The Darla Bliss Out series, designed to allow ambient pop stars to spread their message and love to the world on a monthly basis, continues with this, it's 19th entry, from Japancakes of Athens, GA. Japancakes have released two full-lengths and an EP on Kindercore, and have drawn comparisons to bands like Macha and Air with their instrumental-with-electronics music. It's cohesive, full-sounding, grooved-out, and, yes, ambient, but also very innocent.Darla
Eric Berg started Japancakes as a simple ensemble to create music out of very simple chord progressions, but allowing for moments of genuine improvisation in the studio by having the members never practice the melodies together until it was time to record. As a result, most tracks start off with one or two instruments and sounds, then build and add more as they progress. What's interesting about this music is its clarity. There are no sounds here that distract or muddle the art - everything feels "just so," like it was meant to be that way from the beginning. While it is repititious by design, it is not at all unchallenging or boring listening material. On "Belmondo", Japancakes is again the core group that recorded last year's "The Sleepy Strange", once more with Andy Baker at the console. And it really is a fantastic listen. The album's key track, the sixteen-minute-plus 'Handguns & Firearms', is one of the best compositions I've heard all year, and elsewhere the band evokes truly spine-tingling moments with an interesting mix of drone, strings, keyboards, and even lap steel. It's a brave combination of styles that wouldn't necessarily work with other bands, but Japancakes pull it off with no serious injuries. A great addition to Darla's series and to Japancakes discography.
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