Browse by Label: PLOP (JAPAN)

Artist:	HAUSMEISTER
Title:	Water-Wasser
Label:	PLOP (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLOP 001CD

Water-Wasser is the sixth full-length release from Christian Przygodda (aka Hausmeister), his newest album in three years The music of Water-Wasser is influenced by European classic, electronic music, folk and progressive rock, just as much as jazz, using various raw acoustic instruments, all played by Przygodda himself. The basic idea of composition is similar to classic symphonics, with the return of themes and their variations -- but Hausmeister evokes those themes with diverse sound-sources. The whole album is drawn from the creative melting-pot of musical possibilities. As with the element water, the transcendent is the constant. Hausmeister is interested in various possibilities and ways to enter different floors of this musical building, enjoying all the different angles and sights. This strongly refers to the works of the French comic artist Moebius (The Hermetic Garage) or of writer Lars Gustaffson (The Third Rochade of Bernhard Foy). The album cover painting is also by Christian which shows an additional aspect of his interdisciplinary approach within the album. Water-Wasser contains very pleasant and composed music which will be appealing to a wide audience. For fans of rock, electronic music, jazz, classical music, and more.

Artist:	WORLD ON HIGHER DOWNS, THE
Title:	Land Patterns
Label:	PLOP (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	PLOP 002CD

The World On Higher Downs is a four-piece group whose key members consist of Nathaniel Ritter, Troy Schafer, Eric Bray and Vincent Wachowiak, who all reside in different parts of Wisconsin. What started out as a loose idea based upon multiple collaborations, eventually blossomed into what is now known as Land Patterns, their debut CD on Tokyo-based label Plop. The World On Higher Downs was birthed out of Troy Schafer and Nathaniel Ritter's bedroom recording sessions that began in late spring of 2005, which mostly consisted of keyboards, heavily effected electric guitar, and violin. After a few months of steady writing and recording, Vince Wachowiak was brought in to help add a few parts to the beginning sketches. Soon after, Eric Bray was sent the base tracks to which he added electronics and fleshed out the tracks with his production abilities (showcased in his other recording projects Arctic Hospital, Agend, and Talve). Eric sent back his developments and more instrumentation was added, including xylophone, vibraphone, horns, and orchestral drums. The songs were sent back in the mail to Eric, where he mixed down the tracks and gave them a cohesive sound. Clichés in record-making were avoided, such as playing acoustic guitar over a sampled electronic drum beat -- instead, the group made their sounds more smooth, more layered, staying away from digital cut-ups and trickery. Influences by shoegaze acts such as Slowdive, or other groups like Labradford are noticeable in the tracks, although their fresh songs make it hard to distinguish whether it's rock or dance music that gives the album originality and the comfort of analog warmth and digital coolness at the same time. Land Patterns sits somewhere between the murky depths of seasonal depression, cabin fever, and the blooming first days of spring. It has an intellectual quality to it, but maintains a child-like innocence. Taking ideals from both darker and lighter sides of music, this is an album that fits somewhere in between; encapsulating the greater aspects of both sides into one singular vision.

Artist:	MODELL, ROD
Title:	Incense & Black Light
Label:	PLOP (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	PLOP 003CD

This is the first record from Detroit-based Rod Modell (Echospace, DeepChord) on the Plop label. Modell is a classic minimal techno producer and also founder of Deepchord Records in Detroit as an outlet for his "dirty" minimal tracks. Incense & Black Light is an intoxicating journey into darkness, a sonic travelogue through one mysterious night. The tracks represent 10 different scenes from the same night, taking the listener from dusk to dawn. A rainy, neon-lit trip into the seedier side of night temples, red light districts, and opium dens. Psychedelic dub-delays, sub bass, and slabs of alien atmosphere rule here. Otherworldly rainy-night field recordings saturate the tracks. Modell began producing music in the mid-'80s using analog synthesizers and drum machines. To date, Modell has about 60 releases to his credit. Rod's work was focused on electro-acoustic experimentation in the early years, making musique concrète compositions with a 4-track cassette machine and field recordings, then branching into industrial soundscape work. More recent recordings utilize more structure and beats, but still retain the atmospherics that Modell is known for. Mood is of paramount importance in a Rod Modell recording (often created with field recordings). One of Modell's favorite pastimes is making middle-of-the-night music with his portable DAT machine and dummy-head microphone. Incense & Black Light is ideal for 3:00AM headphone listening.

Artist:	KIDO, TAKAHIRO
Title:	Fleursy Music
Label:	PLOP (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	PLOP 004CD

This is the debut solo full-length release by Tokyo-based Takahiro Kido, recording engineer and lead member and composer of the post-rock group, Anoice. The album title Fleursy Music is a coined word meant to mean "flower-ish music" (made up of the French word "fleurs" which means "flower" plus music) which best expresses these cinematic soundscapes and warm analog sounds. He creates music by merging electronics with many types of acoustic instruments such as piano, organ, violin, viola, cello, trumpet, sax, clarinet, flute, guitar, glockenspiel, accordion, melodion, drums and percussion. These instruments are remarkably well textured and were recorded in unique environments such as in tunnels, mountains, abandoned hotel lobby and concert halls, capturing the natural reverberations of the atmosphere. And after recording, he processed and carefully layered these sounds in his computer to obtain the perfect combination. The 10 tracks here were selected among over 150 compositions assembled over a period of two years.

Artist:	MIKO
Title:	Parade
Label:	PLOP (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$17.00
Catalog #:	PLOP 005CD

Parade is the debut full-length release by Miko, a new female artist hailing from Yokohama, outside Tokyo. The album was created like a watercolor painting, layering pale yet colorful inks delicately on rough sketches using instruments from her daily life, such as electric and acoustic guitars, piano, synthesizers and samplers. In addition, this crafty multi-instrumentalist did all the vocals and mixing herself. Parade is full of diverse moments, but terms such as dreamy, catchy, sad and comfortable most simply describe her sounds. Humming, pure vocals bring you an indefinable sadness, melancholic and floating tracks are inspired by My Bloody Valentine, guitars weep like lo-fi bands and the overwhelmingly beautiful melodies take you to the deep horizon. She entitled her record Parade from her will to make an album that sounds like "there's a fun parade going on over there." Parade is a sensitive and gentle imaginary soundscape.

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