With so many new releases coming down the digital pipelines that are SoundCloud and Bandcamp (among other online music platforms), it can be tough to keep tabs on the most important work Kyoto’s Madegg pumps out into the online ether. Dusty jazz-influenced beats crop up next to nine-minute space epics…and then get removed a week later, replaced by whatever sonic nebula the young producer thought up over his morning cereal. It’s a fun chase for sure, but also tricky at times to know the difference between a quickie piano loop and something heralding an imminent…in Madegg’s universe, imminent is the only form of time…EP.
“Zudon” jumps out as more important than a normal Madegg posting because he didn’t post it – the song appeared on the SoundCloud page of his new home Flau Records. It’s the world’s first glimpse at something that could be officially released on the imprint in the near future. “Zudon” and its jump-roping electric squirbles bring to mind Los Angeles producer Baths, particularly a track like “Maximalist.” Not surprising, since I saw Madegg himself at Baths’ recent Osaka gig. Yet where that American artist shapes these bleeps into something resembling a proper pop song, Madegg instead focuses on the small details. The central electronic riff of “Zudon” remains the same, yet Madegg subtly alters the surrounding static crackles throughout the song, transforming what could have been a simplistic sketch into a detail-rich number. This attention to small touches matches up well with Flau Japanese artists like Cokiyu and Neon Cloud, who use minor altercations to make their music more joyful or paranoid respectively. So here is Madegg showing he can hang with those two. I would say this is more important than the usual data drop. Listen below.
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