A “Reely” Cool Band: Instrumental Innovations with Open Reel Ensemble
It seems that Japan does not run out of eccentric ideas.
From an outside view, its subcultures’ and arts’ originality is tenfold, and though the country has a sober reputation, it’s a place for great innovations. This is especially true in music, as things can go as far as vocaloids, visual kei, and local noise artists. Perhaps Open Reel Ensemble may fit in this bizarre box, but the musical group is in actuality fantastic proof of technological advancements, creativity, and a bow to the history of music.
Ei Wada, Haruka Yoshida, and Masaru Yoshida form an avant-garde trio: the Open Reel Ensemble. Their ensemble’s name gives it away since their main accord is, simply, reels.
Before the digital era, music used to be recorded on magnetic tapes snug tight around open reels, which are vinyl-sized wheels containing meters of this tape. They operate a little like VHS cassettes and have been long lost since the birth of the USB and the Cloud. However, the three men found a way to make music with these disks again - this time, in a completely, never-done-before way.
Instead of playing the tapes as their instructions decide, they manipulate the tape by stretching it, tapping on it, fingering it like bass strings, and overall distorting their original use with electronic instruments. This results in unique sounds, but for from being a cacophony. Instead, its creates a sohpistaicted disk jockey-esque set (or rather, reel jockey) that swiftly interchanges beats and moods, simultaneously being an art performance.
Played this way, the open reel tape is nearly acoustic. In terms of genre, beyond experimental, they consist of funk, ambient, electronic, rock, and a little bit of everything in between. Open Reel Ensemble has been celebrated by like-minded geniuses, in particular Issey Miyake, and they have also performed for TEDx.
About the Author:
Mizuki Khoury
Born in Montreal, based in Tokyo. Sabukaru’s senior writer and works as an artist under Exit Number Five.
