5. Re: (2012)

Re: is kinda the “pop” album for Kashiwa, though that means a hell of a different thing to him then it does to me or you. The songs often had conventional-ish structures that clock in around 5 minutes, and occasionally even had genuine lead vocals, ideas that almost seem contradictory to everything Kashiwa stands for, but it’s unmistakably his album, and unmistakably a work of vision beyond his audience’s expectations. From the floating piano melodies to the occasional crunchy glitch effect, it certainly contained some of his trademarks, but not in the context we are used to hearing them in.

Some of these songs sounded like they could have existed on a late 90’s drum n bass record from how brain smashingly hard the drum brakes can be, nothing like the more heady DnB influence on his early albums. And then directly following these, some songs sounded like noir soundtrack-influenced jazz numbers. It’s really a mixbag of things, with varying degrees of interest, but never lacking in creative spirit. Some tracks, like “Something is Lost”, are actually some of the best work he’s every done, using prominent lead vocals over huge and atmospheric synths, topped with the kind of gentle glitch effects you might expect from a mum record.

It paints a cinematic portrait that stands with some of the greatest moments from Program Music 1, all while still maintaining that accessibility, and reasonable song length. The following track “Katambi Dance” however, is a good indicator of the kind of interesting messes that are unfortunately equally common. From the backwards played voice samples, to the gentle piano and strings, to the gut blasting drum breaks, it’s hard to really ever get on board the track before it bucks you off, and it’s not the only song on the album that will do that. Re: is an album as essential as any of Kashiwa’s, but one that might require some slicing and dicing to validate repeated listens.