Set One

LA-based Hans Fjellestad latest release, Kobe Live House, documents a live solo set recorded a couple years back at Big Apple in Kobe, Japan. Like yoga breathing exercises, the music manages liftoff, albeit gradually, with gurgling low frequency sweeps which eventually give way to processed Electroclash beats suppressed to the point where they’re never allowed to emerge. Instead a maelstrom of Space Invaders and Missile Command signal some gated prepared piano riffs. The interesting thing about Fjellestad playing tour guide here is that he shows us pure acoustic canyons next to techno-capped mountain ranges, then his landscape’s ecosystem seems to take over. This isn’t your typical old school Japanese laptop noise fest, or, if it is, Yanni hijacked it.

—RN