Blog : 'ere Tomorrow's Dawn Breaks Like The Wind, Botborg Pulse Strobing Neon Love Into The Infinite Black That Is Keiji Haino

'ere tomorrow's dawn breaks like the wind, Botborg pulse strobing neon love into the infinite black that is Keiji Haino

Gay Parisiennes, Straight Parisiennes, Parisiennes who prefer to fuck dogs, and any others who may happen to be in Paris, and can tear themselves away from queues for the Louvre & the Eiffel Tower may wish to attend this performance tonight, with Botborg and Kunt alongside renowned Japanese artist Keiji Haino: http://www.halftheory.com/index.php?go=calendar&id=2 If you're a little confused or unconvinced by all this Keijo Haino guff, let me say at this point "I hear you, but I'm no longer with you, and I'm going to try and help you understand".  Possessing a discography that can only be described as vast, intimidating, patchy as hell and hard for an ignorant whitey who doesn't read Japanese (such as myself, who gets confused as to whether I should even call the guy Keiji Haino or Haino Keiji) to navigate (let's face it, how many albums with black covers, differentiated only by silver Japanese writing, can you make before whities get confused? A: about 2, and sorry, keiji, the answer to your next question is no, putting photos of yourself looking moody/ existential/ interesting/ like a model for leather pants on your other albums doesn't help.  If you've been put off by this, you're not alone...), Haino is one of the most unique artists working in music today.  His music is informed by (but is not) Free Jazz, Noise, Psychedelic Rock, Blues, Drone, Traditional Japanese music, Shamanic & ritual music the world over, plus whatever else you got.  His performances are know to last up to 4 hours and are conducted with an intensity and physicality that puts the likes of Masonna & Lucas Abela to shame (bearing in mind those guys tend to play for about 5 minutes tops, and Haino's 50 if he's a day).  They are funny, intense, ridiculous, and occasionally breathtaking spectacles, often simultaneously.  Haino's stage presence is incredible, and he conjures an incredible array from sounds from whatever he has available at the show.  Live is the best way to experience Haino, and if you walk out of one of his solo shows still unconvinced, chances are there's nothing here for you at all.  That's how I felt until I saw him play a couple of years ago, and now here I am cheerleading for the guy.  C'est la vie, non? Anyway.... to get you started without forking over cash, here are some Haino clips found on youtube:  See Haino in possibly my favourite mode of his - hurdy gurdy and voice here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=zkl_CbLdBjA or in a more confrontational form, including what appears to be Haino attempting to pick up a woman at a bar (???!!!!!) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXrPFO6uvDA
Seeing Haino live can be tricky, however, depending on where you live.  If you live in Tokyo, I believe you're pretty set, with Haino doing shows fairly frequently, often for audiences of less than 20.  So, as far as his recorded music goes, the quality of Haino's recordings range from the utterly sublime to the embarrasing and ridiculous (Purple Trap, come on down).  For me, the unifying thread of the most quality work is thus: Keiji Haino does not play well with others.  His music is far too hermetic and self contained to readily admit others, and the general result of any collaborative effort tends too easily towards a regurgitation of generic moves, with a vague application of a Haino filter (ie, he screams over the top of it all).  Any number of Fushitsusha records, or tedious Post Free Jazz blowouts involving Haino & players like Peter Brotzmann bear testament to this.  My advice, Haino is best taken in self contained doses.  When working alone, Haino displays a much greater awareness, or ability to work with, that most cliche of untranslatable 'zen' concepts- "ma".  What's most interesting about Haino's work is the way it works with soft/ loud dynamics.  Unlike the cut-up noise school, or digital brutalists like Pita, there is an incredible fluidity to the way Haino jerks the listener fron noise to silence and back again.  These transitions flow naturally from the music, giving it tremendous power & impact and (at his best) never seem forced.
By way of becoming acquainted with these solo works, try and track down copies of some of the folowing records....
"Tenshi no Gijinka" (released as part of Tzadik's new Japan series) is a delicate workout for small ritual Buddhist percussion instruments and voice and is a beautiful record, with echoes of traditional Japaese gagaku music.  The voice here is used as much to convey fearful emotions as it is to startle and frighten in a way which is hard to explain.  The sense of space, pacing, dynamics and silence here, as well as the attention to the sonorities of the individual instruments is astonishing, and the result is almost the musical equivalent of spending a night in a haunted shinto shrine.  At the other end of the percussion and voice spectrum, "C'est parfait, endoctrine tu tombes, la tete la premiere" released by A Bruit Secret (meaning "it's perfect. indoctrinated, you fall head first", very typical overwordy Haino title) is a disturbing and harrowingly intense session for electronic percussion, effects (mostly delays) and voice.  The use of subtle effects to double up on voice is particularly startling here, as soft keening loops of singing are drowned in ferocious screams.  The overall effect is something like witnessing an exorcism, or the most intense parts of David Fanshaw's recordings of witchcraft ceremonies from Kenya & Tanzanier stretched out to almost unbearable length.  It's worth bearing in mind that almost all Keiji Haino's music is recorded live (like this release) when listening to this.  Last but not least, we also recommend to you the double cd released by Alien8 entitled "Abandon All Words At A Stroke, So Prayer Can Come Spilling Out".  The title gives the game away as to one of Haino's main musical obsessions; namely, exploring the intensity of prayer & curse - the most personal aspect of the spiritual.  Don't be put off by this, it's not a case of, say, Terry Riley giving up drugs for hinduism and becoming a much less interesting musician, but rather the source of the intensity of Haino's best work.  This 2cd is divided into two seperate sets, one for voice & hurdy gurdy and the other for wave drum and voice.  The hurdy gurdy work in particular is a stunning piece, bringing a much more 'personal' approach to the cold brutalist drone of early minimalists like Tony Conrad or La Monte Young.
Your first stop for obtaining all these fine items (within Australia) is, obviously, here: http://www.synrecords.com/ , but those of you in Brisbane might to able to wrap ears around a couple of these at Rocking Horse.
As one final point... is Keiji Haino the Stevie Wonder of the enigmatic Japanese noise troubadour scene? If anyone has a picture of him without his sunglasses on, we'd all love to see it...

Added by jpeatt on 17 April 2006