Okada Cicale

This is the romantic story of a three-way love-affair told to us in music. We know that the young Brahms, as beautiful as a star, made a very noticed irruption within the couple Schumann. "Arrival of Brahms, a genius! Notes Robert in his diary with an extraordinary intuition. The sequel is told by Shuichi Okada on violin and Clément Lefebvre on piano, two young musicians of the National Conservatory of Music of Paris, co-producer of the present, where they deftly weave the links between the three characters. Schumann's First Sonata in A minor, Op. 105, opens fire, followed by two excerpts from the famous Sonata F-A-E, composed by Schumann, Brahms and Dietrich, the latter unfortunately being systematically left out by the violinists. Caught in the vice between the two men who love him, here is Clara with his Three Romances, Op. 22 which precedes the very melancholy Sonata No. 1, Op. 78, "Regen-Sonate" by Brahms. The music gathered here speaks better than words of how the three composers respond to one another and become a kind of common language, that of the impulses of the heart, of the outpouring of feelings and the unspoken.

For years, Takuro Okada has carried a quiet question: how can a Japanese musician honor the music of African Americans without simply borrowing it? That search shapes his new album Konoma, a work guided by the idea of “Afro Mingei.” The Tokyo guitarist, producer, and bandleader has lived inside this tension since childhood, drawn to blues, jazz, and funk records that nourished him, yet hesitant in the face of the histories they hold. The concept of Afro Mingei, which Okada first encountered in an exhibition by artist Theaster Gates, gave him a way forward. Gates connected Black aesthetics with Japanese folk craft, both rooted in resistance — “Black is Beautiful” defying racism, the Mingei movement preserving everyday beauty against industrial erasure. That kinship became the compass for Konoma, a record attuned to echoes across cultures and time.

Unlike the best-of compilations in the past, this CD contains songs that are first-time-to-CD, and many other hits.

"Life is but an Empty Dream" is the seventh full length from long-form ambient composer Okada. By pressing play, Gregory Pappas, the man behind the moniker, requires your full attention. Waves of crashing sound swirl around viscus beats and cavernous staccato piano. Sound becomes broken to be reconstructed many times over. This is not the lovesick nor heartbroken Okada we've witnessed before. This is a cathartic, disillusioned, Okada, out the other side, worse for wear but building anew. The proximal six-minute opening to the album expounds destruction and disintegration, chaos and rebirth…