SOUNDSCAPE

Japanese keyboardist,born in 1976.Goto grew up listening to Classical music and learned organ since he was only 5 years old.At the age of 22 he moved to Australia as a postgraduate student learning English grammar,there he experimented with the synthesizers,but also came in touch with the Jazz-Fusion style of U.K. and CHICK KOREA.Shortly after he begun re-working some of his old compositions in a Fusion style and recorded them while returning to Japan.The demos were sent to Musea,which decided to release his first solo work ''Soundscape'' in 2005.

An all personal effort and a true hymn to dissonance,''Soundscape'' is filled with Goto's piano and synthesizers, surrounded by a programmed rhythm section, effects and other programmed instruments like marimbas.His work is characterized by the complicated breaks, the atonal parts, the technical offering and the virtuosic solos, while the compositions are split between structured sections and more improvised moments.The overall sound is very rich,quite heavy with also plenty of lighter moments, always in a classic Fusion style presented by acts like PLANET X,LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT,MINDFLOWERS or DEREK SHERINIAN (minus the guitars).However the album suffers from two big problems: The absence of any kind of melody,which becomes more and more evident as the album unfolds, and the childish programmed drum sounds, which can only fit in a video game but not in a professional release of adventurous music.

This man is a talented keyboardist,no doubt.His ideas are interesting and the fact he composed such a highly technical and cohesive work cannot be overcome.Still the addition of some melodic parts and the help of some session musicians should give him the needed push in terms of development.''Soundscape'' is a good album for fans of heavy Jazz-Fusion,all the others try some samples first before buying...2.5 stars.