Kawabata Makoto - I'm Here Still Now

  by Andrew Carver

published: 15 / 6 / 2003

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Review

As its title states, this is a live performance by the guitarist Kawabata Makoto, famed for his leadership of Acid Mothers Temple and participation in such groups as Main˜liner, Musica Transonic, Nishinihon and a host of others. The piece commences with a drone suggestive of a bow being slowly drawn back and forth over the strings of an electric guitar (and some audience whispering and shuffling). At the four-and-a-half minute mark the drone suddenly builds to a deep, throbbing hum ... at the 8:30-minute mark, there’s a burst of fractious fiddling, which squeaks away into nowhere, then returns as a fierce squall, which one again builds, then falls away over the next three minutes, to be replaced with more individual thrums, which drops down to  a background trill ...at the 18:30 mark, there’s some more squiggly bowing, along with the striking of strings. Starting at the 24-minute mark there’s a tremendous crescendo of clear sound, almost choral in effect, that pushes aside the faint audience noise; its rise and fall is undoubtedly the high point of 'I’m Here Still Now'. As the performance thrums to its conclusion, the sound becomes like the rushing sea, then dwindles to a few picked notes, echoing away, just shy of 38 minutes after it began. Much like his earlier solo recording, ''You Are The Moonshine', Makoto’s June 9th, 2002, performance in Toulouse avoids the fretboard fireworks of his more acclaimed group work and concentrates on sustained vibration, leaving the audience to hear for themselves what they will in the piece. An album for fans of such artists as Aarktica and the Acid Mothers Temple’s more adventurous admirers.

Track Listing:-

1 I'm Here Still Now