Sub Rosa, one of the world's finest label for outstanding and non-mainstream music has hit the spot again. A long overdue compilation combining the most interesting Japanese musicians and artists follows the release of the high quality 'An Anthology Of Noise & Electronic Music Vol. 1' sampler released earlier this year.
As an introduction to 'Japanese Avant-Garde' here are some extracts from DAVID TOOP's liner notes: 'Most music in Japan has little to recommend it; it is a sonic equivalent of those brutal concrete towers or the transitory chaos of multi-storey teen-fashion emporia in Aoyama. But a sonic underground thrives, creatively if not financially, and perhaps it should be compared with the shabby Golden-gai drinking dens of Shinjuku, faint reminders of a lost time when desire and transgression shared endless cups of sake with political and artistic radicalism. How is it possible to live within and react against an extremely regulated society, politically moribund, engulfed by consumerism, technological innovation, mediated images, a confusion of influences and traditions? Agitation and stillness may seem to be opposing strategies, yet they converge at a certain point. Surging deep beneath the noir turbulence of MERZBOW and SO TAKAHASHI, the car crash ruins of OTOMO YOSHIHIDE and GROUND ZERO, the curated urban fragments of VIEWMASTER, the technocratic complexity of BISK and YOSHIHIRO HANNO's MULTIPHONIC ENSEMBLE, the piercing intensity of SACHIKO M, the childlike placidity of AKI ONDA, YOSHIO MACHIDA and HACO, is a conflicting sense of clarity attained through struggle. Out of turmoil, a stained purity is revealed. Listening to this alchemical transmutation, I think of FUJIEDA BAIAN, the central character of SHOTARO IKENAMI's historical novels. Professional assassin and acupuncturist, BAIAN kills to live, lives to heal. At the beginning of YASUNARI KAWABATA's novel, 'The Sound of the Mountain', OGATA SHINGO hears an elusive sound, the fa.......
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Przegląd japońskiej awangardy: So Takahshi, Koji Asano vs Calla, Merzbow, Bisk, Haco, Sachiko M., Multiphonic Ensemble, Otomo Yoshide, Aki Onda, Yoshio Machida, Ground Zero, View Masters. Dla zainteresowanych – dołożono dwa wywiady z awangardowymi japońskimi rezyserami filmowymi (Takashi Miike i Shinya Tsukamoto). W dobie ogromnego zainteresowania japońską awangardą elektroniczną, warto sięgnąć po tę reprezentatywną składankę.

Rafał Księżyk (Antena Krzyku 2/2003):
Belgijska Sub Rosa, czołowy specjalista od kompilacji penetrujących nieznane muzyczne światy, tym razem proponuje antologię japońskich mistrzów elektronicznych eksperymentów. Koji Asano, Merzbow, Haco, Sachiko M, Otomo Yoshihide, Ground Zero. Od walczyków z pozytywki, poprzez noise, na terenowych nagraniach z salonu pachinko skończywszy. W klimat muzyki wprowadzają teksty z książeczki: esej Davida Toopa oraz wywiady z kultowymi twórcami undergroundowego japońskiego kina. Kapitalne wprowadzenie dla profanów. Ci, co znają się na rzeczy też nie powinni narzekać, większość materiału nie była wcześniej publikowana, a specjalnie z myślą o nich w programie składaka znalazły się rarytasy, jak choćby koncertowe nagrania Grodnu Zero czy Haco w duecie z Pierre Bastienem

Sub Rosa, one of the world's finest label for outstanding and non-mainstream music has hit the spot again. A long overdue compilation combining the most interesting Japanese musicians and artists follows the release of the high quality 'An Anthology Of Noise & Electronic Music Vol. 1' sampler released earlier this year.
As an introduction to 'Japanese Avant-Garde' here are some extracts from DAVID TOOP's liner notes: 'Most music in Japan has little to recommend it; it is a sonic equivalent of those brutal concrete towers or the transitory chaos of multi-storey teen-fashion emporia in Aoyama. But a sonic underground thrives, creatively if not financially, and perhaps it should be compared with the shabb.......
more