SOUNDTRACK: KAWABATA MAKOTO [河端一]-Jellyfish Rising (2005).
Recently, Kawabata Makoto [河端一], mastermind behind Acid Mothers Temple, revealed a new bandcamp site for some newer releases.
This is another one of Kawabata Makoto’s minimal music works by electric guitars. It also has two lengthy tracks.
“Astral Aurelia Aurita Laavarek” (28:05) is an echoing looping solo guitar piece. It is chill and pretty. The looping is fairly quick until about 11 minutes when he slows it down to single notes. The faster notes are still floating around in the background–ever so slowly fading away. The pace speeds up and slows down through the rest of the song, creating a wall of new agey vibes.
“Meditation Of Pelagia Panopyra Perea” (27:16) is a similar style but deeper notes and a much lower backing drone. This whole piece feels less relaxing but still soothing in a different way.
This might be my favorite solo record so far.
[READ: June 13, 2020] “Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey”
The narrator met the titular monkey about five years ago in Gunma Province at a small Japanese-style inn. He had arrived at the hot springs town and needed a place to crash for the night. The place was practically a flophouse, but it was cheap and it was just one night.
But the hot springs bath was wonderful. He was by himself and he spent a long time there, getting light-headed.
That’s when the monkey walked in and said “Excuse me.” The monkey asked if the bath was satisfactory and if the narrator would like his back scrubbed (he did).
The monkey “didn’t have any clothes on. Which, of course, is usually the case for a monkey, so it didn’t strike me as odd.”
They got to talking and the monkey explained that he was raised by a professor in Shinagawa. His master taught him to talk and to appreciate Bruckner.
The monkey had been working here for three years, but they kept it under wraps –people might not like the idea. he certainly couldn’t work in the food prep area. It didn’t pay much but he couldn’t really expect anything better.
The narrator invited the monkey up to his room later. The monkey brought some bottles of beer. Now the monkey was wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt with I♥NY on it. The monkey told his story. How he tried to live with monkeys but they didn’t like that he could speak and they chased him off.
This was fine because he didn’t find monkeys attractive. He found human women attractive. But of course he could never act on that desire.
So he found another way to take care of his desires.
He started stealing names of the women he fell for. He was born with a special talent for it–he can steal anyone’s name and make it his won. He needs something with that person’s name on it, like a driver’s license.
The victims don’t completely lose their names, but to them their name gets less substantial “like when the sun clouds over and your shadow on the ground gets that much paler.” Sometimes the women find they can’t remember their name. He feels bad about that part.
He has stolen about seven names and he keeps them warmly inside of him.
He also promises he never does anything unseemly.
But he promises to never do it again.
In the morning when he checked out the wanted to pay for the beer the monkey brought but the hostess said they only serve beer in cans, not bottles. He decided it was not in his interest to even bring up the monkey.
Five years later he was meeting an editor of magazine. They were to discuss one of his new assignments. While having lunch she received a phone call–a reservation of some kind. As she went to give her name, she found sh couldn’t remember it. She had to ask the narrator to remind her.
Then he asked is she had had her license stolen recently. [Translated by Philip Gabriel].
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