Yoshida, Tatsuya; Igor Krutogolov; Assif Tsahar - Live In The Head


Year of Release: 2008
Label: Auris Media
Catalog Number: AUM015
Format: CD
Total Time: 68:43:00

Given the track record of Ruins mastermind Tatsuya Yoshida and the savage kinetic energy of Kruzenshtern i Parohod's Igor Krugotolov, one would expect Live In The Head to be a relentless sonic assault responsible for some of the most bludgeoning trauma since the days before Europe moved from flails and heavy longswords to the prancing nancy's weapon of choice ? the rapier. I mean, this (Yoshida) is the guy who is single-handedly continuing the sonic madness that was Ruins as Ruins Alone, so that's a reasonable expectation, right? Right. Well, prepare to be disappointed. But only halfway disappointed. Ah, well ? see, it's complicated.

For starters, it's hard to think of Live In The Head as a single album, since the first half of it features Yoshida, Krugotolov, and tenor sax player Assif Tsahar going through eight tracks of free improv, while the second sees Yoshida ripping through some classic Ruins material and other stuff by himself. Does that matter? Hell yes it does, because the difference is enormous. Let's start with the first half?

Right from the initial percussive attack that Yoshida and Krutogolov use to blast off a set of almost 40 minutes of improvisation, you can tell that these two have kindred spirits as far as intensity goes. Tsahar, however, and although he does a pretty decent job of keeping up with the sonic shards flying around when things get kicking, is just somewhere entirely different, with his style drenched way too deep in jazz vocabulary to really exploit what his partners in crime are doing most of the time. Add to this the fact that, despite the brilliant moment or two, every single piece after "Improvisation I" fails to capitalize on momentum, develop any sense of basic structure, and really flesh out ideas, and you're basically left with a psychotic rhythm section that can't keep its energy going constantly, a sax player who's just in a different world altogether, and a bunch of themes that could have been gold, but weren't. Examples? Krutogolov's and Yoshida's vocal duets, which have brief moments of aural enlightenment when they lock into interesting rhythmic counterpoint, but sound like gibberish the other half of the time (in no small part due to Krutogolov's awfully predictable progressions into gutturality and noise); the vibraphone samples on "Improvisation III," used to create a tensely thin atmosphere that ends up going nowhere; the...well, you get the picture.

And then there's the second half, which sees Yoshida go through blisteringly accurate renditions of Ruins classics such as "Hyderomastgroningem," "Laiptchig," and "Dhaskrive" with the punishing intensity of cluster bombs, exploit dizzyingly polyrhythmic ostinatos with a beautiful and idiosyncratic sense of harmony in "Untitled I," and then follow up with the descent from a beautiful dream of wonder and harmony into an interstellar nightmare somewhere among the abodes of Vo?vod and Magma that is "Untitled II." Left to his own devices, Yoshida is an inhumane machine of raw efficiency, as capable of devastating all of civilization as he is of gently gliding through the air with otherworldly beauty. Even "Improvisation VII," which is a bit too meandering for its own good, is light years away from the clumsy transitions of its other "Improvisation" counterparts, sprinkling recurring motifs here and there to create a common thread for the listener. To put it simply: this is the part where you won't be disappointed.

So what does the end result look like? Well, it's certainly not 100% satisfactory, as you might have already surmised. While the second half of Live In The Head is pretty damn electrifying, it's not perfect either, which means that making up for forty minutes of missed opportunities in improvisation is simply out of the question. And that first half, even with the smart moments and that cool walking bass line that is tragically short, really needed the extra boost. So while it would be nice to just pretend and make believe like Live In The Head is really just tracks seven through fourteen, the truth is that it's a give and take affair that, although sprinkled with numerous moments of bombastic brilliance, is ultimately brought down by a lackluster first half that never quite goes away, even though it should.


Tracklisting:
Improvisation I (4:37) / Improvisation II (10:59) / Improvisation III (8.14) / Improvisation IV (4:56) / Improvisation V (6:06) / Improvisation VI (3:14) / Hyderomastgroningem (1:19) / Laiptchig (1:46) / Untitled I (4:29) / Untitled II (8:08) / Untitled III (1:16) / Olovela (4:22) / Improvisation VII (7:53) / Dhaskrive (1:17)

Musicians:
Tatsuya Yoshida - drums, voice, sampler, guitar, keyboards
Igor Krutogolov (tracks 1-6) - bass, drum machine, objects, voice
Assif Tsahar (tracks 1-6) - tenor sax

Discography:


Genre: Various Genres

Origin JP

Added: November 3rd 2008
Reviewer: Marcelo Silveyra
Score:
Artist website: www.skingraftrecords.com/bandhtmlpages/ruin
Hits: 2513
Language: english

  

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