Indonesia, right? Pretty much every natural disaster happens there: Volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, Malaria, monsoons, ginormous salt-water crocodiles…the place sounds like a fucking nightmare. Still, if I could teleport, I’d love to witness their transcendental, myriad forms of gamelan, especially those documented by Nonesuch Records; Jasmine Isle, Javanese Court, and Balinese. I suppose that, with death’s slap-happy scythe sashaying to and fro out there, the least s/he could do was allow for a divine soundtrack. H Takahashi’s “Body Trip” is a much safer excursion.
This new psycho-acoustic transmission serves as the distilled, brightly-tinged amalgam of every euphoric memory processed during ceremonial Indonesian petitions to the gods for just short of two millennia strong…but, like, you know, channeled through Steve Reich and some savvy soundboard mixing and uber-subtle modular synth drones tucked far below the main affair. The various timbres assigned to individual layers of xylophones & glockenspiels, their wavering processings of delay and reverb, as well as the in-and-out-of-focus volume shifting makes this recording infinitely versatile…so long as you’re ready to get put in a good, swaying mood. More please!
-- Jacob An Kittenplan
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