Albert Ayler. On CMR. In Concert: Keiji Haino Fylkingen, Stockholm Sweden 8th August A silent, dark room with three dimmed lights, nothing in particular to focus on, really โ a sparse environment like the set of a Beckett play. A small Japanese man, dressed from head to toe in black, creeps into the hall like a possessed Artaud figure, banging a wooden log hard on the ground. Multi-instrumentalist Haino, who claims to be able to play more than 30 instruments, from traditional Japanese instruments to oscillators, is, after all, a key figure in new music, maybe even a one-man avant-garde.
In Stockholm he used his many talents to maximum effect, moving between a wide variety of expressions, tempting the listeners in with lovely, inviting lullabies and then shaking them awake with a display of ultra-rapid string bending, black-guru-beast evoking an intense, distorted, psychedelic landscape.
Maybe the oddest occurrence was his occasional use of a drum machine, one of those models produced during the s complete with terrible, cheesy sound.
Despite its limitations Haino succeeds in using this plastic, dated machine to build some impressive abstract beats, and when he joins in singing it actually gets pretty catchy, like some futuristic pub music for demented Arts students. Haino's sound sculptures are abstract for much of the time, but always honestly and rewardingly reference rock.
Long-gone country blues legend Blind Lemon Jefferson was also on the menu, with Haino performing a dignified and respectful selection of his work, all the while proving how much he values originality when it comes to artistic expression. Upon entering Haino's music the listener is liberated from consciousness and steps out of time.
