Music That Shapes / Slovakia / 2023
Mid-80s Osaka, mutated, experimental pop. Self-pressed at 100 copies, The Air Music International’s 1984 lp, Pass The Santa-Lucia Gate In Manila, is as mysterious as their members, whose credits show up nowhere else save for their only other release, “I’ve Never Had it So Good,” a 7” credited to slightly altered The Air Music International Reggae System. The project is the brainchild of horn-player, vocalist, and sound manipulator Tetsuji Kakuni, whose saxophone, suona, distorted vocals, and tape operation lurk across the record mischievously. More like a provocateur than a music director, it’s as if Kakuni seeks to almost intentionally sabotage any sense of order from his bandmates—listed as bassist Takasi Kakuni, drummer Hirosi “Yukue-Fumei” Nakagawa, guitarist Susumu “The Guiterlist” Takayama, and Masayuki “Jinja” Sueoka on daf and tambourine. Together, they sound fiercely determined to simultaneously destroy and create, leaving wonders in the rubble. (Aquarium Drunkard)