(The Wire) Since his Argentinian alt.rock supergroup Reynols relocated to the parallel universe of Minexcio four years ago, Alan (aka Anla) Courtis has been touring the world with a backpack-sized electric guitar and an even smaller home-made "toba" violin, playing and recording with musicians as diverse as Lasse Marhaug, Campbell Kneale and fellow globetrotter and ex-Can frontman Damo Suzuki. This latest outing in what is already a huge discography (I sometimes wonder if Courtis himself has all the records on which he's appeared) was recorded in Osaka in 2005 and finds the Argentinian troubadour in the company of Boredoms' Yoshimi and the equally alarmingly prolific Seichi Yamamoto in four sprawling tracks, three exploring the available duo combinations and one trio. After an opening salvo of snarling guitar psychedelia (Courtis and Yamamoto) that starts out tentatively and ends suddenly, the album settles into a more contemplative free folk vein, with Yoshimi's otherwordly wails and lo-fi keyboard arpeggios well complemented by the thin tinny scribbles of Courtis' fiddle. The Yamamoto / Yoshimi duo follows the same winding garden path, Yamamoto weaving long lines of guitar round Yoshimi's glistening sho-like drones and subtle pulsing. Imagine Jerry Garcia beamed back in time to eighth century Nara. With no bass to pull it downwards, the 26-minute closing trio floats freely in the upper atmosphere, sometimes so spaced out it manages to lose itself. Not that it's a problem: there's no need to expect this music to do more than follow its own nose. You can, after all, enjoy a walk in the forest knowing full well you'll never be able to retrace your exact steps next time round. - Dan Warburton

(Ongakublog) Quite a supergroup of sorts, this one-off performance at restaurant/live house Kanadian in Osaka must have been a packed house. I’ve been to Kanadian once or twice over the years — it’s a cozy Indian-style restaurant that was at one time managed by Grind Orchestra (and ex-Boredoms) singer Yoshikawa. I’m not sure if it still is. In any case, Anla Courtis may be familiar to many as formerly being in Brazil’s Reynols, while the others likely need no introduction to readers of this blog: Yoshimi of Boredoms and OOIOO, and Seiichi Yamamoto of Omoide Hatoba, Rovo, and many others (and, yes, ex-Boredoms but I think he’s pretty tired of still being associated with a group he left a decade ago). Here, we get four long pieces with the various permutations of the trio: Courtis & Yamamoto, Courtis & Yoshimi, Yoshimi & Yamamoto, and then a longer 26-minute excursion with all three of them. The proceedings throughout range from dizzying free-twisted sounds to occasional drone dreamscapes. Little of it is easy listening, and it will generally appeal to fans of the freest playing. It’s not noise, it’s more something like audio surrealism. The first track is most abstract, the second somewhat dreamy, the third the jazziest in a strange way, and the fourth somewhat hits all of the above during its extended length. - Mason Jones

(Zine A Day) Wide open spaces violently collapsing around and inside my perception. There’s a bush growing over there off to the side not really doing much but providing brief sparse decoration. Continue walking this volatile course. After traversing empty hillsides peer down upon a great lush valley. Your eyes are covered in ice and unblinking as you roll laughing into the vegetation. Roots latch onto your teeth and try to drag you down into the soil but you are unafraid. This was happening and in happening it was inevitable. You link arms with the weathered foundation of an old giant tree, your lover, as you go down and you smile unconcerned. This turn of events was pretty fucking okay with you. Your new fruiting structure vastly improves upon your former awkward hell. You start out on a journey to find yourself again as everything is new. This experiment is unexplored (by you at least!) and these rules untested. Floating through the crust you suffice as thoughts and worms. You stop to sip from a brook babbling ideas you don’t agree with, but yes, you do at least see the perspective this small tributary is coming from. Your life renewed pumping through your no veins and you come to know that you are everywhere. You evaporate upon realizing this and swirl and dance around yourself with your face to the old sky. – Devin

