Music Review and Interview with Takashi – Torturin’ Dream
The Torturin’ Dream track opens up into a very mellow, relaxing sound-scape, an oriental feeling piece of music, the single deep hit of a drum, some light and smooth sounding synth-type chords; it all feels very peaceful and dreamlike. The lead vocal is very gentle, though it seems to be soaked in passion and emotion – it’s presented almost like a whisper, so it sounds very intimate, very personal, but also incredibly honest and revealing – it feels like a massively reflective and genuine expression of thoughts and words.
The music itself remains fairly simplistic throughout the track, but it builds in intensity in a very natural and easy to listen to manner. The notes increase in length, the drum is enhanced by the addition of an almost military style rattle of beats, new instruments come into the mix, and it all becomes very hypnotic and peaceful. The repeated lines towards the end really sit well alongside this, the whole thing wraps it’s sound around you – really effective when listened to through headphones, an unusual and unique experience is created by the sounds and the melodies.
Some of the lyrics are extremely personal and reflective, the subject matter seems personal to a degree that means there is no other song out there touching on quite the same topic, nor in quite the same way. The vocal melody itself tends to drag a little bit towards the middle, you crave a break away from the rhythm of it by this point, but the ending is superb, and the vocal is so emotional and raw that it still manages to captivate and compel you – it’s a lead vocal that makes you believe in the words, very much so. An experience to listen to, a really soothing and thoughtful track. I love the title as well, I think it has a brilliant element of artistry and intrigue to it, and the music that follows is superbly in keeping with this concept.
By Rebecca Cullen
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?
Takashi: I grew up at Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. I know most people have never heard the name. Okinawa is a southern island of Japan, and I was brought up surrounded by its unique culture. Now I don’t live there, but thigs I had in Okinawa have been influencing me. I started to create music when I was 17 years old. Well, those days were nightmare. I had a serious mental illness, Schizophrenia, and creating was one of its cures. I realized how widely I could express myself by music, and how greatly music can heal us. And it lead to my decision to become an artist.
Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?
Takashi: This name is my original name given by my parents. In Chinese characters, my name means “a noble ambition”. The character meaning “ambition” is used to express “love” in Japan. I love this name. I’d like to offer music, ambitiously and benevolently, for people to break walls in life. My name gives me the power.
Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?
Takashi: I like online sharing, but if we live by music, we should think about how it can work well. I thought free download was useful for artists who can vigorously give life performance. However, it did not match my situation. I suffer from Schizophrenia and it’s really hard to frequently offer concerts. Now streaming service has become widespread and it enables me to choose various ways of living on music. I’d like to use the service to attract people to my albums. In this case, I have to be a prolific artist instead of almost zero live performance. That’s really challenging but worth realizing, I think.
Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?
Takashi: I think the situation surrounding music or music industry is rapidly changing. Some can feel it very harsh for musician, but others can regard it as a chance to promote themselves in more creative ways than before. So, maybe, my tips are not your tips, vice versa. It’s important to create not only music but how you’ll live with music!
Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?
Takashi: All in my daily life inspire me. For example, people in a station, today’s weather, everything, anything in my days. And I live in Japan, where each scene resides in each season. It’s a center of my inspiration. When I write a song, I first decide its title, and try to have an image of it. Then, next, I prepare its lyrics and create its track, and melody, in the end. I often change lyrics according to melody.
Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?
Takashi: Yeah, I have. I mainly use Wix.com to share and promote my music with SoundCloud, YouTube. I have some knowledge of making a website, but it inevitably takes much time. Wix enables me to shorten its time. Very useful. I try making my original video and upload on YouTube. I hope you enjoy it, too.
Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?
Takashi: Well, music consists in the center of my life, so if I could get much money and take a year off, I would use them for music. But ways to use them would differ from my “on” days. I would buy and set good speakers in my room. And better if I could make an insulated room. With a great listening environment, I would listen and listen to my favorite music through a year!
Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?
Takashi: I promote my music online. Many tips are now on the Internet. I also recommend my works to friends of mine who love music. To combine both online and offline ways is best for me.
Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?
Takashi: I’m planning “Song Tale Project”. The project aims to create songs based on some Japanese literatures. Literatures written by Japanese writers, especially before our age, cannot be well understood without knowledge of Japan. I love Japanese literatures and I’d like to create “literatures you can feel, not read”.
Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?
Takashi : Actually I love cooking. I make almost all my dishes by myself. If I didn’t have a chance to write songs, I would think about my original menu.
Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?
Takashi: Of course, we have a lot of responsibilities in our life. I think it best if I could juggle them and my music life, but I’m very awkward. So I always try to concentrate on my music life with great tips to cut cost in my promotion, daily life, and I dedicate as much money and time as possible to music.
Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?
Takashi: As I said, I’d like to be a prolific artist. You can expect about 6 albums this year! These albums will have different concepts, so you cannot feel “that’s enough”!
