Keiji Haino & Guro Moe - Drums & Octobass [Conradsound]

This is drum and bass. Not in a sense of dancefloor destroying basslines and rapid fire beats but in a more literal sense. For their latest, December 15th, 2k23 released album, we see long standing Japanese artist and sound sculptor Keiji Haino teaming up with Norwegian improv double bass player Guro Moe of Moe-fame for a 2CD album set put on the circuit via Oslo-based Conradsound. Rolled out over the course of roughly 31 minutes the first half of the longplayer consists of three free floating Improv pieces of ever meandering, oftentimes dark'ish, blurred and certainly mythical, outerworldy qualities touching base with the outer fringes of Avantgarde, Indietronica, Postrock and what could be described as Mystical Folk - droning, ever developing, probably echoing echoes of echoes of Indian Ragas at times, garnished with indecipherable non-vocalisms, screams and non-verbal chants as well as bowing techniques resembling braincell wrecking metallic scrapings and ever thickening layers of sound whereas pieces like "Flower Which Is Orange And Very Strong Willed" are even offering some surprisingly stripped down and more peaceful and naturalist episodes as well. Furthermore the second disc which holds the extended, approximately 44 minutes spanning "Flower Of Ice Flower Of Granite Flower Of Earth Crust Flower Of The Earths Interior Flower Of Air Of The Puls Of The Wave" - what's up with those titles, btw? - brings forth a more expressive and dynamic side of the duos improvisational work, sporting explosive, in parts almost militaristic snare drum rides, brooding, danger-heralding drones and highly dramatic screams alongside other spine-tingling utterings reminiscent of unfiltered demons of the innermost human voids unleashed in a lunatic asylum, periods of unsettling near silence as well as ear-piercing high frequency attacks for Avantagarde-informed audiences. This is quite a trip, even for the most experienced listener.

Album artwork on Instagram!