The Squid's Ear Magazine


Mikami, Kan / John Edwards / Alex Nielson: Live at Cafe Oto (Otoroku)

More typically a solo performer, Japanese bluesman Kan Mikami has created a distinctive path for his voice, guitar and poetic lyrics; here he is propelled in an improvisational setting with two powerful UK players--John Edwards on bass and Alex Neilson on drums--captured live at London's Cafe Oto for a growling concert of finesse and brusque attitude.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Kan Mikami-vocals, guitar

John Edwards-double bass

Alex Nielson-drums


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UPC: 769791968219

Label: Otoroku
Catalog ID: ROKU 013CD
Squidco Product Code: 25215

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2017
Country: UK
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded live at Cafe Oto, In London, England, on April 3rd, 2013, by James Dunn.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Japanese bluesman Kan Mikami is nothing less than an unalloyed force of nature. A skin-shredding blast of frozen wind from the poor, rural north of Japan that he calls home. In the late 1960s, like thousands of other Japanese young people Mikami made his way to Tokyo in search of a life different from that of his parents. Since then he has forcefully carved out a space for himself in the culture as a modernist poet, a raging folk singer, an author, a actor, an engaging TV personality, and one of Japan's most uniquely powerful performers.

For most of Mikami's career as a singer, he has performed solo. Just him and his electric guitar against the world, creating jagged A-minor vamps to drive along the surreal wisdom of his lyrics. But he's equally at home in more demanding improvisational contexts such as those provided here by John Edwards on bass and Alex Neilson on drums. Their dense propulsive textures seem to spur on Mikami, his voice arcing powerfully into fragmented spaces, his guitar darting, colliding, shedding jagged and angular splinters of sound. A pulsing, raging maelstrom of serrated-edged energy. Gruff, rough, honest and very, very real." - Alan Cummings

Also available on vinyl LP.

Artist Biographies

"Kan Mikami (三上 寛 Mikami Kan, born March 20, 1950) is a Japanese folk singer-songwriter. His music, heavily influenced by American blues, was popular in Japan in the 1970s.[1] He re-wrote the lyric of the song "Yume wa Yoru Hiraku" for his cover version in 1972, which was banned for its negative portrayal of Modern Japanese Culture. Mikami also acted in cinema and is notable for collaborations with Shūji Terayama and his avant-garde theater Tenjō Sajiki."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kan_Mikami)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"After taking up the bass, around 1987, John Edwards co-formed The Pointy Birds who went on to win awards for their music for The Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs dance troupes. The group appeared at festivals in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Moers, Leverkusen, Copenhagen. Around 1990, Edwards played his first gigs with London improvisers such as Roger Turner, Lol Coxhill, Maggie Nicols, Phil Minton.

Between 1990 and 1995 Edwards was a member of three touring groups simultaneously: B-Shops For The Poor, The Honkies and GOD. During this period he also became an increasingly regular player on the London improvised music scene and performed his first solo gigs; he composed and performed music theatre with the bass and cello duo The Great Explorers, street-busked a lot and appeared at many more festivals in Germany, Estonia, France, Italy, Czech, etc.

Since 1995 John Edwards has become a "mainstay" of the London scene, playing with just about everybody, an activity that has seen him clocking up between 150 and 200 gigs a year. He has become regular player with Evan Parker, in many groupings, and with Tony Bevan, Veryan Weston, and Elton Dean, often in collaboration with Mark Sanders on percussion. He has become a more frequent player on the European (and festival) scene, appearing at Taktlos, Ulrichsburg, Nickelsdorf, Budapest, New Zealand and in the USA. He continues to work on solo performances."

-EFI (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/medwards.html)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Aoshi 0:48

2. Dany Boya 2:23

3. Ankotsubaki Gaiden 2:38

4. Taria 6:16

5. Kamome 3:03

6. Furusato 4:32

7. Narayamabushiko 3:09

8. Maronie 2:37

9. Shiroi Inu 5:31

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Rock and Related
Improvised Rock
Song Based Music
Japanese & Asian Improv/Rock
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Trio Recordings
New in Rock Forms

Search for other titles on the label:
Otoroku.


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