KODO

SAI-SO (THE REMIX PROJECT)

  1/  Strobe's Nanafushi (Satori Mix)                                          5.45
        Reproduced and reincarnated by Strobe for Last Giraffe Productions
  2/  Ibuki Reconstruction                                                     3.31
        Reconstruction and additional production by DJ Krush
  3/  Wax Off                                                                  4.03
        David Beal, David Baron and Lindsay Jehan
  4/  Kevin Yost's Deep & Ethnic Mix                                           7.29
        Remix and additional production by Kevin Yost for Trio Productions
  5/  Wax On                                                                   3.54
        Kasz and David Beal; Mixed by Kasz, Beal, Jehan
  6/  Intelligente's Nobi (Kashikoi Taiko To Basu Mix)                         7.02
        Remixed by Metronome B, My Name Is Myron and Killer Whale
  7/  Strobe's The Hunted (Kannagara Mix)                                      3.41
        Reproduced and reincarnated by Strobe for Last Giraffe Productions
  8/  Bill Laswell's Nanafushi                                                 9.07
        Bill Laswell
  9/  Bill Laswell's The Hunted                                                6.22
        Bill Laswell
  10/ Strobe's Sartori Beats                                                   3.08
        Reproduced and reincarnated by Strobe for Last Giraffe Productions

          Original tracks recorded at Sony Music Shinanomachi Studios, Tokyo,
            Japan, July 17-22, 1996
          Original tracks produced by Bill Laswell
          Original tracks co-produced by Keiichi Nakamura
          Produced by Archie Meguro and Paul DeGooyer
          Executive Producer : Keiichi Nakamura
          Mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side
Takeshi Arai, Yoko Fujimoto, Yoshikazu Fujimoto, Kazuki Imagai, Sachiko Inoue, Ryutaro Kaneko, Yasukazu Kano, Tomohiro Mitome, Tetsuro Naito, Akira Nanjo, Ayako Onizawa, Eiichi Saito, Hideyuki Saito, Takuro Susaki, Motofumi Yamaguchi and Michiko Yanagi: vocals, percussion; DJ Krush (2): beats, scratches; Kasz (5): guitar, bass, programming, keyboards, sample manipulation; Beal: programming, keyboards, sample manipulation; Bill Laswell (8,9): bass, additional sounds.

          1999 - Sony (Japan), COL 494030-1 (Vinyl)
          1999 - Sony (Japan), COL 494030-2 (CD)
          1999 - Red Ink/Sony (USA), WK 51904 (CD)

REVIEWS :

The Kodo group is Japan's global ambassador of Taiko drumming. This fanatical group arose in 1981 from an island colony of traditional Taiko drummers that sought nothing else but perfection of their art. The religious intensity and single-mindedness of this small (population 40) thorp clearly comes across on the mighty percussion forays contained here. Consider the powerful drum exchange on "Nobi." Beats are thundered in one channel to be answered by drums of another timbre in the other channel. Imperceptibly, the piece slows in tempo until the sound of a muffled heartbeat emerges. "Heartbeat" is one possible translation of "kodo" and after this exposition the group returns to a potent swell of rhythms accompanied by frenzied and ecstatic shouting. Sai-So means "reborn" and as such this album is a rebirth into electronica of the Kodo material midwifed by some of the genre's most important names. Experimentalist Bill Laswell (Material), producer of Iubkl, contributes two tracks to this compilation that mostly finds the possibilities of ambient, chill-out vibes in Kodo. A notable exception is the vigorous "Wax Off." Sampling three different Kodo pieces and written by Kodo, David Beal, David Baron, and Lindsay Jehan, the urgent and layered "Wax Off" makes an excellent soundtrack to highway travel. Other interpreters include Strobe, DJ Krush, Kevin Yost, Metronome B, My Name Is Myron, and Killer Whale.

4 stars out of 5

Tom Schulte courtesy of the All Music Guide website