Chris Daly sends his pieces via CD-ROM.
Rumor has it that Portland-based label Heaven Noise recently received a scratched CD-R in the mail with “Jisatsu no otōsan (DEMO)” written in blue sharpie on the label as the only explanation or reason for its existence. Whether this is true or simply a pretty decent backstory concocted by the label’s PR arm, the fact remains that Jisatsu no otōsan, the album, is a blissful nap time dream of gauzy beat instrumentals worthy of your ear holes.
Over the course of these 15 intimate tracks, Jisatsu no otōsan, the person/entity responsible for the music, lays out the beat equivalent of your preferred Quil (Ny, Day, or ZZZ; dealer’s choice), utilizing all the tricks of the trade on the road to dream land. From the distorted vocal on “Promise” to the lazy loops on “Kmart 1992” and the dusty kick drums on “Leave,” JNO follows in the footsteps of such luminaries as Nujabes, Tsutchie, Fat Jon, and various others responsible for your favorite late night anime soundtrack binges. With its arresting guitar and background vocals over skittering boom bap drums, “Belle” is arguably the stand-out track in the collection (or my favorite, at the very least).
While Jisatsu no otōsan’s origin story might stay surrounded in the same questioning mists as how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop or even where the beef might be, the label would have you believe that JNO “is a disjointed goodbye letter written in hazy Lofi hip hop instrumentals.” For the time being, that’s good enough for me.
