Tetuzi Akiyama

Terrifying Street Trees

Tetuzi Akiyama’s Terrifying Street Trees is the first number on Esquilo’s Instant Series documenting live recordings of improvised music. Recorded in 2004 this set shows Akiyama on freeform/freestyle mode applying his peculiar preparations and artefacts (swords and etc) to the guitar with a lot of tonal and harmonic modulation going on. It is a quite raw, and ear-piercing at times, recording but always gratifying to the listener.

This is Tetuzi Akiyama’s first solo release on its freeform approach to the electric guitar and it will surely stand as one of his best. It is noisy and quiet, stinging and meditative, bluesy and drony, and always surely focused. Beautiful tones, overtones and arpeggios come out of the guitar via bowing, scrapping and plucking with the characteristic tape-delayed sound. At times it even sounds unlike a guitar resembling gongs, horns and typically bowed instruments.

Terrifying Street Trees is part of Akiyama's campaign to release oficial bootlegs of his past performances straight from his personal archive.

 The edition comes in a white heavy deluxe gatefold cardboard sleeve with original silkscreened artwork by Japanese painter Yoko Naito.

Limited to 110 copies.

Does it all goes back to the blues? Do check the special edition of this release featuring a bonus disc with an early live recording of the boogie set that would later become the mythic, and now long out-of-print, Don’t Forget to Boogie! LP, and make your own decision. Here.

Akiyama's next oficial bootleg Striking Another Match  will be releasedon  Utech Records on the 6th of February. For more information please visit www.utechrecords.com.

 

Tracks |

 

1. Terrifying Street Trees | 32:10

 

Total Playing Time | 32:10

 

 

recorded by |

Shunichi Imako

at Gairoju, Chigasaki May 15 2004

 

mastered by |

Masanori Yanagawa

 

edited by |

L. Jacinto

 

art |

Yoko Naito