Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2019 September 02 • Monday

First of all, happy birthday!

At least one person I know who's celebrating his birthday today would like our 585th Soundtrack of the Week: Food Brain's crazy avant rock soundtrack for the Wakamatsu Koji movie Shinjuku Mad.

Basically what you've got here is a loud band kind of jamming but presumably inspired by free jazz and such. If you like Keiji Haino, you might be into this, too.

The band is electric guitar, electric bass guitar, drums and sometimes piano. It's druggy, long-haired freak-out music, usually fairly wild and lumbering, leaning heavily on blues rock conventions. They've heard Hendrix.

When they abandon beats, patterns and chord changes for what sounds like straight-up free improv, on the fifth track, it's kind of a relief.

After that, track six surprises by being a sensitive and wistful jazz waltz, incredibly restrained in comparison to what came before.

But then we're back in acid rock freak-out city for track seven!

And after that the remaining four tunes, stay more inside sunnier and calmer jazz feels.

Definitely a weird record and not the easiest of listening. But Wakamatsu Koji's movies aren't a walk in the park either.