Ryota Nozaki & Clams Casino
Photo provided by Mitch Stevens Revenant Earth
Clams Casino has teamed up with Japanese pianist and producer Ryota Nozaki (also known as Jazztronik) to reimagine his 2021 project Winter Flower. The six-track project stretches and recasts the original in a very new light of ambient meditation.
Clams Casino is known for his seminal hip-hop beat tapes and production for others. The Winter Flower project added to that with an immersive and melancholic batch of short productions. Winter Flower featured source material Ryota Nozaki on a number of tracks, which makes this new project very interesting.
Nozaki turns the tables on Clams, sampling Clams’ source material and adds new layers of synths and textures, using influences from work by Japanese ambient composers like Hiroshi Yoshimura and Takashi Kokobu.
So just to make sure this is all straight for everyone. Ryota Nozaki sent pieces of music to Clams Casino, who then sampled it into an instrumental mixtape. Then Ryota Nozaki took the pieces, which had used his work, and did his own remixing and sampling to Casino’s music, bringing this full circle.
Ryota Nozaki adds another level of beauty to the project, while still keeping the mood of Winter Flower intact. The calming flutes, piano and soft pads guide Winter Flower Reimagined into an album that is tranquil, like sitting by a still lake on a chilly morning as the sun starts to peak over the mountains. “Mystic Temple” mirrors the title, like you are sitting in a Japanese temple with hundreds of years of history inside. Nozaki stretches out the beat tape from 17 minutes to 41 minutes, allowing his new elements to marinate.
Clams Casino brought music to the future with Winter Flower, but now Nozaki has taken this to the past, imbuing it with history, beauty, bliss and grace. With a snowstorm hitting a lot of the US tomorrow, this is the perfect soundtrack to watching snowflakes fall around you outside. Find your inner peace with Winter Flower Reimagined. Get your copy here.
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