Kayo Dot - Stained Glass (2010)

Avant-garde post-jazz metal experimentalists Kayo Dot have released their latest EP: a single 20-minute ambient track. It is, as described by the band themselves, "a long, floating, vibraphone-centric distortion cloud representing (musically) a Luciferian journey across colorful windows from left to right in a darkened cathedral." It is a spacey and atmospheric piece that reminds of me of The Pavilion of Dreams by Harold Budd more than anything. Both soothing and hypnotic.

Steaming Coils - Never Creak (1987)

An album that 1queer recommended to me a while back and is still one of my favorite albums. In the world of strange music there is the likes of Captain Beefheart and The Residents, which are responsible for some of the most brilliantly bent music ever created. But be as that may Steaming Coils are are a very creative band that are responsible for musical madness of the same likeness of the above mentioned, but without the mainstream success that they had.

Plus the album cover is awesome.

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Jyoji Sawada - Base of Fiction (1994)

Blogs been up for a while, so I figured I'd give a special treat of the greatest album of all time.

To start, it's probably important to consider the "state of Japanese independent music" at the time of release. A huge style was the sort of "neo-zeuhl", rio-influenced kind of music largely championed by bands like Bondage Fruit, Koenjihyakkei, and a number of other greats. Heavy use of classical stringed instruments, largely technical music, operatic vocals, and other outrageous sounds highlight the genre. Along side that we had the "noise rockers": Ruins, Ground Zero, High Rise, etc. Anyone vaguely knowledgeable of the sort of "experimental" movements within Japan will know of this style. Thirdly, "Japanoise". Exhibited by Merzbow and Masonna, this brand of free noise has become largely acknowledged as some very "outside" music. And floating in and out of all of that, we have the avant-garde and generally humorous stylings that seem to be present in anything that comes out of Japan.

Enter Jyoji Sawada, a self taught bassist that builds himself off of classical composition, film soundtracks, and even a fair bit of Brazilian and Indonesian influence. After some experience with jazz improv and some work with Choro Club, he set off to combine his large vocabulary of sounds into wild, avant-garde compositions for a solo career. And as wide as influences are, Jyoji seems to want to condense the entire state of Japanese Independent music with his debut, Base of Fiction.

But for this seemingly defining piece, it isn't really a solo project. Although all is settled with Jyoji's vision, he combines his talents with some of the largest figures of Japanese music, including: Yoshida Tatsuya drumming on several tracks, the incomparable Otomo Yoshihide appears a few times, Seiichi Yamamoto lends his guitar, and the album is produced by the God Mountain head, Hoppy Kamiyama. This is almost more of a collaboration of Japanese music as a whole than it is Jyoji's band, although it's execution should be attributed significantly the the man that composed all but the first track.

That execution, you ask? Brilliant. Sonic insanity from the beginning to the end, with those previously mentioned styles all making appearences in one way or another. Largely dominated by Jyoji's obscure atmosphere, created from a mixture of a chambered string section and an overall menacing figure that looms from the noise and ferocity of his more rockish elements, this album takes us in and out of "reality", which Jyoji himself notes in the title for the 9th track (trans.) "Between strangeness and the reality of daily life" [please inform me if this is incorrect]. Schoenberg-esque, "spechstimme" comes in and out from female vocals, strings shift from dense soundscapes to more technical passages, maybe recalling Glass and his use of arpeggio (as in Einstein on the Beach), sampling is frequent and jarring (Jyoji explores the wide range of electronic expression) and even toy instruments make an appearance as we are left either frustrated or impressed (or both) and most certainly confused by the inner workings of Jyoji Sawada's mind.

To dissect this album is futile. At any given second, there is too much to consider, and at the next moment, you're taken to a completely different realm without warning. It's best to let this album wash over you, let it jerk you back in forth between signature changes, let it turn your mind into putty and watch the abstract figures that form as it splatters on the wall.

Buy.... good luck. Out of print. I was able to get a used copy (for a hefty amount that I will not disclose so easily), but it's a tough find, for sure

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official site | Myspace (The samples of music on here recall his more contemporary classical/ soundtrack styles that he explores on his later albums and film scores. Don't expect to find such warmness on this one)

Swans-My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (2010)

After a 13 year absence Michael Gira has once again started up his project known as Swans. In the past they have released some of the most unique music out there and some of my personal favorite albums.

This album is defiantly a good start for them especially after having such a long absence in the music scene. While this album is not as great as some of their former work such as The Great Annihilator, White Light From The Mouth Of Infinity, and Body To Body Job To Job. It's still stands up to be one of my favorite albums released so far this year and hopefully is a preview of more to come from this band.

