Kaito Hundred Million Light Years CD - Import

After the charm of Kaito's first disc won over the hearts of trance music naysayers and won favor with the hard-hearted ambient purists via the beatless version of the album, Kompakt began a mild onslaught of releases exploring the melodic, epic side of techno that bordered on progressive house/trance. Many of these records infused the spirit and romanticism of early Detroit releases with the dramatic arrangements of European electronic music from the early '90s. And while a few hit the mark dead on, there were others that never really captured the formula quite as well as Kaito. So with Hundred Million Light Years, Kaito retains that blueprint and expands further upon his musical vocabulary to keep things moving in a progressive direction (progressive in the evolutionary sense, not the stylistic). The album's opener "Color of Feels" and "Hundred Million Light Years" are reminiscent of Carl Craig's epic Landcruising record, as well as his "Dominas" remix of Maurizio, and is a wonderful reminder of Kaito's sense of arrangement and timing that made Special Life so addictive. The remainder of the album is equally as dramatic and engaging, and works well in a variety of settings. There's no sign of an ambient version of Hundred Million Light Years on the horizon, but it would definitely be a welcome exercise in listening to how truly a layered and detailed experience this album is. ~ Rob Theakston

As with his initial full-length Special Life, Kompakt had the good sense to reissue Kaito's Hundred Million Love Years stripped of its imaginative percussion and programming work, leaving only layers of synthesizers that create some of the most melodic textures and atmospherics few modern dance records can rival. Like Special Love, this presents Kaito's compositions in a whole new light, highlighting parts and melodic passages that would normally be hidden under a layer of furious drum kicks and fills. The album's opening track alone is hauntingly energetic and borderline pastoral with sweeping synth washes and stabs that easily bests the original version. Easily one of the most engaging records from Kompakt or their sub-labels in 2006. ~ Rob Theakston

Kaito: Hiroshi Watanabe.