TAKAHASHI, IKURO Domori To Sanshu (Siwa) cd 14.98
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The packaging here is real nice and maybe should be mentioned even before the music: the cd is nestled between two white cards screenprinted in silver-and-black with someone's intricate, abstract artwork (a fine-lined tangle of grass? or bones?). These cards and cd come in a plastic sleeve, inserted into a slot in a slender wooden box. The box is itself painted/printed in dark grey and white with identical artwork. Yup, very nice! This is a limited edition, of course.
What manner of music is deserving of such special packaging? Well, Japan's Ikuro Takahashi is a percussionist who has played in or with all sorts of amazing bands from the Tokyo psych-rock underground, including Fushitsusha, High Rise, Kosukuya, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Nagisa Ni Te, Overhang Party and LSD-march. As a solo music-maker, though, he also experiments with electronics. So this release is quite different from most of those bands, though sharing a "darkness" that several of them possess! Domori To Sanshu consists of two long tracks (27 and 31 minutes apiece), one of 'em live, the other rendered on a computer. The live track comes first, immersing you in what (you might imagine) could be the night sounds from outside a rural temple...a high-pitched insectoid flutter and hum, in fact produced by the keening of Ikuro's oscillators and electronic effects. Subtle and strange. Eventually the echoing rattle and clatter of percussion enters the sound-field, but emptiness and hum are still the main attraction. This track builds in drone-ful intensity, with long notes drawn out into abstract mystery. Abstraction that continues with additional density on the second, computer-composed track, which is basically one seemly unchanging but in truth slowly undulating drone... both cuts provide some serious meditative 'music' for drone-heads to get lost in.
MPEG Stream: "Domori To Sanshu (live)"

TAKAYANAGI MASAYUKI NEW DIRECTION FOR THE ART Complete "La Grima" (Doubtmusic) cd 24.00
When an avant-garde free jazz outfit plays, and the audience is moved not just to boo and jeer but to also THROW THINGS at them, that's when real fans of outside improv insanity should go, man, I've got to check this out! That the band in question featured the legendary Japanese guitarist Masayuki Takayangi makes perfect sense, since back in the day he was pretty much THE most shockingly extreme electric guitarist in the realm of "jazz."
As would likely be the case today, too, were he still alive. What we have here then is the notorious "La Grima" ("Tears"). 41 minutes, 45 seconds of EXPLOSIVE densefreejazzfreakout from a true power trio: Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar, Kenji Mori on sax, and Hiroshi Yamazaki on drums, recorded live at the Genya Festival on August 14th, 1971. This wasn't a normal music fest, rather it was more of a demonstration organized in protest against the expansion of the Narita airport. And as radical as the protesters were, they apparently couldn't handle Takayanagi's "new jazz" music AT ALL. His New Direction For The Arts group was NOT well-received at Genya. Those folks who were throwing stuff would probably be surprised to learn that 36 years later, "La Grima" would be a handsomely-presented cd release, eagerly awaited in fact by fans not even born back then!
Yes, here at last is the full unedited recording -- previously just a tantalizing six minutes were heard on the Genya compilation LP, reissued on cd a few years ago. It's been remixed and remastered, and packaged in a miniature LP-styled gatefold sleeve.
If you're familiar with Takayangi's work, you can guess that this is what he'd term a "Mass Projection" piece, nobody in the group holding anything back, Takayangi's guitar rumbling heavily under Mori's flights of sax-skronk, the splattery drumming of Yamazaki running circles 'round the other two, everything endlessly tumbling forward, into the abyss of amplifier abuse spawned by Takayanagi, who simultaneously offers up scrabbling leads, dissonant drones, and fierce feedback attack. We suppose the saxophone is the most "jazz" sounding element, offering some snippets of melody amidst the blasting cacophony, but even then serving to highlight, in contrast, the electric violence of Takayanagi's playing. With so much energy being released, maybe it's no surprise that the audience couldn't help but give some back!
MPEG Stream: "La Grima"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Action Direct (Tiliqua) cd 33.00
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Tabletop guitar noise from the legendary late Japanese jazz guitar god, recorded 1985.

