Kinoko Teikoku - 2012 - Uzuninaru

Kinoko Teikoku (or きのこ帝国) is a relatively new shoegaze band coming from Japan. They've been very diligent since 2012 releasing one album per year and they've landed a contract with EMI two years ago which should propel them even more into Japanese stardom at least. But back at the beginning they released Uzuninaru as their first proper album.

While their music isn't anything spectacularly new they merge the jrock sound with shoegaze very competently. The overall atmosphere is that unique melancholic feeling that Japanese bands often evoke. The solitary urban feeling oozes in all of the songs that are on this well written album. But despite the somewhat depressing atmosphere the album is paced pretty well. I could never zone out to it, every other song picks the pace after more slower cuts on the album. Never a dull moment and on top of it all the female vocals are implemented to great effect. And they're not high pitched, which is always a plus.

Definitely check this band out if you haven't already.

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Miles Davis - 1958 - Live At Newport 1958

Miles Davis is famous for a lot of things and for a lot albums. From my anecdotal experiences on the internet people nowadays mostly get into his albums that are more electric, rock and roll or psychedelic. I personally like all of his eras but for some reason I didn't bother to check anything else he did after Kind Of Blue for a very long time. That's retarded and I'm very well aware of it but I didn't do it out of ignorance or elitism. I just thought the albums I have are plenty enough and I wasn't that much aware of his more adventurous outings later on in his career. Eventually I did realize that there's much more to his music than just modal or bebop jazz but I still hold his early "conventional" days closest to my heart and now that I'm familiar with most of his discography I'm not ashamed to admit that his "olden" days were still the best out of his lush career. At least to me.

Recently I've been digging through his live recordings, going chronologically to weed out the bad (as in badly recorded) and keep the good ones. Eventually I came upon this one which is a fresh new favorite of mine at the moment. Although the production isn't as stellar as it was in the studio it is more than serviceable but why I really like this record is because it is an interesting document of what is yet to come. This was recorded back when Miles had just formed his to be legendary group consisting of Coltrane, Cannonball, Evans, Chambers and  Cobb on drums. They're all here and they're all eager to lash out the fastest and the most intense jazz you'll ever hear. They came to prove themselves at Newport and it shows. The only disappointing thing on this record is that Bill Evans doesn't get to shine all that much and he does't really do justice to the Thelonious Monk composition featured on the album. Everything else though is top notch from one of the greatest groups in jazz at that point.

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Rudolph Johnson - 1973 - The Second Coming

Here's another Coltrane inspired player. It's a standard quartet setup of drums (Douglas Sides), bass (Kent Brinkley), piano Kirk Lightsey) and saxophone (Rudolph Johnson). Although Rudolph Johnson possessed the talent and dedication required to achieve great heights in music he was relatively unknown for most of the time. According to discogs he only did two albums as leader, this being his second. It's a tragic affair as there certainly is something about his playing that divides him from the rest but unfortunately luck wasn't on his side. Or perhaps some other thing got in the way. What he left though is a remarkable love letter to Coltrane when he also operated in a tight and aggressive quartet format. The only difference is that this record sounds much more like a jam and less like a planned from start to finish recording but that does not detract from the enjoyment of this marvelous hidden gem. Recommended.

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Kohsuke Mine Quintet - Daguri

The music Coltrane, Tyner and others did back in their prime made a sizable ripple in jazz. Many went on to emulate their style well after the originators either died or moved on. For the most part I find these emulator (or keepers of the flame, to be more polite) to be either alright or great. Kohsuke Mine Quintet is one of those greater ones. They're relatively obscure from what I gather, releasing only a few albums back in the 70s and a resurgence album in the 90s but their music is much more deserving of attention.

The moment you start this album you'll immediately notice how similar this is to that particular peak era of McCoy Tyner's solo career where he released albums like Sahara, Song For My Lady and so on. After a very expressive and intense 10 minute opener track the album shifts into a bit slower gear where their saxophonists have a more leisurely pace to do solos in the usual spiritual jazz crescendo way. But this only lasts for a short while, one song to be more specific, as the album quickly picks the pace up and does not let go for the most part until the album is finished.

In essence this album is nothing new, not even for then but it is a damn well put together quintet with great talent. And they definitely compensate their lack of adventure with their technical skills. If you're getting bored of the usual great post-bop/spiritual jazz albums give this one a few listens. You won't be disappointed.

Get it here.