Solo piano album from Tori Kudo of Worst Noise/Guys N Dolls/Maher Shalal Hash Baz et al. Tori’s style relates to both free jazz and classical composition, albeit elevating ‘errors’ to the status of creative prima materia. Some of his playing here sounds a little bit like Muhal Richard Abrams’ early AACM recordings, that same slightly off sense of melancholy, a quality which the boxy nature of the recording gives further emphasis to, giving the performance a nice alone-in-a-room ambience. Kudo plays fairly gently, chasing fortuitous ghostly ideas up and down the keyboard, now stuck on a simple repeating melody, now spreading out into elegiac waves of stumbling exegesis. The title comes from a piano performance piece (not sure if it’s the one on the CD) where Kudo played the piano while a dancer danced in and out of a cut-out frame.

Much-in-demand release of some eye-opening early live footage from the ‘classic’ and most punk-primitive incarnation of Tori Kudo’s idiot-avant orchestra and Japanese underground legends Maher Shalal Hash Baz circa 1987. Trading on mis-interpretations and amplifications of the more feral aspects of musical outsiders like Mayo Thompson, Syd Barrett, The Raincoats and Albert Ayler, Maher Shalal Has Baz created some of the warmest and most melancholic post-punk avant garde music ever articulated by non-musicians. This 75 minute film documents the group when they featured the late Masami Shinoda on alto sax, a central player in the whole Maher mythos who Kudo still describes as one of only two full-time members of the group. Also features another key member, Hiro Nakazaki, on euphonium, Hirofumi Mitani on bass, Kanji Nakao on drums and Takuya Nishimura on guitar and bass. Maher’s music is fragile but very physical and getting to grips with the dynamic up-close and in the flesh adds a whole new dimension to your appreciation of the depth and rigour of Kudo’s beautiful, a-musical vision. And Shinoda’s playing is a real joy. Highly recommended.