dustin wong & takako minekawa: toropical circle

Toropical Circle is a brand new collaborative album from Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa. Through his solo albums on Thrill Jockey, Dustin Wong has taken listeners through an intricately colorful wonderland that he creates with only his guitar and a bank of effects pedals. Takako Minekawa is a Japanese musician who has been active since the ‘90s, exploring the possibilities of experimental pop with albums released on Polystar and Emperor Norton (Roomic Cube, Cloudy Cloud Calculator, and Maxi On). The two met in the Summer of 2011 when Takako saw Dustin play in Tokyo. He was a fan of her music from the past, and through that meeting they began corresponding. They found many similar interests in music, the universe and mythology. When Dustin was in Japan they went into an hourly rehearsal studio to do some loose musical improvisations, which lead to a natural collaboration. Toropical Circle is the result of that collaboration and was produced and recorded by Wong and Minekawa at home in Toyko. The music strikes a lovely balance of homemade coziness, experimentation and charming humor. Their musicality and human qualities galvanized into something brilliantly heartwarming. Dustin Wong’s minimal-yet-imaginative sounds combined with Takako Minekawa’s graceful and eloquent voice, samples, drum machines and keyboards resulted in a colorful and fantastic world. The sounds roll and change organically, gently taking the listener by the hand through a forest and to the sea.