Hotaka [CD-single] [Import]

Hotaka [CD-single] [Import]

Track Listings

1. Hotaka [Edit]

2. Hotaka

3. Hotaka [Kloq Remix]

4. Hotaka [Kris Kylven Remix]

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Latest Single from Ben Watkins and Company. Released Exclusively in Japan Until January, 2003.

Tracks:

Hotaka [Radio Edit]
Hotaka [12" Dance Version]
Hotaka [Thomas P. Heckman Remix]
Hotaka [Der Dritte Raum Remix]

Album Description

This single shows the constant innovations and influences that make Juno Reactor a timeless act. Recorded in Japan it features Steve Stephens (Billy Idol) on guitar and the traditional Taiko drummers, Gocoo. The Radio Edit is backed by the 12 inch version, Thomas P. Heckman remix & Der Dritte Raum Remix. Metropolis. 2002.

Customer Reviews:

Not what you're going to expect..........2004-11-08

First off, this CD is nothing like Juno Reactor's other stuff. Track 1 is the RADIO EDIT of "Hotaka" and is drastically shortened and dwarfed by it's counterpart, Track 2, 12" Dance Version. In fact, I never listen to Track 1. It's short and not worth listening to. "It's for the radio", you might say, but this song really isn't meant for the radio. Hotaka is just too OUT THERE, for it's own good, if you know what I mean?

If you really want to listen to "Hotaka", just purchase Odyssey 1992-2002. You will find "Hotaka", in all it's glory, as the last song.

The last 2 tracks are Trans/Techno mixes. I REALLY like Track 4, mixed by Der Dritte Raum. With voice quotes mixed form Alice in Wonderland and other obscure out-takes it's so unlike Juno Reactor, it shouldn't even be on this single, but it definitely has it's own style and at least would interest you in Der Drtte Raum's other music.

Track 3 is very "techno"-ish, with a repetitive beat throughout the whole track, so be warned.

The worth of this CD is debatable. If you're looking to spend $7 bucks + shipping frivolously, then go for it. Otherwise, save your cash.

Gocoo rejuvenates Juno Reactor.......2004-01-31

I bought this CD instead of the Odyssey 1992-2002, as I already own all of JR's published albums. I was very pleased with this purchase and felt it was well worth the money, even though there is very little variation between the tracks.

The highlight of this track (and I also believe behind JR's work on the Matrix II Soundtrack) is the taiko drum work by Gocoo. For those of you who are unfamiliar with taiko drumming, checkout the group Kodo and their Live at the Acropolis DVD. Gocoo is what I would call a more modern non-traditional taiko group. If you are a fan of JR's work during "Beyond the Infinite" and "Bible of Dreams", then you will most likely enjoy this single. If you are not familiar with Juno Reactor's work, then you might want to check out the two aforementioned albums as I believe that was their best work to date. "Shango" sounds like a collection of singles with no coherence, and the elusive debut album "Transmissions" is good, but not on the same level as the rest.

Hotaka
Average customer rating:

The Game Is On

Hotaka
Juno Reactor
Manufacturer: Japanese Import
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
General | Techno | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
Trance | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
Dance & DJ | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00006BGZB
Release Date: 2002-10-29

Album Details

Latest Single from Ben Watkins and Company. Released Exclusively in Japan Until January, 2003.

Customer Reviews:

The Game Is On.......2002-10-06

The only two electronica bands whose current music excites me anymore are Autechre and Juno Reactor. They're the only ones who don't have styles that have already played themselves out-Autechre keeps re-inventing their style (they're on their third, now, I think), and Juno Reactor really only came into their own with _Shango_. What draws me to these two is also how antithetical the directions they sketch out for techno are: Autechre demands more contemplation, more rational attention to form, less musical tradition, less dancing, truly cerebral music; whereas Juno Reactor is furiously, even ridiculously dramatic, god-damn Hollywood-ish, demand that one rock in one's chair when not dancing, and don't hesitate to marshal every established emotional cue and rock-based musical trick in the book.

Needless to say, after hearing Autechre's very good _Gantz Graf_ EP, I was dying for the Reactor to step up to the plate with the Hotaka single. I want their upcoming albums to be electronica's _Sgt. Pepper_ vs. _Smile_ extravaganza. As of yet, I have not been disappointed. In a way similar to _Gantz Graf_, _Hotaka_ comes from a band trying to take the major advance on their last album and ground it more integrate it with their own instincts and traditions. By and large, the wilder orchestration and more rock-like organization of _Shango_ are here, but alongside, I was surprised to discover, a much more _Beyond the Infinite_-like timbre. We've got a fuzzed-out bouncing trance beat for a base, samples of arcing electricity, choral singers, guitar melodies that have obviously been lifted from a James Bond film, and even Steve Stevens doing that "Biot Messiah" thing on the guitar, Ben Watkins-style (!...). The track pushes the past _Shango_, too: the way the beat comes in waves near the beginning is a organizational step up, and Gocoo provides some wonderfully syncopated shouts that are a nice break from the usual straight trance 4/4.

The track isn't a home run: there are more unvaried sixteen-bar reps, a step down from the Fluke-like blitz that some of _Shango_, notably "Pistolero", exhibited. And at eight minutes, the track overstays its welcome. Call it a stand-up triple.

I won't bother to review the remixes. They're both pretty okay. The Kloq one works pretty hard to make a standard groovin' trance track out of the whole affair. Whatever. Buy the single if you can't stand the wait. Just don't let reviewers or anyone else convince you that Juno Reactor is too goofy, low-brow, and culturally imperialist or isn't good and intelligent enough to be one of the two best bands in twenty-first century electronica. Game on for Confield II vs. Shango II in 2003?

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