{"id":26594,"date":"2020-08-21T14:35:33","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T18:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/records\/hyakunin-isshu-for-the-modern-age\/"},"modified":"2020-08-21T14:37:50","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T18:37:50","slug":"hyakunin-isshu-for-the-modern-age","status":"publish","type":"records","link":"https:\/\/panm360.com\/en\/records\/hyakunin-isshu-for-the-modern-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Hyakunin Isshu for the Modern Age"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu<\/em> is an anthology of 100 waka<\/em> \u2013 precise short-form poems, something like haiku<\/em> \u2013 by 100 poets, complied about 800 years ago at the dawn of the age of the samurai. It remains a recognized title in Japanese classical literature, in no small part because of the continuing popularity of the card game uta-garuta,<\/em> which uses the book as the basis for its 100-card deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nine of those cards are quoted by way of Vocaloid, the synthetic voice app, on this curious creation from enigmatic producer Momofugu, irreverent and stylistically promiscuous in the manner proper to Japanese pop. The first track, \u201cThe Monk Sosei\u201d, sits at the halfway point between Germany\u2019s Kraftwerk and Japan\u2019s own Yellow Magic Orchestra. What follows seems like a household robot\u2019s algorithmic approximation of tropical dance-pop (\u201cSarumaru\u201d and \u201cSemimaru\u201d, the latter featuring a bit of bonus guitar evocative of seagulls at sunset, if you like that sort of thing). Then come similarly odd variants on hi-NRG Eurodisco (\u201cTaira no Kanemori\u201d), coarse blues-rock (\u201cOno no Takamura\u201d), and \u201980s cop-show electrofunk (\u201cAbe no Nakamaro\u201d). Beyond that, there are a couple of really memorable bits of inventive, leftfield pop-craft here, \u201cEmperor Koko\u201d and the disorienting \u201cOtomo no Yakamochi\u201d. You\u2019ve snatched up the right cards, Momofugu-san.<\/p>\n\n\n\n