KILL or KEEP Vol.6

Tavito Nanao – Heavenly Punk Adagio

Hello and welcome back to KILL or KEEP. It has been a while since we partied – sorry! What you’re about to read put a solid four-month roadblock in our way, for reasons that will make sense shortly. It was what the squares and the stooges call a really stupid idea; we at KILL or KEEP HQ do not typically pay this kind of bogwash any mind, but this time around we were victims of our own bravery. Such has always been our fate. Dare you share it? We believe that the following conversation(s) have significant artistic and that you should read them. Please also enjoy them.

The story of our long story is a short one: on a snivellous November day, JesperL (TMZ: late night) and johnnyoftheWell (TMZ: earlyish morning) were laughing about an obscure Japanese indietronica megalodon uncovered on RYM. The album was none other than Heavenly Punk Adagio by Tavito Nanao, a man who begets no introduction because we still know shit all about him.

The genre tags read Indietronica, Singer/Songwriter, Art Pop, Dream Pop, Psychedelic Pop, IDM, Neo-Psychedelia.

The runtime is 153 minutes over 35 tracks.

It isn’t in the Sputnik database and likely never will be.

BaselineOOO has listened to it more than once on Last.fm.

We said “Okay???”

None of us knew shit about this album, but suddenly neekafat was online and has time to kill before an appointment at his local laser tag center. jotW had a toothache and knew his painkillers wouldn’t last forever. Jesper was just fuckin’ game. It was time to make KILL or KEEP history. It was time to dream.

First Impressions

JesperL: I like the album cover if that’s the album cover because it reminds us that without trees we can’t breathe so trees are like the whole world

jotW: I just woke up after like 2 hrs of sleep trying to escape the feeling of wanting to claw out the inside of my mouth. Currently painfree-ish and extremely sleepy. Is this album the buried better version of Velocity : Design : Comfort or will it make me want to die and not be awake anymore. Idk. KILL.

Neek: I also just woke up despite being 7-ish time zones away (not sure which is more distressing). Can someone please tell me what the name of this album is so I can look it up on spotify?

Jesper: I don’t think it’s on Spotify but can we please start cuz I want to sleep like now

Disc 1

(1) Iki wo Nonde

Jesper: I have pressed play

Neek: I have as well. Johnny pls translate the tracks as we go

Jesper: daddy daddy?

jotW: “I love you”

“Drink my breath”

Jesper: you can’t drink breath

jotW: 9/11 was an inside job

Jesper: ..oh

Neek: this is gonna be a long fucking listen

Jesper: haha yes i want to make a that’s what she said but idk how to frame it

jotW: Yes indeed. For the benefit of our fanbase・readerbase, this is currently plinky plonk folk and not any of the other things we were promised by the RYM beanboy.

Neek: yes frankly am disappointed bc this sounds like every other j-folk thing johnny has recced me tho somehow less interesting

Jesper: okay I may have listened to the first 1.5 tracks and ehh just wait for the second one

Neek: Cheater!!!!

Jesper: that’s what she sa..

jotW: it’s gonna be like Tekka/Dsco in reverse, I can feel it

Neek: KILL

Jesper: KILL (me)

jotW: this is actually perfect for my morning rn but also plain and stuff. It is cute. KILL for 9/11.

Neek: I’m gonna need to pop an edible if this keeps going.

Jesper: haha weed

(2) エンゼルコール

jotW: well that was a change of tone

Jesper: this rips

Neek: aight bet

Jesper: riffs

jotW: we are in space and the spacestation has big speakers and comfy sofas with thiccass cushions And it is the 80s!

Jesper: was it neek’s spacecake?

Neek: ????

jotW: Has the spacecake kicked in yet?

Neek: ok fine I’ll get high but this is peer pressure now.

Jesper: i’m straightedge don’t fuckin @ me

jotW: i am eating untoasted toast rn neek makes me sick

Jesper: …bread?

jotW: the real article

Neek: don’t censor yourself bb

Jesper: okay this is cool but i’m ready for the next track tbf

jotW: Yeah, I feel that the album has started and we’re now here for it. Why is it called Heavenly Punk Adagio?? We are one step closer. KEEP for this spacetreat of a softbop.

