Cartoons and Kung Fu, for percussion and tape

Completed March 8, 2021

Written for Nonoka Mizukami

When I think about the kinds of art that inspire me, I always find myself drawn to the idea of committing. From The Eric Andre Show to The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, The Garden of Earthly Delights to The ArchAndroid, Adventure Time to Enter the Dragon: these works in their disparate media are united (at least in my mind) by their utter commitment to their frequently ridiculous, whiz-bang visions. Despite their often over-the-top nature, such art feels no need to apologize for its ideas, and that kind of manic creativity always appeals to me in the strongest way.

Two media that best capture this kind of headstrong idiosyncrasy for me include the antics of children’s cartoons and old-fashioned Chinese martial arts films. They might not always be especially insightful (or indeed, even good), but what they might lack in substance they make up for in spades with their unabashed enthusiasm and pulpy style. I have long wanted to write something capturing that same kind of frenetic kitschiness - so when my friend Nonoka Mizukami asked me to write her a percussion and tape piece for her doctoral recital, I jumped at the chance.

Cartoons and Kung Fu is built out of a few simple ideas: a running sixteenth-sextuplet rhythm for wood slats, an EDM-like rising bassline, and a complementary, syncopated downward gliss. The three intermingle in increasingly silly ways as the piece builds in fury and energy, dipping erratically into mixed meters as it goes. Eventually, the percussionist switches from wood slats/blocks to metals, joining in the wild downward glissandi toward a series of Shepard tones that ultimately herald the piece’s end.

Written in about a week during one of the busiest periods of my creative life, the piece inadvertently captured some of my own desperation as I sought to meet deadline after deadline. Many thanks to Nonoka for asking for the piece, and for her excitement in bringing it to life.