Downsized Asano Downloads

Yet another twist in composer Koji Asano‘s weekly free downloads, at kojiasano.com. When the second weekly file was uploaded, the first one disappeared, suggesting that subsequent entries in the series would be available for one week only. But that plan has changed. Now, when a download is first made available, it’s done so as a massive file, “lossless” in the current lingo (“lossless” may be inexact, but it’s no understatement; the second week’s Asano file came in at just under 100 MB). Thereafter the piece is downsized significantly (same length, different density), and archived permanently (that 100 MB piece is now just under 14). Well, maybe not permanently. It’s Asano’s site, and he’s welcome to change the rules. So get ’em while they’re hot. The current entry, “January Rainbow (Cold Winter Mix Version),” is an extended piece of digitally treated chamber music, displaced fragments of piano chords echoing as they drop through computer-generated motes.