Unsettling armageddon jazz
The two incarnations - though both are now split-up - that the group centred around Jason Köhnen and Gideon Kiers represent slight variations of their concept and sound. The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble was the earliest one, centered around tenebrous jazz ambience, sometimes set to old silent films such as Nosferatu and Metropolis. The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation was meant to be a more boundary-pushing experience focused on deep and subtle drones and a more experimental atmosphere. As such the Corporation was often more of an improvisational live concert band.
On the live album EGOR, recorded at a concert in Russia, the Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation cut loose with best they have to offer in a seemingly improvised environment. The black vinyl's grooves reveal a side-spanning buildup, sort of adding a visual companion to the music. Each of the four sides represent an individual track with intensity rising and falling gently, then suddenly, like the uneasy sleep of some unknowable behemoth. The record in itself plays like a backdrop for the fevered paranoia-dreams of a doped up, broken mind. One minute you'll be listening to doom drones gently caressing your nerve endings, the next a cacophony of insanity shreds your senses. Even though the album in some sense works better as a digital medium, where the concert remains uninterrupted, the added bonus of greater headroom made possible by thick vinyl is essential if your system is up to the task.
On the live album EGOR, recorded at a concert in Russia, the Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation cut loose with best they have to offer in a seemingly improvised environment. The black vinyl's grooves reveal a side-spanning buildup, sort of adding a visual companion to the music. Each of the four sides represent an individual track with intensity rising and falling gently, then suddenly, like the uneasy sleep of some unknowable behemoth. The record in itself plays like a backdrop for the fevered paranoia-dreams of a doped up, broken mind. One minute you'll be listening to doom drones gently caressing your nerve endings, the next a cacophony of insanity shreds your senses. Even though the album in some sense works better as a digital medium, where the concert remains uninterrupted, the added bonus of greater headroom made possible by thick vinyl is essential if your system is up to the task.
"Their regard for the power of atmosphere and sense for lengthy build ups make even the most trivial discharges seem like emotional and effectful explosions in the tyranny of silence."
The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation shows with abundant clarity their flair for unsettling and intimidating soundscapes. However, patience is a virtue, and this sort of music is not for everyone. Their regard for the power of atmosphere and sense for lengthy buildups make even the most trivial discharges seem like emotional and effectful explosions in the tyranny of silence. You can never quite tell where the Corporation's whimsical currents will take you, so my best recommendation is to just let it take you away. This is not an album you pause or talk over, it's an album you take in. The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation never rely on predictability or hard-as-diamond instrumentation, but instead let the compositions remain in a profound fog where even the most honed listeners won't be quite sure what's going on.
9/10
Released in 2012 by Denovali Records
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