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ryonkt



Last Updated: 12/16/2009

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Status: Single
City: Sapporo
Country: JP
Signup Date: 8/13/2007

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Wednesday, December 16, 2009 
RYONKT - SUNLIGHT & WATER (CDR by The Land Of)
A while ago I was pretty impressed by a CDR release by Ryonkt, on Experimedia (see Vital Weekly 698). Now I know its the work of Ryo Nakata, who plays guitar, laptop and field recordings. He is also responsible for the Slow Flow Records label. Four more pieces in addition to the four on 'Small Conversation' and while the surprise is a bit less than before, this is however another fine album. Here it all seems a bit less influenced by Phill Niblock if you ask me, and finds it self more in the field of microsound and ambient glitch than in that of the more minimalist music approach of before. I may be a bit tired after a weekend of traveling and hearing (and seeing) lots of music, and this music, while it has absolutely nothing 'new' to it, this is some highly fine chill out music. Pick up yesterday's newspaper, make a decent cup of coffee, sit back and relax. Ryonkt late sunday afternoon soundtrack for winter's day. Warm ambient music for the first cold day of the season. Peaceful, slow music, great stuff. (FdW)




12:57 PM 
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Saturday, December 12, 2009 
Once more we are treated to some sublime sounds courtesy of the excellent Land Of imprint. This time the label hosts a rather delicious album from Smallfish favourite Ryonkt and it’s a real beauty. Delicate, intimate sounds that are forged from his gentle guitar playing then processed into a range of atmospheric ambient pieces. Subtle manipulations deliver a chilled-out hit of pure summery joy here and the works are never less than utterly enchanting. Pastoral and lush this is natural sounding textural work that will accompany you in many different environments and situations. The four parts each have their own feel, yet they carry that friendly feel all the way through. You can almost feel Ryonkt there with you while you listen, so personal is the sound of this work. I’m going to let the music do most of the talking here, but I just know you’re going to adore this gorgeous work. Limited to 200 copies and something that you’ll be coming back to time and time again. Purely and simply a very beautiful album indeed. Recommended.

11:24 AM 
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Wednesday, December 02, 2009 


Ryonkt (LND009)
Ryonkt is the work of Sapporo based artist Ryo Nakata. In the past couple of years he has become a personal friend, collaborator, label mate and late night whisky drinking partner. We only finally got to meet in September of this year when I went up to Sapporo (in Hokkaido - the northern island of Japan) to play a show organized by Ryo. Ryo was due to open the gig after a short sound-check, yet the sound-check merged into the performance and I was unaware he had actually started I was so tuned into the tones Ryo was playing from his Fender guitar.
As such, people quietly wondered in and just sat down, bowed their heads and became encompassed by the music. Such is the effect of Ryo's work. His music is unassuming, full of memory and deeply moving. There is nothing stylistically complex about it, nothing that makes you think about technique or technology. He uses a laptop, guitar and field recording. He plays a few chords and notes. That really is it, yet what Ryo does with one chord is more than most artists can do across entire albums. There is space to his work, space left for the listener to fill in the blanks. There is melody, oh such beautiful melody, the like of which too few artists truly possess.
'Sunlight & Water' starts and ends with water sounds, but there is a whole lot of sun and light going on throughout these four pieces. Mother Earth rarely had a more beautiful soundtrack. (Ian Hawgood)



4:07 PM 
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Thursday, November 26, 2009 
What can you say about an album as beautiful and poignant as this? I’m not sure really, but what I can tell you is that this is an exquisite example of exactly why so many people love and adore Celer so much. There’s the same passion and depth here that has always featured so prominently in their music and the subtle journey this will take you on really is one to savour. Low-key chords and tones form the backbone of this 40 minute piece and the ebb and flow of the arrangement once again gives their work an almost aquatic, subterranean feeling that leaves you feeling tranquil, serene and yet utterly refreshed. As a background piece to work to, it’s marvellous and allows you to absorb it almost subliminally but I feel this is very definitely a Celer work to put on the headphones and sit back and relax to. Only then will you discover the secret world inside the music that is so utterly enchanting and luscious that you’ll rarely want to venture back outside. Working through several distinct phases, all of them beautiful, there are muted yet angelic choral passages, reduced tonal parts that use resonance as an instrument in itself as well as melancholy but uplifting sections. Everything blends into a seamless whole that demands to be experienced as such. A wonderful, stunning, luxurious work that’s as good as you’d expect… and so much more.

