IMPROVISATIONS (WITH UCHIHASHI KAZUHISA)

This live collection is the first of three (so far) collections of improvisations released by Tatsuya Yoshida and Uchihashi Kazuhisa. On display here is the kind of music you'd expect from the two playing together - high energy, complex improvisations with guitar and drums and (of course) bizarro lyrics courtesy of Yoshida. Each of these guys is great at improvising, and a lot of the time I'd almost think some of the material was pre-written. Yoshida mainly sticks to the drums and vocals, and Uchihashi plays his guitar through loops and delay a lot of the time, similar to his style in his own group, Altered States. He alters the speed of the looped portions as well to add some odd sounds to the mix, and on occasion Yoshida's vocals are run through a delay box as well, which is always fun. The music on display here definitely isn't for everyone, though - fans of Yoshida's usual high-energy material a-la Ruins should get a kick out of it, though. It's closer to their material than to anything I've heard from Altered States up to this point.

The two are certainly generous with the amount of material on display here - two discs of highly entertaining improvs for roughly the price of one prog album. My only big complaint is the packaging - it's a very thin cardboard package with the two albums on one foam holder, every time I pull out the discs I feel like I'm going to bend the packaging out of shape. The music is what counts for me though, and I enjoy it all quite a lot. Definitely an excellent addition to the collection of anyone who enjoys the Japanese avant scene.