Posted by Brad.
Now that I’m an oh-so-hip college student, all of my local used record stores are less than a ten minute walk away! With this newfound ability I find myself stealing a lot less music, and finding a lot more new artists I never heard of, but like, or artists that I had heard of before, but had never given a listen, such as the glorious Archers of Loaf.
But this new segment, Random Album Encounter, isn’t about that. In fact, “random” doesn’t really belong in the name. The only way the name makes sense is if you’re familiar to Role Playing Games.Nerdiness aside, this segment goes like this. I’m in a record store. I’m doing the shuffle through the titles in stock. I come across something that looks pretty, or interesting, that I’ve never heard before. I admit I’ve spent much more money on worse things (Alien Hominid for Gamecube for example, good game, bad price). I then drop around nine or ten dollars on something which I have next to no idea what I’m going to get. And that in a nutshell is Random Album Encounter.

For our first installment I give you… The album “28″ by Aoki Takamasa + Tujiko Noriko. I was browsing through the various records, and here I find this tantalizing cover art sitting in the front of the row, looking rather lonely. If they think college students will buy this, it can’t be that bad, right? I thumb behind it. It’s the only copy of the only album there by this mystery-duo. So along with three other albums that I’ve been meaning to buy, I take this one up to the register.
I put the disc into my desktop computer. The tracklist starts with “Fly 2″. I’m greeted by an electric effect, followed by some Japanese mumblings that I think even brame could stand. Ambient, pretty, nice, soothing. A short song. Probably what could be considered an intro track. We move on to “Vinyl Words”. Reverse effects. Actual singing. Overall a kind of Sigur Ros kind of feel to it, except that it’s… more soothing. Makes some sense. I take a look at the insert. How nice, an actual English translation. Nice little lyrics. The Postal Service type effects. Buzzes, clicks, delicious synth stuff. I really like this sort of music. A search for the album art to put into iTunes gives me a yield, similar searches are and The Knife and Portishead. Wilson likes that second one. I seem to remember some talk of The Knife. Tujiko Noriko is the main artist, apparently. A visit to some related sites shows she’s released quite a few albums. Who knows if they’ve seen any sort of British or stateside release. Regardless, “When the Night Comes” is now playing, and I’m still getting that good vibe. Good stuff to listen to on a night with your sweetheart, or right before you’re about to go to bed. Kind of reminds me of the song “66db” by Yuki, perhaps a little bit less poppy. We move on through the tracks, and still more of the same awesome stuff, the next is a bit more upbeat, the next down. “26th Floor” is a most interesting take on a sort of talk track. That is, lots of beats for a talk track. Well thought out words. Very nice. We’re treated with two more awesome tracks after that.
If you didn’t notice, I really like this album. A lot. And I intend to seek out more from the artist, with high hopes that it will be as high quality as the music found in “28″. So, in conclusion, the album is awesome, and it is one of my favorite finds ever (that is, without the consultation of another, but even then it’s up there). If you like slower chill-out music, and don’t mind some Japanese (or in my case, enjoy it), then you wouldn’t go wrong to check out this album.
But don’t take my word for it! Visit your local library!
A video of gifs collected from 4 Channel. Amusing.