



- New Ep Premier -

Japan's Wazakana have just released their first record.





Entitled "Illusive EP" this record somehow delivers a somber mood with upbeat musical arrangements. The J-pop vocal style co-mingled with math rock and prog sensibilities mesh well and create a familiar atmosphere for anyone who is acquainted with other progressive Japanese bands.

This is almost certainly a " Vocaloid " project.

Track #5 "Lotus" is my favorite song. This purely instrumental jam is short but packs a huge punch. The guitar comes on strong with a half strumming half noodly riff that activates all of the background "weather channel jazz-prog" similar music receptors in my brain this morning. The drumming pattern doesn't miss a beat and seems to fill in every nook and cranny along the path. Soon enough the guitarist takes the center stage and delivers a smooth solo that rocks just as hard as it does fusion-jazz.

Track #1 "Illusive" is my second favorite song. Beginning with a frantic startling strumming riff, and subsequently following up with an invalids style math explosion, the jarring effects of the song are somewhat stabilized with the addition of the vocals who help guide the way to the eventual abrupt ending that only make me eager to hear the next track, "Schlieren."

Track #4 " 氷解 " is my third favorite song. This song evokes an imaginative realm where the diminished guitar chords

make me think I'm living in a futuristic fantasy world where drones buzz around and robots are commonplace in public and in homes (Japan). The way the vocals cut through the crystalline structured instrumentation is like a laser saw pouring through steel. She has no other purpose than to get her error message to the screen. Her computerized emotion pale and autonomous, therein lies the heart of the machine, a program designed by man for his own will. She's telling me what she was programmed to tell me and I'm programmed to fall for her, it's inevitable fate. When you create the world you want to live in it could be a both a blessing and a curse. The glass bubble used as protection can simultaneously be a prison. With technology ever advancing to make our lives easier, better and more accessible, there must exist new limits and new boundaries to cross and to also find that we cannot cross. The rise of the machines in our musical lives is one that has been around for a while and while they do enhance some aspects of our compositions, using them in place of the passion that can be conveyed by only the human voice will always be a hindrance.

Despite however my love/hate issues with the vocals, the music is so pristine and tight. The drumming and glass like guitars work together just as much as the bass and drums normally do to make this a well oiled machine of sound gravy. Is that a thing yet? It should be. Enjoy!





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