💿 LINDSAY LOWEND — LL 2020 - VOLUME 1

⌾ LISTEN TO LINDSAY LOWEND, LL 2020 - VOLUME 1 EP ⌾

---

Back in 2013, Lindsay Lowend released an incredible collection of music: the Wind Fish EP. It popped with energy, combining hyperactive dopamine-firing electronics and footwork-flavoured beats with videogame music for an unforgettable sound. With the added bonus of being, in title at least, inspired by a unique Zelda title (Game Boy bop Link's Awakening, of course), Lindsay Lowend set a bar of quality for early '10s internet music.

And then he was gone — sort of. Lindsay Lowend maintained an output of a few sporadic tracks from then on, and even an album under his actual name, Antonio Mendez — 2018's Highland Drive.

Meanwhile, the Wind Fish EP, and its creator, drifted into legend.

- But now like Link himself in a legend retold, Lowend has risen and released LL 2020 - Volume 1 into the world: a 3-track EP that enlists the help of fellow VGM-leaning musicmaker Maxo.

Beginning with a dose of chiptune, 'NBA LIVE 99' shares the funk-meets-jazz club vibe of its namesake's soundtrack (check out the NBA Live 99 menu music, for starters) but keeps it strictly 16-bit. The bass fuzz and staccato beat, stuttering melodies and glittery top notes carve a territory somewhere between Streets of Rage and an off-duty Sonic the Hedghog, moving into a second half beset with hefty chords and fluid neon melody. It's a party.

In 'should my pet be eating that' (lol), the sound morphs into something more contemporary, plasma chords clacking with wonky sheen — similar to the spacey vibe of the 'Wi-Fi Menu' theme in Mario Kart Wii and the stark, soft-and-sharp intro to Dizzee Rascal's 'Sittin' Here'. It presses on, driven by a robust D&B-flavoured beat (a passage of skiffling breakbeat dropped in for good measure), the warm melodica-esque chords and a woozy virtuosic melody painting a the by-the-sea vibe.

'Permabanned' (again: lol) finishes things up beautifully. Like admiring a sunset with new pals on Animal Crossing, this is Lowend's effervescent collab with Maxo, streaks of melody like sun sparkling on water playing over a chord progression that K.K. Slider would be proud of: lounge-y, emotive and dipping into pools of chill, snippets of real-life birdsong peal between the instrumental (it's not his first foray into foley, going by this Breath of the Wild redub) — a trickle of reality from your window. An echo, maybe, of Wind Fish title track with its crashing waves and beeping seagulls.

The first multi-track release from Lindsay Lowend in years may be short, but it hits the spot: pure chiptune, VGM-style atmospheres, variegated beats, a lush environment. And if you're left wanting more, that's ok: LL 2020 - Volume 1 is just the beginning.

---

• 🔔 You can listen to and purchase ($1, or more if you're feeling generous) Lindsay Lowend's LL 2020 - Volume 1 over on his Bandcamp.

---

📠
☟ Lindsay Lowend Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter ⚘

---

🌏 VISITS TOKYO — ON THE TRAIL OF MIKAO USUI'S GRAVE

A day or two into our big Japan trip we received a message. A relative who is trained in Reiki healing had heard of our travels and wanted to see if we could do something for her. The message read a little like this:

"Are you in Japan now? I wonder if you can find the founder of Reiki's grave before you leave Tokyo, he is buried somewhere but I do not know where. If you find it will you pay respects for me?"

The message came to us like the ghost that suddenly follows you around in Zelda: Link's Awakening, and only disappears once you find the old house by the sea and then take it back to its grave (spoiler—sorry).

We had a couple of free days left in the city and decided that finding the grave might be an intriguing adventure. The hunt was on. But this was not our pilgrimage and we really had not much more than an vague idea of what Reiki stood for. More interested in exploring parts of the city that we may've otherwise missed, we set off one cold January morning in search of the final resting place of Miako Usui.

We found warmth in a the lung-drenching smoke filled section of the Excelsior Caffe in Sasakua station. The fist place to look was inevitably the internet. A lady had been to the grave and in true brilliant internet fashion had created a step by step map to the grave. Nothing is a hidden secret anymore.

A few metro rides to Shin-Koenji station to where the map led us. We came out of the station and the harshness of the bitterwinter hit our lungs and hurt. This was a local area with bike stands and poodle parlours patterned along small classically Asian lanes. Nothing was unusual or notable about this district and we wondered fleetingly what we were doing here; Tokyo is full of wonders and here we were, iPad in freezing hand trying to find notable points at which to turn left or right.

We had to walk along the wall of the graveyard for a long time and then we turned right and a gate appeared. We'd found a graveyard – this we thought was the accomplishment – this was meant to be the place where Mikao Usui was laid to rest. Clanking old watering cans and wooden buckets were neatly piled in sheds. Big sticks with Japanese wording painted diligently along them in memory of a lost one and graves attended to with the uppermost care.

