Roland P. Young: Press

BellaOnline's Emerging Music Editor



Isophonic Boogie Woogie Emerges Again

A quarter century ago an enterprising, talented, seminal artist stepped away from the box and created his own jazz; an experimental blend of jazz and electronics that thrust open the door to today's style of Electronica Jazz. From this early venture into this near virgin turf, composer/producer Roland P. Young laid down his audio visions on his solo album, Isophonic Boggie Woogie. The year was 1980 and the tailwind from that project has never stopped streaking across the sky.




Evidence of that was recently brought to the forefront when EM Records re-released Isophonic Boggie Woogie. Japan based EM Records has re-released the project with not only two bonus tracks from Roland, but with all of the original tracks from the inital recording. You definitely will not want to be left out this time if you missed this masterpiece the last time around!

YOUNG, ROLAND P. Isophonic Boogie Woogie (EM Records) cd

Sometimes you know a record is gonna blow your mind before you even throw it on. Such is most definitely the case with Isophonic Boogie Woogie by Roland P. Young. Heck, it's called Isophonic Boogie Woogie after all! And it's on the seemingly infallible (and impossible to pin down) EM records from Japan who have quickly become our new favorite label, having released Jim Fassett's Symphony Of The Birds, Moolah's Woe Ye Demons Possessed and Sam Moore's MOOOHIEEE! and those are just the ones we've reviewed so far. Plus it's got super tripped out black and white hand drawn cover art, three heads, presumably all Mr. Young, one with a well groomed afro, one with headphones, one with crazy hair that drifts skyward like tentacles, and a third eye right in the center of his forehead, while surrounding the heads are leaves and electronic equipment, and ankhs, and black suns, scorpions, saxophones, sailing ships and cars and pyramids, and a bunch of little Roland P. Young's walking up hillsides, jamming on guitars, getting into cars... you get the idea. This is some seriously far out stuff, and we haven't even heard a note of music, and that's a heck of a lot of trippiness to live up to.
Thankfully, Isophonic Boogie Woogie is as weird and as wacked as all the above business would lead you to believe. Originally released in 1980, Isophonic Boogie Woogie was the first realization of Young's unique version of free jazz music, which he referred to as "Afro spiritual minimal electronic space music" which on closer listening is WAY more spot on. Young employs an unlikely arsenal: kalimba, saxophone, voice, clarinet, electronic bass clarinet, bells, chimes, electronic drones, electronic pulse and electronic accoutrements (!), to craft his spaced out free jazz minimalism. The first track is a warm melodic fugue, woven from the reverberating steel of the kalimba (sounding like a muted mellow version of Konono No.1 actually) with soaring falsetto vocals, before eventually a saxophone joins in, playing soft moody melodies over the rich bed of the kalimba. So nice. Wouldn't mind a whole record of this. But Young has different ideas. The second track is a brief but aggressive blast of solo clarinet, emitting gritty rumbles, a series of droney duck calls, very textural and oblique, and really mysterious sounding. As is the next track, an ominous low end groove, warm distorted and muted melodies, the electronic bass clarinet strangely alien sounding, a groovy jazzy thrum, pulsing and throbbing each note with a strange texture and a bizarre electronic after image that makes the whole thing sound that much more dark and droney. The record's centerpiece (and longest track) is "Loveliness", a 15 minute drift of dense ambient whirs, subtle drones, tinkling chimes, softly struck bells, sizzling cymbals and all sorts of percussive clatter, all beneath a wild free jazz workout, skronks and squeaks and trills, impossible melodies, a tangled free form melodic freakout. Afro spiritual minimal electronic space music indeed! The last track is another long one, with more of that alien sounding electronic bass clarinet, the notes and tones low and rough, with lots of reverbed echoes, the track starts as a thick corrosive drone of rumbling warbling horns, mumbled vocals and all sorts of spacey effects, swooping and swooning, before the clarinet begins to explore its freedom and offers up a litany of strange sounds, from free jazz skronk to percussive patter to playful melodic figures, before drifting back into a droning murky swirl.
Some of the coolest, weirdest, most far out free jazz we've heard for sure, and another check in the 'right fucking on!' column for EM!
This reissue includes two bonus tracks, one a shuffling funky rhythm, with primitive drum machine over a warm distant sonic glow. swooning sax, like mood music from some long forgotten eighties soundtrack, the other a soft stretch of dreamy mediation music, subtle electronic pulses beneath a swirling wash of moaning horns and shifting subtle tones. Both more melodic and less tripped out than the original tracks but cool nonetheless.
Like all the EM reissues, this includes extensive liner notes (all in Japanese, sorry), tons of photos, original album artwork and more.

Roland P. Young's Isophonic Boogie Woogie

Roland P. Young was a huge advocate of underground music, culture, politics and radio, DJing in the Bay Area in the 1960's and 70's before creating the amazing Isophonic Boogie Woogie LP in 1980. Here, an entire realm of free sound gets channeled through Young's mind into what can best be described as "afro-minimal-free-electronic-drone music" (according to the site of Em, the Japanese label that just reissued this). It's a stunning statement indeed, with Young crafting his out sound with kalimba, sax, clarinet, bells, electronics and assorted other instruments, all flowing in their own space to amazing result.

Press Release:

ISOPHONIC NATION, new music from Native American Flute master, Roland P. Young has been released on Flow Chart Records (FC1024) It features other world concepts for Native American Flutes, Kalimba, bass clarinet and electronic accoutrements. This is unique music of contemporary, futuristic antiquity.

Available at cdbaby.com.