(Brainwashed) It doesn’t take a psychic to figure that two members of the Boredoms and one from Reynols getting together for live improvisations are probably not going to be creating smooth jazz or g-funk era R&B. Across the four tracks and all possible permutations of the trio (the first three tracks feature each working as duos before the final full trio lineup), there’s enough psychedelic tomfoolery to satisfy even the most jaded of adventurous listeners. Chaos is the name of the game here, yet in a somewhat controlled manner. There are tinges of old school Boredoms or Hanatrash here, but in a decidedly less brutal, more restrained state of mind. The first track of four, a duo of Courtis and Yamamoto, is a lot of guitar noodling through a battery of delays, occasionally plaintive keyboard tones as well that grow a bit harsher as it clicks on. At its peak, the din of noise is like a field recording of a steel mill…and someone thought it was “bring your kid to work day” and the kid is teaching himself guitar in the middle of all of the machinery. More expansive is the track of Yoshimi and Courtis, which lets the Boredoms member yell and shriek over live layering effects as both abuse their guitars and synths, but letting enough silence and near silence build between outbursts to give them more of a punch. The Yamamoto/Yoshimi track does give a Boredoms reunion feeling to it, a batch of headache inducing sustained keyboards and guitar banging that, at times, conjures up a wonderfully 1980s hair metal vibe where the listener can almost picture Yamamoto flailing around, teased hair and spandex, with his tongue out to get those hightest notes possible to come out of that poor six-stringed instrument. The climax is the full on trio playing together and, clocking in at 26 minutes (essentially twice as long as the other pieces), it does not let me down. The sound is bolder and more aggressive, Yoshimi's vocals are more commanding, the guitar is more fuzzed out and grinding, and there is a sense of big, spacious metallic rhythms. However, the track is just as willing to mellow out and let in some calm piano playing and open air as well, keeping things fresh and moving. As chaotic as it all is, there is a lot to enjoy here and to focus on among the variation. The album has a very raw feeling to it: it sounds like there was little in the way of post-production or heavy mastering done in order to preserve that immediate feeling that the live performances surely had. Although listeners may have to adjust volume levels to find a level that gives maximum impact, it is worth the effort. - Creaig Dunton

(Ragazzi) In der Public-Eyesore-Hauptreihe erschienen, fängt Live at Kanadian (pe #110), 2005 in Osaka, nicht in Kanada, den Zusammenprall von ANLA COURTIS (*1972, Buenos Aires) mit SEIICHI YAMAMOTO & YOSHIMI P-We ein. Jetzt Aha, Reynols meets Boredoms zu denken, hilft nicht wirklich weiter. Man muss sich den Clash von Noise-Improv und Japan-Psychedelic vorstellen. Der 1958 in Amagasaki geborene Yamamoto ist schließlich eine Verkörperung japanischer Umtriebigkeit und Abenteuerlust und spielt neben Boredoms auch in Omoide Hatoba, PARA, Rashinban oder Rovo wie auch mit Chie Mukai und vielen anderen. Sein Gitarrenspiel allein wäre Grund genug, hier immer wieder die Luft anzuhalten und der nächsten unberechenbaren Wendung entgegen zu fiebern. Der Argentinier, der in letzter Zeit zwischen Birchville Cat Motel, Lasse Marhaug und Ralf Wehowsky flipperte, spielt den Joker mit e-guitar, toba violin & tapes. Nur die pe-Website verrät, dass ‚untitled 1' von Courtis + Yamamoto stammt, ‚untitled 2' von Courtis + Yoshimi, ‚untitled 3' von Yamamoto + Yoshimi und erst ‚untitled 4' von allen Dreien. Im Zweifelsfall spielt Yamamoto die psychedelischen Bock- und Warpsprünge, Courtis die Noise-Schraffuren. Gitarrenfreaks bekommen hier allemal ihr geliebtes Ganzkörperprickeln verpasst. Der innerjapanische Dialog ist besonders intensiv, wobei Yoshimi die Gitarrenhöhenflüge zuerst mit einem schimmernden Harmonikaklang untermalt, bevor sie einen zarten Beat klopft und abgedreht kirrt. Im Trio lässt sie ihr OOIOO-Keyboard zweifingersimpel fiepen und singt wie Tenko, während Delays kaskadieren und sich rhythmisch aufschaukeln, leider nicht zum finalen Freakout, weil sie vorher den Faden verlieren. - rbd / bad alchemy

