| Watanabe, Kaoru / Neo |
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| Album: | Neo | Collection: | World | |
| Artist: | Watanabe, Kaoru | Added: | May 2016 | |
| Label: | Self-Release | |||
| A-File Activity |
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| Add Date: | 2016-06-06 | Pull Date: | 2016-08-08 | Charts: | Reggae/World |
| Week Ending: | Aug 7 | Jul 31 | Jul 10 | Jul 3 | Jun 19 | Jun 12 |
| Airplays: | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
Recent Airplay
| 1. | Aug 06, 2016: | Music Casserole Dreams | 4. | Jul 05, 2016: | Clean Copper Radio Shinobu | |
| 2. | Jul 26, 2016: | Celtic By Caronis Shinobu, Prism, Dreams, Bloodlines | 5. | Jul 02, 2016: | Music Casserole Reverse | |
| 3. | Jul 09, 2016: | Clean Copper Radio Bloodlines | 6. | Jun 28, 2016: | Clean Copper Radio Shinobu |
| Album Review |
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| Margy Kahn Reviewed 2016-05-30 | ||
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Talented multi-instrumentalist second generation Japanese American (son of two symphony musicians); studied at Manhattan School of Music, lived and worked with Kodo, taiko ensemble in Japan, for ten years; experimental and innovative but also lilting and tuneful at times No FCC's; Favorite tracks: 1, 2, 6, 9, 10 *1-5:47 – “Bloodlines” starts with solo Japanese flute, drums and clinky percussion; lively, skippy, happy sound; adds more and more strands toward end including inchoate vocals *2-5:37 – “Dreams” – drums underneath vocal chant/drone in harmony --- drum playing is very energetic and enjoyable; nice contrast; slows to tinkly bells and tweets midway then segues to galloping drum and percussion solo, and back to chant 3-6:49 – “Prism,”-- jagged and erratic flute and drum; a little avant garde for my taste 4-2:35 – more flute and drum; a little singsongy 5-5:11 – still more flute flights punctuated by bouts of drumming; has more of an arc; gathers speed near end *6-8:45 – “Together Alone,” – starts with heavy duty taiko; very stirring; koto comes in, then flute, nicely segmented; nice contrast of light and heavy percussion 7-5:04 – “Iki” - starts with flute motif – steady drumbeat and flute intervals over spoken words, Japanese and Eric Garner's “I can't breathe,” builds in intensity; a little chilling 8-2:22 – more taiko-ish, heavy drums with lighter percussion, ceremonial-sounding *9-7:28- “Shinobu” – starts with stringed instrument; beautifully resonant, opens out to lushness with drums, flute, and other percussion, Japanese garden in the 21st century *10-4:25- “Reverse” – traditional tune – opens with flute motif, adds taiko; spare, ceremonial, timeless 11-2:22- somewhat shrill-sounding flute, pounding taiko 12-9:54 – “One”- hitting sticks, flute trills lead off; sustained flute solo followed by sustained taiko solo feel a bit unrelieved and random; sounds like shredding paper at the end. | ||
| Track Listing |
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| 1. | Bloodlines | 7. | Iki | |||
| 2. | Dreams | 8. | Kagura Gurui 2 | |||
| 3. | Prism | 9. | Shinobu | |||
| 4. | Kagura Gurui (Duo) | 10. | Reverse | |||
| 5. | Chiru | 11. | Kagura Gurui 3 | |||
| 6. | Together Alone | 12. | One |