(05.01.06) This is the third album by electronic producer Jon Tejada and guitarist Takeshi Nikimoto. It’s the most straightforward instrumental rock album they have released, with the electronic aspects largely functioning as a backdrop on which Nikimoto gets to pick, strum and riff away. There are no massive solos, but layers of clean electric guitar providing both harmonies and melodies. Tejada often accompanies on acoustic drums as well.
It would be a mistake to call We Think As Instruments “post-rock,” even if that phrase gets used to describe almost any instrumental music now. This really is solidly rock, and has more in common with quiet, 80s art rock from artists such as The Durutti Column, Daniel Lanois (yes, U2’s most famous producer), and perhaps Michael Brook than with Tortoise or anything on Kranky. Of course, there are elements of contemporary electronica in Tejada’s production – the CD-skip minimalism of “Rush Hour Traffic” reduces what I can only imagine were once guitar notes into stammering harmonic layers – but on most of the album the clicks and synthetic rhythms are the icing on a cake made to a much more traditional recipe.
The album’s finest moment is “A Letter From The Past,” the track on which Nikimoto puts aside his guitar in favor of a sarod and gets his freak on. Well, in an Indian classical style, at least. Tejada provides a Geiger counter click which builds into a strong techno pulse and builds the tension gently with live ride cymbals and an electronic drone.
We Think as Instruments is out now on City Centre Offices. (Buy it at Amazon.com)