The rows of dark grey stone felt tall and foreboding. A foreign graveyard, line upon line of graves and no clue which direction to take. The sun was sinking into the horizon and it was getting colder, our breath billowed out alive among the company of the dead as we slowly stepped along the small stone pathways, inspecting graves and trying to identify details. Was it this one? This stone looks the right shape. This one has the right characters but not quite.

Then we found it. The jagged shape of the memorial stone stood out and the bold character made sense. This was where Mikao Usui was buried and that message all the way from Somerset had lead us to here. A man came by as we stood. He bowed to the grave, lit an incense stick and took a moment for himself. We busied ourselves in looking at other graves, not wanting to disturb him. He left and went on with his commute home, this act seemed so normal to him that it must be part of his daily ritual. We wondered how many people visit this quiet spot in a big city to pay their respects. Buried at our feet was a man who stated a global spiritual practice and had effected many people's lives. His influence was outliving him, in death he continues to reach out with his teachings.

We decided we should find out what the memorial stone was telling us. The large kanji at the top of the memorial reads,

"Memorial of Usui Sensei's virtue."

"He never showed off and always had a smile on his face; he was also very courageous in the face of adversity. He was, at the same time, a very cautious person. His talents were many." You can read the whole translation here.

We left Mikao Usui's resting place and went back along the path we came. Returning to Sasazuka on the metro, back to the city buzz of the city as night fell but we did not leave all of Usui-san there. He came with us in his teachings. Like a key to the next part of the game, an entrance to the dungeon that would lead us to level up.

That night we sat down and wrote a message back to our Aunt:

'I found Mikao Usui's resting place and memorial in a beautiful graveyard and stood for a while and thought about his teachings.
Don't anger
Don't worry
Be thankful
Work hard
Be kind
Thank you for leading me there.

REBECCA ALICE SAUNDERS
@yesnotravel

---

---

⟡ All photographs © 2016, yes/no. Please credit if used ⟡

---

---

LINDSAY LOWEND WIND FISH EP

This is my kind of music. Like, so seriously, it is my kind of music. I can't stress that enough. So if I talk too nicely about it then you're just gonna have to deal with it. Sorry. Anyway, I just saw someone post a song from this EP on Twitter and once I explored further into the actual EP itself I just had to post it up. I have a bit of trouble with multiple-song posts, because as you know I usually only just write about one song; when I write about lots of songs in one place, I tend to write about each song individually. But who wants to go onto a music blog and hear the blogger being self-deprecating, trembling in fear at the task ahead of him, complaining of his own efforts and talents? Nobody, of course. And that's why I am about to plough ahead. Once more unto the breach.

So first of all this is a nice collection of songs by someone called Lindsay Lowend (great name), a guy from America. I don't know anything more than that. The EP is gloriously titled Wind Fish after that mythical is-it-real-or-is-it-a-dream entity from the classic Gameboy title, Zelda: Link's Awakening - and it's not the first time that LL has referenced the game: he uses its intro theme for the intro in this mix, for instance. References aside, it's a stunning EP. One that makes you glad to be alive & with ears to boot.

On the whole it's a beat-heavy foray into a world that mixes cutesy electronica/game soundtrack with sunny hip-hop. When it all first starts with 'GT40', a rap sample declares "Got dem hoes in the kitchen" - a refrain that pops up throughout the song. The song is all swagger and sweetness, a strange mix, but it works. Machine gun hi-hats fire over explosive kicks and snares that cook up a glitchy skate-hop beat. Female vocals feature as samples throughout - something that's taken to the next level on 'Sass Mouth'. Altered female vocals zing through the distorted bass of the track, a more laid-back affair than the previous song. It's late evening in this one. Sunset has only just finished, leaving a red sky and the remnants of a humid day behind.

The strange videogame soundtrack synth sounds of 'It's George' are quite lovely - the high-pitched synth that almost seems to cry out is a stroke of genius. The audacious way that it's toyed with and strongly modulated is almost breathtaking. Just before 6 minutes in this song there's a brain-twisting drum solo (from where, I don't know - anything to do with a George the Drummer somewhere?) that seems to mark a change in the song's dynamic in general. This next section features minimal fluffy synth, dreamy glockenspiels, a sense of fidgety urgency - sounds a bit like the music in the Mysterious Woods from Link's Awakening, actually. This one's heavy with nostalgia. A real journey. And it's where you see the hip hop influence fall away in everything except the beat.

Same goes for final belter and title track 'Wind Fish'. Game-like synths set the scene at the beginning but we're soon transported to a dance-mat aesthetic, frantic double-speed house pianos battle against cutesy swarming synth-vox. The second half, however, is a dream world where the samples are chiptune-waves crashing on the beach, then a glossy synth chord odyssey with a two-step beat before finally we're whisked away out of the dream and back to reality.

Anyway. It's damn good and damn beautiful and if you like hip hop or game music or anything remotely electronic and wholly original, then get this. You can buy it iTunes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Lindsay Lowend on Facebook
Listen to Lindsay Lowend on Soundcloud
Follow Lindsay Lowend on Twitter