(Fakejazz) It might be pointless to try to slot them on some hierarchy of noise music legends, but it seems safe to say that Boredoms and Reynols represent two heavyweights of bizarre music, with an outsider existence even amongst their peers. Live at Kanadian pairs Yoshimi and Seiichi Yamamoto, the former a longtime Boredoms member, the latter an alumnus, with Anla Courtis, whose post-Reynols career has resulted in music no less impressive (if somewhat less idiosyncratic) that the output of his former troupe. The disc, recorded live in the winter of 2005, features the trio in rotation, with tracks by each of the three duo possibilities followed up by a full trio set. Anyone with any familiarity with these three knows could likely have predicted that the music they made that night on Osaka isn't anything easily predicted or codified, and Live at Kanadian, in that sense, certainly doesn't disappoint. No matter the combination of musicians on the disc, the music is raw and jagged, both in terms of recording quality and its overall form. Haphazard abstractionconstitutes much of the disc, though the different combinations musicians come at their sound from different angles. Courtis and Yamamoto make a big mess, which is leavened by the subsequent work between Courtis and Yoshimi, which finds a more meditative plane, largely due to the vocal work of the latter, processed and layered over the scrapes and swoons of Courtis on violin. When the hometown pair of Yamamoto and Yoshimi pair up, the result is perhaps the disc's most interesting track, with searing guitar, minimalist keyboards, and effected squeaks and squeals from Ms. P-We. When the full trio get together for the album's longest track, the proceedings grow more crowded, but never claustrophobic. The twenty-six minute track finds each musician seemingly carving their own path. Yamamoto continues his ragged shredding, and Yoshimi dirfts between vocals and a jumble of keys, with Courtis' contributions at times a background ambiance, at others a forceful fog that threatens to envelop the whole of the sound. With so many wholesale shifts in atmosphere, the track feels longer than it actually is, a quality that can reasonably be assigned to the disc as a whole. Live at Kanadian packs a punch, though its lack of focus can lessen its power. The fidelity of the recording is another drag on the music's force, but it's not so egregious to dissuade the intrepid listener. There are treasures to be found, but this is the sort of release that doesn't exhibit them openly. Patience is required, but with the three musicians involved, is that much of a surprise? - Adam Strohm

(Ampersand Etcetera) Live in Kanadian: Anla Courtis is known from the Reynols and solo albums while the two Japanese members are apparently from the Boredoms - and this release from Public Eyesore (#110) is a record of a live show in Osaka. Unstructured and improvised, as always hard to describe, this album sucked me in and entertained me. I don't know anything about the instrumentation except Courtis plays guitar, there is electronics, processing and percussion. The first track is something of the noisiest and is centred around the guitar with some electronics, feedback and manipulation. We then move to a track that features the hook for this album - Yoshimi's voice - it ranges from screaming to singing, is looped echoed and stretched and adds that extra dimension an album like this needs to stand out.Here it slips in and out of some electronics guitar percussion, bubbling and sliding, screaming and appealing. Then a piece that is more about electronics and guitar - there are some singing and some dirty solos in this one - the other elements are there also, vocal hisses and squeaks, organ, keyboards and it moves along into its various excursions. Something that is obvious is that these are accomplished musicians - they are playing their instruments, not playing with them, and their skill allows them to take them in exciting new places. The first three tracks, shorter at 10 minutes each, seem like an opportunity for each member to shine, while the final piece - 26 - is where they all come together. It shifts in structure, instrumentation, speed and density, my page of notes impossible to reproduce (and boring to read). Enough to say it carries you along with its shifts and turns, while less focused than the earlier pieces. Improv albums are hard to listen to, hard to review: you have to pick the right time for both. This one impressed me greatly over a number of plays - hard work but the effort is repaid. You know what to expect and it delivers and more. I enjoyed it. - Jeremy Keens

