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Album review
Planet Pimp
Soil & "PIMP" Sessions
Brownswood Recordings
If you're not already familiar with this Japanese sextet, they apparently play "death jazz". The band says the term was coined "in the hope of alienating Japan's polite, noodling, straight-ahead jazz cognoscenti". Whatever its origins, never has a more inappropriate moniker been given to a sound. Many words spring to mind while listening to Planet Pimp, but "death" isn't one of them. "Lively", "energetic", "vigorous" sure — but "death"? It's like calling Green Day doleful. Soil & "PIMP" produces one of the most life-affirming noises on the planet — a heady, breathtaking barrage of horns and percussion that leaves senses shattered. First track Hollow is all crashing cymbals and screeching trumpets. It's followed by the aptly titled Storm, a furious floor filler for rubber-legged jazz dancers. Improbably, these energy levels are maintained throughout most of the album. Only on ballads Darkside and Sorrow does the frenetic pace subside to reveal a gentler dimension to the band. On such tracks it's apparent just how skilful these musicians are, displaying a degree of delicateness and subtlety that's absent elsewhere. More moments like these would've added greater depth to Planet Pimp's riotous world — but it's still a stellar album
© 2008 Commercial Break
