AMALGAMATION (KOKOTSU NO SHOWA GENROKU)

Although it was Pink Floyd who dipped their saucer into the psychedelic secrets first, it didn't take long for the rest of the world to jump on the tripper's bandwagon. While Germany was probably the most gung-ho for the ultimate detachments from the status quo, the next contender for farthest out trips possible must surely find Japan near the top of the list and no other than the experimental pianist MASAHIKO SATOH was one of those brave souls who had his day in the late 60s and early 70s with a slew of avant-garde freaky free jazz wild musical adventures. One of SATOH's many projects was the Japanese production of "Hair" and while that would never come to fruition, he did find his way into the studio with the legendary jazz producer Rudy Van Gelder for a one-off project titled MASAHIKO SATOH AND THE SOUNDBREAKERS which took the avant-garde, psychedelic rock and free form jazz extremes into bizarre new realities.

This project's only release AMALGAMATION ( 恍惚の昭和元禄 ) was ambitiously wild enough to rival anything emerging out of Germany's fertile Krautrock scene. This little piece of eccentricity only contained two mind-bending tracks that added some extra fermented sake to the Kraut and created a rollercoaster ride of musical expressions so weird that even Godzilla would lose his mind and head back to the sea. The pair of tracks are blandly titled "Part 1" and "Part 2" but actually are composed of smaller segments that trade off into new parts and also sort of exist independently and leap frog over each other. "Part 1" is a hangover from the 60s where all the musicians involved have one of those spontaneous trips resulting from all the drugs at the swinging parties. This is one outrageous parade of disparate parts where the band jammed along to reel-to-reel recordings.

While the recordings themselves display spoken narration in the Japanese language, the jamming on the other hand cranked out the ultimate free form expressions of 60s organ funk, acid rock guitar, brass ensembles and even Western classical interpolations. While the individual genres have time to dominate, they just as often exist side by side. While lysergic 60s organ rolls burst out into free fall frenzies, it suddenly fades into the backdrop while placid almost elevator music renditions of classical music pacify the spirit and in the process creates extreme contrast with at odds contra-juxtapositions. While the first near sixteen minute track exceeds in inducing shamanic experiences where inter dimensional beings pop out of the ethers just to say hello, the second track which exceeds the twenty-one minute mark is much more of a jazzy affair, one that sounds like Ornette Coleman on tour with Sun Ra, John Cage and a traditional Japanese folk ensemble.

"Part 2" breaks out all the heavy duty jazz accoutrements with squawky sax dialogues and pummeling percussive attacks which punctuated by staccato references of silence find trippy wordless vocals and freak fueled organ sounds emulating from the background like a bad soap opera commercial from the 1950s but the arhythmic stroll through the bonsai forests of Hokkaido bring cultural reference points with sporadic native sounds but for the most part as the percussive bombast exists in its own reality, the wind instruments decide to do things their own way with independent outbursts in full decibalage. The sax gives way to the clarinet while jazz drumming cedes to tribal beats which at times even threatens to sound "normal." But always ahead of the game, SAKO and his SOUNDBREAKERS have new tricks up their sleeves with group chants which resembling samurai prayer rituals as well as female operatic vocals with church organs and much more!

With heavy doses of psychedelic rock, avant-prog, free from jazz and miscellaneous snippets of other disparate sounds, AMALGAMATION ( 恍惚の昭和元禄 ) is only recommended for the most adventurous who know no decency and refrain from any established boundaries or pesky orthodoxies. MASAHIKO SATO and friends accomplished the glorious Krautrock dreams, Japanese style with an unabashed album of full-on mind f.u.c.k.ery unlike anything from Japan or across the seven seas. Guaranteed to irritate seekers of melodies and delight the proponents of true musical anarchy, AMALGAMATION ( 恍惚の昭和元禄 ) is an experience that you will never forget. This is not a grower but rather one of those albums that gleefully defies expectations, belies understanding and derails comprehension. It is freedom for freedom's sake but never grows tired. Personally this one works quite well as a wickedly wild ride down the road where the musical sounds of the anything goes 70s escaped all gravitational pull of any pre-established methodologies.