| Daisuck & Prostitute - Ushirosugata No
Suteki Na Bokutachi |
| New
Wave means something different than what it once did. Now, people think
bad haircuts, synths, and one hit wonders, but originally, New Wave was
just that: the next wave of music that continued punk's rush of snotty
energy. That next step was great, but it wasn't very nice: harsh,
jagged, alienated, atonal…in other words, the polar opposite of what
New Wave is thought of as today. This isn't a complete disconnect,
however. You can only freak out so long until you have to do one of two
things: radicalize, or gradually become more accessible. After some
time, New Wave went whole hog towards accessibility, which is where all
those later Scritti Politti records came from. When folkie Daisuke Yoshino decided to recruit a spastic jazz funk group and go under the name Daisuck & Prostitute, he fit firmly in the mold of the Contortions inspired No Wave end of the burgeoning Tokyo Rockers movement in the late 70s. The best known album from the band is their second, Shinu Made Odori Tsuzukete, and it's typically uncompromising in its abstractions and spiky aggression. The followup, Ushirosugata No Suteki Na Bokutachi (i.e. We're Behind The Wonderful World) shows some of the mellowing I was going on about before, but it's still pretty difficult. The real difference here is an increased dynamism which makes the album go down easier, but still has its share of sharp edges. First off, there's a bit more of Yoshino's folkie era tunefulness. He sounds a bit like Dead Can Dance vocalist Brendan Perry in spots, especially opener "Fozzdelic Farm," which is a straight up pop song. Guitarist Tojo A-Ki responds to the relaxed aggression with solos that lean heavily on more mellow, psychedelic tones, frosting "Fozzdelic Farm" with reverb laden dollops and unassuming strums. There's an almost happy vibe to "心の中の楕円形" ("Kokoro No Naka No Daengata," i.e. "Ellipse Of The Mind.") Its time signature doesn't quite allow for the tune to be relaxed, exactly, but when saxophonist Tockin' takes his solo, it's a traditional solo, rather than the fragmented shards of his past efforts. The jazz funk gets a bit less abstract, and a little more jazz…"十二番目のジャガー" ("Juniban Me No Jaga," i.e. "20th Jaguar") takes the initial pop of "Fozzdelic Farm" and pulls things closer to the band's initial no wave funk, but still stays on the the accessible side of the equation. It could be said that the album is transitional in nature, moving as it does towards less difficult moods. Crucially, the transition feels natural. "Missing" is great, with guitarist Tojo A-Ki shooting out sick psychedelic twangs over laid back lounge jazz. Rather than destroy everything and build from the ground up, "Missing" takes a standard approach and fleshes it out with thick layers of weirdness, especially A-Ki's deeply weird guitar flourishes. The title track gets angular all over again, but still retains an immediate art funk tunefulness. "冷たい十字路" ("Tsumetai Jujiro," i.e. "Cold Crossroads") comes closest to falling apart in an art damaged heap, but comes off as more King Crimson than Contortions. Overall, Ushirosugata No Suteki Na Bokutachi is less in your face about its scum jazz intentions, which may invite accusations of mellowing out. Daisuck & Prostitute inarguably turned way down on the corrosiveness that made Shinu Made Odori Tsuzukete so unsettling, but the results are too focused and subtly subversive to dismiss. Shinu Made Odori Tsuzukete was recently reissued, which will hopefully pave the way for Ushirosugata No Suteki Na Bokutachi to receive the same treatment, giving this unjustly overlooked band new exposure. |