by: Zero Sharp
Robots creating pop music might be the best description of 10th, the new album by Nobukazu Takemura. In a creative twist on the idea of using vocoded vocals, Takemura doesn't use real voices, he lets the robots do the singing. The result of using voice synthesizers for his vocals gives the impression of a group of innocent, child-like robots all taking their turn at the microphone, vintage synths, old toy organs, and other broken toy instruments. The result is surprisingly close to what you would expect to get from real children, a vast mix of quality among the songs. Some are instantly classic, most are fun, some are intriguing, and many don't inspire much. I'll admit I was drawn in by Lost Treasure, however, my fascination could be as much from listening to the vocal synth attempt to do something that sounded like scatting. I found many of the shorter songs, such as A Puff of Word or The Ring of Spell to be better than many of the drawn out affairs here. Many of the songs here are just too long, as is the album. Many of the concepts could be established just as well in much less time, and I found myself actually checking the clock hoping the next song would start soon; not a good sign. If this CD is any indication, I believe that robots might actually have emotions, and Takemura has captured what they must be well. I'm a bit split on the CD due to the fact that it is very hit or miss and starts without a hit for a few tracks, but some of the tracks here, like Cons and Astral Beads might make the price of admission worth it.
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