Revep

Album Review

Following two critically acclaimed album-length collaborations, Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto set off on an expansive tour of Europe's most prestigious art galleries and concert halls to celebrate their partnership. This three-track Rev EP was released as a tour accompaniment, and features three previously unreleased compositions from the Insen and Vrioon sessions. The EP's opener "siisx" features Carsten Nicolai (Alva Noto) taking complete control over the sound design and arrangement of the composition; dissecting Sakamoto's emotive piano lines carefully as a surgeon and feeding them through his laptop; processing and recalculating every measure with immense consideration to tempo and dynamics. The EP's second tune "mur" sounds similar in arrangement, tone, and rhythm to Insen's opening tune "Aurora." Rev EP concludes with a very loose, very skeletal reinterpretation of Sakamoto's "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence," which was the theme to a 1983 David Bowie movie with the same title. It's easy to see why none of these tracks were on the initial two albums, as none of them really could be included and flow along with the initial sequencing easily. But for fans of their collaboration wanting more it's a delight to hear even the outtakes from these two electronic music pioneers past and present.