1:20 AM 
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Friday, November 20, 2009 
We've had a number of Celer releases in lately and some of you just can't get enough of their mellow ambient ways. Though I've just started to listen to this new CD 'In Escaping Lakes' which has just arrived from Japan and some knobhead has started drilling next door which is totally ruining the ambient chi..... I'm not really sure what you can say about a new Celer record that hasn't been said before? All the ones I've heard prove them to be masters of drifty ambient drone. The music takes you to special places and despite this being a popular thing to be doing right now they stand head and shoulders above the rest. It's really quite good. I listened to Brittle a couple of days ago at home and it was a thoroughly gorgeous way to spend an hour or so. In Escaping Lakes will do the same..... it will take you on an introspective ambient journey and leave you feeling well special at the end of it. Well special! CD only on Slow Flow Records in nice foldy cardboard thing.


Norman Records

1:35 AM 
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Friday, November 20, 2009 

 

Celer / In Escaping Lakes - WW1001

A Less Distinguished Tributary / Seagrass / Mentioned Fumes / The Light Obtainable In Spaces We Share / Extending and Directly Below / Inoffensive Sets of Misdirection / Calculated Din / Wetness Is Close To Likeness / Horizontal Reflections / Australis / A Buoyant Object, That Rests and Moves In Such A Way /
When Recounting Futures, Don't Fail To Mention Me

39:51 running time

'In Escaping Lakes' is the sequel to 'Cursory Asperses', previously released on Slow Flow. Where 'Cursory Asperses' focused on the slow movement primarily of streams, and other field recordings, 'In Escaping Lakes' continues this pathway to expand into a deeper subject, of lakes and their surroundings. Inspired by a painting by Anthony Feyer, 'In Escaping Lakes' was made to demonstrate enclosure, depth, and closeness in still places.

Will & Danielle: Piano, Strings, Gong, Tingshas, Voice, Electronics, Hydrophone, Flute



Distribution Link

1:32 AM 
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Friday, November 13, 2009 
The really important issues: Heartblood-drones and minutely placed tones.Ryo Nakata lives in Sapporo, a city revered for its beauty and the heavenly harmony of its parcs. His record company is called „Slow Flow“. His designs are music-made visual haikus, their imagery carefully crafted compositions of tender photography and pristine typography. His concerts come across as mass-like events erecting quietly majestic arches of serene tones and oceanic tranquility. His music suspends time in a bubble of stillness, creating moments of complete concentration and peace. When he tweets, Nakata reduces his messages to their bare essence, to short questions or precise comments, observations and quips. When he mails, he is a voice of utmost politeness, unfettered enthusiasm and sincere gratitude for showing interest in his work. Judging by his music and online-appearance, one would like to fold origami-figurines with this man, read poetry with him or take a long walk in the forrest, where red, yellow and brown leaves are shimmering in the auburn November-light. And yet, against the odds, there's a side to his personality that few would have suspected.

This driven, perfectionist, inquisitive and outright hungry side has broken through in a passionate venesection of nine releases in just two years. It has  manifested itself in an unexpected obsession for the kicks of coffee and an equally insistent, incessant and insatiable demand for „a lot of stimulation“. Within these two years, Nakata may have become known best for the simplicity of his Guitar-and-Laptop setup and the grace and elegance of his music. But he has expressed his preference for these elements with ambition as well as through a wide array of genres: Folk-oriented Electronica, minimalist Sound Art, dreamy PostRock and pure, undiluted Drones. 

„Small Conversations“ now sees ryonkt returning to the latter's warm embrace. Outwardly, it seems nothing more than an unobtrusive collection of four tracks in a classic Ambient-vein. There is the usual name-dropping in the press release, but it seems fully justified on this occasion: Parallels to the aesthetics of befriended act Celer can not be ignored. Comparisons with Eno are all but inevitable. Even references to the sustained tones and emotional acousmatics of Phil Niblock don't seem out of place. These points of the stylistic compass are not strictly necessary to describe the music. But they are interesting for an entirely different reason. Just like the oeuvre of these famous kindred spirits, after all, „Small Conversations“ appears unimposing at first but grows almost imperceptibly with each listen.

