Holy Loops

 

Sketch Show - Loophole [CJT-96034~5 JPN 2021 24-Bit FLAC]

For quite some time, between the late eighties and the recent 2010's, very little vinyl came out of Japan. Our nipponic brethren were focused more on digital products such as the compact disc and the format's higher resolution upgrades.

These days, roles are beginning to reverse and labels have begun to dig through their vaults seeking out suitable work for analogue re-release. I can be quoted as suggesting that most modern electronica is more suited to digital formats, however these tend to suffer audio distortion as twitchy fingered engineers still cannot resist the urges to compress and over-limit. 

Tokyo label Cutting Edge Records, who once focused on licensing Western artists, have pulled out a gem here (well actually make that three gems) and have released analogue vinyl platters of three albums by Sketch Show. The duo will be better known as two-thirds of Yellow Magic Orchestra, Haroumi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi. You shouldn't be surprised to learn that the other YMO man, Ryuichi Sakamoto guests on two tracks.

Loophole was their third album and is served up here as a luscious double grey vinyl set delivered in a high gloss, thick card gatefold set. Proving they remain miles ahead of the modern IDM set, Hosono and Takahashi deliver twelve works of complex yet subtle, multi-layered electronic music, interspersed with acoustic guitars and gorgeous vocal harmonies in Japanese, English and very unusually Swedish.. 

Your blogger is especially keen on the more dreamy tracks such as Wiper, Fly Me To The River, Flakes and Stella. The stand out for me is easily the complicated yet melodic Chronograph. This is a very special album and a very interesting ripping challenge, especially when you comprehend these clever old men's expansive use of crackle & click for their percussion tracks.

A1 Mars

A2 Wiper

A3 Chronograph

B1 Plankton

B2 Flakes

B3 Attention Tokyo

C1 Night Talker (Safety Scissors Mix)

C2 Traum 6.6

C3 Scotoma

D1 Fly Me To The River

D2 Ekot (Cornelius Mix)

D3 Stella