Overview

Doujin events have become a sort of various remix albums as well as original music. Following the trend of other game composers, such as Supersweep and Nanosounds’ Nanosweep series, members of the Namco sound team decided to start releasing some of their own original music. Pinokiti Records, the brainchild of AJURIKA, released its first album, Opening Gambit, in October 2011. Featuring music by AJURIKA and ex-Namco composer sanodg, how does it turn out?

Body

The album opens with “The Wired Forest” by sanodg and features a very club oriented beat. I really like the catchy beat featured throughout the track, but what I find more impressive is the electronic accompaniment in the melody line. It is mellow at times, futuristic at others, and a bit funky during others. Overall, this is a very solid effort by sanodg and is reminiscent of his Ridge Racer tunes.

“Square Heart,” by AJURIKA, follows a similar approach, focusing on a more club oriented beat. What’s intriguing about this theme is that the accompaniment in the melody line is more akin to his approach during his more psytrance oriented tunes. I like the ethereal approach that it takes, however, I find it a bit less engaging than sanodg’s “The Wired Forest.” It’s still a solid tune though.

The other two themes on this album are remixes of original tunes by these two artists. “Hand Your Hand (AJURIKA Remix),” takes sanodg’s original, and turns it into a dubstep tune. What I really like about this tune is how well the mellow, ethereal synthesizer melodies and vocoder combine with the modulated bass in the accompaniment. It’s a combination that surprisingly works and makes the tune an enjoyable listen, especially for fans of dubstep.

The EP closes with sanodg’s remix of AJURIKA’s “Responsibility.” This remix is much different in sound, reminding me more of k.h.d.n.’s more experimental electronic work at times featuring lots of glitchy synthesizer effects, some atmospheric synthesizer, and an almost tribal electronic beat. While creative, I find it to be the least accessible of the tracks on the album, although it is a fairly solid remix.

Summary

In the end, I think that Opening Gambit is a solid listen from start to finish. Each artist provides an engaging sound, ranging from more club oriented beats to more experimental electronic sounds. Compared to the Fruited Vagabond releases, which came out after this album, this album is certainly more creative. This can also be heard via Soundcloud prior to buying and is currently available on the US iTunes store.