Ami Yoshida/Toshimaru Nakamura-Soba to Bara (Erstwhile 056)

[William Hutson]

okay. so now i've listened to this a few times and i have to say that my experience was changed by knowing about the recording process. it might be my own stubbornness, of course. however, i was less struck by the happy coincidences where the duo's sounds seemed complimentary than by the moments where something occurred that i don't think would have been possible had the duo recorded this together.

when playing with other people, it is almost impossible not to fall into the rhythm of quieter sections building to louder sections, and then back. players can make the conscious decision to try to avoid this, but i think it's very rare that they are able to do it completely. it's just too natural. ami and toshi entirely avoid this type of progression by erasing any influence that the other has on their playing (except for the idea of the other person, knowing that the solos were recorded to be combined later). toshi's solo sounds more traditional, in that the energy swells and then dissipates in a kind of fast/loud, slow/quiet cycle, but ami's performance is almost uniformly aggressive. there are parts where toshi matches her energy, then slowly tapers off into silence, or some thin quiet tones, but ami keeps right on going, continuing a musical thought she'd been pursuing for the previous few minutes. i think that if they recorded together, it would have been almost impossible to achieve these kinds of effects. as toshi faded out, ami would have naturally changed up the sound she was working on, shifting to another section alongside her partner. or if she had not, and made the conscious decision to ignore his playing, then i think she'd still allow a little more air between her vocal barrages, just to make it clear that he is doing something different, but she is sticking to a particular sound for a little longer. some of these moments sound so unnatural that, while maybe i've described the alternatives poorly, it's clear that the players could not hear each other. this results in a very weird rhythm throughout the album, avoiding the predictable ups and downs that group improv often follows. it makes possible more blatantly unusual choices from both players and keeps the whole piece very unpredictable and exciting. i absolutely love it.

and the sounds are great. both of them just sound so good on this one. ami's voice is totally inhuman. i love her doing this super aggressive style (i think i had expected something more whispery). this makes me wish she'd do a harsh noise album, maybe a collaboration with kazumoto endo, where they cut her vocals up really fast amidst blasts of cut-up noise. i also wish that toshi's released solos sounded more like his playing on here. apparently he's perfectly capable of playing like this alone-- i would love to hear it on record.

[jon abbey]

i also wish that toshi's released solos sounded more like his playing on here. apparently he's perfectly capable of playing like this alone-- i would love to hear it on record.

well, he hasn't done a genuine solo record in a really long time ('dance music' doesn't really count as that was designed to accompany dancers), the previous one was recorded in 2003 and his playing has developed quite a bit since then. he promises me that his in-the-works ErstSolo will be very different from all of his previous solo work, whether it's along these lines or not remains to be seen. that won't be out until sometime in 2010, though.

[jon abbey]

this is from Yuko's Japanese PR, obviously translated:

"This album can be described as a "spiritual co-performance" by 
two musicians who know and respect each other on the deepest level. 
Each musician's characteristic stands out vividly while there 
are also integrated moments of coincidence when two musicians' 
sounds develop to a similar direction. Different from conventional 
improvisational performance in which musicians cannot avoid to be 
affected by each other by sharing the same space, this powerful duo 
music shows that musicians can reach a deeper level of music and can 
develop new possibilities of their expression by facing their own 
identities beyond a limit of co-performed improvised music."-Yuko Zama

[jon abbey]

the package also contains Japanese-only liner notes by Yoshida and Nakamura.

Will a translation be available at the website or on the blog?

as always, your wish is my command. Ami's are posted on erstwords now, Toshi's will probably follow at some point.

http://erstwords.blogspot.com/

[Jesse]

Wow, Ami's notes are so musical. Some of it is Beckettian. Some of the cadences remind me of Gertrude Stein. The aku thing is like what zen calls a "turning word", I think.

[Dan Warburton]

Great text! Man, I wish I could speak Japanese.

[faster]

Man, I was ready and willing to be disgusted by those notes, but there's something in them that reminds me of the "tropisms" of one of my favorite writers, Nathalie Saurraute.

I can still hate them, but my heart's not in it.

[Gerardo A]

the package also contains Japanese-only liner notes by Yoshida and Nakamura.

Will a translation be available at the website or on the blog?

as always, your wish is my command. Ami's are posted on erstwords now, Toshi's will probably follow at some point.

http://erstwords.blogspot.com/

I have a question for the translator (Yuko), of course besides the gratitude for the translation work. Of the different nouns/options that she offers in brackets, could she (at least hypothetically) be more inclined to choose one meaning over the others? I mean, at least for convenience, when one reads the text aloud for instance. Or, does it really add to the general sense/meaning to know or to read the four different meanings of each word? Just wondering... I am shamefully unfamiliar with Japanese as well, of course.

[faster]

And about the record itself: it's a BEAST. There's nothing cold or sterile about this disc, it eats your heart and shits cold, clammy truth on your doorstep.

Better than anything Ami's done except Tears, by a mile, and head and shoulders above 90% of Toshi's discography as well, One Day notwithstanding.

The way it was made is a little interesting, but it's a huge mistake to focus on it. A player like Toshi can definitely anticipate a lot of how Ami will behave (and how he wants to frame that behavior)--it's not that far from a regular duo that way. I really hope people aren't listening to it thinking "which parts betray the process?" or "omg, it's like they have TELEPATHY amirite?" because yeah that tree might be one you haven't seen before but it's the forest that houses multitudes.

