by Uttara-Kuru
Pacific Moon Records
There’s some lessons to be learned here. Number one, don’t print your program notes on an unreadable background. Way too many CDs these days have itty bitty print over a background that hurts your eyes just to look at. Stop it, and stop it now, before we get Congress involved. Number two, there’s no need to put incense in with the CD. It makes you feel like you’re trapped in an issue of Vogue. If I want to burn & listen at the same time, I’ll buy my own. This being said, East Wind is a pretty good album. It grew on me as I listened to it, and seemed to get better as it went along. The group Uttara-Kuru likes to fuse Japanese musical traditions with lots of synthesizers and pop music styles; sort of an East-Meets-West type thing.
In this case, you’ll often find Japanese instruments such as the Shakuhachi (bamboo flute) and Koto (zither) plying their trade on top of heavy synthesizer accompaniments, ranging from slow contemplative pieces to some souped-up dance numbers such as "Winter Dance" and "Our Life," the latter of which stands out as the most memorable song on the disc, and would probably work well in a dance club or two. Add to this some traditional Japanese vocals on occasion, and oddly enough, you’re in a Spielberg movie. It works, once you get used to it. Very evocative, very cinematic; singer Kaori Kitsv has a style that will be very familiar to those of us even remotely aware of things Japanese.
The group itself, a duo of Seiichi Kyoda and Kazumasa Yoshioka, are highly regarded musicians in Japan. They partnered in 1997 and debuted with an album called Prayer in 1998. East Wind is apparently much more Americanized, but being American, I don’t mind.
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