Playola

To give a general description of this two disc set that covers selected output of Kaiser’s last 25 years would be impossible without writing a few thousand words. He’s been on over 175 albums and played jazz, prog, improv, rock, different world musics, and many other styles. He’s played with many, many artists, some on these discs include, David Lindley, Wadada Leo Smith, Fred Frith, Sergei Kuryokhin, and Derek Bailey. I’m going to have to be brief to give you any idea of what each track is. This is an AMAZING collection of ideas and sounds from an amazing guitarist. -mph
Disk 1: 1. Arty, syth heavy prog.
2. Nice African sounding song.
**3. Great Miles Davis song. Dark, slinky, excellent trumpet, by I think Waadada Leo Smith.
**4. Lots of pretty guitar that turns dark and Richard Thompson’s voice. Some pretty amazing guitar solos.
5. Pretty and unique solo guitar from his “Antarctic Guitar” album which has lots of trades of isolation and shimmering ice.
6. A strange slightly blues-y prog march with a flashy guitar solo.
7. Silly pop tune sung in Japanese. This is a cover of a Okinawan pop song.
**8. Prog guitar intereaction with in what sounds like an odd tuning with lots of rhythm changes.
9. Sounds like African highlife. A bit mellower than most highlife but good.
10. Darker heavier guitar, female vocals doing a cover of “Ode to Billy Joe”.
**11. Beautiful percussion that sounds someplace between a gamelan and glass.
12. Strangely effected guitar doing something that sounds vaguely Scottish but it’s a Bartok piece!
**13. Beautiful, minimal, Korean music. Wonderful kayagum playing. Electric guitar somewhat of a surprise when it comes in.
14. Richard Thompson, Jin Hi Kim, Kaiser and friends in a dressing room at the Fillmore doing a prayer to Allah.
15. Woa. Live, arty, prog version of the Andy Griffith show theme song.
16. A goofy cover of this ZZ Top hit. Sun in Russian!!
17. Heavy complicated prog rock that would make King Crimson proud.

Disk 2: **1. Amazing story, with what sounds like improvised guitar about being let down when finding out that the Flintstones was a cartoon and not real people.
**2. Nice, guitar based, unique sounding instrumental. I can’t place what is so unique sounding about this.
**3. Wonderful, slower Malagasy music.
4. Crazy instrumental cover of On Broadway. Listen to that slide guitar!
5. Poppy playful, unique (to me anyways) Malagasy music.
6. Upbeat rock?
7. Reminds me of Beefheart.
**8. I never knew Kaiser worked with Kuryokhin, who is my favorite pianist. On this track they both play electric keyboards and it’s trippy.
**9. Minimal and somewhat dark Norwegian music.
10. A song written by the Grateful Dead and it sounds it.
**11. Some of Kaiser’s more out music. This is duo free improvisation between guitar and trumpet.
12. Odd track that sounds like it could be part of a musical.
13. Neil Young cover with some wonderful sounding piano.
**14. Drunken fiddle song with brass section from someplace in Scandinavia.
15. Something I haven’t heard much. Improvised rock music! It’s sound like a lot of prog rock just less wanker and structured.
16. Crazy drum machine experiments from 1983!!!!
**17. Guitar improv between Bailey and Kaiser.
**18. Collage, found sounds and Kuryokin and Kaiser playing a synclavier.
19. Short guitar duet. Intricate.
**20. Amazing cover of this Beefheart track.
21. Live, in studio improv using loops created live.