SOIL & PIMP SESSIONS – PIMP MASTER
June 17th, 2005 by yoko
Apart from temporarily flirting with a moustache, Gilles Peterson rarely makes errors of judgement. To strengthen this further, he has recently been championing a sublime new Japanese jazz ensemble called Soil & “Pimp” Sessions on Worldwide. The raw energy, searing brass and strong, fast beats make you feel as though, not to dance to it would be some sort of betrayal.
The opening track ‘Pimp Master’ sounds like the prophetic mumblings of a drunken philosopher and in no way prepares you for what is to follow. The music is something akin to high energy slap in the face and brings about an urgent need to dance round the room like a fool. The second track, ‘No Taboo’, brings you just that. An out and out assault on mind and body alike. It is the funkiest, fastest, boldest, broken jazz there is. And so it continues, dipping in and out of traditional jazz styles, brought to you in the most uplifting, lurid colours and beats.
Even when the album finally slows down slightly, allowing the listener to take stock and pick up the broken things that lay scattered around, Soil & Pimp invest as much love of life into tunes like ‘Waltz For Goddess’, ‘JxDxF’ and a superb cover of Robert Watson’s ‘Wheel Within a Wheel’ as they do for the furious tunes that sit alongside. Other notable tracks include ‘Wasted Time’ with shades of Stan Tracey at 142 bpm, the Osunlade like ‘Low Life’ and the final track ‘Master of Pimp’, which blends the maniacal screams of an executioner with Napalm Death’s drums and John Zorn’s horn.
Unfortunately, ‘Pimp Master’ is not yet available in the UK (thanks to C&E in Japan for my copy) but when it is I’d advise you move furniture to the sides of the room, drink fine vodka straight from the bottle, play the “Pimp” as loud as you can stand and just go with it.
More info (mostly in Japanese!) at www.soilpimp.com
Woosy