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The Residents - Duck Stab (1978)

To see the Residents at their most intriguing, one cannot do much better than the Duck Stab/Buster & Glen album. The highlight of the work, "Constantinople", is a droning bit of whimsy whose effect is sufficiently hypnotic as to make you peruse the record for evidence of subliminal backwards masking. As is typical of the work, the entire album is synthesizer-laden, filled with ominously non-sensical lyrics, and a range of parody and homage which includes styles as diverse as 50s Elvis-style rock, the invented musics of Harry Partch, jazz which alternates between pre-bop and Sun Ra and veers into Beefheart-esque territory.

If you have not "bought into" the Residents, this is an excellent start--it's sophisticated and yet very D.I.Y., musically complex and yet arguably as much a product of Shreveport as San Francisco. My only real critique of this album is that it's entirely eerie, but perhaps that's one of the many points.

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Kayo Dot - Choirs of the Eye (2003)

This album, holy shit. Kayo Dot's music stops time and takes you out of your body. Choirs of the Eye is one of my favorite albums of all time and sets the standard for all music. The first track, "Marathon", is one of the best songs ever. The beginning makes this the perfect song to wake up in the morning, and gives that HOLY SHIT feeling right as you put the CD in the player (or right when you press play in Winamp). I won't give an exact moment in the song because almost everything is amazing. The burst at the beginning, the BRUTAWLITY that there is before, and the ambient second part that starts around 4:30 that can freeze time and suddenly everything is in slow motion. Thankfully after this song there is "A Pitch of Summer" so we can recover from the burst of geniousness.

Did I say the next song helped you rest? Lies! What you think is a ballad like song ends building up into a complete monster that may RAPE your ears. Don't come here unprepared. Then there's "The Manifold Curiosity", perhaps the greatest song on this album. I could simply say that the whole song is speechless. I don't know why every little note from this album touches my heart like no other band does. There are many great moments in this song that make me want to close my eyes and just lie on my bed listening to it. The sudden "musical explosion" that would make people jump if they come unprepared (4:40), the subtle background riff at 5:55 that always makes me smile...

But the real standout of this song is the amazing build up until the end that concludes with the most BRUTAWL piece of music ever. If there is one song that makes people shit, it's this. All the second part of this song is either the build up for this climax, or it. I'm never able to move properly when it comes, I feel nervous, like if the world would end in just a few seconds, and when the guitar begins with the crushing riff at 10:25, I already know it's too late. Don't try to talk me there, because I'll be unable to move. Also, check how loud the snare is at the end, holy shit.

Fortunately (or not) "Wayfarer" is all nice and pretty with cool solo but there isn't any holy shit moments (there are, but nothing that deserves begin in the HOLY FUCKING SHIT list). A cool relax after "The Manifold Curiosity". The final track, "The Antique", is less dramatic than in "The Manifold Curiosity", since the song is overall much heavier and doesn't build up like the other does, but it's still really great, especially when the acoustic riffing comes. Brutality paired up with something beautiful make an amazing pair. Also, the ending after that is really something magic, and IMO, the best thing of this song.

Get this album right now. You won't regret it.

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Supersilent-6 (2003)

Lost my review :'(

Don't feel like typing it up again, but here's a brief description:


Supersilent 6 was recorded during a 5 day studio session at Athletic Sound in Halden, Norway, the all analogue facility where other important Rune Grammofon albums like "Supersilent 1-3" (RCD 2001) and "Scorch Trio" (RCD 2025) were made. From the monumental hardcore blizzard storm of "1-3" to the elegant electrojazz of "4" and the almost quiet soundscapes of "5", this new album is where the sum of Supersilent comes together in a shape of almost epic proportions.

Again, the names of the players do not appear on the cover. This is Supersilent music, collective work, group improvising, and not a matter of individual grandstanding. They never rehearse as a group and don't discuss the music with each other, meeting only to play concerts or to record. Supersilent music lives in a no-man's-land between the genres, somewhere between rock, electronica, jazz and modern composition. In fact, much of the music on "6" appears to be written or at least arranged, again making it clear that these musicians communicate on a high, almost telepatic level. Needless to say, there are no overdubs. Everything is presented as it was performed in the studio.

Often being labelled jazz because of the improvising nature of the music and the fact that three of the members come from a jazz background, with "6" they are just as likely to attract followers of rock bands such as Goodspeed You! Black Emperor, Sigur Ros, King Crimson and (late) Talk Talk.

Supersilent was formed in Oslo in 1997 after producer and soundartist Helge Sten approached free jazz trio "Veslefrekk" with the idea of forming a new quartet. The first time they played together was a concert at Bergen Jazz Festival the same year. Their first album, the triple set "1-3" was released in early 98, also being the first release in the Rune Grammofon catalogue.

http://www.supersilence.net/recordings/supersilent6.htm


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