, Jan 31, 2007
Kenji has begun to release a vast amount of CD’s and CDr’s since Oct, 2006 that one can’t keep up. This is my first listen to the Kenji experience and I have mixed feelings about this release.
There are 10 tracks, all titled Mantra 1-10, and it’s a fairly short release clocking in at just under 33 minutes. Kenji creates a distorted spoken word speech on each track and they are all recorded very loudly. Each track features a subtle layer of noise that’s just audible only when Kenji pauses for a breath. While listening to this release I really tried hard to hear the noise more than the vocals, but it was pretty difficult to do so. Mantra 3 and 10 have some great noise and I’d wish Kenji had left a couple tracks as "instrumental" as I think he has some talent in experimentation, we just don’t get to here much of it over his booming voice. But I guess it’s a spoken word release it’s just not as effective as others I’ve heard.
Lucky for us though we have one of the best DIY labels releasing this and lyrics are actually provided for us Westerners. The whole package is really quite beautiful. Pure white CD case with a pure white CDr and a 16 page white booklet as well. I’d be curious to hear more Kenji material but with such a vast amount coming out of nowhere in a short time, where do I begin?
5.0/5 (