Search - Takagi Masakatsu :: Pia

The publisher of his own mixed-media magazine as well as a visual artist whose work has appeared in a slew of Japanese galleries, Takagi Masakatsu makes art for a future audience that has just been born. His debut record, Pia, comes with a CD-ROM of images and sound that fits perfectly with the sprawling audio disc, a whimsical, gentle piece of IDM that spins around a pair of headphones like clouds outside a cockpit. Steering away from both the maddeningly wide spaces of Pan Sonic as well as the dense tech-clutter of Oval or Plaid, Masakatsu's approach is more classically ambient. But he doesn't deal in otherworldly minimalism, either; the songs here are filled with organic backgrounds, like FSOL's Lifeforms but without the space-alien aesthetics. His pieces are sweet little moments, staying far, far away from bewildering rabbit holes. Like fellow Kyoto composer-visualist Nobukazu Takemura's work (especially in his Child's View persona), Masakatsu's music seems ideally suited for those who haven't made up their minds about the world, when the possibilities seem endless and everything is extraordinary and overwhelming. While this is undoubtedly perfect bedtime music for youngsters raised by hard drives, it's also well suited for adults who could use a dose of simple wonder. As mixed media becomes a new kind of visual art and electronic music more and more gets mashed up in a Stockhausen/Macintosh cocktail, Masakatsu's brand of wired talent is fascinating. --Matthew Cooke