The striking, twangy, percussive sound of the Japanese shamisen has attracted listeners around the world, fascinated by what the slender, three-string instrument can produce. The Yoshida Brothers take risks with the shamisen, meshing a fast, traditional style with rock, bluegrass, and cinematic styles.
ALARM leaves no genre unloved in our round-up of 50 albums that didn’t receive enough attention in 2009.
Meshing traditional Japanese sounds with rock, folk, neoclassical, film scores, and more, the shamisen-wielding Yoshida Brothers combine the East and West in dynamic ways.
The duo’s new album, Prism, furthers the dynamism with a group of originals and a group of covers, the latter of which includes Radiohead‘s “The National Anthem.”
Over the past week, we caught news of a mini Soundgarden/TAD live jam, a new Kayo Dot album, a new/streaming Trash Talk EP, another Mars Volta album, another Zach Hill project, and a release date for the new Tortoise album. Read about this and more after the jump.