From Japan, Shisars and their 'sister' group An-Chang Project, release albums only sporadically, but boy, are they worth waiting for. This latest offering from Shisars just about surpasses the lot in its boldness and radical treatment of traditional Okinawan and Japanese tunes. It all starts off ordinarily enough, with just sanshin (lute) the kokyu (fiddle) playing low and high drones with the trademark harmony voices of female singers Yoshie and Akemi gliding over the top. By the second tune, Mr Insuke, that kicks off with African sounding percussion and guitar picking, yet a distinct Asian melody and vocals that gradually speeds up to a wanton frenzy, any sense of ordinariness has long gone out the window. What follows ranges from more plaintive, simple ballads to an outrageous punk version of what was originally a sweet lullaby, more discordant fiddles, wailing clarinet from Cicala Mvta's Wataru Ohkuma and grunge like electric guitar. At just over 30 minutes, the CD is decidedly short but packs so much in it leaves you exhausted. (From fRoots magazine)
