Reviews 162: Motohiko Hamase
Motohiko Hamase is an unsung legend of the 70s jazz and funk scenes in Japan, having spent time crafting sensual bass grooves with towering figures such as Mikio Masuda and Isao Suzuki. After moving towards world music, new age, and minimalism during the early 80s, Motohiko joined with the Shi Zen label in 1986 to release a pair of underrated yet fascinating albums entitled Intaglio and Reminiscence. The sounds here move through spiritual minimalism, ambient forest jazz, majestic orchestral passages, dissonant noise clusters, and jamming fusion dreamscapes, with breathtaking compositions filled with unexpected transitions and rushes of symphonic power. It’s all the more impressive considering that Motohiko is mostly working alone, with occasional help from Toshio Kaji and in the case of Reminiscence, Akira Doi on drums. As with most things obscure, new age, exotic, and from 1980s Japan, the original vinyl is rare and expensive so it’s very fortunate that Studio Mule have stepped in to bring Motohiko’s magical music back into the light. But curiously, rather than simply remastering or even remixing, the albums have both been re-recorded, with a few songs omitted and some new ones making an appearance. Toshio Kaji is here once again, though Akira Doi has been replaced by Yoh-ichi Okabe on percussion for Reminiscence. As well, the re-recording gives Motohiko a chance to reimagine the compositions using his six-string fretless bass guitar crafted by Jan Knooren back in 1996. But even re-recorded, restructured, and with a new percussionist and bass, the vibe remains faithful and true to the originals, with wonder and adventure suffusing every single second.
Motohiko Hamase - Intaglio (Studio Mule, 2018)
At first, “Circlet” builds a world of woodwind repetitions, swelling orchestral vapors, bowed cello fantasies, and layered marimbas like water dropping into a glistening pound. Pastel hued sonic constellations intertwine as pointillist flutes dash in and out until a dramatic transition brings us into a world of hypnotic e-pianos and warm sensual bass guitar soloing. The faraway romance vibes are enhanced by cellos and headspinning idiophones yet contrasted by ominous horror string swells, but eventually the heavier atmospherics fade away, leaving sparkling webs of minimalist sunshine and fusion bass explorations. “Rain Calls for Bird” is the sole piece composed by Toshio Kaji, wherein delirious layers of flute and pan-pipe are transmuted into birdsong. The vibe is like moving through a colorful jungle at hyperspeed, with amorphous orchestral bodies of light surrounding bass thuds and spiritual synthetic choirs. until zany idiophonic electronics move in, their rapid sequences joined by Toshio Kaji’s free jazz piano waterfalls. Violins dash around atonal solo mesmerism from Motohiko’s six string bass and massive swells of sound intercut and grow more intense alongside twinkling sequences. But eventually we return to the birdsong and flute tapestries, though hovering pads and fretless bass solos now accompany. And there’s a heavenly outro of slow moving crystalline arcs and dramatic swells that kiss the sky.
In “Lung,” militant cut-up drums pound away and backwards swelling synths lead to crazed saxophone psychedelia. Minimalist and madcap sax layerings are similar to Yasuaki Shimizu’s Kakashi and the sounds are like a lung, only made of iron and malfunctioning, with each breath bringing brass delirium, crushing drums, and liquid FM synths that teleport back and forth between alien dimensions. Somewhere in the middle of this pounding sax ceremonial sits a bucolic meadow of marimba magic as multi-tracked mallet instruments waver like an infinite sea of grass blowing in the wind. And as usual, Motohiko enters with an emotive bass performance, all sensual, transportive, and supported by string swells running in reverse. “Symptom” follows with vibrato viols rising and falling, glockenspiel serenades, and bell-tone pianos mic’d so close you can hear the sound of the hammers hitting the strings. Prismatic harps rain down and ominous orchestral swells are tracked by wiggly bass guitar pyrotechnics, while colorful flutes evoke the song of a curious bird…eyes wide, head cocked, perplexed by the intense and kaleidoscopic layers of classical jazz fusion.
Vibraphones, marimbas, and FM bells work the mind into ecstasy during “Elan Vital,” supported below by deep brass bubbles and euphoric string rushes. Massive pianos seem to fall from the sky as they drop powerful chords of moonlit beauty and the dazzling dance of harps and wandering bass guitar features impressive hammer-ons and sliding liquid movements. A brief breakdown of hypnotic idiophone propulsion leads back into the sensual jazz bass performance and the moon bathed streaks of silvery string orchestrations…everything locking into a fantastical bliss out with a vaguely sad air before a dazzling outro of exotic harp shimmer and mallet hallucinations. “Aborigine” has a wild spirit, with organic percussion flowing into electro drum splatter. The rhythms are tribal yet futuristic as they move according to a strange and unknowable logic, with crusted static and dripping pools of noise surrounding everything. Wobbling woodwinds move with an air of spiritual jazz while synths traverse LSD mirages and it all comes together like the fusion of Miles Davis abstracted into primitive groove exotica. And though there has been plenty of bass guitar soloing so far, this is the first time Motohiko gets to ride over a defined rhythm and the small amount of structure does wondrous things for his adventurous prog spells…using his bass to explore underwater caves and mountains in the clouds.
We close on the title track, where rainfall harps are intimately recorded, so that the fragile string plucks decay out over beautiful flowing marimbas. Over top, gorgeous gusts of woodwind melodics blow, with clarinets and oboes moving together yet sounding like they come from an entirely different song. A crashing and near industrial rhythm is cut-up and transformed into a barely there drum plod giving shape to the airy melodies of faraway enchantment, with gun fire kicks splashing through puddles of noise, toms pushing against the skull, and bouncing bass synths mimicking the gurgling voices of shadow spirits. It’s an enigmatic canvas over which Motohiko paints his soft bass guitar lullabies, supported by cinematic woodwinds skipping through fields of flowers and alien mallet instruments moving through dense clouds of ring modulation. As we progress towards the end, the wonderland flutes seem to spread out, growing ever dreamier and more gaseous while twinkling pianos move through the ever present fog of spellbinding harp transcendence.
Motohiko Hamase - Reminiscence (Studio Mule, 2018)
Starlit music boxes introduce “Childhood” as softly boiling strings take their time to swell into life over feathery toms. Cascading marimbas and hand drums from Yoh-Ichi Okabe are disturbed by massive percussion smashes and all the while, strings waver and woodwinds generate oscillating delirium. It’s the score for a detective film on a jungle planet, as twinkling metallic melodies of exotic beauty float on cloudy strings currents. There are heavenly key changes and long-form melodies evolving in slow motion, with layered orchestrations occupying all free space in the mix. And Motohiko adds in a transportive fretless bass solo evoking starry nights by the sea…an air of mystery suffusing through the warm coastal wind…as streetlights flicker and starlight shimmers in the form of thrilling harp runs. “Intermezzo” sees Motohiko using his bass to sing dazzling wordless jazz lullabies over horn swells and tablas locked into a polyrhythmic conversation with sequenced marimba colorations. Mystical and mysterious harp runs are overlaid by dissonant brass clusters, chimes and bells sound as if heard through an LSD haze, and the whole piece cycles between modes of youthful wonder and hues of dark enchantment. During a climax where hand drums explode like fireworks, horns blast in staccato patterns, and marimbas move like a an oscillating thread of jewels, Motohiko mixes a sense of unhinged adventurism with his typically smooth playing and tone…the warm fuzziness of the recording belying the mental madness progressing across the fretboard.
In “Tree,” lush pianos flow like a celestial river as birds sit and sing overheard in a tree made of light. Their song comes off like sprightly woodwinds and all the while, dark shadows of large sea creatures move below the water, occasionally coming to the surface and generating deep bass percussion waves as they breach. Wind rustles through the tree leaves and tapestries of sleigh bells and snake rattles hover in place until the meditative scene is disturbed by crashing drum bombosity from Yoh-Ichi. It’s a vaporous plod built from jangling bells and airy hand drums with bass guitars weaving patterns of deep harmony above it all and sometimes dipping down into thumping low end magic. Tablas drop drum fluidity alongside gorgeous wood flute descents and there is so much otherworldly beauty swirling all around. At the conclusion of the track, we return to that gorgeous glowing tree sitting over the peacefully flowing currents of colorful water as birds continue to sing and the spirit is wrapped in warm currents of ivory.
“Reminiscence” starts in a renaissance fair, as woodwinds weave medieval melodies and are moved below by wiggling synth textures. New age mermaids swim through the mix according to their own dream logic, creating contrasting waves of ambiance supporting the airy percussion. There are strange transitions with the mathematical precision and bombosity of 70’s prog rock, only here played on a palette of indigenous acoustic instruments. Elsewhere, we dance drunkenly through a humid jungle with pale light raining down and sickly sweet perfumes causing vague hallucinations…a world of shimmering metal, cavernous drums, and nervous stuttering fire allowing extra-terrestrial melodies to move in and out of phase in conjunction with fluttering brass and woodwind spells. “Water Meadow” sees Motohiko joined again by Toshio Kaji on piano, and spacious drones evoke the titular water meadow…a sort of glowing blue swamp with galactic drones moving through the smothering fog. Mellifluous pianos are transformed into post-classical wanderings while string synths blow into the mix, bringing a sinister beauty. Harps move in psychedelic circles and symphonic orchestrations swell in, overtake the mix, then recede, revealing soft bass guitar solos and gaseous vibraphones. Disturbing ambient spirals loop into oscillating delay clouds and piano chords work up the scale, growing ever more frenetic as the orchestrations build again in strength. They eventually shroud almost everything, with just banging pianos and starshine metals breaking through the supernova symphony.
The piccolo flute leading “Doll” is at once playful and melancholic and is backed with lively harmonizing strings that occasionally work against the flow with gentle dissonance. Yoh-ichi’s forest drums underly gleaming layers of tambourines, bells, triangles, and snake rattles as pizzicato strings dance in the background ether, supported by bowed atmospheres of mirth. Subdued and shambolic drums fall over meditative oboes and clarinets while string textures vibrate in and out of inter-dimensional wormholes and the drums continue to crash against the very fabric of existence alongside towering strings bowed with a sense of malevolence. Imagine thunderstorms over a boiling black sea as ancient spirits drop exotic melodies deep from within the maelstrom. “No Mo Ce” is another piece penned by Toshio Kaji and features breathy bamboo flutes and mystical rainbow minimalism. It’s a polyrhythmic looping paradise of rainforest idiophones and jungle mallet instruments swam underneath by deep baritone brass bubbles as flutes maneuver with an infectious sense of life and harmonious synth drones fade in, sounding like angelic polysynths dreaming of the sea. Chimes glimmer within a cascade of sparkling crystals and Motohiko’s fretless bass works itself into an ecstatic fusion panorama while flute and sax lock into further Yasuaki Shimizu-style hypnosis cycles.
(images from my personal copy)
