Kossof Kirke Tetsu

Unsurprisingly, this quartet sounds uncannily like Free and its English descendant Bad Company. Drummer Simon Kirke was in both bands. Guitarist Paul Kossoff, bassist Tetsu Yamauchi, and keyboardist John "Rabbit" Bundrick were in Free, although the latter two appeared only in the band's ragged, final days. The problem with this side project, besides the unexceptional music, is that Paul Rodgers was a vastly better singer than Kirke or Bundrick. This album would be a fine addition for Free and Bad Company completists.

Simply entitled "Datacide II", is Atom Heart and Tetsu Inoue's second collaboration work. Very different from their first Datacide recording, which mainly contained "acid" oriented, rhythmical tracks, "Datacide II" explores what finally became "Datacide's" main trademark: psychedelic ambient textures. Only remotely the "acid" background can still be heard, mainly in the track "Head Dance". "Datacide II" contains a series of trippy, relaxing, sometimes abstract ambient compositions which are tied together by the already mentioned centerpiece "Head Dance" and which may evoke the feeling of one traveling through a chain of audio images.

Shades Of Orion (1993). Tetsu Inoue's second full-length collaboration with Pete Namlook splits evenly between beatless and beat-oriented ambient, with spacey, immersive textures and subtle arrangements. High production values and the wealth of creative territory covered make for one of the finest early Fax releases.
Shades Of Orion 2 (1994). One of the better long-form releases in the Fax stable. This second Shades of Orion project is quite different from the first… a single relaxing, drifty, ethereal piece that will slow your body down and put you to sleep if you need it to. Meditative and very gentle, this recording is free of spoken word samples and sonic distractions, which makes it ideal for just chilling out to.

2350 Broadway (1993) is the first in a series recorded by Namlook and Tetsu Inoue. The first half is rather too short on tones and melody but the second disc, consisting of the 70-minute epic "Hands Of Light" is a masterful exercise in deep spacemusic. It's glacial pace varies only marginally between beatless and gently pulsed and its mix of electronic drones, wind effects and melodies is deceptively simple.
2350 Broadway 2 (1994) is a seminal, almost fabled release spanning two CDs and recorded by Namlook and Tetsu Inoue in real time (no pre- or post-production and no overdubs). Remarkably engaging for its simplicity, the set was subsequently reissued by popular demand and spawned a pair (and counting) of follow-ups in the series…

Both tracks start off with slow waves of ethereal sounds. During the 50 minute track, "Time - Cage," much evolution occurs. The slow melodic opening becomes a darker atmosphere. In the darker part, which takes up the majority of the song, low drones provide a foundation while wisps of air and (for a lack of a better term) spacey computer sounds flow by. There is a quiet percussion line with a cricket-sounding element that adds a sleepy characteristic. Eventually lighter or higher pitched background elements return providing a more ethereal sound late in the song. This gives way a short while later with the song ending with nothing but echoed electronic sounds surrounded in thick reverb. In every part of the song (the background drones, subtle percussion, foreground melodies and noises) there is constant, slow change…

Those familiar with Tetsu's work need no introduction to this release. This was arguably his finest release, collaborative or otherwise. He has an impressive discography with the 2350 Broadway series, Ambiant Otaku, Organic Cloud, Masters of Psychedelic Ambience, Inland, Yolo and the more challenging Waterloo Terminal & Psycho Acoustic releases. What makes "World Receiver" special was the integration of atmospheres from Inoue's early works and the addition of the many sounds sampled from across the globe, presumably acquired by Tetsu during his travels.