entrepot (Belgium)

DJAMRA: A.M.O. 0002
CD Self-released (1999)Five tracks on this new mini CD from this Japanese "Modern Jazz band".
The metal influences and heavy escapades from the first tape have made room for more balanced tracks. The songs are no longer cut and paste tunes from slow and extreme heavy parts, no it are very good structured songs where all different parts fits better together.
The first track is not so good, "17Dance" is a repeating simple tune, what with this Jazz oriented music works not so good. But the next four tracks are piece by piece very cool free jazz tracks. "Day Eight" is a good up tempo track, "Assassin in sin" is my favourite, very good built up, "Nest" starts a bit like the tunes on the tape a bit cut and paste from knowing tunes, and at last the freaky "Neo Skin" where wind and bass plays the for hand. (TW)

Cadence(U.S.A.)
vol.26 vol.4 April P25
The rhythms are quirky and the music comes in quick bursts tempered by unusualinterludes Assassin in sin starts out as a punky thrath before opening into a weird middle section with a chiming two note guitar figure, exentually being joined by a chattering rhythm section. At times, the bass guitar seems like the lead instrument. The interplay between the drums and djembe gives the music a disinct flavor. Too frequently, though, the sax player seems like he's trying to keep up(although he gets a good solo on NEST).Ultimately, this is quite an onteresting record.


Progression(Canada)
Issue 34 Winter/Spring 2000 P132
Djamra is a kind of avante-jazz unit with progressive overtones. "17 Dance," which opens up the CD, has something of a King Crimson thing going on in the angular riffs, the stuttering rhythms, and poly rhythms, though their sound is quite Fripp's unit. Rather, the musical style derives more from some kind of avante-fusion jazz with nods to the likes of Elliott Sharp, even John Zorn.
The sound tends to be stark and spare. The timbres of saxophone, guitar, electric bass, djembe and drums.stand in sharp relief, in a way that recalls new wave musical textures. The playing is frenzied, the lines akimbo, the harmonies piquant and spikey, and the rhythms complex. If you want to be energized, djamra paves the way for an adrenalin rush.

**Tone Clastor(U.S.A)**
With some of the wit and abandon of early Pere Ubu,Djamra start in a similar space to, say,SONG OF BAILING MAN, throw in a
skittery funk bit towards the end of the last track, and poke lots of holes in what we think avant rock is supposed to sound like.
Nakakita can play anything you ask him to play on the bass, and a lot of things you probably forgot to.
"Day Eight"starts with a loose-limbed anti-fandango of some kind and Kitamura's sax jinks and drives perfectly out of phase
with and probably not even in the same plane of reality as Nishikawa's guitar. It takes time to get into these structures
because they are so carefully constructed and include so many disparate elements, but it's worth it.
"Assassin in Sin"is probably the best example, its"giddyup"drums and tinging guitar frustrating the sax at every turn.
At one point it sounds like the saxphonist has given up and gone home. Hadly! So,a lot of good nutritional fun here.
Have a bow!! F.W.


**Background Magazine(Holland)**
Djamra are a new Japanese avant-garde outfit led by bassist Masaharu Nakakita. This short disc has five pieces that are
filled with quickly avant-jazz. The saxophone is often the lead instrument set against a very percussive background
(Djamra have one drummer and a djembe player), angular guitar and funky bass-playing. The tunes often turn to a free
form freak-out giving it a the King Crimson(yes,again!) improvised feel of the early Seventies, I must admit that this
disc is too much for me to swallow and although of high musicianship definitely not my cup of sake.
My copy of the CD came with a free live CDr. Although having only four tracks, it's over 45 minutes long and takes
their music even further with the improvisational feel of the music enhanced by an expanded line-up.
Screamish saxes, loud percussion and heavy bass battle it out. If avant-garde and jazz are your thing be sure to
check this out.


About new album #Transplantation# from here.
**ProgressoR net(Uzbekistan)**
Prolusion. "Transplantation" is the second studio album by the young Japanese band Djamra. For more info on the band,
check Related Links below.

Synopsis. As you can see above, there is neither guitarist nor keyboardist in the band's line-up. However, Djamra's music has an amazingly rich and colorful sound. Like many other contemporary Japanese progressive bands, including most of those whose albums I've reviewed this year, Djamra has a bent for highly complex music, which often borders on academic and academically Avant-garde forms. In other words, "Transplantation" is above all destined for ProgFessors and the other fellows of the most profound genres of Prog, namely RIO and Fifth Element. This album is the entity of a jazzy RIO, the roots of which can be found in the creation of Henry Cow and, in a less degree, Soft Machine. With saying so however, I by no means imply that there are influences of these or any other bands and performers in the music of Djamra. Not at all! The music is so original that I even wouldn't dare to say that the members of Djamra had any definitive sources of inspiration when composing it. "Transplantation" is an all-instrumental album, which is stylistically almost completely uniform. In the basis of nine out of the ten compositions here lies a unique, I'd even say, highly innovative combination of RIO and Jazz with pronounced elements of Space Rock and Space Fusion and some of those of (both of!) Jazz Classical Music and Free Jazz. Can you imagine how these guys were able to blend together those (seemingly) incongruous features? Aren't you thrilled already? I believe you are, since you still haven't stopped reading this review. The alternation of intensive, highly eclectic jams, mild and rather melodic arrangements and episodes with atmospheric, Space Rock-related, textures, very frequent changes of a musical direction, and, for the most part, the constant development of musical events are typical for the entire album. The only considerable exception from the album's stylistic 'rule' is Mood (5), which is quite an atmospheric composition in general and represents Space Rock-In-Opposition! The last and the longest (15-minute) composition on "Transplantation": To India (11) is on the whole about the album's predominant stylistics, though in addition, it is filled with flavors of the music of the East, and bass often sounds here like an Indian Sitar and even a Turkish Saz. This is my favorite track on the album.

Conclusion. Yes, To India is my favorite track on this album, though here is not a single composition I would consider lower than a masterpiece. ProgFessors, 'Academics', and all the other profound and open-minded Prog people, welcome to the royal musical feast Djamra has made for you!

**AXIOM of choice**
Djamra is a band with a line up that's quite heavy on the brass. As might be expected, they don't take prisoners. This is pretty much an avant jazz album. There's a lot of dissonant and near dissonant stuff on, but despite the fact that all expectations point in the other direction, we are not drowned out in endless meandering jazz soloing. Sure, there is the odd bit of soloing going on, but it's sparse. Most of the time the instruments are made to sound fresh and lively. The rather extreme use that's made of the brass, at times reminds me of the American jazzcore band Harmless, except for the fact that this band does not feature vocals and turns a bit more abrasive. Then, on the other hand, we find the typical Mexican trumpet playing sound at various times.
To India displays a surprising sitar start, but turns out a very diverse track. The band scores bonus points on the Noam Chomsky quote "Time flies like an arrow", a sentence intended to show the ambiguity of natural language (never mind the fact that a time fly is a somewhat odd beast). But I guess that's just my mind bends...
Conclusion
I would guess that this stuff would lay pretty heavy on the average stomach. The music is strewn with experiment and dissonants, at times pretty hard and with an abrasive sauce. What it does achieve, by a margin, is the almost Poseidon trademark of jazz music that is far more lively than normal. I do miss vocals, or some other kind of lead at times, since the brass is a bit dominant now. At the end this one falls out to the right side, but I fancy that the audience for this sort of music could be pretty small.

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