Asian Mushroom. a Tokyo based act that's about as difficult to pin down as anything I've ever heard. The music they present here on their first go round for N.Y.C. based CBGB Records is just. well, different. They're a club act recaptured live on disc with this one.

This self-titled seven song release opens very spiritually with "Drums" and ironically isn't based so much on drumming as it is a soft, very ethereal type presence, spiritually uplifting and pleasant. The next song, "Jesus" offsets the first in more of a rocking variety based on guitar and samplers, with a very eighties dance feel to it. Grab hold of a loose wire for the next one and "Feel" the elecro-static energy course through your veins, and be careful not to exaggerate yourself trying to discern these first vocal chants that appear, you can't and you won't. unless maybe you understand Japanese and then maybe.

This is a couple of musicians who've tried their hand at quite a few instrumental formulas and are obviously not satisfied playing in just one style. Yes, their music leans toward the essence of dance, and breakbeat stuff, but to the contrary, there'll be, as on "Be Somebody," a solid infusion of heavier material mixed well with techno/industrial to get your speakers shaking at various intervals. This is one of the more interesting releases that's come across my desk in recent weeks and one of those "sleeper" hits perhaps that could be a trip to check out live.