Suzuki Junzo's Second Utech release, originally issued as micro-edition CD=R in 2009, may initially remind some listeners of the work of another Japanese guitarists, the black-clad sorcere of the six-string, Keiji Haino. Ode to a Blue Ghost's opening title track isn't overwhelming storm of sound in the manner of marathon Haino workouts like Execration That Accept to Acknowledge or The Book of Eternity Set Aflame; rather it's reminiscent of one of his quiter but no less intense solo discs.
Affection. Like That Album, Ode to a Blue Ghost begins with slow, plaintive strumming before rising to a loud scraping sound, as though the strings were coated with resin and needed to be scrubbed clean, but Junzo had forgotten to unplug the amplifer first. Running to nealy 20 minutes lomg, its sheer volume and sustained energy become almost breathtaking - swathed in reverb, the sound pulses like a static-cloud, at some point ceasing to be musical and becoming more like the manipulated field recordings of Australian sound artist Alan Lamb, who attaches contact microphones to disused telegraph wires in the outbreak.
Different Tracks, Different moods; "Beyond the Yellow Clouds" is composed of shimmering chords like a koto strummed through delay pedals and a Marshall stack or Two, while "Shivering Larry's Freak Out", to which the track is joined, brings in a fuzzy garage rock riff (Overdubbed after awhile) that positively cries out for thunderous backbeat.- which unfortunately never arrives, The Final track, exclusive to the Utech Version, is "Studies for three broken canes of dr.dream", a thick yet weavering cloud of post-Sonic Youth harmonics. Taken as a whole, Ode to A Blue Ghost has the raw emotional power of Delta blues, but feeds that intensity through amplification untill it becomes as abstract as pain felt in a dream.
-Wire July 2012 by Phil Freeman
credits
released May 17, 2012
Suzuki Junzo : Electric Guitar (Fender Stratocaster, Gibson Lse Paul Standard)
all songs composed and played by Suzuki Junzo
produced by Suzuki Junzo
Recorded at
live at Earthdom Nov 2008
Atelier Himawari August 2009
mixd & Mastered & Enguneered by Iwao Yamazaki(Atelier Himawari)
Track 4 is Bo Trackr This Reissued.
Recorded at Atelier Himawari, Nov.2010
Suzuki Junzo : Electric Guitars
Originally Release Date September 2 2009 from Plunk's plan CDR03
Reissued Version Release May 19 2012 from UTECH RECORDS
utechrecords.com
supported by 4 fans who also own “Ode To A Blue Ghost // 蒼い亡霊に寄せる頌 [2012]”
An excellent collaboration yielding melancholic and unsettling looping noise with ethereal vocals, tinged with a bit of 80s horror synth. Highly recommend! cedarshims
A soundtrack to a film that is both historical and autobiographical, Yang’s music here finds graceful beauty in slowly unfolding melodies. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 4, 2023