Noritaka Tanaka

I’m always excited to get my hands and ears on a new release from pianist Mayuko Katakura. Her latest trio disc, recorded with bassist Takumi Awaya and drummer Noritaka Tanaka, is titled The Duality of My Soul and was released earlier this year. It hits the spot as a sharply modern jazz piano trio album. The album’s eight tracks consist of seven Katakura originals and one cover song to close the set, an instrumental version of singer Abbey Lincoln’s “Being Me.” Karakura’s music is pure trio propulsion, muscular, raw, and risk-taking. Other emotions and impressions generated while listening to this music include the words heavy yet facile, determined and pointed. Whatever the subjective descriptions imply, it’s completely enjoyable, straight-ahead J Jazz coolness. ...

Opening with a single-tone drone, electronic jazz music group Rabbitoo continues their retro-futuristic sound on their second album /The Torch /from 2016. Digital and analog sounds swirl and mix through Motohiko Ichino’s guitar, laden with textural effects and deploying modern music and rhythms alongside carefully tuned sound and static in an audiophile’s frame. This is vibe-setting music that wouldn’t be out of place in a fan playlist of lofi study beats or on the edges of a digital-future jazz collection. ...

The textured sound of Rabbitoo makes a lasting first impression on their debut album National Anthem of Unknown Country from 2014, a fusion of jazz, rock, and electronica influences. The five-piece group led by guitarist and primary songwriter Motohiko Ichino produces otherworldly atmospheres with loops of sound and cascading sheets of melody set against precise rock and dance-inspired beats. The instruments riff and interlace, fitting together like puzzle pieces at times, an intense chorus at others, while swirling over underlying rhythmic grids for a dusky, spacey, trance-like aura. ...