Mull House

Aketa no Mise
December 18

Mull House is perhaps the most exciting, eclectic band in Tokyo. On December 18th, at their home base of Aketa no Mise, where they have played for years with their own groups and with the Shibuya Takeshi orchestra, they wasted no time hitting a complex, furious stride. The group centers on Akihiro Ishiwatari’s guitar, which whips through chords at ear-challengingly fast tempos. Ishiwatari also contributed all but one of the tunes on their first two releases, last year’s “Mull House” and this year’s “Funny phenomenon in my brain.” This two releases capture their quirky, individualistic sound that mixes funk, free jazz, and an amazing collection of textures, moods, speeds and explorations. Live, they are even better. Ishiwatari has a signature sound with flowing fretwork that underpins the forward thrust but also throws in counterpunches to everything the horns and rhythm section of bass and drums do. He played single note runs, but ended with clever shifts of crisp electric sound. Eiichi Hayashi on alto sax ripped through amazingly free bursts of soloing, clearly exhausting himself on every tune. He knows how to ride the wild horses underneath him. The contrast with Taisei Aoki’s trombone could not be more obvious, or entertaining. Aoki has a cool, smooth sound that is like ice in strong whiskey. His piano touches add a nice expansion of the harmonies. Akira Sotoyama not only is one of the few drummers who stands while he plays, but is one of the few whose casual appearance belies an intensely focused attention to breaking the rhythmic flow into unexpected eddies and flows. The band never swings in jazz style, but finds a rhythm and takes it for a spin, discarding it when a more interesting one comes along—which it always does. The bass playing of Katzumasa Kamimura is funky, deep and powerful. He provides fast bebop-like patterns at times and soulful jamming at others. He was the mainspring for the wildest passages, a rock-solid center pushing and pulling the other members. But, the soloing always returned to Ishiwatari, who put down fast, flawless, brilliantly executed guitar work. This band has a nearly perfect combination of contrasting personalities, styles, ideas and sonic textures that create a sound that is unique, refreshing and more importantly, great fun.