Improvised Music from Japan, IMJ-516
Released on March 28, 2004
Purchase price in Japan: 2,000 yen (tax not included)
(For purchase outside of Japan, prices vary.)

• Recorded live at four concerts in Tokyo: Ekoda Buddy (7 August 2003), Super Deluxe (2 November 2003), Off Site (7 November 2003) and Shinjuku Pit Inn (6 December 2003), and at Polarity, Tokyo, January 2004
• Mastered by Haruna Ito and Samm Bennett at Polarity, February 2004
• Photography and design by Haruna Ito and Samm Bennett (Polarity Design)

1. Extra Added Plus (1:50)
2. Betweeners (2:53)
3. Triumph of the Marginalized (1:14)
4. Lizard on a Leaf (2:34)
5. Gas Can Evidence (0:59)
6. Untried Procedure (2:22)
7. Please Tameecha (1:30)
8. I'm in No Mood (1:16)
9. Magazines and Whatnot (1:31)
10. Non-Intervention (2:45)
11. Crag and Flotilla (1:47)
12. Transitory Stopgap Provisional (3:47)
13. You Can't Burn Dirt (4:14)
14. Old Dry Bone (1:18)
15. The Small and Tarnished Gong (0:59)
16. Shady Alliance (2:13)
17. Everywhere That There We Went (1:24)
18. Erasing the Inevitable (9:49)
19. Even If (2:24)
    
    mp3 excerpt: track 1
    mp3 excerpt: track 2
    mp3 excerpt: track 19

All music by Samm Bennett

Samm Bennett: Korg WaveDrum, vibrators and contact mics, Korg ER-1, Alesis AirSynth, Casio VL-Tone, CD player, Bias, bumble ball, can, gong, beepers, effectors, and crank-toy with portable karaoke mic

Percussionist Samm Bennett was active on the New York improvised music scene in the '80s and '90s. Later he moved to Tokyo, where he's been involved in multidirectional projects including SKIST (his duo with Haruna Ito) and R.U.B. (his trio with Kazuhisa Uchihashi and Ned Rothenberg). From early on, Bennett has explored the fusion of acoustic and electronic. At the same time, he's employed a variety of materials--electronic drums like the Korg WaveDrum (his main instrument), household products, toys and so on--in the creation of a highly original, richly colored sound that subtly combines humor and seriousness. While the playful title suggests that anyone, regardless of talent or experience, can enjoy making music with familiar objects, what this album of 19 tracks (almost all live recordings) makes abundantly clear are Bennett's fine musicianship and excellent taste. Bennett has released quite a few leader and co-leader recordings, but this is only his second solo album to date--his first since 1984! It's worth the 20-year wait.

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