Astro

Hiroshi Hasegawa is a founding member of Japanese power-noise duo C.C.C.C. (and in the grand tradition of the noise scene, is also a member of a half-dozen other projects such as Astral Traveling Unity, Galax and Cosmic Dew). Astro is Hasegawa's solo project, a sort of deep-space probe via analog synthesizer. Even if you're not a Japanoise trainspotter, one listen to Astral Orange Sunshine, Astro's 2007 album, reveals that Hasegawa is a rare talent, capable of languid beauty amidst blinding intensity. His synths emit approaching-infinity swoops of heavily echoed whine, the persistent, articulate chittering of unseen beings speaking new languages, and the bubbling, incandescent roar of massive engines searing a trail through the black mystery of space. Hasegawa's navigational gift is his ability to plot courses toward calm, dreamy bubbles of ambient space within the withering radiation he broadcasts. This sense of motion — which is not unlike skin diving in the inky depths of one's own mind — is the music's ultimate reward.