Search - So Takahashi :: 30/30

Empty rooms that fill your imagination

Teacher in Texas | Fredericksburg, TX USA | 05/06/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My original,very enthusiastic review of this CD got eaten, which is probably for the best, considering I wrote it in a frenzied fit of passion on the very day it was delivered. :-) I'm coming back though to say that this CD, 30/30 by So Takahashi is quite possibly the best single recording of the year (or last year perhaps..). It is truly groundbreaking, and I must say that So Takahashi either has some sixth sense or else has stumbled onto something very, very profound. 30/30 apparently is the music composed for a recently closed exhibit of So's, consisting of thirty nearly empty rooms. This seems quite mundane, I know, but it's just quirky enough to be mindblowing. The nice fat booklet contains photos of the thirty rooms, each numbered and (I think) loosely corresponding to approximately one minute of the music on the CD (the CD is 30:11 on my player). It opens with honestly painful machine bleeps. Boring, boring, boring... hey wait. Look at the room in the picture. It's white and empty. As the rooms change, the music changes accordingly. The idea seems simple, but So Takahashi (as the CD progresses) manages to capture raw feelings evoked by the rooms and their decor by transcribing them onto the sonic palatte. Before long, you are almost moved to tears by the vividness of the memories and feelings that So brings out through the music and the applicable photographs. It's almost as if Takahashi is digging in your subconscious for all your nostalgic and hazy emotions, and he actually pulls it off! Sometimes Takahashi can even capture a real phenomenon, such as minute 16 or 17 when there is a constant pitch. I started wondering how this was a representation of the room. Maybe this was unintentional, but as the pitch went on, it began to hurt, and then it stopped hurting and just started resonating in my head. Before long, I realized that this was a recreation of the phenomenon when you stand all alone in a perfectly silent room or attic and become aware of the ringing in your ears. While the ringing is actually nonexistant, it becomes loud and almost unbearable when not in competition with other household noises. Sounds, melodies, voices, and even beats are eventually brought into the mix perfectly and beautifully to create a truly exhilirating experience. The low hum of airport plane engines, the ring of silent rooms, the warmth of entering company, pure lonliness, the humming buzz of air conditioning units in a light airy room: all impressionistically interpreted and translated onto this album. I congratulate So Takahashi and admire him for having the courage and initiative to undertake such a tough task: creating something you FEEL, as well as enjoy. Buy this album, peruse the photos, and treat yourself to a 30 minute mind-tripping vacation of nostalgia and imagination!"