Track Tale #1: So Inagawa - Logo Queen
An intricate web of dancefloor machinery...
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4 word review: Touchy floral energy preserver
Hey. Welcome to Track Tales, a new series of posts that I’ll be releasing on the first day of every month. In these shorter articles, I’ll look at a piece of electronic music that I enjoy and talk about the small details that make it great. The goal here is accessible analysis: there will be a mix of simple music theory and subtle musing. Hope you enjoy.
Recommended instructions: Listen through once without looking at the notes below, then read the article, playing the embedded segments as you go.
Purchase Link: https://www.discogs.com/master/1470845-So-Inagawa-Logo-Queen
This one is not available digitally and the record is pretty sought after, but you never know when a repress might come
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For the first release on his Cabaret imprint, So Inagawa took matters into his own hands and put out an instant classic. All the pieces fit together here, pushing and pulling in an intricate web of dancefloor machinery.
Throughout this track, Inagawa is very methodical: he establishes the bones and adds the meat and skin after. Starting from 0:00, we have a couple of elements that will remain more or less constant throughout. A simple 4/4 kick, an organ-sounding stab on beat 1, and a bassline covering beats 2 through 4. This sort of splits the bar into 2 parts: you have the stab on the first beat, then a moment of silence, then the clustered bassline. The main effect of that structure is an emphasis on the first beat of the bar, which will increase the impact of every element that is added later on.
At 0:28, we get a little vocal sample, marking the entrance of the hi-hat and the clap. These are crisp and pneumatic, highly reminiscent of Thomas Melchior. The layered clap on the 4th beat is a nice addition, with a quiet start on the off-beat leading up to the 4 and a lower tone than the main clap. This adds a dash of swing to the arrangement.
Blink and you might miss it: at 1:03, the lead makes its first appearance in whispered form. For me, the big idea of this track is suggestion, so I’ll suggest now that you keep that in mind as we continue.
After 1 more teasing of the lead, the rhythm cuts out for 8 beats at 2:03 and a rising noise brings us the lead in its fullest form yet. Sweet soft chords play out, then echo in a pocket of space, then reverse into a repetition of the cycle. At the end of this clip, a tambourine comes in, easing us out of a heady bliss and into a head-nodding, foot-moving mood.
And then the lead checks out for a minute, leaving us with a sparse stretch of tambourine-and-bass. Never mind, it’s back in a different form. The standard start gives way to a shimmering structure of notes, and they’re gone as soon as they appear, their imagined tones buzzing in your head like moths around a porch light.
Up to this point, the kick has not left the track. We get the reversing version of the lead on its own, until Inagawa plunges it into one of those sublime moments where everything works in unison. The keys are freed from their tight loop to change tone, setting themselves up for an advancement that never comes.
To wrap the track up, Inagawa once more suggests addition and delivers subtraction. Those ethereal notes are held inches away from our grasp, floating in an expanse of stripped-down percussion.
When I listen to Logo Queen, I find it is strongly connected to the Japanese concept of iki. The best way I can explain it is an appreciation of desire for its own sake, separating it from the urge to possess something. With that being said, the excerpt below does a much better job.
“Though each of the following senses has its own Chinese character, the phonological "iki" can mean: (1) life, lively or fresh, (2) breath or breathing, (3) going in the sense of coming and going, and (4) spirit or morale. Kuki’s primarily intended sense of "iki" is usually translated by "chic" or "stylishness." Neither of these is wholly satisfactory because, as Kuki explains, the extension of the Japanese word equally signifies (1) seduction, (2) bravura and (3) resignation/renunciation. It describes a mode of behavior which increases aesthetic enjoyment by drawing toward and withdrawing from the object of delight. It is a way of life which toys with the abyss, the Abgrund; a way of life which finds pleasure in never quite knowing where it is.”
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Recommended readings:
https://www.academia.edu/91209546/Phenomenology_and_Japan
The full article that I took the iki excerpt from, it’s an exceptional long read on Japan’s relationship with phenomenology
https://jp.ra.co/features/2418
The English translation isn’t perfect, but this is a nice interview with So Inagawa if you want to learn more about him