by Andreas Stuhlmann
Hoppy Kamiyama, musician, producer, composer, drag queen, and
the busiest and therefore the most difficult-to-get-hold-of man
in the Japanese underground music scene, is back with the second
part of the “Bubbleman” saga. A complete introduction to Hoppy
Kamiyama would fill the best part of a whole magazine, but representative
projects such as the legendary “Pugs,” the ‘female’ duo “Stravinsky’s
Dick,” and Hoppy’s “God Mountain” label should head the list.
(To get a full overview see Hoppy on the web: www22.cds.ne.jp/~
inochi/kamiyamania). The two volumes of “Bubbleman” now released
are collaborations by Kamiyama and NYC street musician Bradford
Reed, who introduces his self-built original instrument, the “Pencilina,”
a combination of guitar, bass, and percussion. This background
information, along with a look at Hoppy Kamiyama’s range of aural
activities on this album (“space violin, digital president, slide
geisha, asshole box, scum tape from the garbage, voice, gram pot”)
can, admittedly, give only the vaguest idea of the bizarre universe
these two mad scientists set up in their off-limits sound laboratory.
Like “Bubbleman 1,” volume 2 was conceived and recorded in Brooklyn/New
York, and the assembly of mostly improvised music, noise and silence,
and found sounds is in equal parts a reflection of that environment
as it is an introduction to the original native music of planet
Bubbleman. Brutal guitar noise co-exists with fragile ambient
installations, while explosive lo-fi jazz rock miniatures can
be found next to heavy electro/industrial rock. As part of a high-tension,
street-level-and-below metropolitan soudtrack, these combinations
sound perfectly natural. “Bubble Man 2” is more accessible and
listenable than its predecessor, and makes the album a must for
fans of bands such as Can/Holger Czukay or Rip, Rig & Panic, with
the additional value of Dylan Graham’s illustrations on the CD
package.
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