Antonello Perfetto & Greg Nieuwsma – Hiyachuchi CD

When I first heard Hiyachuchi I commented back to the creators that I thought it was a very Fourth World sounding record, subsequently I had a crisis of confidence and had to look up Fourth World to be sure. The album starts with Kamuy which immediately filled me with memories of King Sunny Adé, then dives straight over to Berlin for the Motorik drones of ‘Leave Your Misery At The Door’ a rhythmic mix of Can & Terry Riley, (eagled eyed avid SubCastCo fans will know that Greg Nieuwsma recently gave us the excellent ‘In C: Flea Market’). Fourth World originates with Jon Hassell & Brian Eno, and broadly defines music that takes none Western influences & patterns and performs them with electronic or processed instrumentation. Listening to Hiyachuchi will take you on global journey, full of body drones and chants, phasing haunting keyboards, distant voices, loops & chimes, claves and driving rhythms. All seamlessly layered. Whilst Riley & Hassell are guiding lights, it’s the land of the rising Sun that permeates much of aesthetic of the album. Greg notes “The genesis for the idea actually came from Haruki Murakami’s “Wild Sheep Chase” and many of the song titles (and that of the album) come from either Japanese or “Ainu” (a nearly dead language spoken in the Hokkaido province/northern most island of Japan. I put it in quotes because there aren’t many Ainu reference materials on line, and they’re not easy to find. The title may (or may not be, but the intention is that it is) a transliteration of the Ainu word for “sheep.” This record is a headphone journey across genres and foreign lands. Take the trip.