Could you name me a band who blends elements of electronica, classical music, and post-rock?
I'm going to review an album released in 2007 by the Japanese composer called Katsuhiko Maeda, who got famous with his musical project World's End Girlfriend.
Basically he creates music of complex sound structures and beautiful melodies. Some my find this provoking, but I'm open-minded enough to give his work a listen!
Hurtbreak Wonderland - World's End Girlfriend
What a lovely cover. It reminds me on stone-artwork that was very popular in earlier times. Where crafting was more important than it is now.
Even though the cover is grey and drab, the main part of the image composition is the girl. She's like a little princess, lost in an unknown environment.
That cover looks promising to me, although I can't imagine the sound concept right now!
Track list
1. Wandering
2. Birthday Resistance
3. 100 Years of Choke
4. Grass Ark
5. Ghost Of a Horse Under the Chandelier
6. The Octuple Personality and Eleven Crows
7. Breath or Castle Ballad
8. Bless Yourself Bleed
9. Dance for Borderline Miscanthus
10. River was Filled with Stories
Flutes, soft harp sounds and door noises at the start, followed by a calming string layer combined with an experimental noise pattern sign the first song
Wandering.
The princess might have left her castle for a while! A really beautiful start for an album.
Birthday Resistance has a very harmonic beginning, the song is characterized by the saxophone.
I like the melodies so far, but I can't take the experimental rhythmic serious. It's a bit sarcastic. A few times I just found a relation to a Harvest Moon soundtrack, it's weird somehow.
Do you hear those natural sounds at the first seconds of the song
100 Years of Choke, too? They are creating such a wonderful, natural atmosphere. Sounds like the princess is discovering a secret garden!
Amazing electronic, soft layers embellish the beauty of this track. I don't really understand the reason for the title, listen! Ok, the end might sound scary...
Grass Ark is very different from the other tracks. It's very ambient first, refined with electronica and piano melodies. It's got a jazzy touch!
Ghost Of a Horse Under the Chandelier features lots of glass-sounds. Mystical and very shocking when you hear some noise of a dropping thing. It is going to frighten you!
That ghost motive is childish but in that context it's entitled to tell a story. I got afraid for our princess, but she seems to be ok with her pleasure trip!
The Octuple Personality and Eleven Crows - what a title, it may be due to the personalities of musical genres changing so often. I don't know if that's this good...
Breath or Castle Ballad is a really playful yet considerate piece. It's different from the previous tracks, short-cut on electronica.
The next song,
Bless Yourself Bleed, has a very spiritual and religious character. It develops into a chill track, gets spiced up with dramatic rhythm and string movements.
The composition is ending with a melody played on electric guitar and groovy sounds.
Dance for Borderline Miscanthus follows. I have no idea but isn't Miscanthus some sort of plant?
At any rate, that song kicks off with really wild electric sounds, gets filled with random voices, screams.
After a pause eccentrical drumming starts. It sounds like the princess gets caught up in a storm, dashes against a rock on the ground. Is this the end?
River was Filled with Stories, a wonderful title for a final song. After all that mixed up genres a soft piece of chamber music closes off the voyage of discovery to Hurtbreak Wonderland.
First I thought this album may sound like a mix of well-known pieces or a blend of some main-themes. I mean - I sure underrated this composer.
Then I gave the album a listen, I thought the Japanese guy must have been in a confused state of mind while composing, those rhythms at the beginning were kinda irritating.
Despite all that mainly negative facts, the album manages to tell a story. It leads the way to a wonderland. It's almost magical to hear this specific musical story.
It's amazing to see how underrated such true masterpieces are. Nowadays if something doesn't sound perfect in the first seconds most give up. Nearly I did.
I knew there was a concept behind this album, and I'm very happy I kept up listening. That feeling I have now is something very special.
It would be a pleasure if you gave World's End Girlfriend's album a chance, too.