Ken Ikeda — Sparse Memory

[Room40 — 2023]★★★★★

Reviewed 24 April 2023by Colin Lang

Tokyo-based Ken Ikeda is at the forefront of minimalist, improvised electronics, having caught the attention of directors, established collaborators, and those that have been seduced by his left-field compositions.

Sparse Memory is unique in Ikeda's catalogue for its calculated focus and restraint, building its ten tracks out of a recursive technique: looping. The source material comes largely from older analog synths, but it is the centrifugal movement of their sine waves that generate the mystery at the heart of Ikeda's subtlety and sensibility. For with all their oscillating, there is nary an attack or decay to be heard. The loop, in other words, is not only the foundational sonic material deployed, it is also an organizing, structural principle for each work. For what good is a loop if it merely chops and repeats the traditional arc of intonation?

The title of Ikeda's captivating journey is telling in this respect, for the idea of memory is both essential to forms of sonic production – record, playback, distortion from the original, etc. – and one that is so rarely associated with the technologies used to store and produce mnemonic material. In this sense, it is what many have called a tertiary memory, that of technical devices, which is something both prior to, and after, our own anthropomorphic forms, which often concerns deep dives into forgetting as a rule. As is so often the case with early synths, the water plays a decisive role, giving sonic form to that most immaterial of substances, as on "The Sound of Waves", and the haunting and hopeful final composition, "The Destination of the Blue Whale."

For fans of improvised electronics, and anyone familiar with Ikeda's prodigious output. Highly recommended!. To check it out for yourself

← Back to reviews

Share