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Kirameki

by Kirameki

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1.
Kirameki 03:33
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2.
Weevils 03:27
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3.
Morgan House-Cutter 02:45
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4.
Pipsqueak 01:49
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5.
Drown Yourself 01:29
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6.
My Cloud 03:36
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7.
Wave Of Imitation 02:19
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8.
Our Last Song Pt. 5 02:40
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about

Kirameki - "Kirameki" (BS002 - 2007)


More likely to give your hi-fi a breakdown and you a nose bleed, Kirameki are clearly demented and creatively insane individuals. it's a combination much lauded here - if only there were more like them.

The mysterious Japanese / English duo known only _ and * are clearly on a different radar to the rest of us, a disturbed and freakish collaborative hybrid who craft a strange and unsettling nu age acrylic art pop sound-scape. They are the quintessential flies in the ointment.

In terms of reference points Kirameki are kindred spirits of Casino Vs. Japan, Atari Teenage Riot and Pop Off Tuesday and mine similar unclassified pop dimensions as esteemed imprints such as Tigerbeat6, Emperor Norton and Wobblyhead, the fried and frayed elements coming into detached clarity on 'morgan house cutter' wherein fuzz laced flashbacks scour and scald amid chiming celestial crystal bowed overtures and glacial b-movie cascades much recalling Roy Budd in presence.

Maybe you fancy some demented uprising of typewriters decorated with an insane industrial tinged hollowing regal-ness as on 'My Cloud' where nods are made in the general direction of Add N to X's 'Add insult to Injury' or the Radiophonic styled monochromatics of the snow globed and odd 'Kirameki' all impishly fleshed out with bizarre key changes, ad hoc time signatures, clockwork motifs and a threatened sense of unruliness.

Sadly 'Wave of Imitation' - an obvious nod to the Pixies track 'Wave of Mutilation' is alas not a carnage frenzied dismemberment of the same track but a frankly barking frequency modulating slice of whirring drones and haunting Oriental apparitions - very unsettling with the subtle lolloping folk mirages barely detected in the background very much cut with a Sunburned Hand of the Man type zeal.

We suggest you blitz the in boxes of those Riley and Maconie radio types and demand that Kirameki be elevated to the ranks of house band - do you want their email to save farting about in web world - its stuart.6music@bbc.co.uk and marc.6music@bbc.co.uk - ah well there's goes the hopes of a career in Broadcasting up the shoot.
[The Sunday Experience]

*

Kirameki is a very strange beast indeed I first came across them (them being the oddly named _ & *) yes you read that right it’s a double team collaboration effort made by a guy called _ and a guy called * more on them in good time. Anyway I came across them on the excellent free net label Rack & Ruin Records, I was really taken by the madness that was lurking within.

It’s really hard to explain what the hell is going on with Kirameki they shift and move through many styles often within seconds. I guess it’s a cut’n’paste sort of affair a bit like what Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow would cook up if they both went a bit insane one night. You have no idea what so ever what’s coming next it could be a full on spazzed out blast of breakcore beats or a mellow meandering through field recordings and strings. It’s all so playful it just pulls you into its strange little world.

_ is an artist from Japan and that’s about all we know of him really, his partner in crime doesn’t even know his name so to join in the anonymous fun * was born I can only really tell you that he’s from Scotland and is probably just as insane as _. They collaborate entirely over the Internet by sending tracks and files back and forth until some noise comes out. I’m not sure they have ever met at all face to face, it’s an interesting way of working and the results kind of reflect that.

Where to start with highlights? Well it all flows so well even with all the mad twists and terns so the tracks feel less like songs and more like segments, surges and soundtracks to pretty much everything all at once. The noise rock beast Morgan House-Cutter gets me going with its grating, jarring sounds and beautiful twilight chords...

I always seem to get "Drown Yourself" in my head for some reason I think it’s the mad breathy pitch-shifting laugh that does it. There is something mad about it that just draws me in. The following number "My Cloud" is a sublime shoe-gazer full of fuzz and chords that melt into an Aphex Twin style freak out at the end and reminds me of Frontier Psychiatrist by The Avalanches with it’s horse samples.

["Our Last Track part 5"] sounds like a long lost KLF pop trance number being played in the distance followed by a marching band running down a busy road next to a train track, but in a good way of course.

Kirameki really do know how to twist turn and generally scare the shit out of the listener by luring them in with some beautiful soundscapes then bashing them around the head with a techno / gabba beat and running off with a big cheeky grin on their faces. It’s so hard to place this in a single box, it’s like ambient hit’n’run schizophrenic techno beat music or something...
[The Sonic Mine Field]

*

Kirameki is the collaboration between Japanese musician, _, and Scottish musician *.

For 30 seconds "Kirameki" sounds more electronic, melodic and ambient; until the sped up drum samples crash in. It's an excellent example of how unpredictable these musicians are.

"My Cloud" sounds darker and literally fitful. The same sample manipulation techniques are used as elsewhere on the album, but it's more aggressive here. The track keeps being dragged towards a calmer, melodic place, and it makes one wonder which of the musicians was responsible for each direction.

"Waves of Imitation" shows Kirameki's calmer side: slow drums and drawn-out instrumentation are used to build a layered ambient texture.

"Drown Yourself" also demonstrate noise influences. "Drown Yourself" surprised me with its drum and bass used to reach a zenith at the end.

"Our Last Track Part 5" includes the obligatory Speak and Spell style vocal samples, but has some intriguing acoustic guitars and other sounds that seem to have been manipulated to sound like water, which makes sense against bird samples.

Kirameki are nothing if not consistent with their approach. It's almost like the two collaborating musicians have created their own language of audio manipulation. They thrive on being unpredictable, and finding the humour in the samples they've sourced. Some tracks show evidence that they also find the emotional value of these samples too, which would be an interesting direction for them to take in the future.
Alex Young
[Furthernoise]

*


Written, recorded and produced by Kirameki


Copyright © 2007 Bearsuit Records & ℗ 2007 Bearsuit Records

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released May 3, 2007

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Bearsuit Records Scotland, UK

Bearsuit Records: independent label based in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Artists include :
Bunny & The Invalid Singers / Harold Nono / Ippu Mitsui / Eamon The Destroyer / Haq / Annie & The Station Orchestra / AWSTS / Ageing Children / Senji Niban / Jikan Ga Nai / Whizz Kid / Andrei Rikichi / The Moth Poets..

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