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Archive 1 (Jinya) 5cd 95.00
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We have precisely ONE of these (although, we may be able to order more, eventually). So no big review, you (YOU?) either want this or you don't, several hours of archival live performances full of squealing, squeaking, squalling skronk by this Japanese improv jazz guitar legend and his New Direction Unit from the late '70s. Five separate shows, on five cds in individual slimline jewel cases packaged in a plastic sleeve/box with booklet (in Japanese): Regular Concert no.35 1977.6.2, Regular Concert no.36 1977.8.4, Another Situation First Concert 1977.9.4, Regular Concert no.39 1978.2.10, and Regular Concert no.43 1978.10.6, to use the formulations they do. Not sure what's so "Regular" about these concerts, exactly... Most of the discs/concerts consist of 2-5 lengthy pieces, the NDU improvising in various instrumental combinations, Takayanagi playing electric guitar or "gut guitar" (acoustic), others in the outfit variously on flute, clarinet, saxophone, bass, percussion. Sometimes it's the full ensemble, sometimes trios, duos, few solo tracks too. Obviously if you're a Takayanagi fan, and only if you're a Takayanagi fan, you just might be interested in this, to get some more "Mass Projection" into your life. "Gradually Projection" too! Good stuff as you'd expect, from quiet textural moodiness to utter gurgling frenzy.
Limited edition of 500 copies. And, the one we have happens to come shrinkwrapped with a free bonus dvd disc, footage of Takayanagi performing in Tokyo, 1990. (Any further copies we might order, if we even can, won't have that.)
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation 4, Another Situation First Concert 1977.9.4"
MPEG Stream: "Improvisation 1, Regular Concert no.43 1978.10.6"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Dislocation (Jinya) cd 19.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Inanimate (Jinya) cd 19.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Lonely Woman (Vivid Sound) cd 26.00
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Yay! Yet another astonishing and beautiful Takayanagi document becomes available (again). Solo electric "jazz" (quotations theirs) guitar improv from this Japanese legend, working with tunes by Ornette (the title cut, of course), Charlie Haden ("Song For Che"), Lee Konitz, Lennie Tristano, and his own self, as well as a version of "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair". Definitely on the more inside, trad jazz side of his ouvre, but that's only relatively speaking, since the "outside" includes tabletop guitar noise fests that would make Thurston Moore run for cover. Again, fans of Fred Frith, Sonny Sharrock, Ray Russell, and the like should get in line. Recorded in '82.

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Mass Hysterism (Jinya) cd 19.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Qadhafi (Jinya) cd 19.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Shibito (Jinya) cd 19.98

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI "JOJO" Cool Jojo (Three Blind Mice) cd 30.00
From 1979, Japanese improv legend Takayanagi's "Second Concept" quartet plays some perhaps uncharacteristically straight ahead, "cool" jazz...there's none of his famed guitar freakouts here, but it's still a nice jazz date, demonstrating that his facility with "outside" avant-garde free jazz playing was rooted in an appreciation of "inside" stuff as well. Japanese import in handsome hardback digibook packaging.

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & KAORU ABE Gradually Projection (DIW) cd 21.00
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The sequel to the "Mass Projection" disc (reviewed last list), here's more live guitar/sax improv action drawn from the same 1970 performance by these cult Japanese free jazz masters. This release explores an equally "out" but just not as quite as noisy side to Abe and Takayanagi's music. Abe's sax wanders lethargically on a latenight bender, offering melody and misery in equal measure. Takayanagi's guitar provides near-percussive backing to the doomy drone of Abe's blowing. Lonely beauty and anguish abound. It's one long, intense 49 minute track.

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & KAORU ABE Mass Projection (DIW) cd 21.00
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From the black-on-black packaging worthy of a Keiji Haino release, complete with badass photos of these two '70s Japanese free jazz legends (the soon-to-die-young saxophonist Kaoru Abe clutching his horn in a suitably doomed pose, and jazz-meets-noise guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi looking commanding in shades), you know that this disc is going to be a serious listen. And intense it is, drawn from the harsher portions of a 1970 live performance (the somewhat mellower remainder of the set is also soon to be released, as "Gradually Projection"). Unlike several recent Takayanagi archival releases, this doesn't have anything to do with his more straight ahead jazzy "Cool Jojo" style. No, this is all loud, scary skree looking to fuck with your head. Abe takes the lead, actually, his saxophone sounding utterly desperate and apocalyptic, but Takayanagi doesn't flinch from the fray either. Not for the faint of heart!

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & NEW DIRECTION Call In Question (PSF) cd 17.98
Some of the heaviest "jazz" ever, recorded in 1970 amazingly enough. The drummer should be in a hardcore band, the guitar player (the legendary Masayuki Takayangi) makes Sonny Sharrock sound like a wimp, and the bass and sax are equally intense. Our fave Takayangi release. Noise guitar way ahead of its time. Beautiful, beautiful noise.
RealAudio clip: "Extraction"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & NEW DIRECTION Live Independence (PSF) cd 22.00
More 1970 out-jazz from a trio version of pioneering noise guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi's New Direction unit. Two long tracks, "Herdman's Pipe of Spain" and "Mass Projection" that are a little more mellow and melodic than the stuff on the "Call In Question" cd, but not much more.

