shinu toki wa betsu WHA-HA-HA

quite a score today at End of an Ear...an original pressing of Wha-ha-ha's 1981 album "Shinu Toki Wa Betsu." (check out this review from Pitchfork (!?!) from way back when in 2005 of a reissue of this record). i will admit the only reason I picked this LP up to check it out is because Akira Sakata is part of the group! Sakata's name may be familiar to some as he's recently gained some noteworthy acclaim from his playing with Jim O'Rourke and Chikamorachi (Darin Gray & Chris Corsano). He's released excellent CD's and LP's on the Family Vineyard label (Live at the Hungry Brain is pretty great) and an amazing double LP on Presspop outta Tokyo which features a qartet of Sakata, Jeff Parker, Nate McBride and John Herndon! video of the show that's on the record here:



i digress...back to the record at hand....WHA HA HA.

judging by those recent outings by Sakata you might not be expecting Wha-ha-ha to be what it is...which is to say it's out there in a great way. this is definitely a pop record, granted a very odd pop record that only early 80's Japan could produce. mix together 70's Zappa-esque prog sensibilities with early synth/keyboard pop and occasional weirdo free-jazz breaks and lots of scat singing on top. it's definitely a bit cheesy but in a great way. what's even weirder is that Sakata is not the only japanese jazz star on this record. drummer Shuichi "Ponta" Murakami has played with Yosuke Yamashita (where he met Akira Sakata in the early 70's) and keyboardist Shuichi Chino has played with Otomo Yoshihide among others.

although this might not be the most amazing LP you'll hear, it's pretty damned interesting and especially considering some of the people playing on the record. "Inanaki," the lead track is worth it alone, but the album as a whole stands as a really pleasant fun pop record from the early 80's japan. a lot of hip kids with synths would kill to make a record like this now. this is the real deal. listen to it here.

challenger BURNING STAR CORE

while on the subject of challenging records....Burning Star Core has made quite a few of them. the nom de plume of C. Spencer Yeh who has been released limited cassettes, CDR's and LP's since the very early 2000's. "Challenger" was released back in 2008 on Plastic Records (and CD on Hospital Records) and was his first LP to show a markedly different tone and direction. granted some of the noise is still in there but it's more composed on this record and is intertwined with slowly moving synth lines and other subtler touches. can't say I'm really surprised to see this direction from BSC considering his nonstop touring and collaborating, especially in the last 3-4 years with free jazz musicians and other non-noise dudes.

great record of more composed pieces. bought it a while ago but hadn't given it a full listen really and recently was looking at my LP's with artwork by Robert Beatty and thought I'd give this another spin. well worth it. check it out here.

new slaves ZS

quite possibly the best LP released in 2010 (or for a few years for that matter). Zs formed way back when in 2000 and have had multiple configurations from a sextet (2 saxes, 2 guitars & 2 drums) to everything in between and now for "New Slaves" (released in 2010 on Social Registry, with amazing cover art from John Dwyer of Thee Ohsees, Coachwhips, etc) they are a trio of sax, guitar and drums but you wouldn't know it from the sound of the album. This is the fullest, most confounding, genre-defying and challenging record they've ever made. it's also worth noting that longtime co-founder Charlie Looker left after their 2007 album "Arms" to focus on his project Extra Life which left just the trio would didn't even know if they'd continue making music as Zs....read here.

this LP is definitely not for everyone to say the least. but if you are even remotely interested in new experimental music you have to hear this record. most of the time you can't even tell who is actually playing what...to quote Ben Ratliff in his review of "New Slaves" from the New York Times, "the saxophone ends up sounding like an electric guitar and the electric guitar ends up sounding like a dentist’s drill. The drums sound like subway wheels heard from half a station away, or a clapping game." as a double LP this is definitely an endurance test but there are so many ideas and sounds crammed in here that it's hard not to listen to the entire thing at a time. in fact, I can't remember the last time I sat down to listen to this LP and DIDN'T listen to the whole thing. you almost have to take it in it's entirety just to get an idea of what's going on.

for example:


if that's not enough to convince you then listen to New Slaves right here and get hip. Zs are at the top of the vanguard of new music right now. LP and CD versions of this album are both out of print so if you happen to find it at a record store I recommend buying it.

oblique parallax SUN RA

when visiting Chicago there is a lot of good record shopping to be done. too much sometimes. i tend to stick to the obvious ones Permanent & Reckless with an occasional visit to Laurie's Planet of Sound among others. however on my last tour the dudes and i decided to stop by Dusty Groove where we found this exceptionally rare Sun Ra LP "Oblique Parallax."

it wasn't cheap but what an incredible LP. full of some of the most amazing & otherwordly synth/keyboard explorations. the LP was released in 1982 and features recordings from either '81 or '80 when the Arkestra was in residency in Detroit. what's most striking about this LP is that it is primarily solo synth/keyboard work completely different from his late 70's solo piano LP's. Sun Ra really wrestles some incredible sounds outta his keyboards that wouldn't be out of place on an LP by modern day synth travelers like John Elliot, Temporal Marauder, Rene Hell, Raglani, Keith Fullerton Whitman, hell even some of the less noisy Kevin Drumm stuff. Side A is mostly solo RA with some help from French Horn (by Vincent Chancey) and some percussion (by Eric "Samarai" Walker) on a couple tracks. Side B is one long track, "Journey Stars Beyond" that is the real treat of this LP. the majority again is mostly solo Ra exploring the cosmos on synth/keyboards but is joined for a small section in the middle by the entire Arkestra for some mindblowing free jazz stew (kinda similar to some of the Rob Mazurek/Exploding Star Orchestra stuff). from there it fades and closes out again with Sun Ra.

can't recommend this highly enough even for those who are quite familiar with Sun Ra. if you are lucky enough to locate an LP copy I would recommend it if you are willing to shell out some dollars. otherwise enjoy this beast right here. i believe Art Yard just did a CD reissue of this beauty too.

straight lines NEW MUSIK

Often I wake, still fully cloaked from dreams where I legitimately question the access my brain may have recently had to oxygen, in the hours questioned by many as post-brunch and I need- or strongly desire- an accompaniment to the oily oils of coffee and the itinerant, flappy fizzy aspirin dissolving before me. Like a tardy- often day late- phoenix with the combustible horsepower of a goat on W'butrin that's been poorly retrofitted inside a clapped out Mercedes (that happens to have been painted a comely shade) sitting outside European Autos, sometimes all I really need is a crispy blend of clever and cheeky New Wave synth pop. There's frankly no discretion to the enjoyment of this album for me. Part of me is really curious what other folks think of this album, while the other part wants to go to hell for eating popcorn with things like “reduced guilt” on the package. Here's to a middle ground.  Acquire this.

black silk stocking CHRISMA

From the husband and wife team, Chrisma- later changed to Krisma- is the exceptionally tidy record from 1977, “Chinese Restaurant”. Eminently Krauty (think Neu's Hallogallo motorik) on cuts like “C-Rock”, Klaus Nomi-y/mutant Chanson in their decadence on others like their charting “Lola”, psychically endearing on tunes like “Mandoia”, and the heavy hand of Vangelis's CS-80 drenched Bladerunner on "Lycee". The latter is not surprising being that V co-produced the record with his brother. I can't help but to think of Nancy Sinatra at other times or how well this song compliments one scene in Lost In Translation.  Get it here.