[i:Vibes] Rainstick Orchestra - The Floating Glass Key In The Sky [Ninja Tune]

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Rainstick Orchestra - The Floating Glass Key In The Sky [Ninja Tune]

21:26 - February 18, 2005

by Andy P

A duo's from Japan's debut on Ninja Tune is up here, don't miss it!

Rainstick Orchestra – The Floating Glass Key in The Sky (Ninja Tune)

After a hiatus of two months, the “Chilled” CD of the month is back with a vengeance and this CD will be Feb 2005’s “Chilled CD” of the month.

Ninja Tune was originally started by the duo known as Coldcut, back many years ago and it has grown to something quite large at this point. It includes a wide variety of artists from all around the world and this is certainly the case. Rainstick Orchestra is from the country made up of four major islands that we know as Japan. For those who live in Europe and North America, you may not realize a)how big Japan’s EDM music scene is or b)how much music is actually coming out of Japan but this should be your wakeup call. Rainstick Orchestra is made up of Baku Tsunoda and Naomichi Tanaka, who are both in their mid 20’s, Tsunoda by day is an Editorial Designer and Tanaka is a Systems Engineer. They met when they were both deejaying at a club in Tokyo and they got together because they wanted to improve their musical skills. So four years later, they released this album called “The Floating Glass Key In The Sky” on Ninja Tunes and the review is below.

Rainstick Orchestra – The Floating Glass Key in The Sky (Ninja Tune)

1.Trick
2.Waltz for a little Bird
3.Kiteletu
4.Powderly
5.Overflow
6.Electric Counterpoint Fast
7.A Closed Circuit

1.Trick

The track starts quite quickly with some laidback orchestral sounds, it is joined with some nice taps and some swirling sound effects that give it that really downtempo sensation. The track seems quite simple at this time but it has that Lemon Jelly feel without the steroids. It seems that this duo decided to start the album gently, not hard hitting as some other albums of late. The orchestral sounds do grow on you at times and the precision of the instruments catches your eye.

2.Waltz for a little bird

We head into soft moving jazz with a forward thinking approach. The jazzy atmosphere is aided by a electronic keyboard that is altered to sound more like a piano. The bassline is made up of slowing moving drums that are not made by a drum machine but by the real thing. My favorite part of this, has to be the bells and whatever other harmonic bell type instruments that they blended into this. It is so calming and so nice to hear, when you listen to all the harsh music that you listen to it. This is great stuff to play on a rainy day, like now in Toronto but I’m struck on how simplistic the music seems but how it comes together so well. The bells fade about 3 minutes in and it reverts to the opening style sequence, where it is drums and piano, it is so downtempo that you just drift away. The bells then join in for the last minute and what a start this 7 track album has been. This is surely a gem so far and who knew it would come from Japan, this shows how much our world has changed.

3.Kiteletu

This track starts with a beautiful flute and about fifteen seconds in, the track starts to form with some nice tappy percussion hits with that leftfield style backing. The track is well thought out like the first two and it allows you to sit just back and chill out. The hook is from a keyboard that comes in and out and it grabs your coattails into the world of Rainstick Orchestra. I like Ninja Tune because they don’t put out the typical crap that most labels have fallen into, they put out wide ranging, forward thinking music that just goes past the genres that we seem to label music into these days. The harmony that they have created is just mind blowing and the flute enters again about 4 minutes in, more of this please. I think Rainstick Orchestra’s CD will join the place besides my Ulrich Schnauss, Lemon Jelly, Biosphere, Maitreya and Pete Namlook stuff.

4.Powderly

I like to see when artists take a page from another great artist’s book and then they take that idea and make it their own with some added style. The Lemon Jelly style is here, without the hardcore fun level (tho no one has that style and thank god it is only Lemon Jelly but I digress). Anyway, the harmony that is created, just blows my mind and I love to hear stuff that completely pushes the boundaries of things. It shows that an artist can make something, if things are kept simple, which they are at this point. There are no fancy breakdowns, no riotous riffs, no tearing apart the dancefloor songs. It is just the chilled vision of two Japanese club deejays.

5.Overflow

We continue into the CD with this little gem and it reminds me of clockwork. The taps and snares and percussion that is used at times reminds me of tick tock and a clock slowly moving. The hook for this song is provided by an altered organ and who knew that Japanese musicians could make chilled beach music. The melody is rather simple but it is so well planned and you can’t help but dance along to it. The similarities between this and Lemon Jelly are numerous but both groups have their own style.

6. Electric Counterpoint Fast

The second last song on this album is “Electric Counterpoint Fast”. The song does not do much apart from using a really simple melody and it tends to drag on, too far. The first five songs were pure genius but this hits a stumbling block. I find it far too simplistic when put up against the earlier works in this CD. It is not terrible but it is just does not find my complete favor.

7.A Closed Circuit

This is the last song on this relatively short album but it is certainly the longest song, clocking in at over ten minutes. Anyway, this heads for more of a downtempo/ambient crossover, the beginning starts with a harmonic melody and some keys in the back appear and these rolling snares and taps join. The song then starts to grow and the melody pushes outward and it is so calming and relaxing. The song might be a bit shorter in my book but it certainly ends the CD on the right note, nothing fancy but nothing boring.

Conclusion:
Rainstick Orchestra’s debut CD is certainly worth checking out, for those who loved Ulrich Schnauss’ Far Away Trains Passing By, you will love this. It has some fun parts, some real quiet moments but when you put it together, you get a well done 45 minute, 7 track album and I hope they keep making music, it is certainly nice to see a new group from Japan, attempt some chilled music.