Part of the allure of the record is how uniquely individual these pieces have turned out despite their astutely similar architecture: All deal with with drones and a layer of minutely placed tones. All contain nothing but a handful of elements and no more than one or two simultaneously running processes. All deal both with continuity and discreet changes. All could potentially go on forever, but are always, in fact, brought to an absolute (meaning: non-fade-out) ending. All are almost exactly nine minutes long, but work with a degree of temporal distortion, slowing time down to a slow flow in the early stages of a track and then, at the point of highest immersion, rather quickly pulling the plug, thereby creating the sensation of compact forms, personal journeys and intimate revelations. As a result, all compositions mutually rely on each other's presence and one's appetite is never fully satisfied until the very end, when the final fragile web of glistening harmonics and glockenspiel-harmonies has disappeared from sight. And only once it has died down completely can you feel the warm glow of inner silence following in the wake of an intense listening experience.

Despite its tightly woven carpet of ambiance, it is the subtle ruptures and surprising concretions on „Small Conversations“ that deepen its impact most. The descending-fourth leitmotif of „Aurora“, for example, can be understood as a sleepy pendant to the opening bars of Mahler's first symphony, as the sound of the world dozing off instead of waking up. And the entire album hinges on the one track that stands out from the fold: „Synphony“, with its sweetly swaying and swaggering groove of swelling backwards-notes. Like a drunken brass orchestra skipping in a neverending loop, the music looses sense of physicality and rhythm, turning all texture instead. Single drone-streaks glisten on top of this construct like dewdrops on an autumn leaf, changing their pitch almost imperceptibly and without force. It is only after he has set his cosmos in motion that ryonkt dives into the stillness of stasis again and the power of quietude fully reveals itself.

Even though Nakata's heart may be overflowing with passion, therefore, his techniques are those of a strict minimalist. He knows that it is not the tones one chooses to play that carve out a composer's script most clearly, but those one chooses to leave out. And it is not how much you say that decides on the value of a piece of music but how much heartblood you invest into each single sentence, word and syllable. As such, these conversations may be small. But they are the kind you have with your best friend in an otherwhise empty cafe, when everyone has left the party and all that is left are the really important issues. With his latest full-length, Ryo Nakata may not have reinvented the wheel, but he has nurtured hope that there may perhaps be no need to either. Surrounding yourself with silence, harmony and beauty does not preclude the demand for a lot of stimulation, after all. 

By Tobias Fischer

3:37 PM 
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Tuesday, November 10, 2009 
ryonkt is the solo project of Japan’s Ryo Nakata, who also runs the estimable Slow Flow imprint. Like countryman Chihei Hatakeyama, Nakata’s work centers around impeccably treated passages of warm, crystalline tones culled from guitars. Small Conversationsfollows upon the simply wonderful Four Fragments EP, published by Smallfish earlier this year. Whereas that prior offering hinged upon concision, given the time constraints of the 3″ CD format, here Nakata is able to stretch out and let his languid drone clusters breathe. Like the best works of this type, there is an effortless clarity and ineffable rhythmic sensibility present in Nakata’s guitar drifts.
The opening piece, “Sora,” blossoms into radiance from a sea of swelling guitars whose attacks have been immaculately withheld.  Nakata constructs a web of these effervescent tones which hang in the air like a fine mist, before dispersing and settling like drops of dew on a spring morning. All four of the pieces on Small Conversationsfunction similarly and make for an absolutely lovely listen. Perhaps most delicate is “Toy Camera,” which positively shimmers with fluttering harmonics. On the penultimate track, “Aurora,” Nakata brings tiny, ringing bell sounds into a gorgeous wash of guitar drones. Great stuff, and another superb offering from Experimedia. Purchasing information and sound sample here.
12:30 AM 
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Sunday, November 01, 2009 
ryonkt – small conversations (cd)


Ryonkt’s Small Conversations is a modern classical ambient masterpiece in four lengthy movements. Soft spoken and gentle ‘Small Conversations’ embodies all that ambient music is meant to be through perfectly crafted music of delicate beauty. Ryo Nakata’s work picks up and elaborates where Eno’s left. ‘Small Conversations’ will fit perfectly in one’s collection next to albums by Celer and Phill Niblock. More info, samples, links, and desktop wallpapers available at the release page.


Thanks Jeremy!!
3:47 PM 
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Friday, October 23, 2009 
3:27 AM 
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