(Slug) The avant-garde noise scene has often been associated with pure nihilism and destruction of music as we know it. Japan has the richest tradition of noise artists, and unlike American noise, is consumed with reverence rather than violence. What is ultimately interesting about this release are the players involved and the situation in which they performed. Yamamoto and Yoshimi of Boredoms fame are the substrate, and Courtis of Argentinean lineage in the enzyme. They got together at a restaurant in Osaka and masturbated the night away. The result is unexpected as a mixture of feedback, spazzy guitar, modulated vocals and various percussion instruments that are chemically different than the substance they were formed from. There is no nihilism here, but a mutual respect of each other's ability to produce unmusic that is surprisingly list enable. - Andrew Glassett

(KZSU Zookeeper) Experimentalists, Argentinian and Japanese. Recorded live uses tasteful synth, creative guitar and voice. Tracks are 10 minutes’ish and improv, meander about. No track by track except to say I liked track 3 best cuz it had the nicest mix of instruments and elements of noise. - Your Imaginary Friend

(Sound Projector) The colourful psychedelic gatefold cover attracted me towards this one, and I always like to keep it touch with Anla’s recent developments. Here, he pitches his meandering and abrasive guitar solos against the rather formless backdrops of the Japanese electronicist, while Yoshimi’s aberrant wails are heard to advantage on the final long track. While not without its moments, I sense a certain lack of communication may have marred this musical encounter in ways that not even the United Nations could address. - Ed Pinsent

(Vital Weekly) Two members of Boredoms, Yoshimi (voice, keyboard and percussion) and Seiichi Yamamoto (electric guitar & percussion) team up with former Reynols member Anla Courtis (e-guitar, toba violin & tapes) on a night in Osaka in 2005, at a place called Kanadian. I must admit straight away that I am not the man who knows Boredoms very well. I expected a bunch of free noise rocking about, but whatever happens, and however free things get, things aren't free rocking noise. This trio plays around with their instruments in a total free manner, and the take back down the volume if needed, which is a fine thing. However this is an unedited live performance, which no doubt is much appreciated by completists of the work of these people, but I think it could have certainly been a bit more stripped down and be a bit more in shape. Not every single second is interesting, especially in the all out fourth piece, clocking at twenty-six minutes, this becomes clear. It's a fine piece, but it could have been improved if trimmed a bit. What I thought was nice is the fact that they move all over the place, from the outbursts to the more quieter moments, and that really saved the CD. - Frans De Waard

(Touching Extremes) Being the sleeve devoid of any useful info, I trawled the web to discover that the companions of Anla Courtis in this exhibition have to do with important Japanese realities such as Boredoms (of which, believe it or not, this aging non-critic never heard a thing) and that the musicians acted in different duo and trio combinations. Not that it makes any difference as the record is engaging enough the whole time that it lasts - a full hour. The most visible constituents are fairly anarchic guitar sounds, mainly distorted or just saturated, decomposed and triturated, asking for our auricular membranes to be sacrificed in their name. But the result is more effective when unbelievably strange processed vocals join in: the amalgamation of pitch-transposed wailing and wall-of-fuzz growls that at times light up the room are unusually energizing, and downright funny in an appreciable lo-fi dressing. The successions of actions, although inconstant, possess an inner logic distancing them from sheer noodling (which, alas, is often the menu du jour with many Japanese improvisers who seem to privilege raw instinct to functional concepts - not always an acceptable artistic choice). Overall, this CD offers exactly what expected, at least from this side. Good, if unexceptional. - Massimo Ricci

