The return of Kikapu, one of the earliest netlabels, continues to be as great an opportunity for new music as had been expected. Among the latest releases from Kikapu is After the Rain, credited to Wavespan & Nobuto Suda. It contains, if not multitudes, then certainly a plentiful assortment of contributions. In addition to the work by Japan-based Suda (“guitars & field recordings”) and US-based Wavespan (“bass, additional guitars, harmonium, and drum programming”) there is guitar from Gerard Egan, percussion from Jason Wehmhoener, and field recordings from Thomas Park (aka Mystified), and there’s a sample of a pre-existing recording, “Restless Legs”by the Rick Jensen Quartet. The cumulative work proceeds as a sequence of standalone elements heard above a slowly developing drone. Guitar is the most prominent of these, a mix of textural and sketch-like melodic fragments whose ease and elegance match well the underlying ambience. Kikapu mentions in a brief accompanying liner note that “we have what might be the single most inspiring and epic piece of music ever released on Kikapu,” and that may very well be the case (MP3)”¨.
More on the album at and kikapu.org and archive.org.