Neek: this would’ve been a very cute opener honestly. KEEP yes yes (agreed on the length jesp)

Jesper: fine KEEP but should’ve cut the final minute

(3) Mimi uchisezu ni irarenai koto ka 耳うちせずにいられないことが

Jesper: hey i love this

jotW: this is such a heavy fluffy duvet. What is it??? Is this dreamgaze yet?

Jesper: choke me

Neek: if this isn’t dreamgaze idk what is

Jesper: ooo that vocal layering thing is nice floaty yay

jotW: yes and also is that shimmering synth brass in the background

Jesper: ethereal floaty dreamy glimmery shimmer

jotW: the percussion feels like bath water

Neek: idk ur pretty production words but uh uh this is like a blanket of sound haha nice. Very into this.

Jesper: ok just checked the song length and i may be backtracking on my enthusiasm a tiny lil bit maybe but we’ll see

Neek: literally did the same thing. We’re 3min in and not even close to halfway.

jotW: 8 minutes is many minutes but there’s enough time for a plot twist in there. Or is this some Lovesliecrushing dronegaze bullshite um.

Neek: I put 50 on dronegaze

Jesper: hmm I’m hoping for a tasty breakdown with a nice Andy Hull feature

Neek: hahaha Johnny would kill immediately

jotW: jingle bells jingle bells in space no-one can hear when you jingle bells.

Jesper: idk why but now I’m thinking about Andy Hull’s balls. Also this song is a KEEP

jotW: I think it used a new chord for a second back then. We have a new layer anyway, the twinkles are slowly augmenting

Jesper: yeah I really like this it’s like subtle and then it gets subtler

jotW: It is a reverie. Is that the vocal hook from Coldplay “Charlie Brown” in the background 10 years ahead of time modulated to shit. KEEP.

Neek: Yeah the drone won me over in the end. KEEP

(4) Waa. (Odoroki ni ???chita Chiisa na Kanashigoe idk) わぁ。(驚きに満ちた小さな悲鳴)

Jesper: i gotta pee and need some more tea so this song is a KILL, brb

Neek: ok bass plunking v nice. V moody intro here, loving it.

jotW: That bass is being picked like a log. But it’s not very aggro; very moody. Wow chord change. 

Neek: is this band even on sput? The less-than-400 youtube views are not inspiring

jotW: Potentially not lmao, haven’t checked. This is like a softboi space reversion of what I vaguely imagine early Emma Ruth Rundle would sound like if I listened to her.

Neek: agreed, need to get on her early shit, hope it sounds half this spacey

Jesper: did someone say Emma Ruth Rundle!??! Her first album is mad spacey and gazey

Neek: big big KEEP from me. Maybe my fave so far 

jotW: wow it ends with a puppydog orgasm glitch. KEEP.

(5) Tengoku Kita Ue 天国北上

jotW: Hahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahaha

Jesper: this is from 2004? 

Neek: this is very 2004 somehow

jotW: 2002 lmfao

Jesper: protocalmhyperpop? 

jotW: this created Bladee

Jesper: neek i hope you’re high

Neek: not yet

jotW: wtf is this, space glitch dub gaze?

Neek: given my lack of understanding of all of those genres, yes.

Jesper: idk what it is but i am KEEPing this for sure, it inspired a generation or maybe not but it could’ve for sure

Neek: this is a vibe but I keep looking at the tracklist and being like… some of this needs to not be here. I feel like this could not be here and we’d be fine. The world would go on. Nature heals. Hesitant KILL

jotW: the right song in the wrong place lol, should have been the second track. OMG is that a fucking synth tuba????

Neek: god I hope so lmfao

jotW: having my first hysterical moment of probably many to come, this is essential. KEEP.