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & NEW DIRECTION UNIT Live At Moers Festival (Three Blind Mice) cd 16.98
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TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI & NEW DIRECTIONS Independence - Tread On Sure Ground (Tiliqua) cd 25.00
Oh man. Over the past year or so we've been lucky enough to get a hold of reissues of a bunch of rare albums by Japanese jazz legend Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi performing with his New Direction(s) unit: Axis Another Revolvable Thing Parts 1 and 2, Eclipse, La Grima. Lucky 'cause we LOVE way-out-there improv electric guitar, which Takayanagi provides in spades, 'specially when he and his group are off on one of his "mass projection" freakouts. Well this here cd reissue (a deluxe gatefold mini-LP sleeve styled import on the always interesting and well-packaged Tiliqua label) is another must have for any Takayanagi fan, documenting his first recording session in 1969 as leader of the initial incarnation of his New Directions group, a trio consisting of drummer Sabu Toyozumi and bassist Motoharu Yoshizawa along with Takayanagi. That's right, no saxophone for you sax haters out there! Just amped-up, feedback-filled guitar skree, brutally bowed bass and crashing drums on such lengthy mass projections as "The Galactic System" and "Piranha". There's also quieter, "gradually projection" pieces here too, some really beautiful, abstractly atmospheric ones including "Herdsman's Pipe Of Spain" (with Yoshizawa on folk-pipe) and the interludes "Deepnight...Swamp" and "Sick...Sick...Sickness...My Aunt". Wow what great titles!!
This Tiliqua reissue of this classic adds a bonus track, from the 1970 compilation LP Guitar Workshop, that in fact is maybe the most intense thing on here. There are also liner notes from the perceptive and well-informed Alan Cummings, who proceeds to really set the scene for this music with his evocative description of the seedy Tokyo jazz quarter of Shinjuku in the sixties and early seventies, a place where Takayanagi's revolutionary jazz explorations fit right in with experimental artists and acid rock radicals.
MPEG Stream: "The Galactic System"
MPEG Stream: "Herdsman's Pipe Of Spain"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI AND NEW DIRECTION UNIT Eclipse (Iskra) cd 17.98
Fans of heavy duty improv jazz guitar freakout awesomeness, who were so recently thrilled by the sudden, first time on cd re-release of Japanese electric guitar improv legend Masayuki Takayanagi's super-rare Axis Another Revolvable Thing Parts 1 and 2 (those cds reviewed here two lists back) now have *another* incredible Takayanagi document from way back in the day to get excited about! Again from 1975, this album by Takayanagi and his fierce New Direction Unit is definitely in the same mind blowing mold as the Axis discs. Side one (tracks 1 and 2 here) are slow-burning "Gradually Projection" pieces, to use Takayangi's unique terminology. Side two (the 25+ minute third track) is a "Mass Projection". Whether "gradual" or "mass", these "projections" all share a dense, dark, energetic sound (potential energy in the case of the former, energy fully unleashed with the latter). Here, as on those Axis albums and elsewhere, Takayangi's music is filled with sinuous drones, sharp-edged feedback, trilling fret frenzies, scabrous sax soloing, freeform flute flutter, roiling percussion... the group really creates a living thing, compelling, threatening, electric, violent, beautiful. Thirty years later, this still destroys!!
This reissue is on a different Japanese label than the Axis reissues, but comes in similarly nice packaging, a miniature replica of the original LP sleeve, which came out in an edition of just 100 copies back in '75.
MPEG Stream: "First Session I"
MPEG Stream: "Second Session"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI NEW DIRECTION UNIT April Is The Cruellest Month (Jinya) cd 24.00

