Artist: Akiko Kiyama
Title: My Beer in the Shape of a Boy
Label: Mean Records
Format: 12” & Digital
Release: 29.2.11 Vinyl, Digital 2 weeks later
Preview on Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/mean
As people's thoughts slowly drift towards the frustratingly slow onset of spring (and another party season), London/Berlin-based Mean Records ready the perfect antidote in the shape of a new mutant funk EP from Akiko Kiyama.
The Japanese minimal producer, Akiko Kiyama who now resides in Berlin, has a string of releases under her belt on the likes of Sud Electronic, Lick My Deck, Contexterrior and District of Corruption. Her latest cut features four tracks of intricate drum programming, bringing her characteristic warmth to the groove with their ghostly whispered vocal samples and the clicking and clanking poly-rhythmic sound made famous by the legendary Berlin imprint, Perlon.
The first track, Carnival, brings all the fun of the fair, a swirl of coloured lights barely glimpsed amongst the heaving throngs of somewhere like Bar 25, followed on by an abstract slow burner which sneaks up on you with its sneezed vocal snippets and
jangling bassline. Talon, a real dancefloor creeper, clips along insistently and the final track, with its bass guitar and pulsing synth line rounds of the record in perfect ethereal fashion. As Akiko puts it herself, "Deepness, depression, beauty, irony, fun - these are keywords for my music also my life itself" you can definitely feel that there is much more thought put into these productions than just purely the need to move people on the dancefloor.
Tracklisting
A1. Carnival
A2. My Beer in the Shape of a Boy
B1. We Sing the World
B2 . Talon
