The leader of Japan’s premier underground experimental band, The Ruins, meets Japan’s foremost avant-garde composer and bandleader pianist. Again.
Toh-Kichi is the name of the erstwhile pairing of Tatsuya Yoshida with Satoko Fujii and at long last they are rekindling this partnership with Baikamo, released late last year on Libra Records.
There is no drummer in the world more comfortable in a duo setting than Yoshida, who has led The Ruins with only a bassist in the band aside from himself (or lately, not even a bassist). What’s more, his association with Satoko Fujii goes way, way back to Fujii’s quartets twenty years ago and he’s even convened with her on a couple of records already (Toh-Kichi and Erans) but it’s been over fifteen years. They got re-acquainted touring together in 2019, and their live-and-studio product Baikamo reveals that the same ol’ magic is still there.
Baikamo is attractive partly for the occasion to allow Fujii to go off the leash on piano, because most of her projects center on her compositions and/or allowing others the space for individual improvising. But she also never leaves charted harmonies behind, striking an attractive balance between what is sketched out and what is extemporaneous. The balance is reinforced by the perfect democracy of input into the songs: four composed by Fujii, four by Yoshida and eight ‘composed’ extemporaneously by both. The music touches on jazz, funk, thrash-rock, even classical, but does so incidentally, not self-consciously.
“Gidvbadhophen” is how you get the ball rolling: a rolling, tumbling free-for-all, which incidentally leads right into a song titled “Rolling Down.” There is structure and plenty of melody here on this song, but the energy level does not subside; even when the two bring the noise down a notch, the tension is maintained.
On “Hvwebsjhoill,” Tatsuya Yoshida feeds off Fujii’s cues and when the latter signals that a storm is a’comin, the former unleashes the fury. Fujii’s rhythmic motifs that form “No Reflection” get a terrific, tightly integrated assist from Yoshida.
“Baikamo” begins with a driving, drumming exhibition before Satoko Fujii enters with a delicate strain. Fujii explores exotic timbres from her prepared piano on “Ajhisakdafitch” as Yoshida responds with unusual tactics of his own. “Aspherical Dance” is a funky foxtrot and Yoshida keeps the 6/8 groove going as Fujii takes a walk outside; the two then reverse roles, except that when Yoshida improvises, he’s still keeping time.
“Djofaksobhisc” one of several examples where Fujii leads and Yoshida takes cues and turns them into gold. “Laughing Birds” is a tale of two short motifs competing with each other: one, pleasantly flowing and another aggressively thunderous.
Fujii plays a prepared piano again, this time for some organic distortion on “Ruvwsevjieck” and “Climber’s High” is Fujii once again using percussive figures that pair up perfectly with Yoshida’s drums.
Tatsuya Yoshida is not just a drummer, he’s also a vocalist, and we finally hear that side of him on the album’s closer, Fujii’s “Ice Age.” Singing improvised and non-lyrical as he does it in “The Ruins,” and Fujii’s piano is merely providing color this time as Yoshida’s throat takes center stage.
Satoko Fujii and Tatsuya Yoshida are heavyweights in Japan but are both world-class vanguard musicians. Baikamo is a welcome return to their summit meetings on the edge of what is possible with just a piano and drums.
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