KIYOSHI MIZUTANI / HIDEAKI SHIMADA / KIYOHARU KUWAYAMA – Gambetta

Monochrome Vision

The three artists involved in Gambetta (title taken from a Tokyo venue that, curiously, also means “little leg” in Italian) might not instantly be recognized by the uninitiated, but their contributions to the Japanese movement has been consistent over the years. Mizutani was an original member of Masami Akita’s Merzbow, yet his best work is surely to be found in the wonderful field recordings from the Tanzawa Mountains released by And/OAR in 2005. Shimada’s output as Agencement is not plentiful, though equally noteworthy, while Kuwayama is of course the man behind Lethe, whose Catastrophe Point series and the collaborations with the likes of Jonathan Coleclough are essential listening for lovers of sonic practices occurring in warehouses, hangars and comparable settings (preferably forsaken). However, this music – dated 2001 – is basically consisting of five abstract improvisations generated by non-homogeneous sources (feedback, drum stick, violin, live electronics, contact microphone and handmade electronics). It’s an absorbing listen, well balanced between structural intelligibility – there’s always a clear picture of what’s happening – and a nonrepresentational succession of events. Nothing is a given: stabs of mordant frequencies can astonish after lengthy stretches replete with synthetic oscillations, irregular noises and radio waves, the dynamics ranging from pricking to boisterous in a matter of seconds. A single gritty texture may be followed by a semi-soothing collective growth, and so forth. Curiosity is maintained active, our attention repeatedly stimulated by abnormal occurrences and wacky symptoms that, even if recorded a long time ago, never elicit moldy smells.