- Takecha's most coveted 12-inch—and, until a recent repress, the hardest to buy—is the 1995 debut he released on his own label, GWM Records. A Kind Of Deep, of which only 100 copies were made available, is typical of the Japanese artist's music—a digitised rendering of New Jersey house's pressurised pump, with syrupy organ leads and tough drums. ("Climax Doc" samples Kerri Chandler's "Climax 2," from 1993's Atmosphere Vol. 1 EP.) He went on to make more distinctive work, such as the 15-minute "Deep Loop" from 1995. Other GWM Records cuts paid tributes to other artists (including Pal Joey, namechecked on 1996's Breezy) or house itself, as on "Deep Underground Sweet House Music."
A Tale Of Shiga, made up of three unreleased tracks and one (the slightly overwrought synth funk of "Freak Out") that emerged in 1998, is less beholden to Takecha's idols. "Defrag Of Time"'s modulated vocal gives an odd twist to synthetic four-note chord pairs and electric piano harmonies. Its percussion is unusually intricate, with snares that rasp and stutter as they might on IDM tracks.
"Espada Woman"'s melody, a collage of vocal fragments and bright synth bursts, cribs from "Defrag Of Time""s glitchy percussion. A classic-sounding house track like "Sax (Unreleased 1995)," whose feverish horns, organs and funk keys leap and wriggle around each other, was once Takecha's bread and butter. A Tale Of Shiga shows, alongside a number of recent releases from his rebooted label, that he may have more to offer.
TracklistA1 Sax (Unreleased 1995)
B2 Defrag Of Time
B1 Espada Woman
B2 Freak Out