11. Aki TsuyukoOngakushitsu
I think I first heard this record from Jim O’Rourke. It came out on his Moikai imprint of Drag City. There was another record around the same time, Plux Quba [by Nuno Canavarro]; I think these were both technically re-issues – at the time, though, Aki’s record couldn’t have been more than a year old; Plux Quba was older.
I guess you would call these records electro-acoustic or assemblage, I don’t know, they’re not improvised. Anyway, Aki’s record doesn’t sound like anything else. It’s so personal and delicate and amazing, and that’s about all I can say about it. Her music is impossible to describe. After I knew her, she told me that they were songs and not improvised and they could only be played on this huge console organ that she couldn’t get out of her apartment. Then I knew she was a special person.
I meant to include more records like this on the list, more esoteric, one-of-a-kind stuff. I’ll mention some now: Fish & Roses – We Are Happy To Serve You, Azita – Life On The Fly, Derek Bailey – Aida and Alan Licht & Loren Connors – Into The Night Sky.