(Kathodik) Sin dallo scioglimento dei Reynols, Anla Courtis non si è fermato un attimo. Facendosene una ragione, presi zaino e strumenti, ha scelto di avviare un esteso tour senza mete precise intorno al globo. I suoi compagni, una chitarra elettrica ‘portatile’, un registratore e l’homemade toba-violin, hanno interagito con diverse ‘tribù’ avant dei quattro continenti. L’ultimo meeting, anticipato da scambi culturali con Lasse Marhaug, Campbell Kneale, Damo Susuki, lo scorge in quel di Osaka insieme a due volti carismatici dell’universo Noi-tzu / Boredoms: Seichi Yamamoto (elettrica e percussioni) e Yoshimi (tastiere, percussioni e stranezze canore). Su quattro improvvisazioni, le prime espongono a rotazione tre possibili duetti (C. + Ya. / C. +Yo. / Ya. +Yo.) serbando come da copione la reunion in trio per l’ultima base. Indefinite eruzioni psichedeliche delle chitarre (Untitled 1); segni di canto messianico cinto dai colori della tradizione popolare orientale e sfumato alla fine da manipolazioni interne ed esterne alla voce (Untitled 2); attenzioni sludge / neo-blues frapposte ai vocalizzi, ora dolorosamente Keiji-ani, ora alterati e protesi a recitare un falsetto irreale, diciamo sintetico. La parte finale è anche la più poliedrica. In partenza è uno scontro tra opposti ritmi – asciutti e artigianali vs rimodulazioni digitali in tempo reale – bloccato nel crescere da difficili scambi d’improvvisata che, perpetuati, finiscono per mutarsi in materia a-amelodica assurda e giocosa. E’ qui che i tre daranno il meglio delle loro ossessioni. Riuscito. - Sergio Eletto

(Surgery Radio) In terms of classifying this group of improvisers the term “shaggy dog” is the first that leaps to mind. Slapping together two Boredoms members and an ex-Reynols survivor is a sure way to destabilize any musical economy. Opening with a shattered window of guitar exploration by Courtis and Yamamoto, the second track steps away from the wreckage and lets Yoshimi concentrate on vocal looping and a toy factory of percussive hints. The last and longest takes all the elements, the explosive guitars, wavering keylines and testifying vocals and lets them ebb and fly. There is a patience that translates to a kind of winding-up of energy between outbursts, but even that is not exactly subtle. At the height of efficacy the trio is not unlike the jack-in-the-box you can feel coiled and waiting, but still knocked back by the sudden pop-out. - Eric Hill

(Improjazz) Déluge de sons saturés par trois musiciens polyvalents, deux membres de Boredoms plus l'argentin Anla Courtis. C'est un labyrinthe plein de fantaisie où les voix, les petites percussions et les objets viennent parfois relayer les guitares dans quatre morceaux nourris des musiques du monde. Les musiciens en font un décalque coloré et composite, potache et pourtant mesuré, composé en un sens, une espèce de naïveté savante et recherchée dans l'emprunt. Il y a là une extrême modestie, comme si toute note devait être rendue à son propriétaire, recyclée, et ce propriétaire est toujours un groupe humain. En découle cette sensation de légèreté et d'enfance, la musique nous débarrasse un temps du poids de l'individu et renvoie au groupe dans une utopie troublante. - Noël Tachet

(Dream Magazine) This superb noisy live event is almost an hour long live exploration of chaos and fragmented, fleeting structures spilled by these three colourful exponents of sonic mayhem. Cut up into three long tracks comprised of skittering scrambled electronics being ritually disembowelled, seemingly random female vocalizations, and rapidly orbiting sonic detritus. All wrapped in a gorgeous gatefolded sleeve amply illustrated by Shoji Goto. - George Parsons

