IMPROG

Fans of underground Japanese music will know who Yoshida and Hoppy are without mentioning the rest of their names. In other words these two guys are famous in the Zeuhl, Rio / Avant genres of Japanese music. Also on board is bassist Nasuno who plays with Yoshida in KOREKYOJIN. Actually Hoppy has guested on one of their albums as well. So many connections though between these guys including Hoppy and Yoshida playing with Hopper and Dean in SOFT MOUNTAIN, but there's many more. This is definitely Zeuhl by the way, no doubts about that.This is DAIMONJI's first recording and it's a live one. What we get is over 77 minutes of improvs from these three guys who do this very well.

"Glimpse" opens in an experimental, spacey yet chaotic manner.The drums, bass and piano eventually take the lead. Some crazy vocal outbursts after 5 minutes that come and go. Harsh synths after 8 minutes and some spacey synths 11 minutes in.Vocals are back after 11 1/2 minutes. "Mongo Lian Bandits" opens with synth sounds, Vander-like vocal melodies that are high pitched and experimental sounds. It settles down then the tempo starts to pick up with vocal expressions and sparse piano 3 1/2 minutes in. Dual vocals 4 1//2 minutes in. Piano 5 minutes leads then the bass and drums join in. A calm 9 minutes in then it picks back up and becomes intense. Synths are prominant before 14 1/2 minutes then these crazy vocals come in a minute later. The drums rumble 17 minutes in as the piano plays over top. Vocals are back around 19 1/2 minutes.

"Night Dust / Monosyllable Sex)" opens with what sounds like guitar then vocals after a minute. Loud synth sounds before 4 minutes. A good rhythm 6 1/2 minutes in and more synths join in. It settles 8 1/2 minutes in then picks back up. It settles again before 12 minutes then kicks back in to an intense sound 14 minutes in.Insane vocals before 15 1/2 minutes. Check out the singing before 18 minutes.It ends with applause. "Ombre Moned" opens with synths as vocal expressions join in. Sparse piano comes and goes. It starts to build 4 minutes in. This is good.Drums and keys lead the way in this intense section. It settles 7 1/2 minutes in as we get some bowed bass. It kicks back in quickly as drum start to beat wildly with prominant bass and crazy synth sounds. A calm before 10 minutes then it picks back up 11 1/2 minutes as contrasts continue.There's those high pitched Vander-like vocals 19 minutes in again.

It feels good to finally own this album.Timing is everything. A solid 4 stars for these Zeuhl improvs.