I remember with fondness the music I discovered while I was at college. A lot of it was Japanese, since that's just what I was into. Sophomore year I was nuts for Roomic Cube. Back then I didn't really have qualms about downloading music for free (plus it was easier to do), so the measure of how much I liked Takako Minekawa's work was that I downloaded it twice - meaning I lost the files somehow and realized I couldn't go without them. I never ended up buying the actual disc, so eventually the files disappeared for good, forgotten in the wake of whatever new musical obsessions I would go on to develop.

Now it's seven or eight years later, and this slightly older coyote has just discovered that Roomic Cube has somehow made its way to the legal digital music arena. I think I may have actually said "OMG" out loud when I first noticed it. Queuing it up and hearing "Sleep Song" again for the first time in ages definitely took me back.

Listening with what I like to think are wiser, more critical ears, Minekawa's work here is pretty light and airy. Some tracks are actually so light and airy that they're not really all that captivating. However, she does keep things interesting with some clever use of samples; she also brings along fellow Japanese artists Buffalo Daughter to flesh out the sound on a few tracks. The end result is definitely worth listening to, even if I'm not going crazy over the album like I once did.

Actually, what I find most fascinating about Roomic Cube is its truth in advertising. The subtitle on the (very cool) album cover reads "a tiny room exhibition." For better or worse, that's exactly the vibe I get from all of these songs - even the louder ones. The album sounds like it could have been made in precisely the white, confined space that we see Minekawa occupying on the cover. Maybe that's why it resonated so strongly with me when I was in college -- perhaps it spoke in some way to my introverted nature with which I was finally growing comfortable. (It's interesting, too, to listen to it today and reflect a bit on how much time I spend in my own head. Too much? Very possible.)

I can't decide which track to link this post to, so I picked one at semi-random. Definitely take a listen to the album if it interests you.