Scope

Takemura's Scope is a beautiful record. When first popping this into a CD player, one may be a bit taken aback — it was nothing you will, or could, predict. No heavy beats, no discernable instrument sounds only kind of a synthesized clicking. It is a much different clicking than something like Oval, as there is no staid rhythm and slow modulation. A little more than halfway through the album comes the song "Icefall." This is when it can be realized that Nobukazu Takemura is a genius. There are chord changes and modulations in the clicks, now sounding much like an intentionally skipping CD, but they are all crushed together, sounding more like an orchestra of little clicks. The clicks keep clicking and smash one on top of the other again and again — it is a symphony of clicks. So clever, so painstaking this task must have been that it blows one away. After hearing "Icefall," subsequent listens of the album sound completely different, as if this song allows the listener to understand the music much more. Takemura's music invites a kind of Platonic dialogue — once you've looked at his music from every possible angle and think you understand it, a single event changes your perception of it entirely. This music is miles ahead of the bleeps and loops of most electronic music being made today.