review of the album - well, an altered version of it, probably released by Kenji Himself. this is from 'Heathen Harvest' a sort of post-industrial web-zine. http://www.heathenharvest.com/article.php?story=20081011130528242&filter=k&page=5 KENJI SIRATORI and CRUDE - "Soul of the now Dead" (album title changed from Alien Extermination" ) Artist: Kenji Siratori Japan Title: Soul Of The Now Dead Label: Self Released Self-Released Demo This is a collaboration between Kenji Siratori and Crude Genre: Electronic / Noise / Artrock Tracklist: 01 Part I 02 Part II 03 Part III With this DIY CD-R entitled Soul of the Now Dead, Mr. Siratori has put out a hauntingly beautiful, slow and dreamy ambient CD. There are only 3 tracks on the disc, but they are enough to show off the talent that exists here. This demo’s first track starts out with an outer-space feel to it, an ethereal, slow-moving galaxy of sounds and an arhythmical ambient, trance-inducing music. After a bit of floating to the sounds on the first track a cacophone of foreign-language voices start emanating over said ethereal trance music about 4 minutes into it. Soul of the Dead could be thought of as something that John Cage might put out in this day and age if he were around in his hey day in the beginning of the 21st century instead of the 20th Century. It definitely has that same type of experimentation with which Cage played around. The whole thing is very atmospheric, an ambient trip that can take you from the heart of the deepest, darkest, most impenetrable jungle to the outer bands of unknown, unexplored regions of the universe. Track #2 has a similar atonal quality to it but in this case there is an addition of some white noise samples, some distorted flanges, etc, giving the song a kind of Deus ex Machina sensibility to it. Finishing it all off is a wave of sounds and signals that sound like they are being emitted out to space from a radio telescope or something. Then after a bit, lush sound waves begin to pour over your head but with the buzzing still underneath it. Not just a Japanese noise-rock artist, Kenji Siratori is also a writer of cyberpunk fiction whose books can be bought online at Amazon.com. His prose is as different - and difficult at times - as his music, but worth the trip. Get yourself into this man now before he either goes underground, disappears or goes back to outer space. All in all, Soul of the now Dead has a unique flair to it. It does, indeed evoke quests by an undead spirit, floating high above it all. Let’s hope that Kenji can keep the excitement going, as long as he remembers that one must not to be too staid or redundant in one’s crafting of art, be it music, painting, writing or what have you Currently listening: Plutonium Blonde By The Legendary Pink Dots Release date: 2008-10-07 from 'Heathen Harvest' web-zine cruderr 2009-06-07 08:44:59 2009-06-07 08:44:59 4 1 4.00