We’ve covered some singles over the past few months from toriyama, the musical moniker of Cincinnati’s own Gabriel Beckles (fka Television Blonde). The two most recent tracks, “dead astronauts” and “goldstar”, come from toriyama’s debut EP lola (demos 2021-2025), which dropped December 5th.
In the review of the track “goldstar”, our writer Grizzly said what the track “lacks in finesse, it makes up for in feel.” And I agree: The slowcore vibes come through, along with all the blown-out frequencies, tape hiss, and vocals whispered into a Tascam microphone in what I assume were the wee hours of the morning. Without these lo-fi elements and intentional rough edges, the songs wouldn’t slap the same.
The five songs on lola may be demos, but I am always of the opinion that a demo is a fully-finished track, and any future releases are just remixes. (Then again, I am also someone who releases my demos.) Therefore, lola feels like a realized work, one full of sorrow and passion, where the emotion doesn’t feel wrought or warped through constant production. Everything on this EP is laid out bare for the listener, and even if the lyrics are lost in the muddled vocals, you can still feel Beckles’ emotion bleed into the music.
On Instagram, Beckles says the tracks on lola were “recorded in warehouses, basements, living rooms, and bedrooms over the last few years.” You can hear not only the atmosphere of the recording locations in the music, but also the urgency of creating the music at its moment of conception. The instrumentals “montauk”, “kanga”, and “dead astronauts” hum with a tempo that matches a pensive heartbeat, as if these demos recorded years ago are being played live through your headphones.
Likewise, “it’s been a long year, dad” and “goldstar” – the two tracks with vocals – it is as if Beckles is singing about memories that have just come to mind, and he must sing the songs about them now before they fade away. The passion in these demos is clear, and while finished products would be interesting to hear, any further production on them would threaten to add varnish to a piece of art that doesn’t need it. Think of it like upscaling VHS footage of old friends. The perfection is in the dropped pixels.
Beckles’ new EP as toriyama is a gorgeous compilation of memories, put together without any additional flair and released to the world in an implicit act of vulnerability. Take a listen on a rainy day, or whenever the nostalgic mood strikes you.
Written by Will Sisskind
