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Blotto
Singles Collection 2004-2007 |
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Tracklist |
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01 - Urubamba
02 - Nazca
03 - Viento 風にのって
04 - Burial
05 - Solar Eclipse 日蝕
06 - Inti Raimi
07 - Titicaca |
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Review |
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Now this is a weird act and make no mistake, information on them is not easy to come by. The vocals are all done by one woman, Tomoko, or Ogawa Satoko as I believe her real name is, but I'm not entirely sure who does all of the background programming.
I haven't heard all of their releases, but as I understand it, each one has a kind of theme, in this case the Andes. What this means in real terms is lots of sampling of traditional South-American instruments - panpipes and the like.
So, panpipes... that sounds pretty relaxing right?
Wrong, this is possibly the least relaxing usage of panpipes you may ever hear.
In fairness to it, track one starts with some actually quite relaxing South-American music but then this dies down and a pounding drum beat begins, intertwined with some panpipes before it goes quiet for a moment. Then it resumes as before, but we get our first taste of Tomoko's scream before the background electronica builds up with a pounding beat. Tomoko has a unique voice; think Atari Teenage Riot or something along those lines.
The album proceeds in this fashion, as TomokoDEATH combine fairly ambient sounding instrument samples with hardcore electronica and screaming. Yes, lots of screaming.
My favorite track is probably Nazca. The sampling they use on this track really works, the chorus sounds really nice and unlike some of the later tracks, the electronica compliments it rather than working against it.
Listening to TomokoDEATH is exciting, but not easy. Although Tomoko can sing quite nicely, for the most part she screams and in terms of vocals, I would draw comparisons to Yellow Machinegun or Melt Banana, but the overall sound is more complex, favoring as they do, all manner of samples and electronica instead of guitars. This is not something to listen to if you are prone to migraines but it has a very eclectic and international feel to it, and some days it is just the thing.
As an album though, it is not the most balanced, as the first three tracks are really good, but after that it just tails off and loses momentum. I think the whole South-American theme is pretty interesting and not something you hear too often in Japanese music.
It is certainly caters to a niche market, and a lot of people will be turned way off by the harsh-sounding vocals. But give this a chance and you may just find something you like. |
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