Madegg Update: “Yesi” And “Wolfgang”

Kyoto producer Madegg releases new song so quickly that writing about them all as they come out would be a fool’s errand. Sure, it would make my job a little easier, but would be a bit of overkill even coming from one of the best young beat makers in Japan today. Instead, I’ve resorted to doing occasional updates about Madegg, dropping by to have a cup of coffee and see what’s new. With Madegg, he always has a lot to share.

The paradox of Madegg, though, is that even though he posts new music online all the time, his creations have been getting longer. He’s becoming more content to stretch out his sounds and get lost in them, let ’em burn out instead of be capped off early. “Yesi” and “Wolfgang” are great examples of this, the prior clocking in at over five minutes and the latter going over the seven-minute mark. “Yesi,” the newer of the pair, starts off as a pretty typical Madegg work – kitchen percusion surrounded by drifting synths, before a more traditional beat settles in. By pulling the song out, Madegg is able to bring in sonic ideas that initially seem at odds with the original song but are applied so liberally they end up the defining characteristic. Video game noises and jazzy snippets bringing to mind Madegg’s past infatuation with dusty pianos abound.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/44168225″ iframe=”true” /]

“Wolfgang,” meanwhile, moves a bit more deliberately, every electronic gurgle building towards something that then builds to something else. Madegg isn’t so much using extra time to discover as utilizing the seconds to build anticipation for his next reveal. From someone so eager to post new material, “Wolfgang” is one of his most patient works yet.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/43854993″ iframe=”true” /]

Oh hey and in other news…Madegg plans on releasing his debut full-length for Flau in May. It’s called Tempera, and you can learn more about it over here. Here’s a lil’ “hell yeah” for that.