Tetuzi Akiyama, Martin Ng

Tetuzi Akiyama has in recent years attracted tremendous interest on the Japanese and international improvised music scenes. In addition to performing many times in Europe, America, Australia, and New Zealand, he's been releasing a steady stream of solo and group recordings on these countries' labels. Oimacta, a duo album he recorded in a Sydney studio with Martin Ng (turntable feedback), promises to become one of his most widely recognized works. Akiyama's instrument here is the acoustic guitar. Ng, who lived in Sydney at the time of recording and has since moved to the U.S., is known for his duo album with Sydney guitarist Oren Ambarchi, and for his participation, along with Martin Tétreault and Otomo Yoshihide, in the 'Turntable Hell' UK tour of May '02. If you didn't know beforehand what instruments the musicians were playing on these four tracks, you'd be hard put to identify the sources of their sound. Its rich colors, and the mysterious atmosphere it evokes, are awe-inspiring.