You may know of the Japanese DJ/composer Nobukazu Takemura from his slight but intermittently charming albums for Thrill Jockey, or his remix of Steve Reich's Proverb, which featured on a TV commercial for the Rover 75. Or from Sony's Aibo robot, for which Takemura created the sound design.
His art is a mysterious one that does not lend itself easily to live performance. Perhaps it is the result of spending long days on his own in the recording studio, relying upon accidental magic within the digital domain rather than interaction with other minds and sounds. This tour, with the six-piece Child's View Band, turns Takemura's fragile miniatures into dinosaur rock with realtime video accompaniment. Songs such as the winsome Falls Lake become turgid grinds that go nowhere: it's like getting lost in the extremities of a PlayStation game.
Maybe Takemura is more sound colourist than composer. As the band cranks out the repetitive chord sequences, the pieces' structural weaknesses become clear: they go nowhere, slowly, yet there's no attempt to turn this monotony into an atmospheric strength. A typical song features four "interesting" chords on keyboards, guitar and vibes, played over and over again, accompanied by busy drums and bass. Sometimes we get big power chords. Or a bit of horn-like synth, or a wavering lead vocal from Tsuyuko, still busy producing distorted street scenes from her laptop.
The song Asique Do Do could have been cute, but here it's unbearable; At Lake Yogo, complete with power chords, seems interminable; and Wandering features random clicks and crackling laptop noise until the band kicks in with grandiose chords over metronomic bass and drums, like the Karaoke backing track to a song you've never heard before.
Drummer Jun Nagami works hard to generate some excitement, but it's a lost cause. There's so little to get hold of, rhythmically, harmonically or melodically, and the electronics don't sound that good either. And it's all so po-faced and serious, with long gaps between numbers. If you're going to play empty rock'n'roll you might as well get out the smoke machines and spandex and have fun.
· At the Rescue Rooms, Nottingham (0115-958 8484), tomorrow. Then touring.
