International Incident

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Here’s a record across which, as a relatively seasoned observer of the Japanese underground music scene, I wouldn't really have expected to come. Mason Jones is guitarist with and founder of Subarachnoid Space, the American space rockers whose endless renovation album (Release records) is currently reviewed elsewhere in motion. With SS Jones indulges in giant swathes of feedback-drenched droning and long, effortlessly sprawling solos. SS can certainly be aggressive when they feel like it, but it still surprised me to see Jones in the company of some of the Tokyo underground’s noisiest of noiseniks. But that’s exactly what International Incident presents. The album brings together five performances recorded in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto in 1995 and 1997, performances with: Zeni Geva’s psychedelic extremist KK Null; a quartet featuring Mainliner and Musica Transonic guitarist Kawabata Makoto; Omoide Hatoba guitarist Tsuyama Atsushi; Hijokaidan guitarist Jojo Hiroshige; Boredoms guitarist Yamamoto Seichii (for this cut Jones plays drums - and why not?); and Aube’s mad analogue electronics manipulator Akifumi Nakajima. Now the quality of these recordings is variable, although never much more than lo-fi. and, of course, these are impromptu performances, with all the attendant unsurenesses. But there’s some energy here; Jones seems to be taken elsewhere in his playing by his collaborators, the more deviant and mischievous tendencies in his playing brought to the fore. As a document, then, International Incident is essential, for presenting the coming together of two of contemporary music’s most important scenes: the Japanese extreme rock underground and American post-rock. Beyond that, though, as a record it’s a blast.