(6) Hashi’s Moonshine ハーシーズ・ムーンシャイン

Neek: will every song start with a basic electro beat and then super distorted vocal overdubs

Jesper: idk but this is siiick

jotW: Omg this is such dated 00s indietron, but also a definite adorable real life bop already

Jesper: yeah but like in a vhs-from-2007 kinda way so it vibes

Neek: I have heard 40000 songs like this but this may have predated all of them.

jotW: every vaguely creative indie-ish group from this era has this song, it is the paradox that sustains all life

Neek: but damn is it a good song

jotW: Omg the way he is breathing and making shrill noises rn is doing it for me. Shit’s like Fishmans with no diaphragm 

Neek: how many times do you think they’ll say “Hashi’s Moonshine” before this is over. YES on fishmans, good call

Jesper: fuck it KEEP idk it’s midnight

jotW: I feel relatively unattached to this but it does bop so, mmm KEEP

Neek: Yes its upbeat and poppy, much needed a kick in the momentum KEEP

(7) Little Ecstasy リトルエクスタシィ

Jesper: yay ominous whispers to kick off another 7 minute long track

jotW: This is really sad and pretty aww okay then

Neek: hahaha loving the little strings in the background

Jesper: this sounds like a wild sex party just for introverts

jotW: it is Radiohead’s nice dream

Jesper: the masculine urge to compare everything to Radiohead

Neek: this is has big mid-00s apocalypse indie drama vibes. Oh no look the moon’s getting closer but isn’t it so pretty why dont we all just love each other if nothing matters

jotW: did he just hairbrush-mic rap for a couple of bars

Jesper: this is too ASMR for me sorry

Neek: I wish I didn’t love bs like this but i love bs like this, already gonna KEEP

Jesper: I thought it was disintegrating and stuff but then it just returned to cutesy strings hmm

Neek: bro it takes a while for the world to fall apart

jotW: Those strings are starting to feel like a hangover, but I’m enjoying how randomly bassy it’s getting mmm

Neek: yes it should be boring and redundant but it kept me engaged the whole time with those lil changeups

Jesper: this is like that Frankie Teardrop song if it were written by 15 year old Starbucks fans. Sorry, KILL

jotW: HE IS TALKING TO US. [unexpected spoken word section where he blurts out everyday Japanese phrases mildly endearingly while another high-pitched orgasm sound backing vocal stealthily enters]

Neek: hahaha it faded back in again i love this

jotW: I liked the way it entered, but there is only so much sadboi altfolk rock arperggio I can take on repeat this time, hmm KILL.

(8) Daki????? to Hikari 泡と光

Neek: bleep bleep bloopy bloopy bopbop yeah

Jesper: that sounded like a slur

Neek: …?

Jesper: one lyric. Anyway i kinda like the way the music and vocals just fully mismatch? 

jotW: yeah, it has strong I care but also I don’t care energy

Neek: thank you for the hard work on these titles Johnny, i hope sput handles the characters ok

jotW: Lol the blog should be able to take them

Jesper: there’s like a hint of a hint of a really strong chorus melody but they just can’t be fucked fully committing to it, respect

jotW: This gives me some very vague indiedays Seiko Oomori energy precisely because of that, feels like it’s gonna hit a super strong chorus one moment and then naw, zany days only.

Neek: is the fact that I’ve never heard any of V:D:C gonna affect my opinions here? Johnny how many things do you compare to Seiko Oomori a week

jotW: Seiko Oomori is involved in enough projects that there is rarely any need to make a direct comparison to her

Jesper: kinda sounds like that one radiohead album

Neek: Pablo Honey, yes big time

jotW: The kiss of limbs

Jesper: ehh tough one, think imma have to KILL

jotW: This was maybe the least focused so far for me, bit of an indietronica lazehaze hmm KILL.

Neek: yeah that was definitely cute n fun, didn’t overstay its welcome, but it’s also maybe the least distinctive here yet. KILL

(9) Yokohama-city Tachi???nou Park『横浜市立阿龍公園』

Jesper: neek you will love this i think

jotW: This is slightly fedora-y for drippy J-folk maybe

Neek: this sucks

Jesper: huh. Agreed tho

Neek: do y’all just think i hear a guitar and feathery vocals and go “FIVE IT”

jotW: yes

Jesper: p much yeah

Neek: y’all know I at least need it to be overly theatrical

Jesper: so add strings and it would’ve been a hit? Also KILL

Neek: yes exactly. KILL it with fire

jotW: KILL, wrong coffee shop

(10) h.b

jotW: Wow we have come so far in such an actually not very short space of time.

