Dust And Sand

ON ENSEMBLE – Dust and Sand
self-release, 2005

USA/JAPAN – Excellent experimental taiko from an L.A.-based group which includes some Stanford alumni (yay!) The traditional Japanese drums are blended here with flute, koto, Tuvan throat singing, turntables, and percussion from around the world. The music is thoughtful, low-key, and really, really cool. We gotta get these guys to come up here & play!

Fo’s picks: 1, 2, 6, 7.
Adventurous djs: try 5 & 8!

1. 6:41 – stately percussion & flute march, Middle Eastern feel, turns into a festival
2. 5:42 – quiet intro, peaceful drum/koto pattern with throat singing drone; turns more upbeat, then picks up a nifty mechanical rhythm. Gentle ending.
3. 4:35 – male vocals (English lyric, Japanese melody), cool drumming, much echo
4. 3:31 – breathy rustling, backwards tape, dubby bass ‘n’ drums, some scratching
5. 4:49 – plain male singing vs, Japanese spoken-word, atmospheric drumming, then very traditional Japanese theatre vocal and louder drums. Deep.
6. 5:11 – thumb pianos, crackles, feedbacky moans. Gets percussive, fast & tangly!
7. 6:13 – quick layered drums & vocal percussion, almost funky with a Brazilian batucada-like rhythm. cool turntable-drum dialogues, too!
8. 9:04 – starts with slow Taiko, throat singing up front + voc percussion. Then fast drumming with high-pitched throat-drone breaks. Midtempo layers at end.

[Fo] 12/30/05