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CD Feature/ The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation: "Doomjazz Future Corpses!"

  Tobias

Different styles and different scenes, the so-called “popular” and the so-called “serious” are moving ever closer together. If a band like “The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation” can release a one and a quater hour long stream of Avantgarde ensemble play, metal, improvised guitar splinters and heavy atmospheric electronica on a label which originated in the industrial movement, then the borders are crumbling much faster than the ever conservative mass-media can catch up with. And as a listener you’re left with new and unexpected questions.

Such as: What is the proper place to listen to this imposing work with adequate respect and dignity? A church? Your room with the blinds down, candles lit and the door locked? I decided to go down to the canale and watch the bigh freightliners pass me by. As it turns out, it is the ideal spot: What an uplifting sensation to watch those huge metal constructs with names such as “Voyager”, “Rudolf” or “Amboss” (whatever happened to those pretty girls’ names?) ploughing the river, breaking and curving the waves in their wake, while the Quintet (plus two special guests) builds cathedral walls of towering trombone tones, threatening cello strokes, fuzz guitar erruptions and spluttering effects. Sometimes, their performance, recorded live at Amsterdam early this year, even seems to immitate the sounds of the ships, a saxophone creaks like the metal cables stretched from one steal pole to another, the winds blow like  giant naval horns and the bubbling electronic oscillations mimic the nervous water play. “The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation is the Ambient/Doom/Drone/Improv Alter Ego of The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble”, the press sheat reveals, but it is never clear, where the one ends and the other begins. All we know is that such a twisted perversion of musical categories could probably only be thought up by Jason Kohnen, whose third personality Bong-Ra has combined some (even though, admittedly, not all) of the above with breakbeats to come up with a dangerously aggressive cocktail. “Doomjazz Future Corpses” is much less testosterone-driven in comparison and funnels his freewheeling creative mind into a black stream shimmering with the rainbow colours refllected off thick layers of oil on its surfacce. From an anthemic opening, which has the Trombone and Saxophone melting into warm chords, the group invites each instrumentalist for a moment of melodic solo musings – lyrical cello fantasies, slapped bass prints – to conclude with sound.oriented tutti driven by the drily distorted guitar thrusts of Eelco Bosman. As the finish line draws nearer, the end gets postponed more and more. The seperate sections of the continous composition get longer and longer and revel in the depth of their own reverberations. Finally, the candle has burnt down and all that remains is fraid-out harmonics and a gentle guitar theme.

One of the major underground trends of the last two years has been the convergence of two absolute niche products into the single potent combination of Drone Doom. Within the select group of bands capable of transporting this genre to the stage, the Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation attracts attention because of its cool eloquence and intellectual rawness. Just like those good old Blue Note records, whom the booklet obviously pays hommage to, really. Oh, and if a trip to the harbour should seem impossible or impractical, you can simply listen to them on your stereo, too.

By Tobias Fischer

Homepage: Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation/Kilimanjaro Freejazz Ensemble
Homepage: Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation at MySpace
Homepage: Ad Noiseam Records