And the melody is…where?
Going essentially solo, Natsuki Tamua plays trumpet, piano and wok for a four piece tribute to summer. The result is more of an atmospheric journey than music, as he squeezes out sighing gasps through his valve on “Summer Tree” with agonizing echoes, creates a relentless Metal Machine Music pulse on “Summer Color” and mixes duck calls with Tibetan Monk chants with his horn on “Summer Dream”. Satoko Fujii lends her voice (and piano?) for the squealing and rumbling “Summer Wind” which has no relation to the Sinatra standard. No summer vacation spots here.
Piano legend Satoko Fujii teams up with Joe Fonda on the bass, flute and cello for ten intuitive originals. Fonda goes solo on an intimate “My Song”, and it sounds like Fujii is by herself on ivories while plucking the piano strings on the pretty “Winter Sunshine”. Fonda’s flute gets aired out for “Wind Sound” , with eerie tones and bows for “Sekirei”. Oriental tones are produced dring Between Blue Sky and Cold Water” while grunts and scrambles make up pieces like “Fallen Leaves Dance” and “Reflection”. Toned poems.
MOPDTK gets together to deliver an album of 8 songs, one with an alternate take, but the term “song” should be used lightly. Ron Stabinsky/p-elec, Moppa Elliott/b and Kevin Shea/dr-elec create sounds with titles, with the drums too busy almost all of the time, as on the thunderous “Wilkes-Barre” or the thunderous “Centralia” . There is plenty of rhythmic and electronically cluttered chaos on ‘Three Mile Island” with an avalanche on “Johnston”. Sounds to accompany both man made and natural disasters, indeed.