Blonde Redhead singer Kazu Makino is from Kyoto, Japan, a few hours' drive from where a 9.0 earthquake and resulting tsunami caused toxic meltdowns at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in 2011. Though rebuilding efforts have been extensive, the effects of the disaster continue a year later, and in many cases the people of Japan still have no way of knowing if their food has been contaminated by radiation. This compilation, bringing together unreleased tracks from friends and likeminded musicians such as Deerhunter, Four Tet, and Terry Riley, is Makino's attempt to raise money and support for ongoing relief work in Japan. Charity records are a tricky thing, since it can be difficult to make a group of artists' songs hang together like a traditional album. Some of the most notable examples (1993's No Alternative, 2009's Dark Was the Night) got around this by using kind of a mixtape format, offering stylistically varied songs from loosely related bands buffet-style. We Are the Works in Progress, though, takes more of an AOR approach. Each of the cuts here are similar in pace (slow) and coloring (gray), and there's a somber, almost funereal quality that ties them all together. For example, Blonde Redhead's reworked "Penny Sparkle" is such a natural transition from John Roberts' "Berceuse" that you could mistake them for the same musician. That cohesiveness goes a long way, but sometimes gets misspent on material that's a little on the weak side. There are some big names here, artists we expect to deliver on a consistent basis, but unfortunately they don’t give away their prime stuff. A good example is the Deerhunter contribution "Curve", a slow-building ambient rock piece that is perfectly pleasant-sounding but lacks the danger and emotional rawness that marks the band's best work. This is to be expected on a compilation like this, really, and Makino says as much in the liner notes but flips it as a positive. "Many of these tracks are works in progress, hence the name... Unfinished things often carry more energy." That's true in certain spots. The best tracks here have a sketchy, rough-hewn quality that suggests an artist stumbling onto something promising. Pantha du Prince's "Bird on a Wire" sounds like a precursor to his breakout Black Noise material, teasing the combination of grit and airiness that made that album so compelling. Most of Works is not as strong, existing primarily in B-side territory, but there is something thematically satisfying about its looseness. Here's a record dedicated to a place that was wrecked and is trying to rebuild. The devastated parts of Japan won't resurrect in a day; it's a slow process of gray areas and false starts and moments of promise. That's how this music feels. Read more on Last.fm.
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