barcodezine Opressive trip-hop beats litter this enjoyable solo project from Japanese musician, Hiroki Furutani. The sampled strings and reflective piano trickles add an emotive and often melancholy feel to the programmed backbeats, while the sparse sampled textures and vocals add some interesting diversions, the skeletal song structures always strictly adhered to. The live piano and sawing guitars of 'Flip Light Cruiser' give the track a contemporary jazz feel, yet the music remains contemplative until the trip-hop beats up tempo and push the track into a more excitable direction.The classical strains of Back's 'Choral Prelude BWV 639' provide a haunting interlude until 'I Said, He Said' returns to cleverly punctuated beats and chill-out vocals, provide by Jun Miyazaki. This track is the best on show, Miyazaki's vocals are wordless yet perfectly complement the thought provoking musical blues. 'Slow' provides further introspective listening and finishes way to short, the ambience generating a lazy calm that respects further, long-lasting improvisation. Thankfully, the sumptuous piano chords, amidst a backdrop of crystal cut sampling, encore on the lengthy end title track. Always probing, 'Dawning' puts a highly enjoyable and, dare I say, unique obliqueness onto the trip-hop genre, and is remarkably consistent throughout. Pleasantly surprising release indeed.
	ink19 From the land of the rising sun comes Kuroi Mori, the latest oddball to wash up on our salty shores. The brainchild of only one, Hiroki Furutani, Dawning slowly wades through the downtrodden from start to finish. Tinges of jazz sprinkle the submerged melodies, with soothing piano and reverberating percussion permeating through the hip-hop "Circus" and virtually every other piece. The vocals remain few and far between, taking a backseat to the cascading sounds. At times, it steps too close to FSOL imitation, like on the closing title track. Other times, it could be mistaken for elevator music, but we need to be easy on our ears every once in a while, and Dawning goes down easier than sushi, so dig in.
	enoff Del nip溶 Hiro Furutani y su proyecto Kuroi Mori si que hab誕mos escuchado su anterior trabajo, editado en 1997, "Schwarzwald". Por lo tanto, digamos que el hombre se toma las cosas con calma. El recuerdo de ese anterior trabajo ha hecho que escuch�Lemos este "Dawning" con sumo inter市. El resultado final es que este disco es muy diferente al anterior. Manos experimental y oscuro que su predecesor, "Dawning" toma partido por composiciones m�L luminosas y atm耀feras menos turbias que las tomadas por The Flying Dutchman, aunque en el tema que abre el disco ("Time And Space"), uno puede tener la sensaci溶 de encontrarse ante un excelente disco de illbient. No es as?. "Dawning" apuesta por sonoridades pop mezcladas con trip hop, y tambi始 por el heavenly voices en el tema "I Said, He Said", y las armon誕s cl�Licas en la excelente adaptaci溶 del tema de Bach "Choral Prelude BWV 639". No sabemos si este es el camino en que se mover? Furutani en el futuro, pero si que deseamos que en sus pr踊imos trabajos vuelva alas tendencias m�L experimentales, aunque hayan apuntes de "Dawning" que nos resulten interesante.
	legendsmagazine Beat driven experimental electronic funk jazz with a hint of J-pop. That's as close as I've come to finding a way to accurately describe Artist Hiroki Furutani's work in this release. Tone Casualties is known for picking up artists who color outside the lines and in doing so create wildly fresh results. Dawning does just that - it's electronica without the usual hang ups of the genre. It's soothing without being boring. Loungy with out the bad polyester. Definitely worth investigating for fans of relaxed dub and martini stuff.
	legendsmagazine The latest underground buzz is for the band Kuroi Mori. Dawning is an odd collection of songs that range from dark, somewhat industrial to jazz-fusion. It is simply pointless to pigeonhole this into any one genre because they successfully blurred the lines. Music purists will probably discuss this until the end of time. Listeners however, will just kick back and enjoy the musical ride. Time and Space is a trance like envelopment with a ominous recitation which nags like a bad unconscious reminder of all that one is trying to forget. The sound effects are sparse but well placed to give the track another spatial level. The admonishment to open your life and live it fully because NOW is all there is, passionately reflects this sentiment as it is shouted at the listener in some future style motivation. This is a rather odd track that will grow on listeners relatively fast after repeated listens. Floating emanates with the similar tranquility one would expect from some of the tracks from My Scarlet Life. The music isn't goth or industrial, but has a dark atmospheric and electronic experimentation that defies genre labeling, yet is just over the edge of a form of darkwave to make it acceptable and enjoyable for the darkwave and ethereal fans. Flip Light Cruiser has a haunted fighter jet feeling at the intro that segues into an experimental jazz like composition, similar to works from My Scarlet Life. Choral Prelude BWV 639; from the depth of jazz fusion from the previous track ,we are then plunged into a morose and well crafted piano solo with hints of elements from a ghostly realm weaving between the spheres. I Said, He Said reflects a drum and bass element married to haunted trip hop. The vocals