Kenneth Nishimoto - Mischief Makers

Hear The Track Here

Kenneth hasn't had a very good time from me, I'm afraid. I am quite prepared to admit that may have to do with his choice of material and presentation, his oevre being lo-fi pop (think Big Ship but dodgier). Out of the two tracks I heard last year: Outlive The Progressive Rocker (June 2005) and Anvil, I didn't really either like or 'get' what this artist was about. Now that's all well and good because we can't like everything can we? My main complaint, at the time, was that I thought the music was more a 'jam' than anything structured.

Still, a year is a reasonably long time and much can change.

I mentioned Big Ship earlier and once you start getting into this track, the more it fits the reference - or at least the early stuff young Marcus was responsible for. Billed as experimental trance and 'best experienced with Ecstasy', and for the first time since Kenneth and I first crossed paths, I agree with the sentiment. Growing up on a steady diet of lsd, doobies and music from the (late) Syd Barrett and all the other acts famous for introducing the noticable hold English whimsy has on todays vocalists and musicians. Mischeif Makers could well have been released 30 years ago and it wouldn't have been out of place.

Lo-fi being the new black, of course...

True to form there is a certain amount of sloppiness in the vocal delivery and a couple of stumbling points in the arrangement too but ultimately, the track comes out of it surprisingly well. Thanks to my lo-fi education from Soundclick I can see this track doing well on here - among a certain grouping, but do I really like it? The really weird thing is that I actually do. There's a nice feeling from this track, despite the misgivings I have spoken about, and it's that which gives it a certain lift. Let's put it this way, it's a marked difference to the tracks I reveiwed previously and does show that Kenneth has been working at it. The song also shows that he has potential as a songwriter too and hey, we got some time to wait right?