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI NEW DIRECTION UNIT Axis Another Revolvable Thing Part 1 (Doubtmusic) cd 24.00
The late electric guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi is a legend in Japanese free jazz circles, a bold creator and explorer, who from the late '60s through the '90s broke down or went around the inside/outside jazz dichotomy, putting his axe to work in settings ranging from cool post-bop standards to textural tabletop noise experiments. Definitely an original, it's only for our convenience that he could be described as kind of like a Sonny Sharrock, Fred Frith, and Derek Bailey, all rolled into one. Even, say, Wolf Eyes teaming up with Anthony Braxton couldn't outgun Takayangi at his fiercest (by the way, that believe-it-or-not collaboration actually exists and is pretty cool, see elsewhere on this list for a review!). And here is a two volume set documenting the power and beauty of Takayangi's heavy duty, feedback-shaping skree circa 1975, in the context of his New Direction Unit, a quartet also featuring Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and cello, Hiroshi Yamazaki on percussion, and Kenji Mori on reeds.
Originally released on vinyl by a Japanese label called Offbeat, these two LPs have been coveted rarities pretty much ever since. A bit of a Holy Grail to some. So, we were excited (and expect some of you to be too) that these records have now officially reissued on compact disc, in nice miniature LP jacket styled cardboard sleeves, reproducing even the misspelling "Revolable" on their covers. They're Japanese imports on a great avant-garde music label called Doubtmusic (we'll have some other titles from them listed soon, including Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra doing a cover of Eric Dolphy's classic Out To Lunch album reviewed elsewhere this list) but we were able to get them for a decent price, $17, not bad at all considering we just saw that someone sold one of these very cds on eBay as a buy-it-now item for $40! Then again, who can put a price on wild and wooly, freeform "jazz" improv action like this?
Actually, both albums have their more quiet and gentle passages, of delicate string-scrabble, spacious drum-clank, and abstract, pretty reed blowing like birds a-twitter (in Takayangi's theoretical terminology, these pieces are called "gradually projection") that build up into denser, stormier freakouts wherein his guitar is fully unleashed and the rest of the group strains mightily to match (what Takayangi terms "mass projection"). On volume two, you get one gradually and two mass projections, while volume one features one gradually, one mass, and also a 13-minute percussion solo!
These reissues include the original liner notes by Teruto Soejima (translated into English, yay!). One paragraph stands out as being particularly descriptive: "Drifting through all of New Direction Unit's music is the scent of blood. Not old, clotted blood, but fresh blood. This isn't mere semblance of music; it's sound through which the blood of human beings has passed. Which is why, in the group's performances, blood seethes, flows against the current, burns, oozes, rises, congeals, is spewed out, gushes forth. Vivid red blood. Takayanagi's ultimate artistic aim may well be the the color of this blood." You might say ew, but listen and see if that doesn't seem true.
Additionally, for techies who need more than blood, we're provided with an obsessively detailed list of the specific microphones used for these recordings, along with the type of mixing console and tape recorder and even the precise brand of tape! It's a bit like the Fucking Champs do on their albums...
MPEG Stream: "Fragment VI"
MPEG Stream: "Fragment II"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI NEW DIRECTION UNIT Axis Another Revolvable Thing Part 2 (Doubtmusic) cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The late electric guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi is a legend in Japanese free jazz circles, a bold creator and explorer, who from the late '60s through the '90s broke down or went around the inside/outside jazz dichotomy, putting his axe to work in settings ranging from cool post-bop standards to textural tabletop noise experiments. Definitely an original, it's only for our convenience that he could be described as kind of like a Sonny Sharrock, Fred Frith, and Derek Bailey, all rolled into one. Even, say, Wolf Eyes teaming up with Anthony Braxton couldn't outgun Takayangi at his fiercest (by the way, that believe-it-or-not collaboration actually exists and is pretty cool, see elsewhere on this list for a review!). And here is a two volume set documenting the power and beauty of Takayangi's heavy duty, feedback-shaping skree circa 1975, in the context of his New Direction Unit, a quartet also featuring Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and cello, Hiroshi Yamazaki on percussion, and Kenji Mori on reeds.
Originally released on vinyl by a Japanese label called Offbeat, these two LPs have been coveted rarities pretty much ever since. A bit of a Holy Grail to some. So, we were excited (and expect some of you to be too) that these records have now officially reissued on compact disc, in nice miniature LP jacket styled cardboard sleeves, reproducing even the misspelling "Revolable" on their covers. They're Japanese imports on a great avant-garde music label called Doubtmusic (we'll have some other titles from them listed soon, including Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra doing a cover of Eric Dolphy's classic Out To Lunch album reviewed elsewhere this list) but we were able to get them for a decent price, $17, not bad at all considering we just saw that someone sold one of these very cds on eBay as a buy-it-now item for $40! Then again, who can put a price on wild and wooly, freeform "jazz" improv action like this?
Actually, both albums have their more quiet and gentle passages, of delicate string-scrabble, spacious drum-clank, and abstract, pretty reed blowing like birds a-twitter (in Takayangi's theoretical terminology, these pieces are called "gradually projection") that build up into denser, stormier freakouts wherein his guitar is fully unleashed and the rest of the group strains mightily to match (what Takayangi terms "mass projection"). On volume two, you get one gradually and two mass projections, while volume one features one gradually, one mass, and also a 13-minute percussion solo!
These reissues include the original liner notes by Teruto Soejima (translated into English, yay!). One paragraph stands out as being particularly descriptive: "Drifting through all of New Direction Unit's music is the scent of blood. Not old, clotted blood, but fresh blood. This isn't mere semblance of music; it's sound through which the blood of human beings has passed. Which is why, in the group's performances, blood seethes, flows against the current, burns, oozes, rises, congeals, is spewed out, gushes forth. Vivid red blood. Takayanagi's ultimate artistic aim may well be the the color of this blood." You might say ew, but listen and see if that doesn't seem true.
Additionally, for techies who need more than blood, we're provided with an obsessively detailed list of the specific microphones used for these recordings, along with the type of mixing console and tape recorder and even the precise brand of tape! It's a bit like the Fucking Champs do on their albums...
MPEG Stream: "Fragment IV"
MPEG Stream: "Fragment V"

TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI, & KAORU ABE Kaitai Teki Kohkan (Disk Union) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Limited edition re-issue of an ultra rare 1970 recording by Japanese free improv legends Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar and Kaoru Abe on alto sax, bass clarinet and harmonica. Very noisy, "out" stuff for fans of Derek Bailey and Evan Parker.

TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music Of Toru Takemitsu (Nonesuch) cd 16.98
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Sort of a "Best Of" Toru Takemitsu, the highly acclaimed film score composer from Japan. Features the original music from Harakiri, Woman In The Dunes, Dodes'kaden, Kaseki, Banished Orin, Empire Of Passion & Rikyu. Plus there are three extra tracks of Takemitsu's music recorded by John Adams & the London Sinfonia from the films Jose Torres, Black Rain and The Face Of Another.

TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 1 (JVC) cd 23.00
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TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 2 (JVC) cd 23.00
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TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 3 (JVC) cd 23.00
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TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 4 (JVC) cd 23.00
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TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 5 (JVC) cd 23.00
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TAKEMITSU, TORU Film Music vol. 6 (JVC) cd 23.00
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TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU 10th (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
Longtime AQ fave Nobukazu Takemura -- ex-Mo'Wax-style club DJ, Steve Reich remixer, Tortoise collaborator, Powerbook maestro -- offers a new full length of bubbly electronica / pop with attention to texture, whether it is bass like a quiet heartbeat, or chiming bell-like electronic tones cavorting in the background like Raymond Scott gone minimalist techno, or glitchy clicks goodnaturedly jockeying for position.
On 10th, Takemura also really gets into the frankly-fake casio-filtered vocals that have made occasional appearances in his past work. This time the vocals, often sung in English, are cut up into delightful little snippets, sounding like a happily hiccupping big sister of the sad Mac guy on OK Computer. Fans of Mouse on Mars and other burbly bloopy fun electronica, take note!
RealAudio clip: "A Puff of a Word"
RealAudio clip: "Wandering"

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU 10th (Thrill Jockey) lp 14.98
Longtime AQ fave Nobukazu Takemura -- ex-Mo'Wax-style club DJ, Steve Reich remixer, Tortoise collaborator, Powerbook maestro -- offers a new full length of bubbly electronica / pop with attention to texture, whether it is bass like a quiet heartbeat, or chiming bell-like electronic tones cavorting in the background like Raymond Scott gone minimalist techno, or glitchy clicks goodnaturedly jockeying for position.
On 10th, Takemura also really gets into the frankly-fake casio-filtered vocals that have made occasional appearances in his past work. This time the vocals, often sung in English, are cut up into delightful little snippets, sounding like a happily hiccupping big sister of the sad Mac guy on OK Computer. Fans of Mouse on Mars and other burbly bloopy fun electronica, take note!

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU Assembler / Assembler 2 (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
The first track on highly regarded Japanese electronicist Nobukazu Takemura's newest album harkens back to his first domestically-released record Scope. Its clicks and high end chatters are melodically arranged into an Oval-ish pleasant modern sound. The rest of the tracks on the record, however, are more difficult listening, consisting mostly of machine-generated atmospheric whooshes, seemingly-random (tho' I'm sure that to him they're logically ordered) digital squiggles and sonic exclamations that are about texture and nuance, not melody. Listen to both tracks before buying. Experimental yet accessible.
MPEG Stream: "Conical Flask"
MPEG Stream: "Campagna"

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU Hoshi no Koe (Thrill Jockey) cd 14.98
Most of us who already love powerbook maestro Nobukazu Takemura will be familiar with his other domestically-released album, Scope, a brilliant record that is all about austere sonic textures and half-melodic gestures. Another side to Takemura's talent is displayed here, with Hoshi No Koe. It's playful and kooky and sometimes successful, sounding part early-20th century tape experimentalist (a la Luciano Berio), part Krautrock proto-techno (a la Moebius and Roedelius of Cluster), and part quirky soundtrack to, say, an afterschool special undersea documentary (a la "Observe the sex-crazed seahorse as it frolics amongst the coral. [twiddle] [scriddle] [bleep!]"). Some of the best parts feature pristine, emotional piano, like George Winston under a twinkling array of sweet bleeps. We've made audio files of what we think of as the high and low points of the record; the rest falls somewhere in between. Happy listening.
RealAudio clip: "The Sign"
RealAudio clip: "A Theme for Little Animals"

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU Scope (Thrill Jockey) cd 12.98
Japanese electronicist who was responsible for one of the best tracks on the recent Steve Reich Remixed album. Making the most of very simple sounds (synth, static, skipping cds), Takemura constructs surprisingly melodic and appealing pieces. Oval fans will LOVE this...

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU Sign (Thrill Jockey) 2cd 15.98
This cd issue of The Sign 12" from last year might as well be considered a new album from Powerbook maestro Nobukazu Takemura, cos it's over an hour long. The title track is bubbly electronica / pop with attention to texture -- very reminiscent of Moebius' and Roedelius' work in krautrock legends Cluster and thereafter (lazier comparisons might mention Mouse on Mars and Muziq), with even some dorky frankly-fake casio-rendered vocals thrown in to add to the fun. Another two great pieces are trebly, tinny electro along the lines of Doctor Rockit (one of these tracks is "Meteor", an extended version of a piece from a different Takemura 12"). So good! Takemura's been compared to digital minimalists Oval a lot, and track 3 proves this comparison still holds water: it's 35 minutes of Takemura along with Tortoise veterans Bundy Brown, Doug McCombs, and John McEntire, starting off rather like lame recent Tortoise, but soon evolving into prime Takemura powerbook layering of digital murmuring, clicks and whirrs, which you wouldn't think could be melodic but *is*!
There's a second disc with a great animated video of "The Sign" by Japanese artist Moshino, who also did the cover to this record.
RealAudio clip: "The Sign"

