Ferocity of Practical Life

Monday, November 30, 2009

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Naked Diza Star (2006)

Les Rallizes Dénudés - End Of Heavy Groove (2006)

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Volcanic Performance (2008)

Friday, November 27, 2009

Fushitsusha ( 不失者 ) - The Wisdom Prepared (1998)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Experimental Rock |
| Psychedelic Rock |

Just to throw you off, this one’s pretty much the opposite of its predecessor, A Little Longer Thus. Supremely loud, distorted and free-form guitar, bass and drum twine with no let-up all on one long, thick track—this time fully realized at the nearly full CD length of 75 minutes. It’s nothing less than another exhausting, expansive, galactic black napkin of unsurpassed density and absorbing power. No other band should ever even think about attempting something like this. Completely stunning, a must-listen for every fan of extreme music.

Catalog: TKCF-77021 (Tokuma Japan Communications)
Album Overview on Arcane Candy
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Fushitsusha ( 不失者 ) - A Death Never To Be Complete (1997)

Fushitsusha easily maintain their position as Earth’s most-deserving of your dollars with two 1997 full-length CDs on the Japanese major label Tokuma, which appeared simultaneously with the Keiji Haino solo CD Keeping On Breathing and the duets with Derek Bailey called Drawing Close, Attuning. Don’t worry, though. The fancy, well-lit office support hasn’t affected the band’s non-commercial approach one little bit. The result is just better recording quality—this time captured at Moat studio in London, November 1996.

“Just As I Told You” is a short intro with repeated bass and drum jolts and a quiet, warning guitar off in the distance that suddenly explodes into the spare, plodding drums and bass of “Though It Went So Well?” with guitarist Keiji Haino freely spackling the patented, slow-motion, sustained trance-scramble with supreme, effects pedal warehouse heaviness that only he is capable of imagining—let alone mustering. No one else has ever approached the rock band format even vaguely in this manner.

A quivering delicacy hovers about during the half-hour-long centerpiece “That Which Is Becoming To Me,” which also erupts into feedback-marked, guitar soul-wail after 14 minutes. The piece then clouds into more mild ambience again 10 minutes later. “Continue To Be” operates in a very similar artery with way mellow shimmer that volcanoes into additional giant feedback cereal after 10 minutes with the mix volume cranked way up for the last few seconds. Stark drum and bass pound hold together “A Death Never To Be Complete” as Haino alternately screeches his throat raw and offers blasts of trebly, overblown guitar. The disc closes with “Hermitage,” a quiet and melodic waft of pleasant pastries—a perfect accompaniment to afternoon tea.

Catalog: TKCF-77014 (Tokuma Japan Communications)
Album Overview on Arcane Candy
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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Mizutani 2 With Association Love Songs (2007)

| Avant-Garde | Folk-Rock | Psychedelic Rock |
| Experimental Rock | Noise Rock |

3xCDs of "Solo" Takashi Mizutani (I really don't know why the 'mizutani' albums are 'solo', because the whole band is playing). Well, another lo-fi psychedelic-folk album as the first 'mizutani'. Pretty cool. Disc 1 from '72-'75, Disc 2 from '80 and Disc 3 from '76. review coming later. more info at discogs.

Catalog: UNIVIVE-015 (Univive)
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Les Rallizes Dénudés - One More Night Tripper (2006)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Double Heads (2005)

Fushitsusha ( 不失者 ) - Purple Trap - The Wound That Was Given Birth To Must Be Bigger Than The Wound That Gave Birth (1995)

| Avant-Garde | Noise Rock | Experimental Rock |
| Psychedelic Rock |

This set was recorded live in London in 1994 and proves once again that Fushitsusha is among the most engaging improvising musicians currently breathing. Disc one opens with sky-scraping arcs of rocking, psychedelic guitar mangle intertwining through simple, plodding bass and drums on “Allurement” then shifts gears into abstract, improvisational fatness plus occasional sections of raw screaming with spare bass ’n’ drum stabs. “The Nameless One,” “Purple Maze,” and “Here, There” are all short blasts of quirky, overload-speckled improv. Disc one is closed out by a long ’n’ lovely wash of ghostly night blare on “Great Dizziness.”

“You Within Me” opens disc two with some steady rocking from the rhythm section as Keiji Haino splatters some deliriously scattered and beautiful electric guitar slabs and particles everywhere—way beyond belief. For fans of spontaneously-psyched free-rock, this is an absolute must-hear and is one of Fushitsusha’s best tracks ever. The proceedings slow up a bit on “Code” as the bass and drums barely move under a descending guitar line, eventually moving into more deep space exploration—only to end up rocking out hard at the end. “Overthrow” starts out with a few seconds of barre chord garage-rock then suddenly veers into another glacial bass and drum base on which Haino strews more of his noted gobs of feedback mic-tortured vocals. His guitar joins in after about eight minutes for some air-tangling displays of slop which segues back into the garage song, ending with another noise mangle.

Little or no editing has been done to these tapes—smatterings of applause, audience chatter and “getting ready” instrument sounds are all very audible—giving this release an authentic live feel. It’s the sixth album in the ongoing Fushitsusha saga and is totally essential.

Catalog: BFFP 124 (Blast First)
Album Overview on Arcane Candy
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Fushitsusha ( 不失者 ) - Pathetique (1994)

Like most of Keiji Haino’s cover artwork, Pathetique’s mini-LP-style gatefold jacket is covered top-to-bottom with dark ink on black paper, underscoring the immense depth of the ideas, emotions and sounds contained therein.

The CD opens with a stately, slowly descending pile of crunch chords and amp-whistle clocking in at a mere five minutes (the blink of a hummingbird’s eye in Haino’s universe), serving as a more-than-adequate intro to all the lost squall and splendor to follow. Track two’s supremely slop-o-guitar sound-shards chop and challenge and veer startingly into full-on destruction and modern psych passages that sear all synonyms. Song number three shifts repeatedly from an extremely catchy yet dissonant, descending, mantra-rock groove into more improvised, feedback bliss at all the “wrong” moments—which sounds so right. At well over 40 minutes, track four stretches out a solid ocean of electronic guitar distortion into one of those “timeless / infinite moments” Haino discussed when profiled in The Wire magazine.

Catalog: PSFD-50 (P.S.F. Records)
Album Overview on Arcane Candy
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