Boris with Merzbow: Sun Baked Snow Cave

This second teaming of ridiculously prolific Japanese Drone Rock meisters, Boris, and even more prolific number one J-Noise guru, Merzbow, could well be a marriage made in Heaven or Hell depending on your point of view and the health of your eardrums.

The album consists of a single hour long track, which surprisingly gets of to quite a gentle start with a few acoustic guitar notes from the Boris gang and some gentle buzzes and hums from merzbow. . early section is actually quite calming and makes use of silence in a way less common to J-NoiseThis builds throughout the first two thirds of the album until we are faced with a much more familiar aural assault slightly more intense than the freakout on Boris' Smile, but not in the audio nasty territory of Merzbow's Merzbear. The guitar and electronics merge particularly well here and avoid Boris' tendancy on Smile to occasionally sound too much like they are attempting to play Prog-Rock solos, but failing miserably.

Boris with Merzbow - Definately more than the sum of its parts.

Taku Sugimoto: Live in Australia

This double CD comes complete with a 1000 plus word essay by Sugimoto himself discussing the nature of music, performance, recording and found sound. Pretty interesting stuff, but unlikely to prepare the unwary listener for the musical experience he/she has just invested in.

What you have here are two tracks, both over an hour in length, on two CDs that are are much about the aural environment as about Sugimoto's performance. For the majority of the recording we can hear cars passing, audience members coughing, rain rattling on the roof, chairs squeaking etc. Occasionally (and I do mean very occasionally), Sugimoto plays a muted note on his guitar. I haven't counted, but I would be very surprised if Sugimoto plays more than 10 notes in the 62 minute Music for Amplified Guitar and it seems like forever before the guitarist makes any musical comment on the torrential rainfal that makes up the first 15 minutes of Dot.

Although this is a fascinating recording for those interested in questioning the nature of performance and the role of recording, it's not recommended for those seeking catchy tunes or virtuosic displays. It might be good for messing with peoples heads at parties though.

Disc 1
Dot (73) 72:24Recorded live by Matthew Earle at Performance Space, Sydney, September 12, 2003
Disc 2
Music for Amplified Guitar 62:20Recorded live by Lawrence English and John Chantler at Nine Hours North, Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, September 14, 2003
All composed by Taku SugimotoTaku Sugimoto: guitar

Taku Sugimoto & Moe Kamura: Saritote

I have been a fan of Taku Sugimoto's album Opposite for some time now, so on a recent trip to Japan I did my best to track down some more of his music. Out of the CDs I bought, this collaboration with Moe Kamura is the one that has stood out for me.

Sugimoto's music is often labeled Reductionism due to the fact that some of his recordings and improvisations have more ambient noise and amplifier hum than "music" (please debate the inverted commas on your own time!). At one point in his career, Sugimoto estimated that he might only play 11 notes in 40 minutes. On this particular CD, Sugimoto and Kamura keep the number of notes small, but also contract the duration (7 tracks in under 12 minutes) producing a collection of lovely, intimate miniatures.

The sparse textures produced by the toy piano and guitar and the simple melodies and quiet child-like voice create an eery atmosphere that conjures up images of a haunted playroom. Each piece seems to be a fragment of a larger narrative that bring to mind Kurtág's Messages of the Late R. V. Troussova, Scenes From a Novel and Kafka Fragments. On the whole, this is an intriguing CD, although I would have preferred it to be a little longer.

Stay It Fragile (0:27)
A Chair 3 (1:21)
And Yet (2:14)
A Chair 1 (1:22)
A Chair 2 (1:28)
Stairs (2:03)
Postlude (1:51)
All music by Taku SugimotoAll words by Moe Kamura
Moe Kamura: vocal, guitar, toy pianoTaku Sugimoto: guitarTaku Unami: contraguitar (7)
Recorded and mastered by Taku Unami in Tokyo, May 2007Drawing and design by Taku Sugimoto