V/A-FUJIREKODSU, CD, 1999, JAPAN
The third installment in my series of posts of recordings on the uber-eccentric Cha-Bashira label, the Fujirekodsu compilation was issued in conjunction with both Germany's A-Musik and their fellow travelers at Japan's Los Apson? imprint, and it's the latter association thats perhaps most telling here, as anyone that investigated the dadaist ditherings arrayed across their compilation "Mi Caballito Chulo...! Como Lo Quie Ro....." (posted by me back in August of last year) will find much of the prankishness here cut from the same clown suit cloth and similarly presented courtesy of an equal array of names that few of you will have encountered elsewhere. Nonsense as an end in itself is one of the hallmarks of Japanese underground musical activity (especially the sort endorsed by the Bananafish crowd, which this seems custom made for) and, for the most part, Fujirekodsu flies this flag proud and high, though not without undertaking a few unexpected right turns into more po-faced territory, most notably a 7+ minute atmospheric lower_case roundelay from the trio of Christophe Charles, Brandon Labelle and Steve Roden, whose appearance here (at roughly four times the length of most other contributors) offers a breath of highly considerate air amongst the hijinks that elsewhere dominate.
Contributors:
1. Kuknacke
2. L?K?O
3. Miyahara Hidekazu
4. Hidalgo?
5. Hair Stylistics
6. AOA
7. Computer Soup
8. Why Sheep?
9. Susumu Yokota
10. Sayaka
11. Christophe Charles/Brandon Labelle/Steve Roden
12. Rax Karal
13. Noise Ramones
14. Tapes Klar!
15. Woodman
16. Q of Q
17. Vagamoron
18. American Cherry
19. Tennessees
20. Yanee Hat
21. Smurf Otoko Gumi
22. Evil Moisture Killer Nuts
23. Rudolf Eb.er
24. Hado Ho (Dub Sonic)
25. Hado Ho (Dub Sonic)
26. Nagata Kazunao
27. OM
28. Poll Mahlow
29. Moodman
Get pt 1 Here
Get pt 2 Here
3 comments:
What does "lower_case" refer to?
fuzztunnel-It's a term that originated with a yahoo discussion group dedicated to covering forms of experimental music that deal in low volume sound or near silent forms. In Japan, a lot of this stuff went under the banner of Onkyo improv (see the work of folks like Taku Sugimoto, Ami Yoshida, Toshimaru Nakamura). In Britain the handle was New Silence (Rhodri Davies, Mark Wasell et.al.). In the electronica sphere, folks like Richard Chartier and Ryoji Ikeda have been prime movers.
The Wire magazine has been flying the flag for this kinda stuff for years. Personally, I find a lot of this work
about as appetizing as trying to enjoy a meal comprised solely of crumbs ("This is ART, damn it! No fun allowed! Now be quiet and take your medicine...") but to each his own...
Anyway, it's probably best to let this group's mission statement speak for itself.
Quote: "lowercase-sound is a unmoderated discussion & announcement list concerning a disparate group of musics, sound art & listening experiences that emphasize or include some or all of the characteristics of low volume, silence, soundscape/environmental/field recordings, indeterminacy, psycho/acoustic treatments of space, environment & context & possible relationships of this work to art in other media ie painting, drawing & film & poetry. Some examples include the music of Morton Feldman, AMM, John Cage, Artists on the Trente Oiseaux label (eg bernhard gunter, Francisco Lopez, Steve Roden), Field recordings of Chris Watson & visual work by Agnes Martin, Robert Ryman , Stan Brakhage & Andre Tarkovsky."
Much thanks for the explanation, Eric. I'll seek out some of the names you have mentioned and see what I think of the genre.
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