TAKEMURA, NOBUKAZU Sign (Thrill Jockey) 12" 9.98
Powerbook maestro Nobukazu Takemura's been compared to Oval a lot, and side 2 of The Sign 12" proves this comparison still holds water. The entirety of side 2 is Takemura along with Tortoise veterans Bundy Brown, Doug McCombs, and John McEntire, starting off rather like lame recent Tortoise, but soon evolving into prime Takemura powerbook layering of digital murmuring, clicks and whirrs.
But it is side 1 of this nice slab o' wax that holds the gems. The title track is bubbly electronica with attention to texture -- very reminiscent of Moebius' and Roedelius' work in krautrock legends Cluster and thereafter (lazier comparisons might mention Mouse on Mars and Muziq), with even some dorky frankly-fake casio-rendered vocals thrown in to add to the fun. (You even get the tried and true 12" cliche of a capella vocals as the last track on the record!) Another great piece is trebly, tinny electro along the lines of Doctor Rockit. Wonderful!
I wish we had sound clips for you but we haven't quite figured out yet how to make Real Audio samples from vinyl.

TAMARU Figure (Trumn) cd 21.00
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Tamaru is a Japanese minimalist, who's not terribly well known outside of Japan, as this is only his second cd in well over a decade of making music. Both on this record and in performance, he uses little more than his bass guitar, a volume pedal, and a delay pedal; and with this process, he restricts himself to an open tuning, using only those four notes as the basis for his harmonic and subharmonic overtones. His thrumbing drones are the results from a decade of refining his craft, discovering which tones he can master, and seamlessly layering sound on top of itself. The eight tracks on Figure are all essentially variations on this same theme for lugubrious undulations of sound that organically ripple, echo, and hypnotize as if they were the cyclical patterns from waves moving across a relatively calm body of water. The first couple of tracks are pretty heavy constructs of tonal interplay within thundering drones stretched upon elongated bowings from his bass guitar, somewhat not all that dissimilar to the longform works by Jonathan Coleclough or Yoshi Wada. On "Stream," Tamaru allows for more of a traditional means of playing the bass, as rounded clouds of tone billow forth like some of the amorphous material from Rothko. "Juju" is a wavering mirage for overlapping drones and slippery swells of bass timbre; and "Room" is downright playful exercise in delay driven phase patterns. Any number of these pieces could be rendered successfully as sustained duration compositions, but Tamaru's economy of scale renders everything as a precious, tightly encapsulated gem of low end frequencies. Nicely done!
MPEG Stream: "Torso"
MPEG Stream: "Stream"
MPEG Stream: "Juju"

TANGERINE DREAM SYNDICATE III Violins for III Stooges (Alchemy) cd 21.00
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Another in Alchemy's new Inner Mind Music series of spacey delights -- "Live at Alpha Centauri" it says on the inside. The Tangerine Dream Syndicate wears its influences proudly -- the band is made up of Tommy Conrad (cello, violin), Johnny Conrad (electronics, violin, voice), and DeeDee Conrad (bass, violin, voice). Yes, their names (and the album's title and the band name too) are a bit overt and silly but this is actually some really fine drone improv! Even though they'd like you to imagine that they're Tony Conrad's lost brothers, we suspect that beneath these assumed names you'd find some well-known Japanese underground noisicans. But they are indeed spiritual, musical brothers with the American violinist and his '60s Dream Syndicate colleagues, along with '70s German spacemeisters Tangerine Dream. It's a successful homage that makes for some mighty fine, late night drifting listening. It's just one track, nearly a full hour of high-end string drone, subsonic bass throb, and electronic swoosh. File in the "quite omnious yet strangely comforting" section of your cd collection.

TANI, NAOMI Modae No Heya (Tiliqua) cd 22.00
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Another release in Tiliqua's Erotic Oriental Sunshine series of Japanese erotic music from the sixties and seventies. We reviewed Kokotsu No Sekai from Japanese sexy action heroine Ike Reiko a few lists back, and now we have Modae No Heya from seventies bondage / S&M queen Naomi Tani, who recorded and released this album in 1979 to commemorate her withdrawal (ahem) from the world of porn.
And what better way to commemorate that sort of life change than with a record of Iroke Kayoyoku, a bastardized version of a more popular Asian music of the time, sexed up with chanteuse like crooning, and most important of all, an amazing array of moaning and groaning and cooing and giggling, as if in the throes of EXTREME passion.
Tani's take on Iroke Kayoyoku is similar to Reiko's (in fact it's not tough to imagine a sort of Eastern hit factory, churning out these discs, ready made for some sexy thing to croon and purr over...), a strange blend of easy listening soundtrack music and spaghetti Western themes, with lots of soaring strings and epic arrangements, sultry saxophones and twangy guitar, but unlike Reiko's disc, Modae No Heya is much more Asian sounding, with plenty of distinctly Asian instrumentation and Eastern melodies.
Anyone who has seen their fair share of Asian cinema and classic kung fu movies, will find the sound instantly recognizable. And for a record that is supposedly a vehicle for her sexy presence, Tani surprisingly spends a lot of time just hanging back and letting the music swoon and soar. But when she does take part, it's in a super intimate whisper in the ear, a playful purr with plenty of giggling and occasional bouts of passionate groaning.
Erotic and wild, moody and mysterious. And pretty darn bizarre. And of course, highly recommended for all fans of sounds both strange and sexy!
Packaged in a super deluxe Japanese miniature gatefold style cd sleeve, with a printed obi, saucy nude photos of Tani on the cover, and extensive liner notes in English and Japanese!
ULTRA LIMITED!!! Only 1300 copies pressed. Already almost sold out, so don't dawdle...
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "3"

