OBSCURITY OF THE YEAR: “DAISUCK + PROSTITUTE” LP (1981).....You know you’re dealing with a fairly rare piece of vinyl when you type in a Google query on it in 2004, the tenth year of the popularization of the all-encompassing “world wide web”, and you can’t unearth a single tidbit beyond vague passing references. That certainly makes my ability to plagiarize adjectives about it that much more difficult, but I will try and press on. DAISUCK + PROSTITUTE came to me via a mysterious tape that showed up in the mail from one HW, who told me only that it was Japanese no wave, and came out in 1981. He was kind enough to write out the song titles for me, most of which were in Japanese character and thus a little hard for me to glean anything from. My problem, not theirs. But wow, this is one heavy slab of steaming, frothing saxophone-driven no wave – full of bleating horns, crashing shards of sheet-metal guitar washes, and dying-man vocals on par with some of the Ralph Records stable, TUXEDOMOON in particular. Some might even call it skronk. At times the tracks resemble nothing so much as a very well put-together “LA Blues”-meets-TEENAGE JESUS & THE JERKS hybrid, with bits and splashes of a funky New York City 1981 “downtown” vibe creeping in as well. Except this is from Tokyo, and no one from Soul Jazz is beating the bushes to reissue the thing, at least as far as I’m aware. I’m not making it up, though – this isn’t one of my many imaginary friends. DAISUCK + PROSTITUTE put out a hot and lusty platter of dance-oriented extreme noise chaos, and I can think of a few dozen people who’d donate an organ or two to hear it – not simply because it’s obscure or foreign, but because it’s really, really good. Let the hype start here, I guess, and thanks again to HW for getting it rolling.

posted by Jay H. at 3:41 PM