Henry Peach [Northwest Correspondent]

1. Sabu Toyozumi/Mototeru Takagi-If Ocean Is Broken-QBICO (12” 2 LPs)

> Within the great memories of this year in out jazz, there is woven a bit of melancholy. If I understand it correctly, this will be the last year that the LP-only Italian label QBICO will be operating. In addition to rolling out killer gonzo jazz wax, the label also put out some amazing psychedelic and electronic records. What comes to mind from the latter category was the out-of-the-fucking blue 5LP Kluster box set comprised of entirely unreleased recordings. How does this label manage to do it?

Nonetheless, we can all be thankful that they are blowing the goddamn doors off until the very end. And so, this free jazz LP drops, which is a live audio recording from a series of sessions from free jazz Tokyo in the early 1970’s. The cover art features some sort of wood sculpture from the Kamakura period, and suggests something ancient and unquestionable within. 4 side-long blasters. Leave it to the Japanese to inject the perfect amount of silence in between red-hot belches of horn/drum skronk!

2. Peter Kowald-Bass Solo-QBICO (12” LP)

> I don’t know why this countdown is so overwhelmingly emotional for me this year, but pick number two puts tears into my eyes. The late, great Peter Kowald performs one song, stretched across two sides of a record, and it is simply titled Bass Solo. Kowald’s two instruments are the stand-up bass and his voice. Yes, he throat sings, Charles Ballas. Does he sound like Arrington De Dionyso? Fuck, man. This dude is the SOURCE, Charles. He makes Dionyso’s "earthquake" sound like one of those vibrating beds in a sleazebag hotel. Bend over Ballas, it’s kingdom time!

3. Bohren and Der Club of Gore-Mitleid Lady –Latitudes
    (A division of Southern Records)-(12” LP, 45 RPM, clear vinyl)

> It’s official, I finally can call the Northwest home (although it took a quartet of Europeans to help me realize it). The Northwest is not about twee posturing, and making your own grotesque sweaters. What it IS about is the blanket of winter, and the sublime feeling of dank euphoria that envelops you for a couple of months. If anything, we haven’t inherited the world of K records and Olympia, but rather the dark hand of David Lynch. Bands like the Diminished Men truly reflect the environment of the Emerald City, and the flora that surrounds it.

And so, we find ourselves with Bohren. Someone else’s words regarding the tempo of Bohren, “This band makes Earth sound like Slayer.” Yes, this group is noir as fuck, and they take their sweet ass time getting there. It took me about six listens to decide that this was supposed to be playing at 45 RPM. This discovery was fortuitous. Why? Well, if you ever need it even heavier, you can hit the 33 RPM button. The nuclear option, I suppose. The saxophone at the six minute mark is my current understanding of God.

4. Mohel-Babylon Bypass-Tyyfus (12” LP)

> Right place, right time. What a year. This four-piece from Finland coincided nicely with musical changes that I underwent in 2009. Namely, I have switched from the alto to the baritone saxophone. After ten years of dreaming, I took the 3,000 dollar plunge. When people ask me how it felt, I immediately said, “I feel as if my balls have finally dropped.”
This band only provided encouragement. The baritone player in this group sounds like a metallic nightmare. Seriously. This is metal-on-metal free jazz with no lube. There is not a melody in sight, and this fact alone has brought endless contentment in 2009!

5. Bill Orcutt-A New Way to Pay Old Debts-Palilalia (12” LP)

> You’ll see this on The Wire’s top records of the year (I’ll bet). Yes, they pulled my strings on this one. I don’t even know if this is jazz. But it IS most certainly way, way out. As I have mentioned, free guitar playing is the gateway drug for rockers morphing into jazzers. I hope anyway. At the very least, A New Way to Pay Old Debts is ass-backwards blues, which is the horny granddaddy of jazz, so let’s roll with it!

Former member of Harry Pussy brings the business on this selection of cuts. He plays/hollers through all sorts of distractions (phones ringing, etc.). The energy on this recording is palpable, and there is nothing remotely coffee shop or cerebral about the songs (which the acoustic string thing sometimes feels like to me). Acoustic noise musicians do it harder!

6. Charlie Nothing-The Psychedelic Sounds of Charlie Nothing-Tacoma, reissued by ? (12” LP)

> Sometimes I am confused as to where all of the common musical ground originates between Jeff (strings) and myself (reeds). Every year, I learn a bit more about it. I am starting to get this feeling that it all relates to John Fahey. Cecil Taylor and Sir Richard Bishop both have releases on Revenant. Coincidence? I think not.

Here we have an anonymous reissue from Charlie Nothing, originally released on the Tacoma Label in 1967 (Fahey’s label). It is two sides of solo saxophone with reverb and some light percussion (Gongs, Jay! And lot’s of ‘em). Jeff, you may know of this dude, and word has it that he sort of had a Tiny Tim-like personality. If that is indeed how he was thought of at the time, this recording holds nothing of that sentiment. This is not a wacky, goofball affair. It is legitimately mesmerizing and psychedelic.

7. Part Wild Mane Horses Both Sides-Blew in the Face-Chironex (12” LP)

> Native American flute free jazz that is reminiscent of some of the work of Don Cherry. This was recorded in the most open way imaginable. I feel like I am sitting in the middle of Chaco Canyon. Connor, pass the mescal.

8. Lloyd Miller-A Lifetime in Oriental Jazz-Jazzman (12” LP)

> The internet will have you believe that this reissue is some sort of lost jewel from the treasure chest of exotica music. I say spit on those cheap ass three dollar K-Mart tiki torches, and PUT AWAY THE MARTINI GLASSES FOR FUCK SAKE! We need some Jack Daniels. This is the heavy stuff. Eastern-soaked jazz music. All at different times, this compilation reminds me of the first track on Ilias Ahmed’s Vertigo of Dawn (which I hope you all have on LP, like me!), the final horn blowout of Richard Bishop’s Freak of Araby, big band era Sun Ra, the experience of Kansas City back in its jazz heyday, and Egyptian jazz legend Salah Ragab. A superb retrospective. I am also lead to believe that not all of these tracks were recorded in the late 60’s/early 70’s. Some of them may be 21st century affairs.

9. Cold Turkey-Mega Shark-Hermitage (12” one-sided LP)

> "Was this record cut on rotten cottage cheese?" So asks John Olson from Wolf Eyes in the linear notes to this one-sider. The sound on this record is a saxophone, but it is completely divorced from its traditional timbre through the use of heavy effects. Just a shitstorm of noise that ends with a piercing locked groove. It is as long of a track as you want it to be! A little out jazz take on Boyd Rice’s Pagan Muzak. Thanks, NON!

10. The Pyramids-King of Kings/Lalibela/Birth Speed Merging-IKEF
      (3 separate releases, all 12”LP)

> Shitty artwork that made me delay buying these reissues for about three months (Yes, I am skin deep at heart). Boy, would THAT have been a mistake! I didn’t realize that the alto player was Idris Ackamoor. I love this group for all the same reasons that I do The Art Ensemble of Chicago. They have so many speeds and variations, and they handle them all with the right feeling. And, none of it sounds like that limp-wristed, deep-spiritual, black trash from the early 70’s, which always takes the booby prize when you hold it up to real dudes like Pharaoh Sanders, John Coltrane and Frank Lowe. Pick any of the three LPs to start, they are all recommended (Although, going chronologically is revelatory).