De De Mouse (デデマウス)

Taking a quick look at his influences, everything from Lizst to Brahms to Morricone to Venetian Snares to Audry Hepburn to YMCK and then taking into account that he's currently signed to Japan's massive Avex label after only a few years in operation, one begins to get an image of the very unique artist that is De De Mouse (aka Daisuke Endo). Indeed, the music that this one-man electro symphony creates is at once very musical and complex, yet extremely childish and innocent, bright and catchy.

While firmly planted in the cyber-soil of today's modern music making software and techniques, something about De De Mouse's '70 and '80 throwbacks make his music seem almost outside of our time. While nothing like Boards of Canada's muzzy, kaleidoscopic walks down memory lane, Endo does seem to be traveling in the same direction. From his excellent (not to mention colorful) album covers featuring young kids dancing with animals in dreamlike landscapes, to his signature use of cut-up falsetto lyrics in a beguiling non-language, the elements of his songs all work to create an idyllic world. Others have described his lyrics as "vocoded," but they aren't. They are actually more along the lines of those found in some of Nobukazu Takemura's work, or that of the popular Vocaloid software that spawned the omnipresent Hatsune Miku. They are totally synthetic, generated, cut up and manipulated through pitch bending software. This is yet another layer of twinkling magic added to the already thick and gauzy blanket of shimmering sounds.

While rather repetitive, the songs do slowly evolve, though not very far. They bounce along on their punchy-yet-pleasing beats, never glitchy or broken in any way (though Endo's first album is a bit more abrasive.) The clockwork synths run from one chord to the next, shifting the entire songs along with them in a rather robotic, auto-harp fashion. The vocals are more like a child singing their own traditional tribal anthems than actual words.

De De Mouse manages to ride that fine line between totally self indulgent trainspotting synth programmers and overly processed dance-pop idols. It's definitely art-house stuff, but its presentation and flat out jubilant, wide eyed innocence makes it instantly accessible to anyone looking for a quick shot of pure bliss.