Ikuro Takahashi is a central figure in the Japanese free improvisation scene, having released countless solo and collaborative records, as well serving duty in eardrum-shaking heavyweights High Rise, Fushitsusha and LSD March, not to mention sunshine-searching ramshacklers Maher Shalal Hash Baz and Nagisa Ni Te. Here he empties out the contents of his drum kit and percussion box and gifts each individual instrumental component a track each, treating them as a bed to explore, investigate and have fun. There's a near Taoist focus to each petri-dish of percussion; what at first seems like a simple repetition or rhythmic cycle unfurls itself as something more elemental, like the sound of rain sputtering on selection of hard and soft surfaces. Toward the end of the album the tempo rushes and Ikuro jumps over to oscillators for a final track of stress-wave exploration; utilizing the same approach, focus and sense of play, but with a whole new set of tools.

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Ikuro Takahashi / various percussion & oscillators

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Recorded by Ikuro Takahashi in April 2020

Mastering & artwork design by Oliver Barrett.