Neek: most albums would end here. sigh.

Jesper: off to a strong start ngl

jotW: Wtf this is awesome. Chill folktronica with a big boof bassline damn neek, you’d better be soaking this up

Neek: this is like some shit I would hear at pitchfork fest and wish I was listening to it instead. Big soaks

jotW: what was the equivalent of p4k fest in 2002 Japan mmmm

Jesper: yeah you’re definitely asking the right people

jotW: hahahahaha yeaaaah UH I love how some of the chords in this otherwise quite chill progression are deliberately massively pranged ugh this guy is so cool feed me all his albums I surrender.

Jesper: it has some mild ‘background music to free flash game from 2009’ vibes but v nice otherwise, imma KEEP

jotW: You are correct but the broken parts make all the difference and are precious, KEEP.

Neek: it’s dragging on a bit for me but yeah, this is catering to me in too many ways. Hating the amount of consensus here but KEEP

(11) Yoru Hikaru 夜光る 

Neek: AIGHT

Jesper: i still have the groove from the last track stuck in my head

jotW: wow this must be the fated IDM genre tag making its appearance…or not!!!!

Neek: Do most IDM songs have surf guitars?

jotW: It’s probably ripping off Fantasma. Actually, that’s totally what’s happening here lmao, this could have come right off that album

Neek: can you tell me what that is so I don’t have to google it to seem smart

Jesper: latest Coheed and Camambert album amirite haha

Neek: lmfaooooo

jotW: Lol, Fantasma was Cornelius’ big apple album and kinda did everything, especially like this one, and Cornelius is a genius but also has a slightly annoying voice and once made a schoolkid eat his own (or someone’s) shit, so it has aged a little badly.

Neek: ty for being my encyclopedia as always Johnny

Jesper: this kinda vibes hard tho YO MID SONG GAZE BREAK?!

jotW: Vaxis 2: Breaksgaze gaze break something something 

Jesper: gazedronebreak ooo back into dreamy floaty happy

jotW: glitch and then happy wow that is how emotions work this album fuckin knows

Neek: BOPS FOR DAYS KEEP

Jesper: KEEP so goddamn hard

jotW: This would probs have been a highlight on Fantasma tbh, hard KEEP.

Neek: so don’t check Fantasma, got it

jotW: Lol check Point instead

(12) Blue handing???? ブルーハンティング

Jesper: i am so tired

jotW: JESPER GET COFFEE

Jesper: lmao i don’t drink coffee cancel me

Neek: jesus how many more tracks. This is a bit coffeehouse innit?

jotW: JESPER GET PLACEBO

Neek: drink Red Bull

Jesper: neek you got any of that uhh placebo left

jotW: kek. This is like a woozy psychedelic marching band thing hm.

Jesper: yeah I do not care for this whatsoever tbf

Neek: same. kinda basic bitch indie but also cute so what do i know. There’s a lot of cool shit happening in the background.

Jesper: cool shit should be happening in the foreground smh

jotW: fuck I sneezed. Those twee twinkly guitar melodies in the background aren’t particularly basic bitch but also this vocal line ain’t selling it. KILL.

Neek: the twinkly guitar’s what i like. The vocal line reminds me of some indie band ive banished from memory. And YES I get the irony of me calling something “basic bitch indie” KILL

jotW: These warm cute synths are very Pokemon Center wow I feel guilty now.

Jesper: KILL obvz

(13) Dandan Yume Mitai だんだん夢みたい

Neek: noooooooooo

Jesper: neek are u drooling

Neek: I’m not feeling anything. Tbf I got choofed as shit last night so it might be a bit.

Jesper: idk what choofed means but ehh keep it up?

Neek:<3 btw this is boring. Aw the “doo-doos” were fun tho.

jotW: This is actually nvm idk

Jesper: the obnoxiously high pitched ehh flutes idk are keeping me awake so yay?

