The subtitle for the album is “frightening music for scared people” which is not a bad description for this weird but very unique release that does have some Captain Beefheart similarities within its blues framework, while also firmly in the experimental rock field made popular in the 1970’s by acts like Can. Alco Degurutieni is a multi-instrumentalist born in Osaka Japan, who has written all thirteen tracks on the album.
His main instrument is guitar although in addition he plays keyboards and Metallophone (percussion instrument) and provides some gruff vocals, although I am unclear what the language is, which is not a problem as the vocal sounds really fit in with the overall ambience of the songs. On the album Alco gets some support from several members of the Japanese music scene including the psychedelic band Acid Mother Temple which gives the songs more depth.
The album is actually a compilation showcasing some material previously un-released and rare material that was self-released or distributed via tiny labels between 2010-2019.It is difficult to highlight any particular tracks as most are very similar but I will go for the first two tracks on the album for ease of selection; the opening track is a short instrumental called Parnas In The Late Night which comes across like a haunting low budget Sci-fi film score, while
the next song Acme In The Afternoon has the most complete vocal in a Tom Wait bluesy way,
accompanied by repetitive percussion and some tasty floating atmospheric Trumpet played by Atsushi Sekitani. If you are a Beefheart fan or are looking for a completely different take on the blues this album will be of interest to you but not for traditional blues fans.
ADRIAN BLACKLEE
