artist's work to boot.
Love As A Dark Hallway is a much more easily digestible listen than my previous recommended Flashbulb release,
Soundtrack To A Vacant Life, but its by no means less of a quality induction into his works. Keeping with that slightly haunting theme (fitting given it's October and all) we have
Virtuous Cassette; which begins with some sounds straight out of Aphex Twin's
Rhubarb. That is, before the beat abruptly slides into position around 40 seconds in, making the whole thing more in line with Wisp's rework of
Rhubarb. That is not a complaint; I absolutely adore the smooth sounds throughout this LP and the beats, while contrasting, never feel out of place.
I mentioned on the podcast that I love to cosy, almost-DIY electronics of Hajime Hyakkoku's soundtracks and that has not changed. I've been purposefully metering them out in order to get the most mileage out o them but I have since listened to them all. This example in particular reminds me especially of Mitsuto Suzuki's solo albums in terms of sound, I think I mentioned those on a podcast or post previously too,
they are hard to find but full of gorgeous pieces like this. As we head to the tail end of this year I expect to pulling more and more of these into rotation to give myself a little bit of audio warmth.
-Claude Van Foxbat