Neek: this is nice but just not “track 13 of 26” material KILL

Jesper: and timewise we’re not even halfway through ahgrh

jotW: I thought this was going to be more gazy and instead it’s shimmery twee folk, and I guess it’s alright actually

Jesper: nah dis a KILL

Neek: not vibing with the folk stuff on this it seems. Oh but this guitar is fun!!

jotW: probably because there are no white girls mumbling about how much of a miracle their prescriptions are in the right hands. I like this a tiny bit more than Hashi’s Moonshine so I guess it’s a narrow KEEP.

Neek: I feel bad. Might retract later.

(14) Kore wa Hanabi kana, so janai kamo これは花びらかな、そうじゃないかも。

jotW: Okay this is a better track already. The title = “Are these fireworks, actually maybe they aren’t” so that is good. There might be fireworks.

Jesper: might be the sleep deprivation but i’m getting pink floyd vibes

Neek: Would appreciate some fireworks.

Jesper: mother do u think they’ll drop the fireworks

jotW: Lol pos. This is a long interval huh okay KILL.

Neek: gonna have to get off on 30 min ish

Jesper: realistically same lolsoz

Neek: no. KILL.

Jesper: KEEP just because of the long ass pause

(15) ????

Jesper: yoooo dudeee mad poppy vibes yo

Neek: fitter happier more productive cute interlude KEEP

Jesper: ye KILL

(16) ブラインドタッチ

jotW: Fuck, I’m missing track 15 lol oops. This starts out good.

Neek: wtf did you send me this song? This whispered loop sounds stupid familiar.

Jesper: is this the certified IDMish song

jotW: This is IDM but you want a girlfriend and don’t know how to slowdance

Jesper: IDMGTOW

Neek: watching johnny write his quips in real time is strangely validating

Jesper: a reminder that he’s human 

jotW: am still half asleep and my shit tooth is regaining sensation this is a bad day in the works

Neek: um i dig this a lot and feel guilty about it for some reason, this got some mass to it KEEP

Jesper: i am okay with putting this at 2x or 3x speed ngl also eh KEEP

jotW: Yeah, this is good but loses steam more than a little. Big fan of the moody dialtones though KEEP

(17) シュリンプ(ガリバー6)

Jesper: off to a wonderful start hell yeah

jotW: this is a Car Seat Headrest song yeah boi

Neek: i dont think i can do this one

Neek: NVM

jotW: this is downtempo with no hairbrush, kinda edgy I’m feeling it

Jesper: oo that was a neat lil twist

Neek: yes, now that I know it has teeth its more threatening. Very into it now.

Jesper: thus far there is approximately 1 really good focused indietronica record and 1 sloppy mac demarco appeal i guess record in this half.. record..

jotW: it is a flophouse hydra and we have two records to go!!!

Neek: wait what

jotW: well, one 2xLP-sized half-record

Jesper: sleep im

Neek: gd it. Hopefully we get more like this one. Probably a highlight for me KEEP

Jesper: trip hop vibes solidify this as a v neat KEEP

jotW: this is a weird side-1 closer, but also very cool. Definitely something haunted mmm KEEP.

Neek: MMM AND THE STRINGS AT THE END

 

DISC 2

(1) Saishuu Densha de Umi e Ikou 最終電車で海へ行こう

Jesper: wow I fucking hate this

Neek: yeah so this sucks

jotW: Okay twee seaside opening song, um okay why?

Neek: this is that fucking opening poem on MBDTF

Jesper: kind of expecting a ‘featuring Eric Clapton’ or some shit ugh KILL hard

jotW: Wow this beat actually vaguely ties things together, I feel this could be a serviceable JRPG level or maybe even Runescape or something hmm

Neek: very true. well it is nice, i was a little harsh, but yeah stop it. there’s too much time left for this KILL

Jesper: there’s no space for mid to low tier stuff when there’s still so much time left to go idk what i’m saying uhg

jotW: Okay fine KILL.

(2) 反吐、反吐、汽車

jotW: This is still the same song? But more Runescape, less JRPG.

Jesper: ..yeah so another KILL ok 

Jesper: oh hey did you know that i thought Runescape was Run-escape until like last year but apparently it’s like rune scape because you scape runes instead of running and escaping

jotW: you are precious and i love escaping w/ u

Neek: for some reason I liked that a lot better. just bc it was shorter and denser KEEP

jotW: yeah, this one is better hmmm cheap KEEP for curio value.

