Having recently unveiled a special live set at Berlin Atonal 2017 and gone sampler-to-synth against Sam KDC in Ourea, Maiko Okimoto is finally ready to reveal her first solo EP under the name Lemna. Streaming in full below alongside a complete artist commentary, and now available through Samurai’s Horo imprint, Urge Theory is a relentless tour de experimental techno that immediately establishes the producer’s rising position in Japan’s underground scene….
“DICE”
I played with the rhythm—switching the musical measure of the synth riff on the drums, keeping a 12/8 meter. This track makes me picture a tetrahedron changing into a cube, a dodecahedron, and an octahedron. The relevance between a number in space and a number in time has always been deeply fascinating to me.
“DLPFC”
The components of my music are rhythm, tone, scale, and harmony. But I thought I’d like to try making music with only rhythm and tone changing. In other words, I wanted to write music like a monochrome line drawing—excluding any colors. I’m not very good at making this kind of music; I tend to want color. So this approach also meant a kind of challenge to myself.
“METAMORPHOSIS”
I tried to recreate M.C. Escher’s Metamorphosis art series on the time axis. I wanted to express the seamless metamorphosis as if “we were supposed to follow the repeated theme at regular intervals, but it has changed into another form without realising it.” In the case of this music, the boundary is relatively noticeable, as the pattern of the bass drum changes clearly at the break in a medial position. I’d like to try this theme again someday, as it’s very fun for me.
“BLOT”
I always write music emotionally and sensuously; 85/170 BPM fits me the most. I think it still has a lot of potential for development, as it’s possible to change the overall impression of the track depending on how you get the rhythm. In regards to this track, I tried to change it from a 6/8 to a 4/4 beat by switching the pattern of the hi-hat in the middle.
