| Norman
Records (feeling Ecstatic)
Cuushe is the latest artist on Flau from the city of Kyoto and
her CD 'Red Rocket Telepathy' is a bizarre, unique trip down some blurred
vision of "dream-pop" lane, showcasing some gorgeous, lilting
ethereal vocals, wonky, woozy synths, slow trippy beats & laptop scrunch.
Comparisons to the likes of Seefeel are apt and not without good reason
but the layering of bizarre smudged sounds & drunken sounding keys
recalls early BOC and Leila's kaleidoscopic bedroom soul and even such
random sound texture/noise-art pioneers such as Kit Clayton. I'm really
fascinated by this CD, its appeal crosses the normally static boundaries
of shoegaze and should be of interest to fans of progressive electronica
as well as fans of the more adventurous extremes of "trip-hop"
such as Lamb. A very intriguing and magical listen!
Foxy Digitalis
More lovely Japanese downtempo with female vocals on Flau. The beats here
are staticy and glitchy, but they lock into steady trip-hop rhythms instead
of being chaotic or abstract. The synths are calm and melodic, and of
course the vocals are just beautiful. There's also plenty of odd found
sounds in the mix too: airplanes flying by, squealing modems (remember
those?), glass bottles crashing together, etc. It doesn't sound noisy
or cluttered, at all, though. Just a really wonderful, relaxing disc.
Smallfish
A most unusual and deeply beautiful album from Cuushe and a hard one
to describe in many ways as it blends together many different styles
whilst retaining its own unique identity. Constructed from mostly electronic
components and using vocals as one of the main focuses of the tracks,
there’s an instantly appealing depth and warmth to this. Washes of sound
and texture play gorgeously over a selection of downbeat, abstract beats
– from breaks, through to crispy electronica-style moments. You can
hear elements of shoegaze in some of the more intense works, but generally
there’s a low-key sound that works in an almost subconscious way. The
female vocals are delivered in such a way that they feel more a part
of the instrumentation than anything else, yet there’s a breathiness
and easiness to them that gives them clarity at all times. The sense
of melancholy is tangible throughout and I found myself going back to
particular tracks again and again just to experience their almost aquatic,
underwater sound. It’s beautifully put together and something that I
believe will give more and more over time – certainly, the more I listen
to it the more I get it. Rarely does music like this leave me struggling
for words, but this really has, and I reckon that’s an extremely good
thing. As I said before, it’s unique and very, very beautiful indeed.
You know what to do…
Boomkat
Another delightful abstract pop record from the Flau stable, Red Rocket
Telepathy mixes the sensitive, leftfield song formations of Cuushe with
the additional mixing and treatments of Yasuhiko Fukozono (of Aus fame).
Given the experimental slant of the album you might find yourself thinking
of Tujiko Noriko's output. Certainly, this album is a good measure less
saccharine than many of the song-based fare on Flau, and the electronic
production is beguiling in itself throughout the tracklist, plumbing
depths that might exceed your J-pop expectations. You might even identify
a touch of Cocteau Twins coming through during the blurry, weightless
vocals and shimmering textures of 'From The Window On The Plane' and
'Strange Animal'. Good stuff.
Textura
Listeners seduced by the vocal-enriched dreamscapes of Cokiyu and Tujiko
Noriko should find Red Rocket Telepathy, the debut album by Kyoto-based
Cuushe, just as captivating, even if an unsettling undercurrent is often
audible within the latter's dream pop. The album gets off to a serenading
start with the electronic lullaby “From the Window on the Plane,” all
sweetly transporting synthesizer melodies and wistful wordless vocals.
But that instrumental opener isn't as representative of Cuushe's style
as what comes after: “Summer Night Sketch,” an expansive setting that
contrasts her fragile vocalizing and warm synthetics with the grime of
city-based field recording sounds, and “Swimming in the Room,” which pairs
her breathy whispers with an unusual industrial-inflected backing. Three
songs into Red Rocket Telepathy, it's clear that a key quality characterizing
Cuushe's sound is the contrast between the songs' lighter-than-air vocal
delivery and the harder-edged arrangements (a contrast not unique to Cuushe,
however, as it'soccasionally heard in some of Björk's music too). As such,
the dirge “Simple Complication” juxtaposes her feathery voice with the
industrial churn of a backing suggestive of factory machinery. There are
also moments, however, when Cuushe allows the gentler side of her music
to come to the fore, as “Into the Future” demonstrates when it augments
her lovely vocal melody with a generally restrained backing. Cuushe cites
Board of Canada and L'altra as inspirations but Björk stands out as an
even stronger inspiration on many of Red Rocket Telepathy's eleven songs.
Having said that, the album's most powerful setting, “Strange Animal,”
exudes an epic and emotive character that is rather L'altra-like in spirit.
In all, the fifty-four-minute collection makes for a natural addition
to the flau catalogue, and an especially complementary one to Cokiyu's
2007 Mirror Flake.
Autres Directions
Emboîtant le pas sur sa copine de label Cokiyu, Cuushe est de ces rêveuses
qui s’attachent à concevoir en chambre une électro-synth-pop cotonneuse,
teintée d’innocence et auréolée de poésie.
Se rapprochant d’une Piana délestée de ses cordes ou évoquant les versants
vaporeux de Tujiko Noriko, Cuushe n’a que peu recours aux instruments
traditionnels, préférant à ces derniers des synthés au grain analogique,
pourvoyeurs de nappes veloutées au trouble nostalgique, auxquels viennent
se greffer trouvailles sonores et bruits empruntés à un quotidien ordinaire
(conversation téléphonique, bips de modem, bruits de pas et de portes...).
Conservant un profil bas, les rythmiques puisent dans les sources intarissables
et plurielles du tout numérique, délivrant des sonorités oscillant entre
picotements d’aiguille et impacts minéraux assourdis, comme ressuscités
de vieux jeux d’arcade. Sa voix au timbre haut-perché, semblable à celui
d’une poupée de porcelaine, Cuushe aime la disposer en feuillets multi-strates,
la démultiplier pour donner forme à des choeurs élégamment tristes et
touchants (c’est le cas sur Strange Animal, Simple Complication où la
naturalité du piano s’accommode bien de l’incongruité de bruits semblables
à des éructations animales).
Dans ce pré de douceur, où ingénuité ne rime jamais avec niaiserie (Cuushe
mais pas cruche), il y a beaucoup de choses finement et joliment agencées,
quelques-unes qui parviennent à toucher, et d’autres plus isolées, (comme
Into The Future, sa rythmique un peu plus appuyée et son refrain tout
en la-la-la cajoleurs) qui parviennent sans peine à s’agripper aux hémisphères.
Aérien, songeur et mignon tout plein.
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