Japancakes, If I Could See Dallas, Down the Elements, The Sleepy Strange [reissues]

reviewed by dave heaton

Since guitarist Eric Berg founded Japancakes in 1997, the Athens, Georgia instrumental group has been on a consistently interesting path, leading all the way up to last year’s pair of great releases, Giving Machines and their cover of Loveless. It seems to me they’ve often been flying under the radar, which is why Darla’s reissues of their three out-of-print Kindercore CDs is so exciting. Actually, their reissuing of them is welcome, it’s the music that’s exciting.

The earliest of the three, 1999’s If I Could See Dallas, finds the then six-member group (aided by six others) taking melodies and carrying them forward in interesting ways, each member improvising from the melody, on cello, pedal stel, keyboards and more. This is their approach, to build together something mysterious and beautiful, to not rely so much on loud/soft dynamics, clouds of static, or other tricks of the trade. This music has a huge scope to it but also something sweet about it. And something personal: the way each musician’s playing is spotlighted, the way the melodies form an emotional through line even within a focus on atmosphere. The cello and pedal steel are especially expressive on tracks like “Elephant”, supported by the other instruments. The synth-heavy “Westworld” seems like a Stereolab jam at first but then sputters in unique ways. The closer, “Allah Rahka”, is somewhere between an Indian raga and one of those noisy jams a rock band does when they leave the stage, as a reminder of their potency. After 73 minutes of Japancakes’ music, though, that’s something we need no reminder of.

”Version 1”, the opening track on 2000’s Down the Elements (called an EP then, but long and substantial enough to be reclassified as an album now) trips through similar ground, but now it’s the next day and we’ve just woken up. We wake up to a crisp, funky stroll and some meditation, though maybe in a cemetery. Next “A.W. Sonic” comes pouncing out the gate like a pop-rock single. Synth plays a simple melody, just a few notes, while the rest of the musicians provide both motion and a bright mood. “Sputnik” bubbles forth, and then the title track, where synthesizers improvise a tune for a while before it all drifts into a quiet space. A lullaby, beautiful and understated, even as it rises in volumes and picks up a ghostly aura.

2001’s The Sleepy Strange is in some ways the most assured of the three. It’s a more relaxed, confident exploration of the same principles and working methods. It’s seven tracks long, but an epic which slowly unfolds to blow us away. “The Waiting” kicks it off, rich in melodies, melding together in a luxurious way. By this album they’re using strings more powerfully, with synthesizer taking a backseat but still there. Listen to the way the strings and pedal steel intersect on “This Year’s Beat”, building to something triumphant. So much of Japancakes’ magic is about the interplay of all of these instruments.

I love the way the final track, “Vinyl Fever”, drifts along on a synthesizer sound – a couple notes, really – and bass and drums…and then how it picks up steam, fades, and picks up again, eventually fading away, but calmly leaving a mark.

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