welcome home.

since people have been going crazy over midori takada (& rightfully so) lemme share one of my favs from her. sorry for the shitty quality cover, it's the best i could find with a five second search.

Kurosawa's Dreams funeral in the village

Hey friends. Like most of you, I was taken aback with jefe's departure -- even though we remain in touch every now and then --, but it was nice seeing many new hidden supporters. Even if doesn't look so, I'm still devoted in keeping the blog warm for his return (counting on it).

And the good news is I've finally been able to set up a minimal vinyl rip rig, thus also encouraging me to buy more. There are still some details to take care of, though. Meanwhile, here's a gem from the great Zipagu's defunct archive.

Miya Masaoka is one of those crazy Japanese gals with a taste for avant -- eg laser kotos, skin-crawling insects, etc. This album, however, while conservative in shape (a bass / drums / koto trio playing some Monk), is a deep exploration in subtlety and constraint.

(192kbps, sorry!)

pw: spooked

Kawabata & Yoshida & Umezu

A quick re-share from our defunct private club. And you read it right: that's "doc" Umezu (hello, Lucky) with Acid Mothers Temple SWR, the most recent Kawabata's project which includes none other than Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins, Koenjihyakkei, dozens of others). I must say, however, this album still haven't "stick" in me, despite having listened to it a few times. To me it sounds more like a private conversation to which you were not exactly invited (you wonder how this album passed so unnoticed). Nevertheless, it's a fantastic collab from Japanese avant masters.

Most concerts of traditional Japanese music is attended by old men and women with no teeth

The post title was taken from the liner notes of this album, and something you'd imagine John Zorn would write -- he also produced it. While I don't fully agree, Gagaku probably wasn't very known outside Japan by the 80's at all, so going to NY was a smart move for the young and ambitious Shamisen player Michihiro Sato. In fact, there wasn't a better place for him to be, since he was starting to trail the free improv path -- a trail with no shape, that is. The stellar cast -- Tom Cora, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, to name a few -- indicates how auspicious this meeting came to be.


pw: spooked