s a k i 夢 – タンクの装飾

Recommendation: ☀☁☁


タンクの装飾1 is the fourth full-length from s a k i 夢,2 a project of Californian artist Kai Beckman. タンクの装飾 was originally released as Smirk Sounds’ sixth album, and it later found a home on Beckman’s Tetra Systems with a new album artwork and a cassette release. As with previous s a k i 夢 albums, タンクの装飾 chronicles the interactions of Saki the Fish, Beckman’s real-life aquatic friend with whom Beckman explores and creates music based on his reactions to the sounds. From this style is derived the term “fishvapor” or “fishdream”, both of which Beckman uses to describe the unique production style as well to allude that the music is to be evocative of Saki’s aquatic existence.3

Beckman’s fourth album explores previous tropes of IDM, downtempo electronic music, and ambient music in the context of vaporwave. Tracks are relatively long (the shortest at just over six minutes), which gives Beckman the space and time to develop something of an electronic groove on each track in a way similar to “Bike” and “Eggshell” from Incunabula by Autechre. Samples of flowing water act as intros and outros to each track, providing a through-line that gives タンクの装飾 the impression of a work that is made to be taken as an album-experience rather than as a collection of unconnected songs. These same samples also make up a substantial portion of the background of each song.4

タンクの装飾 is an engaging chapter in the book of Saki. One critique may be laid at the overabundance of the flowing water samples. By midway through the album, they start to sound stale. Occasionally they are produced slightly too loud compared to the beats and music, which drowns out some of the more interesting moments of electronic music where the ambiance is its own reward (e.g. “無用な”). For those who have yet to explore s a k i 夢, start with the debut 夢の中で失われました. For those already sold on fishvapor/fishdream and the fun world of Beckman’s fishy friend, タンクの装飾 is a good addition to your music library.

 

Tracklist


1. 竹のラウンジ – (8:13)5
2. 魚のエレベーター – (6:03)6
3. 日本史 – (6:32)7
4. 無用な – (8:00)8
5. ロストイントランスレーション – (9:31)9
6. シルクロード – (6:35)10
7. 外国の装飾 – (8:58)11
8. 庵寺 – (6:06)12
9. まりもボール – (9:24)13


 

1Japanese translation: “Tank decoration”
2Japanese translation: “Saki dream”
3It’s the cutest concept in vaporwave history.
4Nature documentarians, take note.
5Japanese translation: “Bamboo lounge”
6Japanese translation: “Fish elevator”
7Japanese translation: “History of Japan”
8Japanese translation: “Useless”
9Japanese translation: “Lost in translation”
10Japanese translation: “Silk road”
11Japanese translation: “Foreign decoration”
12Japanese translation: “Temple”
13Japanese translation: “Marimo Ball”

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