Japancakes - Down the Elements EP
(Kindercore)
Japancakes is a seven piece band from Athens, Georgia, that plays simple,
repetitive music. The theory behind the band is to take a short but addictive
melody and repeat it over and over and over and over and over again for 8
or 9 minutes. During the over and over and over agains, the melody is allowed
to organically morph and change, all done somewhat subtly. The repetitious
pop melodies bring to mind two different camps: the organic pop of The Sea
& Cake and the electronic sunrise of To Rococo Rot. The heart of much of
The Sea & Cake's music is Eric Claridge's bass, which is usually one short,
repeating, beefy bass hook, and listening to To Rococo Rot's early material is
like hearing the best 15 seconds of Ketchup-era Stereolab repeated over and
over again (and that is the entire song). Both of these descriptions could
also be applied to Japancakes.
Down the Elements is a 37 minute EP divided in half: the first half fast,
the second half slow.
The first half of the EP continues what the band did on their debut album from
last year, If I Could See Dallas, only doing it even more upbeat and even more
pop. The short melody of "Version 1" is a The Sea & Cake-style beefy bass
hook. This hook is the centerpiece of the song, repeating (and going through
its subtle morphings) through the entire 6 minutes of the song. Keyboards and
drums follow along with the bass to keep the melody going as violins and
sythesizer sound effects add ambiance, swaying around the driving melody.
The centerpiece melody of the second song is created by the zany space sounds
from the keyboards, causing it to sound somewhat like a Tristeza or Pelé.
(first album) song. Similar to the drums and non-effects keyboard parts in
"Version 1," drums and rhythm guitar are used to help the main melody
plow forward. Not as much is happening on the perimeter of this song,
but both of these songs are very nice, persistent, driving pop songs.
The second half of the EP starts off with a short spacescape--not so
much a song as there is no real melody--just a bunch of spacey keyboard
effects pieced together mostly there to serve as an intro to the fourth
song, the 17 minute long title track, calming things down and slowing down
the pace. There are several parts to this long song, each part taking the
standard "one melody" philosophy of Japancakes. It starts with 3 minutes
of a straight keyboard melody with the sounds of someone's coffee percolating
in the background. This is followed by 7 minutes of vibes-sounding keyboards,
dripping down like molasses through a very narrow funnel. This blends into
an echoing guitar part which eventually gives way to the combo of a sitar and
ping-ponging bass. Personally, I could do without the second half of this EP.
The repetition can be driving on the fast songs, but on the slow songs it can be
just tedious and boring. Dronefreaks may love this stuff, and some parts I do
find interesting, but I often find it hard to make it through to the end of the
EP.
When Trans Am first started out, a lot of their catalog descriptions and
reviews described them as 80s video arcade music. Japancakes music is so
simple and repetitive, built mostly through pure bass, piano, or space-fx
sounds, that it might sound fairly well if programmed in MIDI and stuck into
the latest Nintendo cartridge. The fast songs are energetic enough to
soundtrack the exciting parts, and the slow songs are pleasant enough to
backdrop those annoying parts where you're just wandering around with no idea
of what the hell you're supposed to do next.
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