(five years recordings 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 no overdub. no eq. no effect-as final tribute)

hell driver review

hell driver one of the more recent gero releases seems that seems to show juntaro's increasing interest in more quiet musique concrete based recordings. this album has a very lonely and desperate feel to it, somewhat familiar to some very early experimental recordings that juntaro did with his guitar tuner and backward loops (early dream exit). the sounds of a market, the faint rumbling of fireworks off in the distant, and very sad melody caught in the air of some sort of public place, possibly a train station or a bus depot take up the 1st nameless track . very crude recordings on a tape cassette of 3 separate locations in japan all on the same day one would assume (all recorded live on the 28th of may in 1992 according to the liner notes). similar to what luc ferrari's recordings WOULD sound like if he recorded everything while he was drunk with a cheap talkboy tape recorder. the title track is a piano piece accompanied by another recording of the same piano in the background. has a very low end feel to it, as though it were recorded on the lowest level of a submarine deep beneath the ocean. very unsettling. the 3rd track "moonlight and his loser knife," is one incredibly long live track consisting of an fairly low key pop intro into a performance using a single guitar tuner that lasts about 35 minutes in length. one long evolving drone with a subtle bit of reverb added for good measure. incredibly hypnotic and abrasive. the 4th track "pray silently~play for late mr. hiroyuki ohkura" is apparently dedicated to a man named hiroyuki ohkura, who, according to my own google search is a professor of genetics at a universtiy in edinburgh, scotland. the string instrument used on that track was apparently made by mr. ohkura as well. for whatever reason it may be, the track is panned to the left channel for the duration of the song. you can also hear someone talking in japanese before the string plucking begins. the final track "night is morning" is another piano recording, however this time it seems as if the tape recorder was left inside the actual piano while it was recording. yet another very somber piano piece, the image of erik satie with his hands melted off trying to play debussy comes to my mind. the album cover is simply the picture of the side of a roof above the picture of what appears to be part of someone's arm. the back cover has a shot of a parking lot and the inside liner notes, aside from the recording details and label information are all in japanese. thanks again for the help, juntaro. a very unique puzzle of subtleties that makes even less sense everytime you listen to it. totally great for lonely grey afternoons alone in a big city. put out by dirter promotions 1999. (68:35)