Review Summary: Tentenko XX: The Edge of Reason
Tentenko is an ex-idol freelance artist who runs her own label and has released an extensive range of experimental pop and techno EPs. This review is part of an ongoing series dedicated to exploring her discography. For a point of reference and orientation to her discography as a whole, please see the first instalment in the series, the review for Good Bye, Good Girl.
If trawling through Tentenko’s discography chronologically in search of exciting innovation is analogous to boring into the earth’s crust in the hope of uncovering sentient life (think along the lines of the two-page subterranean lightning crossbow gnome war subterranean princess debacle in Thomas Pynchon’s
Against the Day), then
Tooku no Parade marks the point at which all those aboard this noble expedition are granted licence to collectively loose their minds. With every other release we’ve covered so far there’s seemed to be
some point to unpacking things in good faith, even if this more than occasionally felt like clutching at straws. For a quick recap, this journey so far has included:
1. An ambient/industrial album made up of 75% dead air complemented almost exclusively by Tentenko’s best imitation of a 3 year old playing the keyboard from the first time.
2. A four-track simulation of random objects being dropped one by one inside an oversized freezer that was
rereleased with two bonus tracks in exactly the same vein because
fuck you.
3. A dub album structured entirely around the worst dub loop ever produced by anyone ever.
4. A remix album where the best remixes are without fail the tracks that best murder Tentenko’s originals.
But you know what? All of this has been fine. Thrills ’n’ spills etc.. Perhaps
Hito no Ito Nami and
Dokusai took the piss more than a little, but that was all part of the ride. Those records were just about compact enough to feel as though they warranted some measure of sincere analysis. None of that here:
Tooku no Parade is where the buck stops. This is the end of analysis. This is the end of reason. The only thing I can say with certainty that this *isn’t* is the end of Tentenko. Tentenko will never die, but you and I sure as hell will.
What I’m trying and
struggling to get across here is that this album is forty fucking minutes of the most self-absorbed industrial/glitch sounds you can expect to hear from any artist. If you flick back a couple of episodes to the existential crisis almost triggered by
Tenkibashira’s gleefully monochromatic noisey techno, and then amplify both said monochrome noise and said crisis by a figure of your choosing (
Tooku… is also the end of numbers), you’ll end up with a dangerously good idea of what Tentenko’s about on this one. It’s not as inexcusably repetitive as
Hito no Ito Nami, but otherwise there isn’t a shred of melody or wider user-friendliness to be found here. This is not a Bad Thing and has in fact brought a considerable charm to some past outings (
Tenkibashira,
Hibiya Koen) but the lengths to which she takes things here are on another level entirely. Remember “aliens” from
Living In The Box? Remember how fun that was with its bizarre sense of aggression and Tentenko’s utterly spaced-out vocals? Get rid of both those elements, repeat ten times in a row, and you’re on the money.
From a production perspective,
Tooku no Parade is not a ‘bad’ release - in fact, it’s one of Tentenko’s higher quality offerings in this sense. Her arsenal of rhythm and glitch techniques has never seemed more fleshed out. From a consumer perceptive, however, it’s the equivalent of dipping your hand in a paint pot and sitting back to see whether the paint dries faster than your skin cells die. The sheer theoretical possibility of earnest sentences along the lines of “I dunno man, ”happy cat 2” is actually far superior to “small valve 2” in my opinion because that one’s beat is kind of a non-starter whereas at least “happy cat 2” has a bassline” feels like a giant joke at our expense. What happened to the questions that matter? What happened to
why was this created,
who paid money for this and
where the hell is “happy cat 1”? The first time I heard this album was around the delirious nadir of a 48-hour period in which I snagged a total of five and a half hours sleep for mercifully non-Tentenko related reasons, and I remain convinced that this is the only context in which it will ever make sense as a listening experience.
The worst part is that it still feels kind of fun. This album boasts the same sense of deadpan glee as Tentenko’s other noisey releases and, as is the theme, has just enough personality in it not to be dismissed as muzak, empty noise, or what have you. The difference here is that Tentenko’s attitude no longer seems innocuous; everything about
Tooku… sounds as though it was crafted as a delightful test of patience for anyone with the time and energy to spare for it. As such, this release absolutely should not be heard by anyone ever unless you’ve already made it this far, in which case sod it - you might as well. I don’t know. Fuck it. You win, Tentenko.
