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Haino Keiji, "Black Blues"
Haino's own homage to the blues begs the question of whether he hasalways burdened himself with a bluesman's ax to grind. Starkprimitivism is ubiquitous, even as the artist introduces new strategyor restraint in a work. In recent years, Haino has taken classicalguitar through the black-on-black, slow-utterance machine that is hisstyle, and this year also marked his first solo electronic album,instruments pushed not to their own limits, but to Haino's redefinedlimits of his own art.
Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L'Acier
The two Black Bluesdiscs are not so much returns to the guitar-vocal arrangement, fromwhich the artist first touted his musical discipline, as they aregeneralized statements from the depths. Haino is less an explorer now,than creator of a two-sided tablet of commandments. One disc acoustic,the other electric, Black Blues is Haino at his most sensualand his most absolutely violent. The discs are themselves absoluteswithin a style that has rejected nearly every outside structuralimposition. Though more heavily composed than any Haino works in recentmemory, they are easily more intimate in mood and carry a directnessthat should be sourced in American blues music. These discs, if not themajority of Haino's work, though not blues in any traditional sense,carry the style's primitive aesthetic, condensed drama, and instinctivespirituality into a conceptual domain. The Black Blues volumesfeature the same six songs, some perhaps original, at least one cover(Hendrix's �Drifting�), and at least one traditional blues piece. Thetrad.song included, �See That My Grave Is Kept Clean,� is a 13-min.sleepy cascade of acoustic reverbed starlight on the first disc and, onthe other, a savage landscape of electric salvages, muddied harmonics,surface scrapes, and shaky, neck-rending exercises in contest with atypically asphyxiated vocal. Black Blues' electric versioncontains probably the most structurally bleak and consistently intensevocal performance I've heard from Haino; however, upon repeatedlistens, I find that the disc is equally listenable, certainly ascathartic, and even as calming as its acoustic half. The two can onlybe counterparts, and they are essential to a Haino collection. He'sprolific and singular enough that choosing goodies often seems futile,but I can safely say, if you can handle only one Haino this year, tryto handle two, and make them these two.
Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L'Acier
The two Black Bluesdiscs are not so much returns to the guitar-vocal arrangement, fromwhich the artist first touted his musical discipline, as they aregeneralized statements from the depths. Haino is less an explorer now,than creator of a two-sided tablet of commandments. One disc acoustic,the other electric, Black Blues is Haino at his most sensualand his most absolutely violent. The discs are themselves absoluteswithin a style that has rejected nearly every outside structuralimposition. Though more heavily composed than any Haino works in recentmemory, they are easily more intimate in mood and carry a directnessthat should be sourced in American blues music. These discs, if not themajority of Haino's work, though not blues in any traditional sense,carry the style's primitive aesthetic, condensed drama, and instinctivespirituality into a conceptual domain. The Black Blues volumesfeature the same six songs, some perhaps original, at least one cover(Hendrix's �Drifting�), and at least one traditional blues piece. Thetrad.song included, �See That My Grave Is Kept Clean,� is a 13-min.sleepy cascade of acoustic reverbed starlight on the first disc and, onthe other, a savage landscape of electric salvages, muddied harmonics,surface scrapes, and shaky, neck-rending exercises in contest with atypically asphyxiated vocal. Black Blues' electric versioncontains probably the most structurally bleak and consistently intensevocal performance I've heard from Haino; however, upon repeatedlistens, I find that the disc is equally listenable, certainly ascathartic, and even as calming as its acoustic half. The two can onlybe counterparts, and they are essential to a Haino collection. He'sprolific and singular enough that choosing goodies often seems futile,but I can safely say, if you can handle only one Haino this year, tryto handle two, and make them these two.samples:
