Tung Yung-Shen - Compositions on Chinese Music

Obscure LP issued in Taiwan, consisting of Tung Yung-Shen's interpretations of nine "traditional Chinese tunes". Musicians and instruments unidentified; no date - possibly released in the 1970s. Maybe a soundtrack for a festive nightmare.

1. Greetings to the Coming and Fortunes
2. Festival Music
3. On Spring Festival
4. Song of Water-Dragon
5. The Music for Dragon Dance
6. The Music for Lion Dance
7. Ta-Pu-Pu-Kao
8. Lantern Exhibition
9. Ba-Shan-Shian-Shou

link @192 [vinyl rip]

Ruins - Burning Stone (1992)

"Ruins is a contemporary Japanese band that represents the harsh, aggressive side of Zeuhl music. They are compared equally often with Magma and the hardcore band The Boredoms - that should give you an idea of the kind of crossover they pull off. After a pair of so-so noise-fest albums, Ruins really hit their stride in 1992 with the relentless album "Burning Stone", full to the brim with impossible drumming and zeuhlogies by Tatsuya Yoshida, a perfect disciple of Christian Vander (...) Hardly a second is wasted in this kamikaze hurricane".

"What you have here are neck snapping prog attacks with wild effects zooming all over, alternating falsetto vocals with faux-death metal growling and vocoder enhanced madness. Yoshida took a cue from Magma and makes up his own meaningless words to sing, and reading the lyric sheet they are quite something to get your tongue around, a brief example being: "GDRASSI GUASSIWOH ZEASSI GDRASSIGORRTHO" (...) Yes, this stuff is definitely wacky, it's very strange: even though Yoshida's music owes a lot to Magma and other prog rockers,it's STILL beyond weird".

Tatsuya Yoshida: drums, vocals, percussion
Ryuichi Masuda: steinberger 5-string bass

link @320

Duke Ellington - The Far East Suite (1967)

"Duke Ellington was just the kind of American the whole world could love. President Kennedy realized this when he dispatched Ellington on a tour of the Middle and Near East in 1963. With Duke as musical ambassador, Kennedy hoped to win the hearts and minds of the peoples of the East. Dutifully, Duke Ellington led his caravan of mighty musicians through the exotic cities of Amman, Baghdad, Ceylon, Tehran, Bombay, and Ankra. They performed the classic Ellington songs, all the while absorbing the sounds of what Ellington described as "a world upside down." Rather than trying to reproduce the music they heard on their journey through the East, Ellington and Strayhorn "let it roll around, undergo a chemical change, and then seep out on paper."

By opening The Far East Suite with a song entitled "Tourist Point of View," Ellington makes it clear that the album’s Eastern sounds are no more than the musical impressions of two Westerners. "Tourist Point of View" is fresh, dramatic, and mysterious—as the East always appears to unfamiliar eyes. With a nimble hand on the cymbals, the drumming of newcomer Rufus Jones is a key ingredient on the record—adding layers of Eastern infused polyrhythms to the mix. Johnny Hodges is spectacular on all of the album's nine original compositions, but nowhere is his playing more lush and evocative as on the beautiful "Isfahan." The song is one of the greatest examples of the writing genius of Ellington and Strayhorn. The fact that "Isfahan" was recorded in only two takes demonstrates the deep empathy of the entire band to the musical visions of Ellington/Strayhorn.

And when the individual musicians step out, every solo they take adds perfectly to the distinct vibe of each song. On the hard swinging "Blue Pepper (Far East of the Blues), Johnny Hodges rocks the house with a surprisingly mean tone. Jimmy Hamilton’s graceful clarinet playing is showcased throughout "Ad Lib On Nippon," an 11-minute Ellington composition inspired by his many visits to Japan. This lengthy track gives Ellington room to really stretch out on piano, highlighting his often overlooked playing. (...) Duke Ellington and his musical tribe "didn't want to do anything others had done before" when they set out to make The Far East Suite. The phenomenally accessible yet unprecedented music that they recorded over three days in 1966 is proof of just how brilliantly they succeeded.

John Ballon

link @192

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan - Raga Madhuvanti (2002)

1. Alap, Jor ani Jhala
2. Gat in vilambit teenthal
3. Gat in drut teenthal

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan - sarod
Pandit Swapan Chauduri - tabla
Ken Zuckerman - tanpura

link@320 [re-up]

The Miracle of Levitation: Experimental Sounds from the United States and Japan (1995)

1. Ground Zero - Lam Cheng-ying
2. Uchihashi Kazuhisa - Solo Guitar
3. U.S. Maple - I Found a Place to Have My Kittens
4. Xome - Children Recognizing Meat as a Main Dish
5. Pencilneck - This Close
6. 7000 Dying Rats - If I Can't Understand It..., I'll Crush It
7. James Plotkin - Event Horizon
8. Tsunoda Tsuguto - Rena+Ami
9. Ruins - Still Live
10. Jim O'Rourke - Milena Dravic
11. Liminal - 04.16.94.21.24.20
12. Akiyama-Sugimoto - Blues for Prince Myshkin
13. Cult Junk Cafe - The Jackson Stomp
14. Melt Banana - Party-Hat
15. Lumbar Trio - The Resonance Handbook
16. Altered States - Mosaic (Excerpt)
17. Yasuhiro Ohtani - A Memory Book
18. Otomo Yoshihide - Guitar Solo
19. Flying Luttenbachers - This Is What We Do to Our Enemies
20. TV Pow - Big Fat Fuckin Zero

link @320