The histories of Bill Laswell and Hoppy Kamiyama are long and florid
affairs, filled with innumerable records and equally as infinite
mentions of their work as producers. Kamiyama and Laswell are old
pros, consummate musicians who came together in a brief collision with
percussionist Kiyohiko Semba to record the avant-jazz fusion record, A
Navel City/No One Is There. The result is a wild synergy, a free-form
funk ride across landscapes both rhythmic and ambient, crystalline and
volcanic.
Kamiyama’s piano spars with Semba’s cymbal and percussion in “Todes
Fuge” while Laswell’s bass exudes bell tones, unfolding in a
three-part polyrhythm that sounds like wind through a field of wind
chimes. Semba’s drum work is the highlight of “Sospirando,” a driving
pulse which draws Laswell’s aquatic bass and Kamiyama’s breathlessly
squirting synthesizers in its wake. “Desert,” the thirteen minute
high country excursion, is dappled with ambient heat mirages and
sandstorms of complex percussive melodies driven across the dusty
envelope by Semba’s tireless hands. “Sad Emission” hurtles along with
even more intricate rhythms and noises, shooting through numerous
terrains of sound during its sixteen minute run. By the time it winds
up in a cataclysmic rush of sound and voice, you’ve been given a
serious free funk transfusion. The closer, “Parrot Fashions,” rings
with ambient tones, Japanese guitar, bells and bird song, a fusion
version of a climb up the wilderness path to the top of Mt. Fuji.
Uber-producers Laswell and Kamiyama spend a great deal of their time
tweaking and massaging the work of others. It is great to hear them
get a chance to feed from each other’s energy in a highly
collaborative, free-form environment. Probably recorded in an
afternoon’s massive recording session, A Navel City/No One Is There is
a well polished amalgamation of Laswell’s signature bass rhythms and
Kamiyama’s trademark synthesizer melodies, wound together by the
relentless and exacting percussion of Semba. Excellent work.
A Navel City/No One Is There is out now on Kanpai Records.