(3)「潜水バースデイ」

Neek: ughhhhhhhhhh

Jesper: kinda losing my ability to form opinions but this is the type of song that gets played at a concert you didn’t pay for but is kinda vibey i guess

jotW: yeah, that. Am getting sleepy and this is chill i guess?

Neek: I don’t think i can do this.

Jesper: is this like kinda drowned out or am i uh drowned out like vibe-wise fuck man idk what i’m saying

Neek: well that edible finally hit me so I’m def there with you. Am I stupid or is this getting better the longer it goes?

jotW: the vibe is swollen this is a little dull we are all drowned, but that main chord progression is kinda cute enough to almost save it ugh

Jesper: was kinda hoping that whale mating call thing would go somewhere more interesting maybe

Neek: hahaha love the fakeouts what is this Songs for the Deaf

jotW: hahahahaha okay halfway through and the song disappears and then it comes back I know this game

Jesper: even though this isn’t great imma say KEEP for the vibe or something

jotW: these chords are now annoying, bad jangle, KILL.

Neek: I’m a cointoss on this, it’s very chill but fuck could these 7 mins be used for something else. KILL

Jesper: you raise an excellent point neek actually this shouldn’t have been there sorry yea KILL

Neek: Wait no there’s a minute left. Fuck ok so this is a nice nice ending and imma pivot with you KEEP it

(4) Wig Beach ウィックビーチ

jotW: Awww warm chord

Jesper: nice and soothing yes plz

Neek: M83???????? (trying to press Johnny’s buttons)

jotW: this album’s folktronica bits always start out so nice

Neek: some of these vocal melodies are just eyeroll inducing for me idk im sorry

Jesper: it is 1 am i am dying i think i may go to sleep like right now

jotW: i feel like we are already asleep

Neek: yeah I have to dip after this one too, pick it up later? God fuck just KILL it, this isn’t for me

Jesper: hmm yes i would be down to pick up l8r yes and uhh KEEP this reminds me of some of the stuff i jammed a lot when i was 14okbyegoingtosleepxoxo

Neek: dear god it’s that drum thing what is that called bye yes ok talk to y’all l8r

jotW: steel pan things are big sabotage but this is nice, KEEP to be continued ig lmao bye

INTERMISSION

To anyone who finds this, all was lost. 

neekafat fucked off to laser tag and literally died from soft beams of babylight.

jotW’s toothache turned into a hospital sojourn turned into forgetting this ever existed.

JesperL just assumed it had all been a dream.

The party dispersed and their progress was cursed and best buried forever and cast out to sea in a bottle.

This is the end.

Much later

ian b finds an unnecessarily long piece of copy paper in a bottle that washed on the shores of Fort Myers Beach, and notices Jesper’s signature “fuk da police” scratched into the bottle. Ian picks up the bottle, and what they read next truly resonated with them, as they did not fully understand.

ian b: what the fuck is this?

As the seemingly ancient letter unraveled itself, all Ian could do is stare in bewilderment at what stood in front of their eyes. ian b. takes a piss in the bottle, wads up the paper to cork the bottle, and thinks to send it back to the place it came from…

But it is too late.

Four months later

In a puddle of seemingly never-ending urine, ian b awakens, still gripping a bottle on the shores of Fort Myers Beach. ‘Take this’ they exclaim, passing the bottle to a wild Pheromone appeared and subsequently self-combusting. The bottle is full (of [fresh] urine); the paper is tainted reading seemingly unintelligible until phero clocks this is simply Johnny’s writing style. A mission is birthed. Pheromone continues…

(5) 頭上の水面 白 白 白  

Pheromone: Returning like a dead man walking i’m back baby kill keep is back baby and it’s everyones favourite indietronica mega-fuck of obnoxiously long tree art. I have never heard of this album before in my life but I love M83! 

