Japanese Dread MP3s

The six-track EP The Castration by Ryu does include one entry, the title cut, so to speak, in which the title word is repeated against what seems like lightly mediated field recordings of some ancient, indigenous ritual (MP3). But that recitation, even with its vaguely William S. Burroughs-style blank intonation, is far from the most haunting thing here. “Schizo Voltaile Traqlzr” has the sort of sound design that usually accompanies a tracking shot through a deserted space station, all hovering whir (MP3). “Walk Along the Cloud Mazeran” moves that dread to a rain forest, the soundscape of an environment as dense as it is dank (MP3). But there is some succor in “Feldmans on the Koryakhut” (MP3), which takes the freeform vowels of a female voice and torques them just enough to leave their origin clear but to work the sample’s frayed edges into the surrounding music; the effect can be mesmerizing as your ear and imagination grasp for something less illusory. More info at the website of the releasing netlabel, darkwinter.com, and at that of the Tokyo-Chiba-based musician Ryu, hosted at rak2.jp.