TWINKLING NASA

Long forgotten and unknown short-lived Japanese prog act,led by ex-Dada leader Izumi Mutsuhiko.The band was formed in early-80's after the demise of Dada with Mutsuhiko leaving behind the Electronic territory to explore some synth-driven Fusion field.By mid-80's the rest of the band featured Usami Hitoshi on drums, Ito Koji on sax and keyboardistand Kitaoka Atsushi.Their debut ''Twinkling NASA'' was released in 1986 on King Records with tracks recorded between 1981 and 1985,as a result two more keyboardists are featured on the sleeve notes,Fukami Seiichi and Senba Motoi.Mutsuhiko himself handles all guitars,synthesizers and electronic effects.

With a style of their own,Kennedy offer somekind of synth-based Fusion mixed with some symphonic elements,often interrupted by Mutsuhiko's driving frenetic guitar playing,recalling bands like UK, MONGOL or QUASER.While moving away from Dada's sound,the main composer still insists on some of his earlier's bands elements with Psych/Electronic sounds blended with dominant synthesizers and pounding drums.Despite following mainly an up-tempo style,the band delivers some cosmic atmosphere here and there but this is mostly going into a distorted and dissonant Fusion path with groovy beats.Surprisingly a couple of tracks even contain some nice mellotron waves sufficiently mixed with the overall style,the same thing with the driving saxes on the closing track of the first LP side.Still the production is mediocre and the very plastic sound due to the heavy use of synths,which dominates the album,will not be everybody's cup of tea.

A true Japanese obscurity from mid-80's,which deserves some more fame,especially fans of hard-styled Jazz-Fusion will enjoy this quite a bit.Well-executed and warmly recommended.