Free jazz, the avant-garde, the noisy and experimental, all “free”, improvised music has enjoyed a rich, enduring history in the fringe and discerning corners of the archipelago that is Japan. Chicago-birthed and now Los Angeles-aging, psych-jazz group, Direct Mutant Action (comprised of sound artist, Rush Falknor, and drummer, Karissa Talanian) demonstrate a clear appreciation and influence of this ongoing lineage of technical innovation and sonic expansion, recently having toured parts of Honshu in the early Spring of 2025, collaborating and recording all along the way.
“DMA-005 – Live At Tabasa with Mitsuru Tabata and Toshimaru Nakamura”, though a fairly direct and explanatory title, is in its whole a collection of material from DMA’s performances across Tokyo, specifically rooted around the exploratory improvisation of the group as a quadruplet in the Asagaya bar, TABASA, alongside early Japanese noise and experimental innovators, Toshimaru Nakamura and Mitsuru Tabata.
The tape delivers a rather wide range of audible materials, beginning with a recording of DMA in a natural, somewhat minimalist form. Effected saxophone and harmonica, lobbed finger cymbals, and expressive, improvisational drumming, neither a bad nor overly alienating introduction for those unfamiliar with more avant-performance styles. A tasteful easing-in. The tape also features a remix track by another early Japanese noise innovator, Government Alpha, who presents a continually escalating, spacecraft-esque sonic chop job of the previous set. Equally as enthralling of an interloper is the subsequent field recording collage and modular manipulation delivered by DMA’s saxophonist, Rush Falknor, that breaks up the two DMA performances alongside the prior Government Alpha remix. The climax of the tape, and its namesake, is of course the four-piece rendition of Direct Mutant Action at TABASA. Strange, harrowing, excessively funky and out there, even eerie at times, the DMA Tokyo Unit is a force to be reckoned with, evoking sensibilities reminiscent of The Stooges “LA Blues”.
A diverse display of melodic dilapidations and rhythmic resurrections, an avant freak jazz tape for the ages rooted in congenial international collaboration and psychedelic sensibilities. Out now on Cult Love Sound Tapes.
Purchase Cassette: Direct Mutant Action – DMA-005; Live At Tabasa with Mitsuru Tabata and Toshimaru Nakamura
Joyful Union Cassette Resource 