Sounding 015

Lucid Dusk

featuring Kuniyuki Takahashi — Early Tape Works 1986–1993, Vol. 1 (Music From Memory, 2018),
Kuniyuki Takahashi — Early Tape Works 1986–1993, Vol. 2 (Music From Memory)

music for the hour between the day and the dark: soft enough to hold you, awake enough not to let go.

ദ്ദി（• ˕ •マ.ᐟ

the days are getting shorter, and this week is all about a term “lucid dusk”. not sleep music, but where the body goes down into the dark and the mind keeps one lamp lit. conscious, and yet descending.

it has to be soft enough to ease you down, and strange enough to keep the ears occupied — not so zen that the head tips back, not so busy that the mind is dragged out of its slow bed. attention held, but not hypnotised. maybe it makes sense, after all, that Kuniyuki Takahashi is also known as a deep house dj.

ദ്ദി(ᵔᗜᵔ)

the two volumes of Early Tape Works 1986–1993 gather his early solo work. Vol. 1 collects recordings that went unreleased until Music From Memory brought them out in 2018 — made, as the label tells it, alongside his work in the EBM group Deutsches Reichs Patent and before the dance music he would make under his own name. Vol. 2 draws on a small run of tape-only albums, privately released, and follows what he called his “new Oriental sound.” to me it sounds like a room with the curtains drawn: synthesisers and tape, a man feeling an atmosphere out of his machines before he knows what it is for. the pieces drift between ambient, new age and kosmische.

good night to all the sonic dreamers, awake enough to dream.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⣴⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠠⢤⠤⠤⠞⡎⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⡥⠀⠀⠓⠦⢄⡀⠀⠀
⠀⢸⠦⣄⡠⠞⡇⠀⠀⠀⣞⣠⠤⡀⢰⠋⠁⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠈⡇⠈⠁⠀⡇⠀⠀⠈⠁⠀⠀⠉⢾⡄⠀⠀⠀⠀
⣠⣔⣃⣀⠀⠀⠘⣦⡀⠀⠀⠀⡀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠸⡄⡞⠉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡏⢆⠀⣀⠤⠒⡶⠃
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⢀⡧⠀⠁⠀⢀⠎⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠈⠙⠳⣄⠀⢀⣀⠈⡇⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⡞⡴⠋⠈⠙⠿⠀⠀
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠛⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