(Pagina) Lo de Anla Courtis (más conocido aquí como Alan Courtis, ex guitarrista de Reynols) es a esta altura una auténtica revolución productiva: sus discos (más de 200) son editados en todos los continentes, en todo tipo de formatos (casete, vinilo, CD) y explorando siempre posibilidades sonoras. Este hermoso disco en vivo (en un restorán vegetariano japonés, junto a ex integrantes de los inigualables y extremos The Boredoms, una de las más destacadas bandas de free rock de la historia) resulta fascinante tanto por la gráfica del artista japonés Shoji Goto como por la dinámica de este show traducida a un álbum de... ¿ruido blanco? Más bien, debería apuntarse que el suyo es un ruido multicolor, gaseoso y fantasioso. - Santiago Rial Ungaro.

(Pagina) Lo de Anla Courtis (más conocido aquí como Alan Courtis, ex guitarrista de Reynols) es a esta altura una auténtica revolución productiva: sus discos (más de 200) son editados en todos los continentes, en todo tipo de formatos (casete, vinilo, CD) y explorando siempre posibilidades sonoras. Este hermoso disco en vivo (en un restorán vegetariano japonés, junto a ex integrantes de los inigualables y extremos The Boredoms, una de las más destacadas bandas de free rock de la historia) resulta fascinante tanto por la gráfica del artista japonés Shoji Goto como por la dinámica de este show traducida a un álbum de... ¿ruido blanco? Más bien, debería apuntarse que el suyo es un ruido multicolor, gaseoso y fantasioso. - Santiago Rial Ungaro

(Bad Alchemy) In der Public-Eyesore-Hauptreihe erschienen, fängt Live at Kanadian (pe #110), 2005 in Osaka, nicht in Kanada, den Zusammenprall von ANLA COURTIS (*1972, Buenos Aires) mit SEIICHI YAMAMOTO & YOSHIMI P-We ein. Jetzt Aha, Reynols meets Boredoms zu denken, hilft nicht wirklich weiter. Man muss sich den Clash von Noise-Improv und Japan-Psychedelic vorstellen. Der 1958 in Amagasaki geborene Yamamoto ist schließlich eine Verkörperung japanischer Umtriebigkeit und Abenteuerlust und spielt neben Boredoms auch in Omoide Hatoba, PARA, Rashinban oder Rovo wie auch mit Chie Mukai und vielen anderen. Sein Gitarrenspiel allein wäre Grund genug, hier immer wieder die Luft anzuhalten und der nächsten unberechenbaren Wendung entgegen zu fiebern. Der Argentinier, der in letzter Zeit zwischen Birchville Cat Motel, Lasse Marhaug und Ralf Wehowsky flipperte, spielt den Joker mit e-guitar, toba violin & tapes. Nur die pe-Website verrät, dass ‚untitled 1‘ von Courtis + Yamamoto stammt, ‚untitled 2‘ von Courtis + Yoshimi, ‚untitled 3‘ von Yamamoto + Yoshimi und erst ‚untitled 4‘ von allen Dreien. Im Zweifelsfall spielt Yamamoto die psychedelischen Bockund Warpsprünge, Courtis die Noise-Schraffuren. Gitarrenfreaks bekommen hier allemal ihr geliebtes Ganzkörperprickeln verpasst. Der innerjapanische Dialog ist besonders intensiv, wobei Yoshimi die Gitarrenhöhenflüge zuerst mit einem schimmernden Harmonikaklang untermalt, bevor sie einen zarten Beat klopft und abgedreht kirrt. Im Trio lässt sie ihr OOIOO-Keyboard zweifingersimpel fiepen und singt wie Tenko, während Delays kaskadieren und sich rhythmisch aufschaukeln, leider nicht zum finalen Freakout, weil sie vorher den Faden verlieren.