Yoshihide/Takemura - Turntables & Computers

Headz 014

Otomo Yoshihide and Nobukazu Takemura met for the first time in the spring of this year during the “Space Invaded” incident, in Tokyo’s Roppongi district. The occasion is unique, keeping in mind that the two have been working in close proximity for going on two decades, yet have never shared the same floor during performance. Takemura gained notoriety in the early 80’s as a hip-hop DJ, and has since migrated toward experimental sound-production, using computers and samplers. Similarly, Yoshihide, an incorrigible guitarist, recognized some distinctive possibilities in the use of turntables as a new kind of sound source, and in the process has cut new paths for turntables-as-instrument that might otherwise have been unthinkable. The convergence of these two revolutionaries yielded some exciting results, most of which are represented in this new Headz release. During this single, 46-minute track, low frequency hums waggle along an unplotted course, often interrupted by the presence of Yoshihide’s signature feedbacks. The most colorful use of the turntables can be heard just beyond midpoint, where a metallic plate or perhaps a shallow cymbal is “played” by Yoshihide’s hybrid tonearm, producing sounds not unlike coarse dust projected through aluminum piping. Elsewhere, static and intermittent voice samples are paralleled by an electrical storm, embodied by Takemura’s boundless supply of computerized beeps and squaggles. An immaculate balance of the sounds is achieved as various faders and knobs are turned and attenuated, resulting in something sounding almost prearranged. There are a few instances that approach chaos, but either subconscious protest or some other impulse takes form, and the music never travels beyond plainly energized. Their meeting seems an investigation of one another, and, when realized how bottomless their ideas are, the duo comes together in a rather cerebral synchronicity that could only be understood through participation rather than observation.

~Alan Jones