SoSaLa - 1994 - LIVE AT CBGB (CD)

SoSaLa has released his next retrospective recording. This album is a follow-up to the 1993 album. This time, he looks back to 1994, a significant year in SoSaLa’s music career. The music from the recording was performed live at CBGB with SoSaLa’s Tokyo quartet, SADATO. It was recorded and mixed by legendary recording engineer and producer Martin Bisi. Despite the recording being meant as a demo and not for release, this retrospective album is another must-have for fans interested in SoSaLa’s unique and accomplished music career.
It is essential to situate SADATO’s music within its cultural context. No Wave music was characterized by its experimental and abrasive nature. It emphasized texture over melody, unconventional song structures, dissonant harmonies, and repetitive driving rhythms. No Wave was closely tied to the contemporary art scene as an underground movement. It was more about artistic expression and pushing boundaries than creating commercially successful music. The movement was short-lived but had a profound and lasting influence on the music world, independent film, fashion, and visual art.
Stylistically, the music on this album has a distinct connection with bands such as DNA, the Lounge Lizards, Suicide, James Chance and the Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, and Pere Ubu. SADATO was a fearless pioneer No Wave band in the Japanese independent rock music scene. They presented music to a culture that was unfamiliar with the No Wave scene in New York. SADATO was ahead of its time and underrated by the critics.
In 1993, SoSaLa (whose artist name was Sadato at that time) recruited Shimizu, Nakamura, and Kato for the band. They started working on new songs and played them at forthcoming gigs, developing into an influential, rocking band. This notorious band represented and advocated the D.I.Y. spirit both on and off stage. Angry-sounding but with much love and compassion, they became the only social-political performing band in the Japanese indie music scene, especially in Osaka and Tokyo.
In 1994, twenty songs were ready to be recorded by New York’s legendary recording engineer, mixer, and producer Martin Bisi at B.C. Studio in Brooklyn, NY. This would be the second time SADATO would record with him. His exceptional mixing talent brought out the best in SADATO’s music.
After finishing the recording, CBGB invited SADATO to perform two shows within a week. Bisi recorded the performances, skillfully capturing the audience’s enthusiastic reactions to SADATO’s solos, rhythm changes, odd rhythms, noise, and lyrics. Eight songs would appear on the 1995 album SADATO No More Reggae (Musical Strategies, Germany).

The contributions by his musicians, Masaki Shimizu on fretless bass and backing vocals, Ryo Kato on drums and backing vocals, and Toshimaru Nakamura on electric guitar, bring unique dimensions and startling voices to the SADATO sound. The music sat well with rock and jazz, transcending both simultaneously.