See also: Every Dog Has His Day
Conatala delve into the Dumb Type archives with these first time reissues of music recorded by Toru Yamanaka & Teiji Furuhashi to accompany the performance art directed by the Kyoto-based group during their early days in the mid 80s. My understanding of the world of Japanese multimedia performance art is, at best, highly limited, no doubt a reflection of my overall interest in the discipline. Nonetheless, we're at this coalface for the new experiences it provides, and Yamanaka & Furuhashi composed across these two records, written simultaneously and released a year apart, not only works well divorced from the visual spectacle of their performative context, but also articulates a musical language commensurate with other avant garde endeavours we are a little more familiar with. The 80s timestamp is an instructive one, the music the pair have pieced together from synth, piano, saxophone and minimalist percussion echoing the production qualities and technical ambition of their downtown New York counterparts in Robert Ashley, Laurie Anderson, Meredith Monk and even the new wave/no wave rhythmical aspects of Mark Freedman's Powerman, and Interference. And in truth, put a Lovely Music logo on these and you might be none the wiser. Still, this is Kyoto not NYC, and these sound documents only tell half the story of the creative pursuit undertaken with entire Dumb Type collective of directors, choreographers and performers. But like with the Music From Memory Theatre and Dance compilation series, they work well as standalone documents in exploring the symbiotic relationship between physical expression, composition and developing electronic music production.