The fact that this album is 1hr 33 through and I’m about to embark on a 50 min journey (a length already quite long for me these days) makes me think this album might slog. The start of this song is a slog. I am confirmed. It, according to ‘Crushing Dreams’ translates to “Overhead Water, All White” which makes sense because it’s quite watery and drippy in a fishmen effects kinda way. I like fishmen! I like water! I do not like floating up and down to maintain breath for 1hr and 30 with a life-boat in eyesight that I cannot swim towards. I cannot progress. This song does not progress. KILL

(6) 大きなベイベ

Pheromone: Oh my okay that organ is gorgeous, the little bass twang hnng. Is the entire album this inconsistent? Perhaps if I read the above I would know. This song makes me feel. It’s really good man what the heck, it’s not even indietronica this is beautifultronical. Bold statement considering this is the second song I’ve heard from an album longer than Shawshank Redemption but this is maybe their (his?) opus. KEEP

(7) 天使が降りたつまえに  

Pheromone: My coffee is over already. Started it when I started this writing and it’s finished, within like 7 minutes! I’m a fast drinker, always have been. The conundrum I guess now is do I pause this and make myself another coffee. I find myself a lot better able to write with a hot beverage at my helm. This means I will either have to pause or, like, miss an entire song. Neither would be ideal. Maybe this means I go without coffee which in the past would be somewhat unheard of. Now adays, though, this is kind of fair enough. Recently coffee has been having somewhat of an adverse effect on my body – anxiety is a given after two and my belly starts performing as a sort of pseudo world-music percussion instrument. When I was a kid I used to drink coffee, as young as 11 but my parents got worried and bought me Decaff coffee. On Decaff so young, you’d think I enjoyed it much – it would certainly solve the anxiety / paul simon-percussion problem I have going on. But I don’t. I quite dislike decaff coffee, it’s tart and bitter in all the wrong ways. I still appreciated it back then, it was a valuable life less- oh songs finished – Idk KEEP?

(8) ヒタ・リーを聴きながら

Pheromone: Famed youtuber-who-uploaded-this-entire-album described it as ‘Comfortable Anxiousness, described in one album.’. This song is giving me major Comfortable Anxiousness vibes – the voice croons, the guitar is kinda basic but like if you hear it, it’s nice – it sounds a bit like KK Slider. I Think if I heard the 2hrs 30 before this, this song would send me to sleep. But I didn’t and it’s very lovely and gentle and aw now the vocals are harmonising. KEEP

(9) ラストシーン

Pheromone: I guess this is a return to the indietronica. It sounds quite synth poppy and like I want to DANCE. Sort of weird pacing here but I imagine this is somewhat the intention. The word ‘ecstasy’ is definitely used frequently which I guess is apt considering this song sounds like a cheesy 80s pilly dance track. I quite like it but it’s awful which again I kind of think is the intention? Whatever, this is a feature length album we have no time for playfulness, this is comfortable anxiety we are talking about! KILL

(10) 昔の発明

Pheromone: Making a double album is kind of self-masturbatory (implying there is another kind?) task. I don’t actually agree with this. When done well a double album is delightfully satisfying. What makes it so? Idk I guess a sense of overarching consistent ~vibe~ (which I guess the quintessential double white album didn’t have so what the fuck do I know). This album though even within this 20 min microcosm seems to lack any sense of totality. The sum of its parts is a jumbled one without identity. This is okay. KILL

(11) 赤い星 (サーチンソール)

Pheromone: The song names kind of all work together though. Maybe they decided on them and then worked backwards from there and made music for each. 

This is another gorgeous song, the ambient sounds swaying through the background are perfect. The lo-fi( ish ) guitar twang is simple and repeating and I want it to go on forever. I wish the entire album were only these more delicate sounding songs, see also the one a few back (the one I called his opus (this might be even better)). Bigggg KEEP

(12) バンブーズ

Pheromone: Was just a given this was gonna go the opposite direction. The fact that these never-progressing idm songs take up like ⅓ of this album make me want to never listen to the first 1 hr 50 which of course i would have done otherwise! This one has annoying dog-like noises throughout. This might be good to listen to at a 5am after-party whilst k-holing into a carpet with my neighbours cat. KILL

(13) NEON

Pheromone: This flowed well from the last one which gets brownie points. I’m already bored of this album guys. PM me if you want to hear a story of my very Irish uncle accidentally killing his pet. This song is cool, if it was a single I’d rate it 3 on RYM. It’s not a single, and I’d maybe not even rate it that high. The drum machine percussion on this album is fucking annoying. KILL

(14) グライドしてた 

Pheromone: This is where we get into the seminal part of the album – where all of the song names flow perfectly from one to another. ‘Gliding’ into ‘Perfect Morning’ into ‘2 A.M. Midnight’ into ‘Night Glowing’ into ‘Lifetime Secret’. This is the period, zip in.

