Slow tempos with heavy, deep drum and bass rhythms characterizes this project by Japanese musician Hiroki Furutani, "Schwarzwald" is actually a German word and a fable, both providing dark, quiet and grand images for this musical endeavor. This CD was originally released on his own label Lascaux, which is dedicated to avant garde sounds. This project includes former members of Saisei-Ongaku and Last of Ride.

 

 

REVIEWS

MEAN STREETS MAGAZINE
Review by Randali

Originally released last year, this is weird and interesting techno from the label that often brings you weird and interesting stuff. A nice feature is that each title appears to be equated with a different color. There's even a little soothing flute-synth in the mix; particularly on track 4, "Larks-blue". Beat wise, after about the second cut this release tends to dip into Portishead land a lot. Interestingly, both my roomates wandered out of their respective rooms while I was playing it, first one, then the other, ostensibly to "Listen A Little Closer" and "Find Out Who This One Is..." Perfect for your sleepytime pleasure.

THOUSAND WORDS MAGAZINE
Issue 25
SCHWARZWALD - Kuroi-Mori
Review by Jennifer Bogardus

The press on this album calls the seven tracks "hypnotic", which means smoke a bit, sit back and enjoy your journey into Hiroki Furutani's world of stoner hip hop -- almost trip hop -- beats. There is a lushness to this by means of classical flute-like melodies that float throughout. An occasional bridge to jungle pops up, not quite making me want to jump up, but definitely scoring high in groove factor.

OUTBURN MAGAZINE
Fall 1999 issue
SCHWARZWALD - Kuroi-Mori
Review by Steven Teref

We have Hiroki Furutani, a Japanese artist under a German nom de plume, playing a British form of music, trip-hop. With this cross-cultural referencing in mind, there is a haiku essence embodied in the hyphenated collision of ideas found in the music titles which are comprised of two words, a noun, and a color, forcing the listener to compile a picture out of the raw word collage. What does Furutani bring to a seemingly saturated music style such as trip-hop? He brings a fusion implied by the titles: he adds color. He elevates the formula with classical flute in "Larks-Blue", and he solders jungle to it in "Spring Pink." He lifts it out of its darkness by bringing it bright beauty, giving it a new eloquence by expanding its lexicon.

CAMPUS CIRCLE NEWSPAPER
August 99, Vol. 9 / Issue 13
SCHWARZWALD - Kuroi-Mori
Review by Sean-Michael Yoder

Tone Casualties is the musical offshoot of "The Simpsons" animators Klasky Csupo and promises to feature "unconventional sound adventures and daring endeavors in new electronic music." Great, another company throwing its hat into the latest fad electronica. Sure, in this business it happens all the time, but America's fad also happens to be my life and livelihood. Unknown Schwartzwald (translation: "Black Forest"), a.k.a. Hiroki Furutani, manages only to conjure images of lovely chocolate cakes inmy mind. Another faceless electronica package? Hardly, because to my ears, Schwartzwald delivers tasty aural treats in the realm of Asian drum 'n' space with an odd, classical music bent.

Pardon my cultural ignorance, but until recently I thought that only Americans like Dubtribe Sound System and Q-Burns Abstract Message were creating live non-rave electronic music for a mass audience. Imagine then how surprised I was when Asian techno began its migration across the Pacific to end up in my mailbox.

Schwartzwald may end up being my favorite artist with all of its weird twists and turns. Each of the seven songs on Kuroi-Mori has a title and a color to correspond. From the drum 'n' bass-influenced track "Spring-Pink" to the Berlioz-sounding "Larks-Blue", no sound is left unexploited and untweeked by the perceptive Schwartzwald.

Final analysis: as a critic, I'm tickled pink by something as unique and handmade as Kuroi-Mori, especially in a genre quickly becoming rife with crapola --- Prodigy anyone? Sadly, as an album buyer, I can empathize with the instant confusion of this recording. While the disc is teeming with one of the richest tapestries of sound, it has no identifiable and danceable hooks. Schwartzwald has fallen victim to the same standards that felled the kraut-rock bands of the early '70s. Grade: Nice CD -- lots of bonus points for excessive creativity.

