A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K · L · M · N · O · P · Q · R · S · T · U · V · W · X · Y · Z · #

MY RECORD

COLLECTION

HOME· ARTISTS· ALBUMS· COUNTRY· LABELS· GENRES· WANTS

Keiji Haino

Probably the most fascinating and exciting avant-garde artist to come out of Japan, Keiji Haino has been active both solo and in groups since the early seventies. Even though he's mostly known for his guitar work, Haino has pretty much worked with every kind of musical form there is (he's even surprised a few people with his DJ sets recently - DJ Keiji! Who would have thought of that?). On the guitar, Haino uses the instrument in ways nobody has done before, most of it is improvised, some of it is incredibly loud, some of it is barely audible and some of it barely resembles the guitar in the first place! It's quite difficult to explain why this makes him such a fascinating guitarist, a lot of it sounds just like pointless noise (to some) and he's certainly no Steve Vai, but his music, for those who can tolerate it, sounds incredibly new and refreshing. His influences lie completely elsewhere and he is probably not interested in chromatic scales and complex chord progressions; this is six strings used as a means for catharsis. Other artists like Loren Connors or Derek Bailey work in similar ways; it might not always sound clean and intelligible (or even tangible), but the emotions do come across. And this is true no matte what instrument he is using: whether it be the hurdy-gurdy, weird ethnic percussion, voice, electronic drum machine: his raw energy and constant need to re-invent himself makes it's all possible. There are simply no boundaries.

I've known about Haino for quite a while, but was mostly familiar with his work with percussion. I was way into John Zorn at the time, and Haino had a disc out on Tzadik (Zorn's label). I wasn't much interested in that particular album and pretty much ignored him since then. It was only several years later when I was initiated to his group Fushitsusha that I started paying attention once again. Unfortunately, many of his other works were only available as imports (and thus very expensive), so I tried to concentrate on getting the fewer, local releases. Montreal's Alien8 Records had recently put out a double album so I started there. Although I do love his work, the quantity is quite overwhelming and collecting his albums might take a while, so I take it slowly... But surely, there will be more on the way.

---