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Soft at Club Spaceland, May 2nd, 2004. Courtesy of APA.
Soft: Certified Organic Electronica
Jam endlessly, re-build the outcome, then smash; loop...this cycle - Soft is every music critic's dream.
Photos by Xenia Shin
Those of you endlessly entertained by creating variations on "Die, hippies!" should be forewarned that Kyotan electronica musicians Soft have an unabashed, New Agey aura. I am not making this up, people. And I don't know who could deny it in face of sincere statements from the band like "we enjoy things like Ki (life force) flows," and "we are into...getting charged with sacred mountains of Japan and the Earth power." Wow, they said Earth power.
But then, Soft didn't really seem like ones to be hung up on genre differences. They worked almost imperceptibly through near contradictory styles of music during their set at Spaceland, managing at one point to startle me by playing straight-up instrumental house music, with subtle keyboard touches, and then moving into a "set guns to phaser" song.
The trio, which included guitarist Shimizu, bassist Ukon, and drummer Pon2, have a unique approach to electronic music which they describe as 'organic.' Fans of generic, laptop created electronic music might be surprised by their approach, which is more in line with Chicago's '90s post-rock aesthetic: improvisational but sleek with a debt to funk and dance music.
My attempts to interview the band at the nights' end were fruitless. I don't speak Japanese and they speak very little English. Their videographer spoke English, but no Japanese, and told me he was only there to document the band's tour for a DVD release. I don't know exactly how Soft tours the US without a press kit or translator, but I doubt they were worrying about it while recharging off the sacred hills of Silverlake. I suspect that Soft is the kind of band that would attract die-hard fans, especially those who appreciate musical proficiency.
I also suspect (and this is not their fault) that they would attract the breed of people who tend to write for Spin. Soft is the kind of band music reviewers would salivate over, because their music is so amorphous. Does this sound familiar? the stirrings of workshop writing exercises buried deep in the memory, whose overwrought, self-important productions often take the form of phrases like "diaphanous washes of sound," "shimmering sonic confections," "light as meringue vocals," etc. I'm not even gonna try. Best to check out their website at: www.softribe.jp.
You can thank L.A.'s own Babyland for organizing the show; as well as for representing the other end of the electronic music spectrum with their industrial sound and poppy, squelchy, vintage Mac computer noises. In signature fashion, they lugged in big oil drums servicing as drums, twisted metal rods as cymbals, bullhorns for microphones, and soused the room with liberal sprays of aerosol air fresheners. Check out Babyland at: www.babyland.info.
Date Posted: 4/29/2004