Structure Et Force

Having discovered saxophonist/composer Naruyoshi Kikuchi's 'Dub Sextet' I subsequently learned he was a leading light in another, larger ensemble, the awkwardly-named Date Course Royal Pentagon Garden (DCPRG for short). By way of amazon.co.jp, I ordered three of their albums. These all had their finer points, but the one I liked best (and the only one I still have) is Structure et Force, from 2003. They aren't an easy band to describe - a Discogs blurb attempts to characterize them as a "free jazz/improv/rock-in-opposition/fusion/avant-prog supergroup".

On Stucture et Force DCPRG are a fourteen-piece outfit, with an additional drummer guesting on two of the album's six compositions. Each of the tracks has a French (or pseudo-French) and a Japanese title, beginning with 'Structure I - La Structure De La Magie Monderne; 構造I-現代呪術の構造'. This first number is a busy one with a churning bassline and keyboards resembling disco string-section accompaniments (among other ingredients). Structures II and III are rather sludgy and chaotic pieces, the fomer slightly dubby, the latter with more of a funk/fusion feel.

Structures IV and V, by sharp contrast, are much more coherent and seemingly more composed than improvised. These are the tracks on the album I keep coming back to. The former builds from slow, dreamy beginnings to something reminscent of a sixties soundtrack cue; while the latter is a gloriously high-energy number with more of a seventies soul/jazz/funk feel. The closing number is also upbeat, but returns to the relative disorder of the second and third 'Structures'.

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