DIGITAL ARTIFACT MAGAZINE
Issue #12, Summer 1999
SCHWARZWALD - Kuroi-Mori
Review by Saboteur

The expanding musical borders of Tone Casualties artist roster covers quite a vast array of music within the electronic realm, and Hiroki Furutani alias Schwarzwald is a shining example of a quality, up and coming artist who is blazing new paths. The music itself is a beautiful combination of gentle ambient-trip-hop-acid-jazz splashed against a showering wall of cellos, dubby world-style bass grooves, shadowy vocal samples and intense orchestral and horn segments led forth by vivid string sections. Take the retro-esque sound of Portishead, mix that with the world groove of Delerium, and throw in some heavy dub and a little ethnic backbeat and one can get a visible idea of the complex sound of Schwarzwald. The bulkhead tracks like the aptly titled opener "Forest Black", the frenzied "Spring Pink", the distorted fuzz-dub of "Larks Blue" among other color-flavored tracks provide a provocative look into the mind and style of a future talent not yet recognized by the world yet.

FEEDBACK MONITOR WEB-ZINE
SCHWARZWALD - Kuroi-Mori

Schwarzwald (or Black Forest) refers to the Southwestern area of Germany where many legends and fairy tales (not to mention a tasty chocolate & cherry cake) were born. It's also the name chosen by Japanese artist Hiroki Furutani for his mostly mellow insturmental hip/trip-hop project. While I'm not sure of the intended connection between the two (except for maybe the slight Old World feeling that the use of strings brings to several tracks), it still doesn't stop Kuroi-Mori from being a pleasant diversion or downtempo goodness. The opening track "Forest-Black", with its dark-edged dub groove and muffled vocal samples, is especially nice. And by clocking the disc in at just under 45 minutes, Furutani goes for quality over quantity, giving the listener enough sounds to be satisfied but not so much that they're bored by the end of the first run-through.

 

DAILY TROJAN
Friday, April 30, 1999
SCHWARZWALD - Kuroi-Mori
"Use The Schwarz" by Ian Young

Understanding Kuroi-Mori, a brilliant trip into the depths of all that is electronic and synthetic -- and everything in between -- is a task not so easily accomplished.

Like a good riddle, everything seems foreign at first, and then the definite ideas seem to bond together into a recognizable pattern of truth and reason. Frustration then melts away, manifesting into calm and fulfillment.

Schwarzwald's Kuroi-Mori is more than a good riddle. At first, any single element of the album is a mystery -- from the concept of the names of tracks (a matching between a noun and a color such as "Larks-Blue" or "Forest-Black") to the usage of electronics alongside stringed insturments. However, after listening to the first track and focusing on the gentle flowing of harmonious sounds, things become clear and one soon realizes: the music is magic.

The mastermind behind Schwarzwald, Hiroki Furutani, former member of Saisei-Ongaku and Last of Ride, manages to transcend any one genre of electronica. Dipping into elements of drum n bass, ambiance and jungle, the closest comparison that can be made would be to newer-era Orbital minus the electronic blips. Also used is synthetic insturmentation, such as pianos, strings and flutes, which all add a warm depth to the electronic beats. Each track dives with a certain urgency that doesn't allow the listener to slip away in its ambient soundscape, but a sort of numbing calm accompanies it.

Lush and passionate, the seven tracks on Kuroi-Mori will not dissapoint. Schwarzwald's Kuroi-Mori is the answer to the riddle one may have --- a universal panacea in its own right.

 

TOXIC FLYER FANZINE
Issue #28, June 1999
SCHWARZWALD - Kuroi-Mori
Review by BW

Drum and bass with a trip hop beat - added to other various rhythms an experimental noises and Japanese chants thrown in at times that gives off a more far east SNEAKER PIMPS / TRICKY feel.