Vital Weekly (NL)

The Moskitoo release is no less than a big surprise. It’s a daring move for 12k, I must say. Moskitoo is one Sanae Yamasaki from Sapporo in the northern part of Japan and she is a painter and a musician. She plays guitar, metallophone, organ, synthesizers and sings. Especially the latter feature is a rarity we hardly see on 12k. In a way one could have imagined this to be on Happy, the 12k for strange popmusic, but Moskitoo is more like 12k music. Soft, quiet synthesizer sounds, strange processings of the the acoustic instruments, beats that are rather scattered than poly rhythmic and the whispering vocals of Sanae herself. Rather than compositions of a certain length, she plays popmusic of a highly introspective kind. Whilst I must admit I am not always a big fan of vocals like this, I think it’s quite a daring move of 12k to go into the field of popmusic, even when it’s more abstract than what the radio would tell and which of this nature is quite popular in Japan. In terms of “steps forward”, “innovation” and “changing directions” the most important release by 12k in some time, and quite a good one too!