*** This blog post first appeared in TSMM's March 14th Newsletter, where you can can get all the tips, and more, first ***
Although I noticed I was following him on Tidal, I wasn’t fully aware of Takuro Okada until this fond retrospective collection was released on Temporal Drift the other week, his first collection to be released outside Japan.
The collection is a diary of the artist’s last ten years of guitar inventiveness, with the recordings either made at home or friends’ houses. Effects pedals are used, abstract electronica added, field recordings meander and drummers and percussionists enter and leave through the revolving collaborative door, pedal steel adds some ambient Americana touches, aquatic vibes are conjured, mysterious sounds leak into the mic from neighbouring dimensions, vintage sci-fi soundtracks are reimagined and there’s even some straight up finger picking and a dash of Tex-Mex twang to highlight his mid-Pacific influences.
It’s a whimsical collection of experimental guitar and a great introduction to this laid back, boundary reshaping guitarist and producer.
Playlist Companion
Find Takuro Okada adding some unhurried vibes over at the Slow Folk Playlist: