Annihilation Jazz, Buchla Pop, Atmospheric Pedal Steel
“We must become an unrelenting blast furnace.”
Not every musician knows how to talk about their music. That’s understandable: so much of the creative process can be intuitive and unknown, even with years honing a skill and sound. Japanese guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi not only knew how to talk about his annihilating free jazz, but was a fire-breathing mouthpiece for deep listening from both improvisers and audience.
Blank Forms — the non-profit organization that heralds experimental arts through galleries, performances, books and a record label — has taken on Takayanagi’s legacy with reissues of his most outrageous work (April is the cruellest month, the forthcoming Axis/Another Removable Thing). I spent the weekend out in the backyard with the latest journal from Blank Forms titled Aspirations of Madness, which includes translated Japanese poetry and writings on Catherine Christer Hennix, but spends considerable space with a series of archival Takayanagi interviews, reprinted for the first time in English.
In them, Takayanagi shares his contempt for critics (“And still their authors carry on with their brazen-faced lives!”) and for the then-contemporary scene (“I have my doubts if jazz has ever existed in Japan”). He’s funny, self-deprecating and definitely comes off like many grumbling musicians I know making weird-ass music for a very select few. But he’s also effusive in his love for Lennie Tristano (“his sense of smell was 20 years ahead of his time”) and a music philosophy that, ultimately, desires to pair his blood-spurting free jazz (containing the “compunction-less concentrated motion of the entirety of human consciousness”) with deep connections: “Just as we demand certain skills from a performer, possession of ability (and techniques) to listen are essential and should be demanded of the audience.”
These weekly newsletters deliver micro reviews and other sputtered thoughts, but I always want to listen deeper, even in times of crisis, and leave a deep impression. — Lars Gotrich
The Playlist
27 tracks. Throwbacks to Washing Machine-era Sonic Youth and the late Afrobeat genius Tony Allen. A nearly perfect circle of covers: Archers of Loaf (The Rolling Stones’ “Street Fighting Man”), Jimmy Eat World (Crooked Fingers’ “Call to Love”) and Caroline Spence (Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle”) — just need Mick Jagger to mumble through “Harnessed in Slums.” Plus “Below the Clavicle,” the latest spectral-pop loosie from Eartheater.
Stream the playlist via Spotify. Did you miss a previous playlist? Get thee to the archives.
Best of Bandcamp
(Note: Some of these albums can only be found on Bandcamp, so click the links to explore!)
Maria Teriaeva, Conservatory of Flowers: Siberian-born, Moscow-based composer turns space-age synth exploration into 3-minute songs to create a bubbling, Buchla pop that sounds like baseball cards on bicycle spokes and summer memories.
Couch Slut, Take a Chance on Rock ‘n’ Roll: When the world spews black bile, Couch Slut spits back. Metallic noise-rock that heaves real-life horror with homunculus riffs, barb-wire discord and foaming rage.
Aging, Sentenced to Love: Jazz noir smoked with a hint of doom. Neon lights shrouded in a haze of cigarettes and sewer steam. Bohren & der Club of Gore, but make it swing with a high-heeled stroll.
Susan Alcorn, The Heart Sutra: The pedal steel player makes seeking, self-contained symphonies with atmospheric glissando. Janel Leppin arranges Alcorn’s pieces for a sextet sympathetic to endless possibility.
Masakatsu Takagi, Marginalia (series): Improvised piano sketches from the Japanese soundtrack composer, recorded open-air as birds chirp or as night calls, brushed with delicate watercolors.
RIYL the question of our age
What: “I Wonder What’s Inside Your Butthole?” (song)
Why: I always wanna know.