on this track are nothing short of sublime, seductive and gently haunting. From tracks 5 through 9, it is almost as if the CD was designed for lovemaking during the quiet hours of the post midnight hour. Circus delivers even more trip hop/drum and bass/electronic hybrids. The styles are broadly utilized that one could place this track in any number of genres, including modern jazz for its transitional quality. Slow has a more midnight jazz groove embodied with this track, similar to the atmospherics from Flip Light Cruiser. I Feel delivers a thematic track similar in style from those featured in police drama television shows that were infamous during the 1970's. Dawning combines the Asian elements of nature and music with incorporations of water drips, wind and hand chimes. The track conveys a musical collage of an opening of the heart and soul from some form of frozen internal tundra. Dawning is an album of a variety of styles and sound that are quite expertly done. Those in the underground looking for darker fare would be advised to seek elsewhere. The work has minimal elements that would classify it as dark, but is rather heavy on the jazz, experimental hybrid that works efficiently, though may grate on some goth purists who want their tones as dark as possible. Some tracks have made it to a number of DJ playlists over the last few months. Given the trip hop, slow groove and drum & bass elements on some of the song, it is understandable how this could actually work in some underground clubs. Kuroi Mori did not create an album to flail your arms around to, nor did it give any indication that it was meant for fans of that style. This work is introspective, simply asking the listening audience to mesh with sound in some symbiotic experience, as if in some mental tantric experience. The fact that some tracks have a bit of a dance element to them seems to be more of an after thought than an actual primary intention with the song conceptions. As a background album, particularly for the more adventurous, it works well for intimate moments. One could also seek some solace in the gentle rhythms to simply chill out with during the overcast and cloudy days where anything too boisterous would seem totally out of place.
	youkilledkingkong Trip-hop, electronics and some random noises... and some funky trumpet bits too! Combine this with the fact that the music is also quite good, and you end up with a very good record.
	BARCODE ONLINE MAGAZINE Opressive trip-hop beats litter this enjoyable solo project from Japanese musician, Hiroki Furutani. The sampled strings and reflective piano trickles add an emotive and often melancholy feel to the programmed backbeats, while the sparse sampled textures and vocals add some interesting diversions, the skeletal song structures always strictly adhered to. The live piano and sawing guitars of 'Flip Light Cruiser' give the track a contemporary jazz feel, yet the music remains contemplative until the trip-hop beats up tempo and push the track into a more excitable direction. The classical strains of Back's 'Choral Prelude BWV 639' provide a haunting interlude until 'I Said, He Said' returns to cleverly punctuated beats and chill-out vocals, provide by Jun Miyazaki. This track is the best on show, Miyazaki's vocals are wordless yet perfectly complement the thought provoking musical blues. 'Slow' provides further introspective listening and finishes way to short, the ambience generating a lazy calm that respects further, long-lasting improvisation. Thankfully, the sumptuous piano chords, amidst a backdrop of crystal cut sampling, encore on the lengthy end title track. Always probing, 'Dawning' puts a highly enjoyable and, dare I say, unique obliqueness onto the trip-hop genre, and is remarkably consistent throughout. Pleasantly surprising release indeed.
	ALTERNATIVE PRESS MAGAZINE Review by Bill Tilland Melancholy and elegant acid jazz, Japanese style. These nine tracks by Kuroi Mori (a pseudonym for Japanese techno artist Hiroki Furutani) traverse musical territory lying somewhere between new-age techno and cool acid jazz, but they're mostly imbued with an appealing and shadowy sense of melancholy. Ethereal wordless vocals are featured on several tracks, and the acid-jazz pieces use trumpet and vibraphone loops to good effect. "Flip Light Cruiser" utilizes Haruki Adachi's percussive piano, and while the piece is funky enough, the dissonant chords are closer to McCoy Tyner than they are to Les McCann. This is a very tasteful CD, and Furutani manages to put a firm individual stamp on his work without resorting to gratuitous flashes or gimmicks.
	COOL AND STRANGE MUSIC Review by Wilhelm Murg This is an interesting mixture of piano-led avant garde jazz, minimalism, electronics, and dance rhythms that sound like lounge music from Uranus. The production is stellar, giving the music a clean sound that seems almost traditional -- if you overlook the random noises and occasional spacecraft landing in the background. Producer and programmer Hiroki Fututani creates a musical-yet-distant soundscape that is both romantic and alienated, like Satie at his most enigmatic. This is especially true in "I Said, He Said", featuring the haunting vocals of Jim Miyazak. "Circus" suggests a James Bond theme mixed with a '70s porno soundtrack. "Slow" is like a sunny Bob James riff repeated endlessly. Dawining is a great album in the new instrumental wave. It's music for modern sophistocates with an edge.
