Kashiwa Daisuke - Program Music I (V0) (2007)

Holyshitdoublepost

I've listened to this album four times now in the past three days. I have a long list of new albums that I need to sort through, but the problem is that every time I listen to this one I discover something new about it that I never noticed before, and then it makes me appreciate it on a whole new level, and I have to listen to it again. So far this seems to be an infinite loop.

This is Kashiwa Daisuke--who is, in case you didn't guess, from Japan. Or at least that's what most people believe--one of the RYM reviewers believes Daisuke might be a cyborg from outer space. After hearing this album, I'm not ready to dismiss the possibility that this might be some kind of peace offering from an advanced civilization. I can picture a civilization watching us, slowly observing our musical evolution, and then taking Earth's musical output, combining it with their futuristic abilities, and creating a hybrid alien/human record that showcases the flawless trademarks and characteristics of both civilizations' appreciation of the power that music can have on an ordinary human or alien being.

There's so much to this album that I really don't know where to begin. There is a modern classical base, with strings, piano, and occasional programmed drums providing the skeleton and driving most of the album. This, I would subject, is humanity's side. The alien side is where this album gets interesting, as glitch--intentional skips or stutters--run throughout. If the idea of cathartic strings and piano being interrupted by electronic jitters gives you pause for concern, let me say I completely understand where you might be coming from, as I was in that same camp. I honestly believe now though that the electronic manipulation could not have been done any more beautifully. It works perfectly.

Structurally, the album is divided into two tracks. Stella, which is apparently from what I have read a love story, runs for 36 minutes and rises and falls between periods of intensity and blissful, calm, glitchy ambiance. I can't stress enough how well the dynamics of the album were pulled off--it seems almost natural. Other artists struggle with this, and their songs hit their peaks and the listener isn't quite ready for it, and it's frustrating. Program Music was scary, the first time I listened to it I could have sworn it was somehow a sentient being, rising and falling with my mind's natural fluctuating temperament. Very few albums, even by successful bands, can do anything close to that. The second track, Write Once, Run Melos, is not quite as naturally flowing as Stella. The transitions are more obvious and more abrupt. However, I think I like it just as much if not maybe even more so than Stella. Something about the piano lines throughout just completely wow me, and the crescendo at the end is something to behold.

Bottom line is, you can't go wrong with this album.

Stella