Tunes Consumed: the Poutine Silver Platter

Not anymore, Mr. Takuji Aoyagi.

It seems Kama Aina is (finally) getting some Geographic lovin’. It began just last year with Club Kama Aina leaving the shores of Japan via Rumraket, and that was an amazing release. Now it’s time that Music Activist come around to this side of the world. This release is especially appropriate, seeing as it spells out in plain English precisely what Mr. Aoyagi is.

Mr. Aoyagi believes thoroughly in experiencing the world, so it’s no surprise that where he calls home (such a dense city like Tokyo) would elicit in him such potent cabin fever. I imagine this is what fuels his desire to travel, and every place he visits somehow rubs something off on him, which is then turned around and expressed in his music. Often times he will even pull out a mic to capture the scene (like many of the sounds in “Wedding Suite”), and the rest of the time this recreation is a duty he’s taken upon himself to act out with strings and various other instruments.

The name Kama Aina has origins as a Hawaiian word that literally means ‘native man’, and not unlike Hawaii - the island everyone longs for but never seems to visit - his music plays like a faraway fantasy island, no doubt like his mind.

Music Activist is a best-of compilation that doesn’t play like a best-of, but rather, like a series of delicately crafted vignettes. It’s on shelves now, and you can grab a copy direct from Geographic here.

mp3:
Kama Aina - Worms in ‘71
Kama Aina - Wedding Suite