	LEFANTASTIQUE.NET Online French magazine Review by JC Kuroi Mori est le projet solo du musicien Japonais Hiroki Furutani. Vous me direz "溝 nous fait une belle jambe". Soit. J'ajouterai alors que le bonhomme a 師? impliqu? dans diff屍ents projets avant-gardistes, 四ectroniques, mais aussi jazz. Il condense dans ce projet ces diff屍entes sensibilit市. Le jazz est pr市ent par ce rythme particulier et cette science dans l'agencement des sonorit市 permettant des compositions ? la fois douces et puissantes. L'四ectronique et l'avant-garde se retrouvent par son envie absolue de suivre une ligne: la sienne. Plus sombre et mois "trip" que Massive Attack, plus exotique qu'Endraum mais offrant tout autant de profondeur (sur une composition telle que "Time and Space"), Hikori Furutani se suffit ? lui-m仁e pour proposer avec Drawning un album prenant, intelligent qui trouverait volontiers sa place dans les discoth述ues d'amateurs de Autechre, Odd Jobs ou d'Ambient en g始屍al (Art of Noise dans sa p屍iode "Moments in Love" en moins neuneu quand-m仁e); de Trip-hop/dub ; enfin de toute musique dont l'atmosph俊e serait l'四士ent moteur. Celles cr試es par Kur? Mori sont ? la fois paisibles et inqui師antes, irr仔lles et charnelles ; ﾉ Kuro? Mori et Tone Casualities sont deux noms ? retenirﾉ
	ELECTROAGE Review by Phosphor Dawning is the follow-up to 1997ﾕs Schwarzwald (also released by Tone Casualties, though the band name was then Schwarzwald and the album title Kuroi-Mori), and this time makes a stronger focus on trip-hop beats with slight forays into hip-hop structures and ambient atmospherics. Live bass and piano complements drum machines and sequencers with a variety of vocal deliveries and styles. Time And Space features a rant-like diatribe atop secure beats while Floating is an airier effort, with light synths, piano and strings complemented by wispy female soul-like singing. Collaborations with multi-media outfit Last Of Ride produce two decidedly funkier pieces, Flip Light Cruiser and I Said, He Said and one experimental soundscape, Dawning which features a wordless soprano vocalisation for the finale. Between the trip-hop, funk and ambience there is a watery, melancholic rendition of Bachﾕs Choral Prelude BWV 639; the plaintive piano piece is here touched by gentle electronic effects and washes. Elsewhere, dark rumblings and trumpet murmurs slither in the phantasmal Circus and subdued jungle rhythms percolate under soaring string arrangements in I Feel. Dawning is at once similar and very different from the preceding Schwarzwald; while missing the gritty darkness and drama of the prior release, Dawning offers more complexity of composition and inventive integration of diverse styles of music. This variety means Dawning will have some brilliant successes, there will be equally noticeable shortcomings, which there are. At once uneven and wholly integrated, Dawning may not be initially engaging, but as it slowly reveals itself, the music grows in appeal. Certainly Kuroi-Mori are showing the widening scope electronic music is incorporating into itself.
	BIZARRE 13 MAGAZINE Gothic Industrial fanzine The solo project of Japanese musician Hiroki Furutani, who has been producing avant-garde / jazz music since the mid-eighties. Imagine minimal experimental trip hop mixed with Portishead's atmospherics and you'll get close to what is happening on this album. Sub cinematic sound-scapes and uptempo cocktail jazz themes all shaken and stirred to produce a heady brew. Touches of kitsch, schmaltz and sub-exotica all add to the late might chill club or bar atmospherics. Post-jazz and sleazy porn flick background sounds make this a must for anyone into the likes of Stereolab or the 'Vampiros Lesbos' film.
	SHANE QUENTIN From Tora! Company, U.K. Well this knocked me for six! Quite simply sublime and georgeous, and one of the finest LPs I've come across this year, and I will be playing the superb track "Ego Dissolve" as part of my alternative s/track to Luc Besson's "Atlantis" on March 18th at The Cube Cinema in Bristol! Come along and get fishy! Top CD!
	TOXIC FLYER FANZINE Review by BW Well Kuroi Mori music is a mixer of jazz, electronica, free style jazz meeting an avant sound with a trip hop beat. Very musch like Sneaker Pimps meeting Diamanda Galas.
	OUTBURN MAGAZINE Review by Daniel Hinds Jazzy trip-hop with a disturbed prog ambience: This is the solo work of one Hiroki Furutani, though he is aided throughout by various other instrumentalists and vocalists. Capturing a sound that is more of a feeling than a definite style, Dawning is a furtive jumble of hip-hop beats, supine melodies, chaotic poetry, and liquid textures. While most tracks are calm on the surface, there is a somewhat disquieting undertone that makes itself felt as each track lengthens and uncoils. The effect is intriguing at times, but elsewhere serves to undermine the music a bit, especially on the longer cuts. Kuroi Mori creates music that practically begs closer inspection, yet seems to reveal less and less the harder you listen. It is music that is only too happy to tease and remain a mystery.
	IN PERPETUAL MOTION Beat driven experimental electronic funk jazz with a hint of J-pop. That's as close as I've come to finding a way to accurately describe Artist Hiroki Furutani's work in this release. Tone Casualties is known for picking up artists who color outside the lines and in doing so create wildly fresh results. Dawning does just that - it's electronica without the usual hang ups of the genre. It's soothing without being boring. Loungy without the bad polyester. Definitely worth investigating for fans of relaxed dub and martini stuff. Listen to Kuroi Mori on WRSU (Rutgers University radio), WARC (Allegheny College radio), and on Earthdoctor in the U.K.!