[jon abbey]

I have a question for the translator (Yuko), of course besides the gratitude for the translation work. Of the different nouns/options that she offers in brackets, could she (at least hypothetically) be more inclined to choose one meaning over the others? I mean, at least for convenience, when one reads the text aloud for instance. Or, does it really add to the general sense/meaning to know or to read the four different meanings of each word? Just wondering... I am shamefully unfamiliar with Japanese as well, of course.

sorry, I meant to make this clearer. I also thought what you're saying when initially looking at these, but this is a direct translation, meaning Ami is writing in that form (complete with the brackets and slashes, which you can see in the Japanese notes if you have the CD), they're not different options from Yuko. does that make sense?

[Gerardo A]

Oh I see. Thanks (and thanks to Yuko!)

[jon abbey]

OK, we added Toshi's notes, in the same entry:

http://erstwords.blogspot.com/

one thing that's pretty interesting is the similarity of the two Kanji characters pictured there, the pink is the 'ba' from Bara and the blue is the 'so' from Soba (the front cover of the CD). despite being different sounds, the characters themselves are quite similar, and in contrast, the 'ba' from Soba and the 'ba' from Bara are wildly different (as you can see if you have the CD, the 'ba' from Soba is the other blue kanji character, on the back of the front cover).

[Dan Warburton]

Nice. Cook noodles in water, then throw noodles away. Ah, time to watch Tampopo again Thanks for putting the time in to translate, all. Looking forward to the album.

[howsthatsound]

those were great notes! both very illuminating and poetic in their own right (though i couldn't help imagining toshi's story as a miyazaki short). thanks to yuko for the translation.

[JrF]

really liked the sleeve notes !

btw: I wonder if anyone (i'm sure Jon has) has read any of Ami's other writing ? I've been told it's very good but as I don't read Japanese & I doubt if anywhere has translations available it's a bit tricky !

Toshi on Soba made me want to buy this disc.

[lukaz]

Just got the album and it sounds great ...

What about Toshi's love for beer. it was the first thing he wanted when he came to Shitenia. I remember reading his text about beer in Resonance mag (publication of LMC)- i think the one dedicated to feedback ...

[jon abbey]

http://olewnick.blogspot.com/2009/04/am ... ba-to.html

[Jesse]

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4974

I like the Biv's music prose.

[jon abbey]

one thing I've been trying to facilitate recently is for the musicians involved in this music to write more in-depth about it, as opposed to just the handful of critics who tend to weigh in most of the time (they're welcome and even necessary, but they don't represent the whole picture).

so one good piece of news to report is that ami volunteered to write a piece for erstwords about her thoughts on voice and improvisation, which I'm really excited about.

also, developing out of an exchange on richard pinnell's blog, graham halliwell wrote me an e-mail about 'soba to bara', which with his permission, I'm posting here. not a formal review, but I think a very interesting perspective.

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"To my ears it sounds as though Ami is concentrating almost entirely on her vocal cords, or throat. I find this compelling. It also sounds as though she is articulating her sounds around the natural break in her voice (i.e. the break between higher and lower register). I hear the illusion of several sounds being produced simultaneously, as she switches in fast succession above and below this break; high pitched textures and lower pitched textures merge and interact as one. Especially in the first half of the piece. After a while I can forget the voice. Sometimes she sounds more like a reed instrument, others an animal or bird, or even analogue electronics. At times, but not necessarily at any particular point in the music, I find Ami's contribution disturbing. I like the way she uses pulse, or dare I say, rhythm.

Toshi's contribution is also interesting. I am more familiar with Toshi's music, but here i would say he sounds more exploratory than many other contexts I've heard him in. Less prepared in some ways, but very focused. It's like he's trying to find a particular sound, or a new part of his instrument. Some of his sounds after about 15 or 20 minutes i think are sublime and beautiful. The two musicians work together wonderfully.

So me feeling disturbed is an emotional response generated by the musicians. But how intentional is this? Is that Ami's intention? Are her sounds an expression of something in particular? Fear or longing, for example? Or something very personal that cannot be expressed any other way? Or does she view what she does as a technical means, a way of just making music? This disc is going to raise a lot of questions.

I realise it's an overlay piece - I knew this before I listened. Would i have been able to tell by listening without knowing? Doubtful. But what I would say about overlay pieces, (having constructed several myself as you know with Roden, Davies and Gunter), is that it gives the musician a wonderful opportunity to hold back, and to concentrate on subtlety and singularity. To really concentrate on the moment. Of seeing one idea through in immense detail. Of thinking about the other musician's contribution and ways of working rather than to it, and thinking more about possible outcomes rather than possible responses. I think this CD is very successful.

It's a hard listen, even amongst hard listens! But it's also compelling and one that will take a long while to fully absorb and contextualise."-Graham Halliwell

[Dan Warburton]

I find Ami's contribution disturbing [..] feeling disturbed is an emotional response generated by the musicians. But how intentional is this?

I would imagine not at all.

I realise it's an overlay piece - I knew this before I listened. Would i have been able to tell by listening without knowing? Doubtful.

Agreed.

But what I would say about overlay pieces, (having constructed several myself as you know with Roden, Davies and Gunter), is that it gives the musician a wonderful opportunity to hold back, and to concentrate on subtlety and singularity. To really concentrate on the moment. Of seeing one idea through in immense detail. Of thinking about the other musician's contribution and ways of working rather than to it, and thinking more about possible outcomes rather than possible responses.

Is that a "listening" or a "responding" missing between the "rather than" and the "to it" in the previous sentence?
Good points Graham, thanks for airing them.