TENNISCOATS Live Wanderus (Chapter Music) cd 17.98
We remember first getting a glimpse of the sweet charm of Japan's Tenniscoats a year or so ago when we heard their track on the children's comp Songs For Nao. We had only been able to get a copy or two of Live Wanderus, never enough to list until now. Before we had even heard the record, the dreamy cover art had us super curious as to what we might find inside.
We ended up loving Tenniscoats' take on naive pop. A LOT. A little more dreamy and meandering than some of their sonic brethren like Maher Shal Hash Baz and Nagisa Ni Ti, Saya's sweet hushed vocals and tasteful trumpets and sax, guitar, drums and piano help to create a nice dreamlike atmosphere, a perfect serving of daydream twee. These are live recordings from shows throughout Japan over the last few years, and the recordings sound great, nice and warm, like you were right there in the room while they were playing, sitting on a blanket in the dark with your head on the shoulder of a good friend. So nice!
MPEG Stream: "Red Haired Eric"
MPEG Stream: "Everyone"

TENNISCOATS Tan-Tan Therapy (Hapna) cd 16.98
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We loooooooooove the spare and wistful dream pop of Tenniscoats (See, we can put as just as many "o's" in "love" as we do in 'doom'.). Although we must admit, it took us awhile to really get into Tan-Tan Therapy as this time around they collaborated with Swedish band Tape along with other Swedish musicians, resulting in a much broader and much more lush production but also with an even more somber and melancholy feel. The chamber pop instrumentation of horns, woodwinds, organ, cello, zither and glockenspiels along with some subtle electronic flourishes definitely provides richer textures, but we were kind of missing at first Saya and Takashi Ueno's more spare and naive side that comes closer to their Maher Shalal Hash Baz roots. But this release is definitely a grower, and one with each new listen we are loving it more and more.
MPEG Stream: "Baibaba Bimba"
MPEG Stream: "One Swam Swim"

TETRAGRAMMATON Point of Convergence (Utech) cd 14.98
The latest batch from Utech is all excellent stuff (as usual), we're reviewing three this list, including the Locrian double disc (one of our Records Of The Week), the new Gog, and this, from Japan's Tetragrammaton.
The first thing one of the AQ Overlords here said when he heard this one is, if not entirely accurate, a good starting point for a description: "Sounds like a black metal Taj Mahal Travellers!" While it's NOT black metal, there's a menacing, mesmeric vibe here that some black metallers might appreciate. Possibly also some Buddhist monks, too. Part freeform psychedelic rock exploration, part dronological soundscapery, Tetragrammaton's Points Of Convergence is a beautiful and frightening trip into the void-dark expanses... that this trio is Tokyo-based is no surprise, seems like if Utech hadn't put this out, PSF should have. Band members TOMO, Cal Lyall, and Nobunaga Ken utilize a wide array of instruments to conjure up intense music that's both detailed and active, and droningly atmospheric: hurdy-gurdy, guitar, saxophone, crystal bowls, percussion, voices, Rhodes piano, hydrophone, gongs, drums, bells, bowls, taisho-koto...
Track one, "Disjecta Membra", begins as if recorded inside of a giant cauldron; echoing, haunting, with mysterious scrapings and billowing distortion, it builds up and up, over the course of 14+ minutes, spiralling into dense hypnotic drones, before a climax that takes the form of a free improv freakout, an electric tangle of guitar, sax, percussion... As quick as that erupts, it subsides, and track two, "Portrait Of Turab (Part I)" starts in with sustained bell tones, shimmering in the cauldron-blackness. Later still, the textural drones of "Sol de Paula" evoke all the awe of the 2001: A Space Odyssey monolith! And elsewhere watery textures and strange pipe-fighting percussion take center stage.
This unit's previous release, a double disc, was one of Julian Cope's Records Of The Month some time ago (btw, whatever happened to his Record Of The Month? the Head Heritage site hasn't been updated with one since the summer). If there's enough interest in this (which there should be!), perhaps we can import some of those, too.
The usual Utech packaging, nicely designed, slim sleeve, oversized. Lots of black.
MPEG Stream: "Disjecta Membra"
MPEG Stream: "Portrait Of Turab (Part I)"
MPEG Stream: "Sol de Paula"

TETRAULT, MARTIN / OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE 1. Grrr (Ambiances Magnetiques) cd 15.98
First in a planned trilogy of live recordings from this turntablist duo's Europe 2003 tour. Grrr 'cause it's noisy.

