Music Review: Takamura Keiko @ Golden Horn Live Music

Second Life Live Music Review
Written by Enniv Zarf (RL: Paul Kwo)
Metaverse Music
Takamura Keiko
Golden Horn Live Music SLURL

I have heard Takamura Keiko (preferred to be called Keiko) perform before a long time ago. She was recommended by my friend Delinda Dyrssen who is an avid live music producer as well as a producer of SLCN's Tonight Live with Paisley Beebe who's also a friend of mine, along with being a freelance writer for SL Newspaper.

Keiko (pronounced "Cake-Oh" plays and sing both cover and original acoustic indie/alternative rock. And perhaps she's most known in Second Life for being featured on MTV's True Life. (I have been on MTV once, but it's definitely something I would much rather not talk about. Let's talk about my Scrubs and Knight Rider appearance instead. Oh wait, I'm here to talk about Keiko.)

Well Keiko has wonderful originals songs and a very dedicated fan base who loves her, and it's really obvious why. She knows what she's doing and she's go some great songs. She sings them pretty well and she interacts with her audience in a very fun and personable level too.

I know I can get...

...very critical with singers, and I may almost be coming across with a vendetta against them, but I don't. When it's great, I say it's great. Keiko is near great. She's good but not flawless all the way through every song but very close. But her voice and her act is just so darn cute. She's very sweet and very genuine and real. She's really ready to throw her out there and take you along with her for the ride.

At one point today at the concert she played a song she was working on. Even though it's an incomplete song, it's still very well performed and I enjoyed it much. It is a little more rocky then her polished tunes, but I commend her for sharing something in progress with us. It's awesome to actually hear something in progress cause it gives us insight to who they really are, and how they work. It's real.

Now during the show, Keiko mentioned someone sending her a random teleport request. This is my one big pet peeve. For all you venue promoters and marketers, stop with the teleport requests. They are EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. How would you like it if a performer you hired suddenly disappears from your venue in the middle of the set. I have absolutely no problem with massive IM's and a bunch of group notices. But these random teleports has got to stop!

One thing I'm not sure is Keiko's falsetto voice. I am not sure she really has that nailed down yet. It's a hair bit forced and it doesn't feel Keiko, at least not yet. I don't think it's in her system yet as a natural part of her singing. But hey give it some time and I'm sure Keiko will nail all those falsetto notes. But she makes some other great sounds, sounds that I'm not even sure how to type here (ber nel ner nel ner nel?).

I am fine with singers who are exploring new parts of their voice, and it's all a process. The key is you have to have something that you are absolutely solid on and fantastic with and Keiko has that. She is solid all the way through. She is great to hear all the way through. She has excellent songs and a great voice with awesome guitar skills. She is a great listen and so if you are interested in a good singer with good songs and an excellent voice (which should be most of us), Keiko is someone I would recommend everyone to check out.