Infinite Flowers

In 2003, Japanese electronic steel pan artist Yoshio Machida produced his third album and called it Infinite Flowers. The second release for Machida's amorfon label, it featured musical collaborators Tetsuro Yasunaga (co-founder of the electro-acoustic ensemble Minamo) and guitarist Fourcolor (Keiichi Sugimoto). Machida, who operates steel pan, steel guitar, and Max/MSP electronics, uses silence and sound in a skilled and sensitive manner that is commensurate with his innovative achievements in what he calls photobatik. His highly evolved poetic sensibilities and a free application of the principles he employs as a visual artist greatly enhance this botanically inspired set of audio-realizations. Specifically, he sought to introduce a sound environment created by "partials of sound assembling to form the whole texture." "Namaqua," presented in four movements, is named after South Africa's Namaqua National Park, a world-renowned wildflower habitat located some 495 km north of Capetown. "¡Hana Mambo!" is a joyous processional laced with gnomic vocal intrusions. Combined organic metallic percussion and ethereal/eccentric electronics result in pleasantly trippy music of great imaginative depth.