Nisennenmondai's drummer must be a cyborg. That's the only way I can reconcile the fact that a 5ft tall Japanese lady can combine the ferociously exact, technically astounding human-drum-machine tendencies of John Stanier with the dazzling free-style wildness of a Greg Saunier or Tyson Vogel. I mean, I've seen perhaps a thousand percussionists in my time, but few quite match up to the jaw-dropping brilliance I witnessed from Sayaka Himeno. At times, she looked like she had been fast-forwarded to 1.5x speed; quite a sight to behold for those of us not hindered from seeing anything by the unfortunate new layout of The Venue Formerly Known As Bardens. Their pulsing, krautrock-y, groove-laden instrumentals may not be to everyone's taste, but it certainly ticked all my boxes- an absolutely blinding performance, and a definite contender for my revelation of 2010.
(Photo: AllThatImprobableBlue (Flickr))
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