Aiko Shimada - Blue Marble (2001) {Tzadik}

 

Aiko Shimada - Blue Marble (2001) {Tzadik}
EAC Rip | FLAC with CUE and log | scans | 246 mb
MP3 CBR 320kbps | RAR | 119 mb
Genre: folk, world, experimental, indie pop, eclectic pop

Blue Marble is the first album by Japanese artist Aiko Shimada, who released this on Tzadik. This was produced by Eyvind Kang.

Sometimes I'll want to listen to a new artist by reading a small profile or seeing a picture. For Aiko Shimada it was both. The article was for a concert she was doing, which described it as "Japanese folk music sung over jazz". I decided to do a search and found she just came out with a CD on John Zorn's Tsadik label. I decided to try it out.

Blue Marble is far from being "jazz", but it does show the talents of this Seattle-based artist. Shimada sings and plays guitar on most of the tracks. Her music is very haunting, whether it's just a solo voice or backed with music. The music itself ranges from eerie modern folk to classical, and some derivative of instrumental hip hop.

It is Shimada's voice, however, that carries you through. I may not know what she is singing about, or know what the song titles mean, but that's one of the benefits of "world music". Sometimes it's the feeling heard in the voice that makes you understand what's going on. In some songs she shows her beauty, in others it's innocence, maybe a bit of fear. The haunting parts work when the music blends in with the darkness displayed in her singing, and you're left wondering what she is singing about.

I'm not even quite sure how to compare her voice, and perhaps it's best not to. It's not the broken English of Shonen Knife or thejazzy soul stylings of Monday Michiru or Bird, but something quite different, and unique. She doesn't come off as a chanteuse, nor does she sound like someone off the street, but rather that fine balance inbetween that makes her a true artist. Blue Marble is energetic in some points ("Wakara" could definitely move you onto the dance floor), but overall very meditative and at times dreamy.

1. Mezame (Morning Part 1)
2. Toki Wa Sugi
3. Wakare
4. Busy Rabbit
5. Hikari (Morning Part 2)
6. Blue Marble
7. Silent
8. Song For Mark
9. Asa (Morning Part 3)

 

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