Friends overseas

In the summer of 1994 I was lucky enough to spend some time with my friend Yoshiyuki in Tokyo. I was 17 years old, and though I was a rabid musician at the time, playing in several orchestras in Washington state, I hadn't yet stumbled upon the rich deposits of experimental and noise music exploding out of Japan. It's probably for the best, as I don't think any of my friends would have wanted to go check out whatever wild noise madnesses were happening in Tokyo that summer. Luckily for me, someone made it their business to make some sort of chronicle of that time and place.

1991 - Tokyo Flashbacks Vol 1

Tokyo flashbacks is actually a long running series of compilations chronicling the vast amount of noise, experimental, and out-jazz music of the Tokyo scene. This first volume was released in 1991 and contains work from relatively popular artists like Keiji Haino, to the completely obscure. I bought this thing on vinyl in 1995 in Spokane, WA at a wonderful little independant record store called 4000 Holes (You'll hear more about this place from me for sure). It said "Tokyo" on it and it had a gamera toy hiding on the cover, which was all the motivation I needed to take it home with me. I was living in a weirdo house with a couple other looney, acid-soaked, art damaged kids and an angry siamese cat named "Agony". My only solid impression of my first listen was a feeling of being about 20 years artistically behind what I was hearing. Spokane in 1995 had nothing on Tokyo 1990. The most exciting thing for people in Spokane was the possibility of mixing ska with grunge... *sigh* Anyway, this is a really well curated series, and I'm sure I'll end up posting more of these records in the future. For now, this is a great jump-off for the uninitiated, and ought to keep you pretty bent and busy trying to unravel it for a while...

Pharoah I

For my first post I wanted to share some albums from one of my absolute favorite tenor saxophonists, Pharoah Sanders. This isn't by any means a complete collection of the massive body of incredible work this man has produced, but it's a damn fine place to start. This guy plays his horn as though his life depended on it. His playing is a fantastic example of how viscerally human a saxophone can sound.

1966 - Tauhid

I always get the sense that he's feeling a little cautious on this record considering what he blasts out over the next few years. Still, it's a beautiful record and I think his first on Impulse out of the shadow of the Col-train.

1969 - Izipho Zam

The first time I heard this must have been in about 1999 and I didn't really know Pharoah Sanders work very well. I was at work (crate crawling) in the warehouse-like record store I spent my time in back then and someone put this on. Probably Grover, or Scott... I don't remember. Anyway, at the time it didn't catch my attention much until the title track itself started. This has to be my first time hearing Sonny Sharrock as well... Anyway, musically, the kinds of things that happen in this song are exactly what makes out jazz madness so fucking compelling. This is definitely taking things out on a long, long limb, but the whole time it never stops sounding... lyrical? Whatever it is, you never lose the sensation of being in the middle of a SONG. The math is heavy, but it never disconnects and becomes mechanical. For me, the first of many "whoa" moments I've had listening to this guy play on various sessions. You can't get a CD of this one here in the US. I guess Impulse doesn't care for this one too much? I however, totally dig it.





1969 - Karma

This one just absolutely kills it. I've listened to this album so many times I couldn't begin to count. Descriptions don't do it justice. Just listen.




1971 - Village Of The Pharoahs

This one used to be pretty hard to track down. For a long time it was only released as a Japanese import on CD. I was excited when I found it but a little surprised when I heard it. This is a soooper mellow record. Smoky room music for sure.






1972 - Live At The East

Impulse has yet to release this album on CD. Why? I guess no one over there realizes that they are sitting on such a fucking gem of a record. Lucky for you, I have vinyl! :)