Among a run of other albums involving in the last year or so, takes a crack at one of the more stereotypical of Japanese sounds. is a master of Japanese music, but something of a jack-of-all-trades, and a multi-instrumentalist. The result of this is that his music on the taiko is more adventurous than some specialist groups, but also perhaps somewhat less tightly executed in places. Here, takes a mostly format, but makes use of a large number of drums throughout the course of a given work. The rest of the ensemble will provide much of the stability of a piece here, as explores the sonic possibilities of having a range of drums to play with. That said, there's plenty of , powerful taiko to be heard here, too. This is some excellent playing by . It's perhaps not quite of the caliber or excitement of the ueber-stars , but it's a sweet pounding nonetheless. ~ Adam Greenberg