Various

Tetuzi Akiyama plays amplified acoustic guitar on all tracks except #2 (turntable and air duster), and #7 (electric bass). Toshimaru Nakamura plays no-input mixing board on all tracks except #7 (tabletop guitar). Gallery Off Site in Yoyogi, Tokyo -- one of the world's most well known venues for performance of the new improvised music. Off Site's core event is the monthly improvisation series 'Meeting at Off Site', established and still hosted by Tetuzi Akiyama and Toshimaru Nakamura. Following the critical success (both domestic and international) of Vol. 1, released last year, this second CD of live recordings documents the period between December 2001 and May 2002. Like the first volume, it consists of excerpts from concerts by the two Meeting hosts, plus one or two guest musicians. The difference is that here, the excerpts are fewer and longer, allowing the listener to better appreciate each musician's unique style. This CD documents the musical evolution -- which one might even call the Off Site sound -- characterized by extreme quietness and sparsity of sound. This is an indispensable record of the improvised music avant-garde currently gaining worldwide attention.