ric-012 Fairy Tale - Takahiro Kido

 player name
 instruments
 
 Takahiro Kido  Piano + Guitar + Glockenspiel + Organ + Accordion + Melodion + Flute etc.
 Yuki Murata  Piano on tr.8&9 + Cembalo + Harmonic Pipe
 Jyunko Tabira  Violin
 Utaka Fujiwara  Viola
 Mitsuko Arai  Cello
 Takahiro Matsue  Bass + Tenor Sax
 Yuko Yata  Alto Sax
 Mio  Harp
 Tadashi Yoshikawa  Drums + Percussion
 Composed by
 
 Track. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 : Takahiro Kido
 Track. 4, 8 : Takahiro Kido + Yuki Murata
 Recorded & Mixed by
 Mastered by
 Illustration by  Art Direction & Design by  
 Takahiro Kido  Hiromits Shoji  Emmeline Pidgen  Takahiro Kido
 Oranges and Lemons
 
 prologue
 
 about "Fairy Tale"

 

Welcome to the entrance to the endless world of dream and adventure.
We are very proud to announce the new release titled "Fairy Tale" of Takahiro Kido who is the composer / member of Anoice!
This album was made after his activities as the member of RiLF that is alternative rock band formed by members of Anoice and Calu who is vocalist of Matryoshka, and it has a lot of familiar melodies used in CM for Japanese TV or other medias or events.
Takahiro kido thinks that "Fairy Tale" will be his best effort because it's more gentle and beautiful than "Fleursy Music" that is his former work that recorded 8th place with the electronica chart of Germany and was selected to the best 10 album in 2008 by The Silent Ballet that is the website of music review in U.S.
Tracks of this album contain "prologue" the remixed version that has been used on TV CM of NTT Comware in Japan, "Roads" the tune that Yuki Murata the pianist / composer of Anoice arranged to piano version and has been used in web CM of Google Japan, "2nd Season" and "Let's Go Crazy !" that composed for BGM of the guidance movie of NIPPON VISION that is a event had been held by Isetan a department store this spring, "Oranges & Lemons" very beautiful tune recorded at a solitary house that became model of the violin atelier that appears in "Whisper of the Heart" that is cartoon movies of Studio Ghibli, and was collected to a compilation album "Hope For Japan" aimed towards Japan relief work, "rust Summer in Tokyo" the lovely tune that was also collected to the charity album "Hope" released from Ricco Label.
Please check his talent of composition that queues Joe Hisaichi and Ryuichi Sakamoto who are Japanese famous composers, the refined groove such as Radiohead and World's End Girlfriend, and grand soundscape like Sigur Rós and Kyte!!
Emmeline Pidgen who is illustrator in UK took charge of the artworks, and Hiromitu Shouji who is engineer familiar in some works of Noble Label mastered all tracks of this album.
You never listen to this awesome album "Fairy Tale" without being deeply moved!!

= Ricco Label

One of Japan's premier young composers, Takahiro Kido is no stranger to readers of The Silent Ballet. Kido has been enchanting listeners for years in various projects, including Anoice, Mokyow, Cru, and Rilf, but it may be his solo work that is the most impressive. Fleursy Music remains a standout album, and, by the sounds of it, Fairy Tale should quickly become a classic as well. Kido takes a variety of influences -- classical, jazz, ambient, electronica, folk, just to name a few -- and stirs up a concoction that is all his own. What follows is a grand experience, part cinematic and part daring, but always engaging the audience and providing a great soundtrack to life's many adventures. Complete with a revised version of Anoice's "Three Day Blow," Fairy Tale is a keeper.

= The Silent Ballet

You probably didn’t know that there is a niche for contemporary, classically based instrumental folk in Japan, but the scene is big and vibrant. Takahiro Kido’s Fairy Tale (July 20, Ricco Label) is a perfect entry to the genre, gently rolling between measured folktronica and triumphant, glimmering bliss.

= Utne Reader

To place a critical analysis of an album made by a Tokyo based artist in the context of the earthquake and resulting tsunami that hit Japan on the 11th of March this year may seem like an obvious, not to mention insensitive, angle to take, however considering Takahiro Kido's 'Fairy Tale' it is one that is almost unavoidable. Kido, the owner of Ricco Label, member of a wealth of genre-defying bands such as Anoice, Rilf and Mokyow and a respected solo musician in his own right, was one of the first from his homeland to offer music in the wake of the tragedy; the fantastic, and free, 'Hope' compilation that was not made available as a reaction to the disaster that claimed over 15,000 lives, but as a meditation on it. In true Japanese style it had a silent dignity and restraint, and yet it was also strikingly intimate; a selection of songs from his back catalogue that perfectly illustrated personal reflections of the incident.
'Fairy Tale' is the label's first offering since the events of the 11th of March, and it shares this intimacy. How much of the writing and recording process fell before and after it is not apparent, yet it is easy to see 'Fairy Tale' in this context, insofar as the atypical openness offered by both into a country typically seen as reserved and retreating, at least by those in the west.

Either way, 'Fairy Tale' is not only Takahiro's strongest release to date but one wrought with a gambit of emotions that far exceed the usual instrumental fodder; emotions that are at times both foreign and all too familiar. It sees him move further from the distant ambience of his earliest releases into a haze of electronica, neo-classical and post-rock that has almost become a signature sound of Japan, bearing similar hallmarks to the work of Worlds End Girlfriend, Motoro Faam, Aus, No.9 and countless others, whilst finding itself rooted in the contemplative compositions of Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Takahiro Kido is a master of finding the right balance between human emotion and technical perfection, ensuring his pieces have structure but do not suffer from the obtuse rigidity that many fellow artists of a similar ilk suffer from. 'Oranges and Lemons' blossoms from a sparse piano movement into a music-box waltz, with strings pirouetting behind it. It is reminiscent of Sigur Rós circa-Takk, rewritten for the score of an animated brothers Grimm story rather than a nature documentary.

Opener 'Prolouge' brings to mind Sigur Rós's country-mates Múm with its hushed, fractured beats whilst 'Lets Go Crazy!' erupts into a psychedelic landscape that wouldn't sound too far out of place in the hands of Mercury Rev or The Flaming Lips. All of which gives way to 'The Three-Day Blow', originally an Anoice track completely re-imagined as the finale of 'Fairy Tale'. It is perhaps one of the most beautiful 'classical' pieces written this side of Henryk Gorecki, as well as the albums most expansive moment. Unfortunately, its beauty is presence in a stark simplicity that cannot be accurately summarised in words, as it slowly evolves from a snaking violin solo into a climax that transcends the typical post-rock quiet/loud schematic.

As Worlds End Girlfriend has before him with last years' 'Seven Idiots' here Takahiro Kido has released an album that fully realises his potential and incorporates the elements of an illustrious back-catalogue into something much more immediate and enjoyable.

= Jordan Dowling / contactmusic.com

 

 

 

 about "Takahiro Kido"
 

Takahiro Kido is a sound artist, recording and mixing engineer, a designer and programer for webs from Tokyo, Japan. He debuted as comporser and leader of Anoice, and released solo electronica or post-classical albums such as "Fleursy Music" that was recorded 8th place on the electro music chart of Germany and chosen to be top 10 albums 2008 on U.S. music site The Silent Ballet from PLOP and "in my Time" from Ricco Label. You can hear various instruments in these albums and they all have rich textures as he records these instruments in very unique situation like in the tunnel, mountains, abandoned hotel lobby - He is very conscious about the colorful and diverse reverberation of the nature.

website = www.fleursy.com/takahirokido