Dislocation - Carve Another Notch

Dislocation occupied a strange in-between space in the world of late 1990's Japanese underground music. They had one foot in free improvisation, one in gallery art/film performance, and a third foot in the noise underground. Band member Keishi Kiyokawa produced no sound at all; he was only credited with visuals and performance. Yoshinori Yanagawa's alto shrieks slice through the air in a manner that echoes his contemporary, Masayoshi Urabe, and recalls their shared saxophonic ancestor Kaoru Abe. The synth and "electronics" players lay down a bed of low-level chatter that seems more in line with David Tudor, Hugh Davies, or Brian Doherty than with noise monsters Merzbow or IncapacitantsDislocation might be thought of as a free improvisation unit, descended from East Bionic Symphonia or Taj Mahal Travellers. There's a lot of strange empty space here, though, not the cathartic wail one might expect. Still, it's terrific stuff. The fried electric improv skree on "Carve Another Notch" was recorded in 1990 and 1993 and released in 1994 by Scatter. It features a subdued Shohei Iwasaki/Monde Bruits playing samplers on the first two tracks. 


0 comments: