Makoto Kawashima – Homo Sacer [LP]

"Makoto Kawashima was born in Saitama, a prefecture of the Greater Tokyo Area, in 1981. He picked up the alto sax in 2008, and started playing solo in 2010. He is the founder of the Homosacer (Sacredhuman) label. Homo Sacer was originally released in 2015. It was Kawashima's second solo release and his first full-length album. It was also the final release by P.S.F. Records. The album was recorded live during a heavy rainstorm at the gallery and café Yamanekoken in Iruma, Saitama. Facing up towards the ceiling, his sound arcing up to meet the raindrops beyond the roof. Kawashima played with a reed he had been given by the mother of the late Japanese saxophone giant Kaoru Abe. Housed in a heavy tip-on jacket featuring metallic printing and gloss film-laminate finish. Pressed to high quality vinyl at RTI; Digital download included.

"Homo sacer -- sacred human. Kawashima's sax is ripe with the spirit of Japanese free jazz, dwelling as it does between the violent and the beautiful. Kaoru Abe, Masayoshi Urabe, Takayuki Hashimoto, Harutaka Mochizuki... all of these altoists live in an area of personal expression rare in the world, one that feels like the body itself is being whittled away at. It feels like we have a new genius to add to that list." --Hideako Kondo, from the Japanese liner notes."

Black Editions, 2019