Originally posted on Fat Planet.
DOWNLOAD: MAS turn (grass roots version)
mas are a japanese five piece led by multi-instrumentalist, tatsuya yamada. formed in 1999, yamada has overseen two album releases, the debut ‘turn’ and last year’s ‘steppers’ (on fly recordings) – a mini album mixing new tracks with remixes from ‘turn’. mas collaborations include work with riow aria, tujiko noriko and gel. much of the editorial on the web is focussed on mas‘ live shows, fusing live instrumentation (trumpet, sax, kokyu – chinese fiddle, drums) with electronic dub – and it’s those solid performances that have seemingly filtered through to the recording process. the above mp3 is a long journey – rolling and building as it flows, much in the same way as fellow countryfolk buffalo daughter‘s last album of jams (‘psychic’) or a more controlled version of the epic soundscapes we associate with the boredoms. add a third japanese band into that mix – rovo – and it does look as if i’m trying to box alt.japanese artists into some form of tradition. even if they don’t fit, further investigation will yield mind-altering results.
more info: flyrec.com
buy online: ontonson.com