Search - Ikue Mori :: Myrninerest

Engaging, but not absolutely essential

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 06/12/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I like her work with, e.g., Mephisto better than her solo efforts, but she is still an artist to be reckoned with, no matter what her setting.



One star is way too harsh. This may not be essential music, but it certainly has much to recommend it. Coming out of an aesthetic not unrelated to, say, Eyvind Kang's Sweetness of Sickness, or some of Susie Ibarra's solo work, Ikue Mori's Myrninerest works as a downtownish, free-jazz, industrial, sonic experiment.



Certainly not everyone's cup of tea, but staking out a unique and, finally, brave soundscape--at least to these ears--this is music that consumers of adventurous New Music, electronica, out jazz, and Alva Noto-ish weirdness will want to check out. All in all, I'm glad to have made its acquaintance."

4 years since Labyrinth, Ikue Mori returns with a treat..

onigiri takuwan | UK | 06/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've admired Ikue Mori's music for a while now- I first heard her records when she was still playing drum machines, and I was struck by the strange musical vocabulary - it always seemed to me like the most incongruous of instruments to compose or improvise with, which I guess was part of what I found intriguing. So when she switched to a lap top for 2001's Labyrinth I was a little wary of how this might affect her music. When I finally heard it - it blew me away-it was unlike any electronic music that was around at that time- you could still recognise that it was Mori, but the vocabulary had been pushed, and the compositions more ambitious. 4 years down the line and after countless interesting side projects and collaborations, we finally have a follow up solo album- Myrninerest. Like most records I love, it's a very hard record to talk or write about. What I can say is that with Myrninerest, Mori takes her music to another level of complexity and subtlety, but all without trying too hard. There's something wonderfully understated about her music- she's obviously not interested in the whole electronic/laptop "space race" , which is why she sounds so distinct. The record does has a broader palette, than say Labyrinth, but not to the point of clogging the music. Much as I love Labyrinth, I felt the second half ran out of steam and almost killed off a great album. With Myrninerest, Mori maintains the playfulness throughout- the sense of "otherworldliness" about her music is sustained-just when you think you've got a hold on what's going on, she subtley changes something to throw you somewhere else - rhythms and melodies are constantly shifting. All in all this is her finest work to date."

Totally unengaging.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 05/31/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Ikue Mori is an electronic musician listed as performing only a computer in the liner notes for this CD, "Myninerest", a series of solo perofrmances by the composer. I wanted to enjoy this album more than I did-- I'm a fan of Mori's work with John Zorn and Mephista among others, but I found this totally unrewarding.



Inventive and clever, Mori adds color to any number of recordings, enhancing recordings to the point where I consider her contributions often the most valuable on the release, but this is my first experience with her unaccompanied. Closer in feel to industrial music than downtown material, there's precious little to latch onto. The music is essentially repetitive sampling interplay-- sounds come and go and are manipulated to varying degrees of both complexity and listenability. While some of it is interesting, ultimately I found I had a hard time actually spending the time to listen to the recording because I found it utterly unengaging-- what melodic statements there are seem totally devoid of any life and the material that's closer to ambient and noise lacks any emotive content.



I have a sneaking suspicion that most folks who looked up this album are going to purchase it regardless of my comments, but I can't in good faith recommend this recording as the only reason I finished listening to it was so I could complete this review with some sense of fairness to it. If you're interested in music where Mori is up front, check out Mephista, that project is phenomenal, this I can't recommend."