TETREAULT, MARTIN & OTOMO YOSHIHIDE 2. Tok (Ambiances Magnetiques) cd 15.98
More turntable strangulation from two masters of that very avant-garde (even today!) art form. Quebec's Martin Tetreault and Japan's Otomo Yoshihide (the latter of which, at least, should need no introduction to most AQ customers, known as he is far and wee for various projects, among them his famed Ground Zero band) have tangled before, and right away get down to business here, in a selection of live duo performances recorded on their tour of Europe in the Spring of 2003. Together they manifest an intriguing sound-world, liberating from old LPs variously sandpaper textures, helicoptering drone, and spluttering screams. Volume 2 of a planned trilogy, 2. Tok concentrates on their most "fragmented" improvs of the tour. We didn't review it, but we do also have the first volume, 1. Grr, so-named as it's devoted to what the duo deemed their noisiest material.
MPEG Stream: "Nijmegen No. 4a"
MPEG Stream: "Lyon No. 3"

TETSUO Ranshuo (Shit Jam Records) cd 8.98
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From the same Japanese label that brought us Bathtub Shitter (still the best band name ever!) comes Tetsuo, a band that has way more in common with Corrupted or Boris than their bathtub shitting labelmates. Sludgy and repetitive, heavy and crushing with lots of solid state feedback a la Eyehategod and loads of midtempo wall of guitar pummel a la Neurosis. One epic twenty minute track that goes from slow motion sludge to furious almost-death-metal to crusty grind to stoner groove and back again. Fans of any of the above mentioned bands definitely need this.
MPEG Stream: "One"

THEE HEADCOATS Elementary Headcoats (Damaged Goods) 2cd 19.98
Billy Childish has had quite a prolific career, and one that shows no signs of slowing. He is a writer and an artist, but perhaps he is most known for his music. Much of his musical output was written and recorded with his main band Thee Headcoats (although he also fronted such garage wonders as Thee Milkshakes). This is an impressive double disk collection of fifty (!) singles released by Thee Headcoats and friends between 1990 and 1999. Never bowing to trends or technology, the garage rockin' rawness of Billy, Johnny and Bruce's music continues to shine and inspire their fans and other bands. Comes with a very very thorough discography. All hail Thee Headcoats!

THERMO Touring Inferno! (Inoxia) cd 13.98
We're excited to finally be able to get hold of this second release by this Tokyo drums and electronics duo! Former Melt-Banana drummer Toshiaki Sudoh and Gaji guitarist Yui Kimijima, together known as Thermo, have been fixtures on Tokyo's avant improvisational underground for quite some time now. Having both been featured in separate improvisational settings on the excellent document "The Improvisation Meeting At Bar Aoyama", as well as numerous performances within their native country, these guys have been unstoppable. In Thermo, Kimijima sets aside his guitar in favor of an assortment of electronic devices and effects, through which he filters the unrelenting fiery force of Sudoh's unstoppable percussive attack. The result isn't as repetitive as one would think -- certainly most appealing to drummers and those into breakbeat culture and instrumental rhythmic jams, the duo's mechanical distorto beats, crunching funktronix and ballistic breakbeats also cough up rhythms and sonics reminiscent of ESG and This Heat. Very cool -- although, be warned, the casual listener (like your housemates, say) may be driven insane by this.
RealAudio clip: "Hi.China"

THING, THE (WITH OTOMO YOSHIHIDE) Shinjuku Crawl (Smalltown Superjazz) cd 16.98

TOHO SARA Eastern Most 1-7 (PSF) cd 22.00
1st album.

TOHO SARA Hourouurin (Fractal) cd 17.98
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It's sad to say, but it's gotten to the point that a new Acid Mothers Temple release or AMT-related record is met with a yawn instead of a shiver of excitement. Hard to avoid when releasing a record every month or two. But there is one Acid Mothers Temple related project that always has everyone here at AQ all a quiver in anticipation, and that's Toho Sara, the experimental shamanistic musical ritual of AMT's Makoto Kawabata and High Rise / Musica Transonic / Mainliner's Asahito Nanjo. This is exactly the sort of stuff we here at AQ can never get enough of: buzzing reverberating drones over muted tribal drumming and simple spare scraping and rattling percussive ambience. Totally transcendental, dreamy and mesmerising. Sunroof!, Skullflower, Lamonte Young, John Cale, Tony Conrad, No Neck Blues Band, Sunburned Hand Of The Man sort of otherworldly, higher conciousness, rambling, primal tribal free form abstract divine drone. So goddamn good!
MPEG Stream: "Hourouurin Part 1"