It’s amazing what other people have lying around at home. Japanese saxophonist and producer Yasuaki Shimizu really does have an impressive discography. He has music ranging from fusion wave pop («Kakashi«, 1982) to heavily artificial sample jingles (»Music For Commercials«, 1987), heralding in more recent developments, such as the laptop genre vaporwave. With projects like The Saxophonettes he sometimes lived out his cheesy side as well. Despite all that, he apparently made music for himself and his bottom drawer at home. And with considerable success. His recently released album »Kiren« from 1984 is a whimsical mishmash of new wave sample harshness, seemingly placeless jazz gestures and minimalist tribalism workout. Repetition does not become an end in itself with him, and lasts only as long as he supports the idea of it. The associations while listening snake in all sorts of directions, but need to be suppressed here, because Yasuaki Shimizu allowed himself to pursue such an individual style during his private retreats that it would be sacrilege to ruin it with comparisons. Well, the novel is a rare bird anyway, and the likelihood of listening to »Kiren« and skipping past »I know everything already« after a few moments is not unlikely. And even if you do, hearing it the second time around should always be a pleasure.
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Kiren
