Yoshida Tatsuya with Igor Krutogolov and Assif Tsahar - Live in the Head (2008)

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Yoshida Tatsuya with Igor Krutogolov and Assif Tsahar - Live in the Head (2008)

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One of most present Tatsuya Yoshida live release is recorded still in 2006 during his concert in Tel-Aviv. His two collaborators on this concert were Istraeli/NY avant jazz sax player Assif Tsahar and member of Russian/Israeli avant-klezmer band Kruzenshtern & Parohod bassist Igor Krutogolov.
Album begins with high energy complex drum and sax attacks. And it is really great sound! Yoshida is known by his complex and fast drumming with all possible collaborators around the world (and playing with his founded Ruins band as well). But this live recording is really one great event when his extaic drumming has not less explosive partner - sharp, free and very energetic sax of Assif Tsahar !

After few first very explosive compositions, trio goes to free-form improvisations with wordless vocals. There they feel very comfortable on free jazz territory. But even in free-form compositions they didn't loose high energy drive!

I am not very familiar with Assif Tsahar works, but Igor's Kruzenshtern & Parohod were regular guest of my hometown scene, so I know their Masada -influenced music quite well. So - don't expect anything like that there on this album!

In a very few compositions you can hear just touches of klesmer, and it's all. In all music sounds as sharp mix of brutal Japanese avant hardcore with NY downtown free jazz.

For me - one of the best Yoshida's solo release! My rating is 4+!

Review by snobb, Progarchives

Given the track record of Ruins mastermind Tatsuya Yoshida and the savage kinetic energy of Kruzenshtern i Parohod's Igor Krugotolov, one would expect Live In The Head to be a relentless sonic assault responsible for some of the most bludgeoning trauma since the days before Europe moved from flails and heavy longswords to the prancing nancy's weapon of choice ? the rapier. I mean, this (Yoshida) is the guy who is single-handedly continuing the sonic madness that was Ruins as Ruins Alone, so that's a reasonable expectation, right? Right. Well, prepare to be disappointed. But only halfway disappointed. Ah, well ? see, it's complicated.

For starters, it's hard to think of Live In The Head as a single album, since the first half of it features Yoshida, Krugotolov, and tenor sax player Assif Tsahar going through eight tracks of free improv, while the second sees Yoshida ripping through some classic Ruins material and other stuff by himself. Does that matter? Hell yes it does, because the difference is enormous. Let's start with the first half?

Right from the initial percussive attack that Yoshida and Krutogolov use to blast off a set of almost 40 minutes of improvisation, you can tell that these two have kindred spirits as far as intensity goes. Tsahar, however, and although he does a pretty decent job of keeping up with the sonic shards flying around when things get kicking, is just somewhere entirely different, with his style drenched way too deep in jazz vocabulary to really exploit what his partners in crime are doing most of the time. Add to this the fact that, despite the brilliant moment or two, every single piece after "Improvisation I" fails to capitalize on momentum, develop any sense of basic structure, and really flesh out ideas, and you're basically left with a psychotic rhythm section that can't keep its energy going constantly, a sax player who's just in a different world altogether, and a bunch of themes that could have been gold, but weren't. Examples? Krutogolov's and Yoshida's vocal duets, which have brief moments of aural enlightenment when they lock into interesting rhythmic counterpoint, but sound like gibberish the other half of the time (in no small part due to Krutogolov's awfully predictable progressions into gutturality and noise); the vibraphone samples on "Improvisation III," used to create a tensely thin atmosphere that ends up going nowhere; the…well, you get the picture.

And then there's the second half, which sees Yoshida go through blisteringly accurate renditions of Ruins classics such as "Hyderomastgroningem," "Laiptchig," and "Dhaskrive" with the punishing intensity of cluster bombs, exploit dizzyingly polyrhythmic ostinatos with a beautiful and idiosyncratic sense of harmony in "Untitled I," and then follow up with the descent from a beautiful dream of wonder and harmony into an interstellar nightmare somewhere among the abodes of Vo?vod and Magma that is "Untitled II." Left to his own devices, Yoshida is an inhumane machine of raw efficiency, as capable of devastating all of civilization as he is of gently gliding through the air with otherworldly beauty. Even "Improvisation VII," which is a bit too meandering for its own good, is light years away from the clumsy transitions of its other "Improvisation" counterparts, sprinkling recurring motifs here and there to create a common thread for the listener. To put it simply: this is the part where you won't be disappointed.

So what does the end result look like? Well, it's certainly not 100% satisfactory, as you might have already surmised. While the second half of Live In The Head is pretty damn electrifying, it's not perfect either, which means that making up for forty minutes of missed opportunities in improvisation is simply out of the question. And that first half, even with the smart moments and that cool walking bass line that is tragically short, really needed the extra boost. So while it would be nice to just pretend and make believe like Live In The Head is really just tracks seven through fourteen, the truth is that it's a give and take affair that, although sprinkled with numerous moments of bombastic brilliance, is ultimately brought down by a lackluster first half that never quite goes away, even though it should.

Review by Marcelo Silveyra, Progressiveworld

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Yoshida Tatsuya with Igor Krutogolov and Assif Tsahar - Live in the Head (2008)

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Yoshida Tatsuya:

Without a doubt, Tatsuya Yoshida was one of the most important drummers on the Japanese scene in the final decades of the 20th century, having spearheaded at least a half dozen of that country's most important groups. Perhaps best-known among these would be the Ruins; an ironic band name coming from a land in which most aspects of antiquity have been preserved rather than destroyed. This group's unique basic instrumentation of drums and bass was no less than a palace revolt against the established role of the rhythm section. As if setting the basement servant headquarters aflame and then tromping upstairs to take control of the house proper, the two musicians let their amazingly intricate rhythmic patterns become the music – not that "rhythmic patterns" is much of a description of what most of it sounds like, kind of like calling the Thames River "water." Although he has said his main influence was European progressive rock drummer Christian Vander, Tatsuya was still usually heard in the traditional drummer's ensemble role. Having long since stepped beyond that, he has had an interesting development creating his own solo music; becoming a one-man band in the process and using elements of everything from sheer noise to disco and pop.

The appeal of his solo performance and the technical mastery of drumming that is displayed as an almost casual aspect can have surprising appeal, as the artist found out himself during a solo tour that took him to a remote part of Northern Italy. He was carrying much too much luggage, a typical syndrome with percussionists, and was faced with the haunting dilemma of having to go up and down lengthy passages of stairs to reach a train platform that was actually only a few feet away; and completely accessible if one only ignored the severe warning not to cross the tracks to reach other platforms. The former Yugoslavian territories remain the only part of Europe in which citizens are allowed to wander across train tracks at will; Italy, like the rest of Europe, dispenses punishment for any violations. Yet, in some cases, the heavily laden are known to glance around for signs of police or railway officials, and make a move if the coast is clear. This is just what the hapless Tatsuya did, most likely under the advice of a corrupt touring partner, only to see a policeman dashing toward him from a section of the station he hadn't noticed. He geared up for trouble but the policeman simply took off his hat in tribute and said in pidgin English: "Please, if I may have a moment. I am a local percussionist and would like to ask some technical question about your performance last night."

Other band collaborations of his include Akaten, Koenjihyakkei, Ybo2, and Gerogerigegege. He has recorded prolifically in every context.

~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi

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Yoshida Tatsuya with Igor Krutogolov and Assif Tsahar - Live in the Head (2008)

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Yoshida Tatsuya with Igor Krutogolov and Assif Tsahar - Live in the Head (2008)

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