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Takahiro Kido : Fairy Tale (4th album released in 2011)
Welcome to the entrance to the endless world of dream and adventure.
This 4th album of Takahiro Kido who is the composer/member of Anoice, has fine melodies brimming with subtle beauty and warmth composed for some spots for TV and webs, or for some events. This is his best effort because it's more gentle and beautiful than "Fleursy Music" that is his former album which recorded the 8th place with the electronica chart in Germany and was elected as one of the best 10 albums in 2008 by The Silent Ballet.
It contains some masterpieces such as "prologue" which is the remixed version that has been used on the spot of NTT Comware in Japan, "Roads" which is the tune for which Yuki Murata who is the pianist/composer of Anoice arranged, and has been used on the spot of Google, "2nd Season" and "Let's Go Crazy!" composed for BGM of the guidance movie of NIPPON VISION that is a event had been held at Isetan where is a department store in Japan, "Oranges & Lemons" recorded at a solitary house that became the model of the violin atelier that appears in "Whisper of the Heart" of Studio Ghibli, and was collected to a compilation album "Hope For Japan" aimed towards Japan relief work, "rust Summer in Tokyo" which is the lovely tune that was also collected to the charity album "Hope" released from Ricco Label.
In addition, Emmeline Pidgen who is illustrator in UK, took charge of the artworks of this album.
Please check his talent of composition that queues Joe Hisaichi and Ryuichi Sakamoto who are Japanese famous composers, the refined groove such as Radiohead and Lemon Jelly, and beautiful soundscape like Sigur Rós and Kyte.
You never listen to this awesome album "Fairy Tale" without being deeply moved!!
| 1. prologue | Takahiro Kido : Piano, Guitar, Glockenspiel, Organ, Accordion, Melodion, Flute, Harmonic Pipe | |
| 2. all endless Dreams | ||
| 3. 2nd Season | Guest Players | |
| 4. Oranges & Lemons | Yuki Murata : Piano on tr.8 and 9, Cembalo, Harmonic Pipe | |
| 5. 3-sized Pf | Jyunko Tabira : Violin | |
| 6. rust Summer in Tokyo | Utaka Fujiwara : Viola | |
| 7. Let's Go Crazy! | Mitsuko Arai : Cello | |
| 8. Roads | Takahiro Matsue : Bass, Tenor Sax | |
| 9. The Three-Day Blow | Yuko Yata : Alto Sax | |
| 10. eternal Flower | Mio : Harp | |
| Tadashi Yoshikawa : Drums, Percussion |
| Track.1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 Composed by Takahiro Kido |
| Track.4, 8 Composed by Takahiro Kido, Yuki Murata |
| Recorded and Mixed by Takahiro Kido |
| Mastered by Hiromits Shoji |
| Illustration by Emmeline Pidgen |
| Art Direction and Design by Takahiro Kido |
| Released by Ricco Label |
VIDEOS
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| Oranges & Lemons | prologue |
REVIEWS
One of Japan's premier young composers, Takahiro Kido is no stranger to readers of The Silent Ballet. Kido has been enchanting listeners for years in various projects, including Anoice, Mokyow, Cru, and Rilf, but it may be his solo work that is the most impressive. Fleursy Music remains a standout album, and, by the sounds of it, Fairy Tale should quickly become a classic as well. Kido takes a variety of influences -- classical, jazz, ambient, electronica, folk, just to name a few -- and stirs up a concoction that is all his own. What follows is a grand experience, part cinematic and part daring, but always engaging the audience and providing a great soundtrack to life's many adventures. Complete with a revised version of Anoice's "Three Day Blow," Fairy Tale is a keeper.
= The Silent Ballet
You probably didn’t know that there is a niche for contemporary, classically based instrumental folk in Japan, but the scene is big and vibrant. Takahiro Kido’s Fairy Tale (July 20, Ricco Label) is a perfect entry to the genre, gently rolling between measured folktronica and triumphant, glimmering bliss.
= Utne Reader
To place a critical analysis of an album made by a Tokyo based artist in the context of the earthquake and resulting tsunami that hit Japan on the 11th of March this year may seem like an obvious, not to mention insensitive, angle to take, however considering Takahiro Kido's 'Fairy Tale' it is one that is almost unavoidable. Kido, the owner of Ricco Label, member of a wealth of genre-defying bands such as Anoice, Rilf and Mokyow and a respected solo musician in his own right, was one of the first from his homeland to offer music in the wake of the tragedy; the fantastic, and free, 'Hope' compilation that was not made available as a reaction to the disaster that claimed over 15,000 lives, but as a meditation on it. In true Japanese style it had a silent dignity and restraint, and yet it was also strikingly intimate; a selection of songs from his back catalogue that perfectly illustrated personal reflections of the incident.
'Fairy Tale' is the label's first offering since the events of the 11th of March, and it shares this intimacy. How much of the writing and recording process fell before and after it is not apparent, yet it is easy to see 'Fairy Tale' in this context, insofar as the atypical openness offered by both into a country typically seen as reserved and retreating, at least by those in the west.
Either way, 'Fairy Tale' is not only Takahiro's strongest release to date but one wrought with a gambit of emotions that far exceed the usual instrumental fodder; emotions that are at times both foreign and all too familiar. It sees him move further from the distant ambience of his earliest releases into a haze of electronica, neo-classical and post-rock that has almost become a signature sound of Japan, bearing similar hallmarks to the work of Worlds End Girlfriend, Motoro Faam, Aus, No.9 and countless others, whilst finding itself rooted in the contemplative compositions of Ryuichi Sakamoto.
Takahiro Kido is a master of finding the right balance between human emotion and technical perfection, ensuring his pieces have structure but do not suffer from the obtuse rigidity that many fellow artists of a similar ilk suffer from. 'Oranges and Lemons' blossoms from a sparse piano movement into a music-box waltz, with strings pirouetting behind it. It is reminiscent of Sigur Rós circa-Takk, rewritten for the score of an animated brothers Grimm story rather than a nature documentary.
Opener 'Prolouge' brings to mind Sigur Rós's country-mates Múm with its hushed, fractured beats whilst 'Lets Go Crazy!' erupts into a psychedelic landscape that wouldn't sound too far out of place in the hands of Mercury Rev or The Flaming Lips. All of which gives way to 'The Three-Day Blow', originally an Anoice track completely re-imagined as the finale of 'Fairy Tale'. It is perhaps one of the most beautiful 'classical' pieces written this side of Henryk Gorecki, as well as the albums most expansive moment. Unfortunately, its beauty is presence in a stark simplicity that cannot be accurately summarised in words, as it slowly evolves from a snaking violin solo into a climax that transcends the typical post-rock quiet/loud schematic.
As Worlds End Girlfriend has before him with last years' 'Seven Idiots' here Takahiro Kido has released an album that fully realises his potential and incorporates the elements of an illustrious back-catalogue into something much more immediate and enjoyable.
= Jordan Dowling / Contact Music
Free Download / Name Your Price
| Roads |
| https://riccolabel.bandcamp.com/track/roads |
Online Store
| http://www.fleursy.com/riccolabel/store.html |
BandCamp
| https://riccolabel.bandcamp.com/album/fairy-tale |
