ASO

"Kurzmann also teams up with Japanese vocalist Ami Yoshida on the powerful A S O (Erstwhile). Yoshida doesn't release much music but - aside from a flat encounter with percussionist Fredy Studer - she usually performs at the highest level (see Astro Twin or Cosmos with Sachiko M). Her incredible range and imagination is exceeded only by the sheer startling capacity she has to sound like lowercase electronics. The faintest of tones, the most sinuous hiss, the most subtly tweaked electric hiccup - these could just as easily be coming from Yoshida as from her partners. The disc opens much like you might expect in this vein: flames lick as the music invokes Butcher or Bhob Rainey one minute, Günter Müller or Sachiko M the next. Yet from here it proceeds in unexpected directions. The second track becomes ominous, with a faintly whooshing bullroarer and a distant metallic clatter that almost suggest that one is listening to some obscure basement activity through an overly active steam vent. www.dustedmagazine.com