This is okay. KILL

(15) 完璧な朝

Pheromone: I really do feel like this album would sit well with a lot of peeps a lot better than it has with me. It’s cool – it IS originally floaty and the ambience hue is consistent in the more melodic softer tracks (I still maintain the more pulsating IDM tracks are a slog). I bet this album is dope for a nap. I have just woken up and this is neither the time nor place. Let this also be a lesson, like that uncle pet story (PM), album listening often depends on context. 

This song starts real cool and is maybe the first full dip into the indietronica pond so far that I really like. The folky twang and beeps and bloops and synths and stuff all really work here. The highs on this album are really high man. It makes me think I need to give the other songs another chance but then I realise it is literally so long. Why oh why tavito nanao. Another hard KEEP tbqh

(16) 真夜中2時→

Pheromone: Like Tavito with this album probably, Johnny considers this his KEEP / KILL opus, pass it on. He didn’t even finish it. It is his SMILE. He is Brian Wilson, we are merely pawns. This song is cute. It translates to 2:00am Midnight which is either a mistranslation or entirely unlikely, perhaps impossible. This is familiar sounding, a snug sweater in an autumn breeze. It is 2:00am Midnight, the sun is similarly improbably shining and everything is okay. Turning the last corner of this album’s stamina robbing racetrack, it’s all good baby. KEEP  

(17) ナイト・グロウイン

Pheromone: An advertisement can be seen at the bottom of the tracklist, ‘Listen ad-free with YouTube Premium’. Not one advert has existed whilst listening. I have not Youtube premium.  If it had, I wouldn’t have listened. Nor would I have paid for premium. Another life lesson!

As expected within what I now brand the ‘night-cuddling’ section of the album tracklist, those which make up the end of this album, this song is great! It’s everything Tavito has done well throughout the 50 minutes of the album I have listened to, it’s melancholic and ambitious, remaining deceptively similar like an old nursery rhyme. It’s cute and emotional and contains tiny little bits that make me feel warm and snug (the weird viooolin). KEEP

18.「生涯の秘密」 

Pheromone: Yeah this is lovely. KEEP. Taking a more minimalist approach to the albums kind-of-maximalist make-the-most-noise-in-brief-twinkle manifesto, this song provides an appropriate swoon of an ending. It’s an outro, that’s for sure! Thank god for that – but maybe not? I absolutely loved the songs I loved here. This is one of them. At the same time though, I understand why Jesp, Neek and Johnny literally died a death trying to complete this KILL KEEP mission. Heavenly Punk Agagio is absolutely gorgeous and warm at times, the anxiety-ridder youtube told me it was; but also very often super-duper drags with average to fuck IDM and irking ambience. 

This is all kind of a meme but also maybe this album provides the perfect example of why the KILL KEEP series is a thing. Trimming this album to even just half its size (still 1hr 15) would pay dividends on the album’s flow and, importantly, my general feeling towards the album. And I’m sure Tavito Nanao in 2002 placed great emphasis on the importance of sputnikmusic user pheremone’s 2022 impression of the album.

Fin.  

I hope Ian’s okay.

Final KILLstats

JesperL: 11/21 (52%)

JohnnyoftheWell: 8/20 (40%)

neekafat: 9/21 (43%)

Pheromone: 6/14 (43%)

 

Editor’s Note: yeah they don’t pay me enough to transcribe these titles into proper romanisations or to correct the numerous errors that occurred in the attempts at this throughout the original listening party

Editor’s Note 2: this document did not have much editing

Editor’s Note 3: the next one will be shorter and less pointless we promise

 

Archive

Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie… ・ Nine Inch Nails – The Fragile ・Carly Rae Jepsen – Emotion ・ Deftones – White Pony ・Nightwish – Once