(01.17.05) The Saboten, one of prolific producer Hoppy Kamiyama’s side projects,
knows a thing or two about porn. Their self-titled record, The
Saboten, is their first United States release following their wild
genre roller coaster ride on the soundtrack to I.K.U., probably the
most surreal soft-core porn ever filmed. The kaleidoscopic impression
of I.K.U. spills over onto The Saboten with the female voice that
continually interrupts the drum ‘n’ bass breakdown of “Orgasm” with,
as you can guess, a breathy moan of the title word. This is the world
of Saboten: techno, jazz, drum ‘n’ bass, and cocktail craziness with
a whiff of naked flesh to keep your interest piqued.
Though the four minutes of “Time Cafe” (subtitled “happy dementia” for
a reason) will be interesting only to those who have a need to take a
piss break or like to vanish into a series of slowly decaying test
tones. Fortunately, the agro-punk thrash of “Rituel (How To Sex)”
reboots one’s cortex swiftly enough that whatever brain damage you’ve
just suffered from spending four minutes staring into the linty depth
of your navel to the accompaniment of test tones is reversed. Two
minutes in, though, the thrash is thrown out and a combination of wild
zither work, noisy auto detailing, and other noises scramble your
noodle for nearly a minute. This is the way of Saboten, like the
weather in the Pacific Northwest: wait two minutes, it’ll change.
“Yummy, Homo, Yummy” snakes along with a fat bass line while an
acoustic guitar hops and skips with childlike abandon through a field
of nearly invisible static. The interlude — the bridge, the whatever
you want to call it — vibrates between a trio of notes, a shimmering
mirage of plum tones, before diving back into the rolling walk of the
bass line. Though, the guitar has been eaten by a percussionist and
the melody is now solely the responsibility of the bass guitar. “Zoe
Achilles” weaves from Bollywood bhangra to Middle Eastern snake
charmer music to Martin Denny island exotica. “Night Rugby” is a
flatbed truck filled with percussionists cruising the main drag at
midnight, keeping the needle at 65MPH so that everything is a bit
dopplered in its echoes.
Hoppy Kamiyama, Saguaro (who is listed as being the Speed King in
charge of the Sexy Button), and DJ Force take buckshot loads to
cardboard genre targets, spraying pellets across a wide terrain of
sound. The Saboten’s self-titled release is an energetic display of
cross-mingled styles, heady without causing a headache and frothy
without being choppy. The Saboten make prog free-jazz electro which
sounds frightening, but ends up being very entertaining.
The Saboten is out now on Kanpai Records.
