Otaku's Paradise: Another Gowi MD

[mickilennial]

Introduction

What a surprise! It’s a brand new colossal waste of time music diary from yours truly. I got the idea to make a companion to my popular list of the same name as I was catching up on releases this year from Japan, China, and South Korea as I tend to do, so here we are. The idea here is to spotlight and support releases that people would typically ignore as well as find some inspiration about writing about music again. I hope this will be particularly interesting for many users here and if you like it please support the thread by replying with discussion-based dialogue! Thanks!

Table of Contents

[mickilennial]

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Angel Noise by MikaTen
Release Date: February 17, 2016
Genre(s): Noise, Minimal Synth
Origin: Japan

A collaboration between Toshiji Mikawa (Incapacitants, Hijokaidan) and Ten Tenko (BiS) shouldn’t be too odd at its forefront, and I suppose I shouldn’t be particularly surprised that it happened considering the fact that Ten Tenko has been the only BiS alumni to use her expressive creativity following her departure of the group to pursue her interests beyond contemporary pop and dance music. I imagine the collaboration here with Toshiji Mikawa was the extension of Ten Tenko’s participation with the noise veteran in 2013 and 2014 when BiS and Hijokaidan collaborated on two albums. But Angel Noise does not feel like old recycled leftovers from BiS Kaidan as it is clear from the ten tracks that are present on the album. However, it most certainly does not feel “angelic” but it’s Japanese Noise— I doubt the point is to make any sort of dreamy aesthetic to noise, especially here.

Angel Noise is not just a noise or harsh noise album and I think a lot of this is the result of Ten Tenko’s influence. This is not a pop artist who wanted to backpack upon a seasoned noise musician for fickle reasons; a belief of mine that is influence on the fact that ever since Tenko left BiS she has been making strictly unconventional works with noise flourishes, sparse industrial synths, and experimentation. It’s almost like as soon as Tenko met the members of Hijokaidan she utterly fell in love with the concept of their musical expression— though that’s a bit of a pompous theory on my part. The album itself is a very good noise album with trademark sounds that fit on Tenko’s solo works as well as the various projects Toshiji Mikawa has worked on for several decades. The album is embodied by sparse industrial synths, static-drenched textures, high-pitched machine squeals, Tenko’s soft vocals, and minimalistic yet quiet movements which create a full yet immersive noise album that seems to exponentially draw you in; or at least that’s how I felt listen after listen.

Angel Noise might be one of the better offerings by my ear on the experimental side of 2016 overall and not just simply within Japan.

Favorite Track: “カンブリア”