Review – Makunouchi Bento

December 27, 2021

De la Neacșu la AR (Original Music by Makunouchi Bento): Review by Laurent Fairon

Makunouchi Bento, the duo of Felix Petrescu and Valentin Toma from Timișoara in Romania, created these short electronic tracks for an Augmented Reality application called 'De la Neacșu la AR', or 'From Neacșu to AR', created by the Reniform software developer team—see: https://reniform.ro/de-la-neacsu-la-ar/. The fifteen 2mn excerpts collected here are ungraspable, unreal aural vignettes floating in mid-air without beginning nor end. Presumably the musicians were requested to compose endlessly playing themes, conveniently adjustable to...

April 27, 2021

Post-Muzica 34: Review by Laurent Fairon at Continuo’s Documents

The duo of Felix Petrescu and Valentin Toma from Timișoara, Makunouchi Bento are the first experimental electronic musicians we heard from Romania 20 years ago—before that, us Westerners only knew of the Romanian composers like Iancu Dumitrescu, Ana-Maria Avram or Costin Miereanu. Post-Muzica 34 is a radiophonic sound art piece Makunouchi Bento created for a Romanian radio broadcast in April 2021. It is entirely based on environmental sound recordings from Timișoara, processed and assembled...

April 21, 2021

Post-Muzica 34: Review by Zoltan Varga at PressAlert

Makunouchi Bento a lansat un set cu sunete urbane înregistrate în diverse locuri din Timișoara Duo-ul timișorean Makunouchi Bento a lansat un set audio/video care a fost inclus în proiectul cultural Post muzica, pus la cale de Rezidența BRD Scena9, un hotspot cultural din inima Bucureștiului dedicat creatorilor de cultură contemporană. „Acest set este viziunea noastră despre «post-muzică», facută la invitația lui Mitos Micleușanu pentru Post Muzica. Este un set făcut sută la sută din...

April 21, 2021

Post-Muzica 34: Review by Criztina Frunză at Pendul

Evenimentul cu numărul 34, organizat de Rezidența BRD Scena9 – Micleuşanu Mitoş și Makunouchi Bento – ne readuce aminte de acel aspect, sau mai bine zis, acea existenţă pe care o purtăm în sinea noastră de la prima gură de aer până la ultima, și anume fundalul sonor al oricărui context în care ne aflăm prezenți. Aici este post-muzica pe care Makunouchi Bento o scoate în evidenţă, prezentându-se într-un flux vizual excesiv de simetric,...

August 26, 2020

Drowned in Bodrog: Review by Albert E. Trapezoid

Well, I did it… I finally found one good thing about 2020…Makunouchi Bento has released two albums. Earlier this year it was “Ghostophonia,” and now we get what “could be the soundtrack for the imaginary sequel of Bodrog.” But even if this new one, “Drowned in Bodrog,” is a sequel, you don’t need to know anything about its inspiration to enjoy this one. The first track “Across Irradiated Furnace Suns” is a good example of...

August 9, 2020

Drowned in Bodrog: Review by Borealiscape at Recent Music Heroes

Makunouchi Bento, a duo from Romania (Felix Petrescu, and Valentin Toma) has issued a sequel to their previous release Ghostophonia. Musically the case is quite similar drenched with high-pitched and slowed-down synth progressions which by their nature and emotive side are ominous and eerie. Slight difference comes in by exploiting more Fantasy-filled motives and gravity-free electronics as if some puckish fairies using one's toilet room. It could have happened but this bunch of tight...

March 5, 2020

Ghostophonia: Review by Albert E. Trapezoid

“Ghostophonia” by Silent Strike & Makunouchi Bento I’ve raved before about Makonouchi Bento (Felix Petrescu and Valentin Toma) because they have a certain genius for coming up with a story concept and fleshing it out with creative soundscapes. Their latest, “Ghostophonia,” is no exception. This time they’ve collaborated with Silent Strike (Ioan Titu) to create some fantastic noise around the idea of ghosts, both real and imagined. The team says “Ghostophonia” is a concept album “loosely...

March 5, 2020

Ghostophonia: Review by Miron Ghiu at Black Rhino Music

Launched as the first release of the new label Cinemaude, cinematic and experimental sounds oriented, Ghostophonia is a real gem of experimental electronic music. Heavily based on the modified samples of Bela Bartók's folklore music from the Banat area, recorded on phonograph cylinders about a century ago, the album is the result of a collaborative live show between Silent Strike and Makunouchi Bento. The induced-state of the project is one of an imaginary soundtrack...

March 5, 2020

Ghostophonia: Review by Borealiscape at Recent Music Heroes

This 13-track outing is a collaboration between two Romanian artists one of them is a duo called Makunouchi Bento may be (well-) known to visitors at RMH. Getting inspiration from the invisible and mysterious they have managed to reassemble ghostly shades and hyper-realistic flickers with the assistance of more or less traditional sounds. The heart of the release is a series of wax cylinders recorded by Béla Bartók approximately the century ago, capturing the...

March 5, 2020

Ghostophonia: Review by Ștefan Tiron at TimeSpace Warps

Ghostophonia album by Makunouchi Bento & Silent Strike via Bela Bartok (2020) In some ways the earth has become more hospitable to the long gone extinct ones than to the ones whose very lives are at stake in the here and the now. On the surface, and according to the current ethno political fad, ghosts across Eastern Europe and elsewhere, ghosts of time gone by, of golden ages spent in plenty or carelessness are welcome, even...

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