4 out of 5

Note: This compilation disc is disc 15 of the Haldyn Dome boxset, and represents how I heard the material. It comprises the 7 tracks from Susumu’s release with Kenji Konishi, ‘How About Fuko?’ as well as the single track from Global Trotters’ Drive to which Susumu contributed, Parallel Motives.

Fuko No Project is a bit tough to track down info on. A straight google translate of its name provides the band as “Project of Misfortune,” with an album title of “How About Misery?” Elsewhere, I’ve seen it listed as stated – Fuko No Project, with the album title of ‘How About Fuko?’ And from this (http://www.artskool.biz/jem/sh.html) to-the-point but informative page, it states that Fuko was a back-and-forth composition (I record some music and send it to you; you add to it and send it to me) between Hirasawa and P-Model mate Kenji Konishi. This definitely adds some sensible context, as the 8 tracks (a spoken-word opener with some light musical embellishment in the background; 7 full tracks) have both dashes of P-Model bounce – more toward the disc’s start – as well as an open-ended sensibility that vibes with a patchwork composition. It’s also pretty damn good. Kicking off with some funkier bits, the middle and latter parts of the album segue into spacier, more ethereal stuff. It tapers off toward the end – going with the nature of how the music came together, it’s the end of the conversation – but because the disc flows to that point rather organically, it works. It’s also a good way to shift to the 12 minute Global Trotters offering, which is excellent, and does a bit of stylistic flip-flopping itself, but in reverse of the Fuko material, starting out quiet and moody before its back half kicks up a riot of drumming.

While the sheer amount of Susumu Hirasawa’s output of the years is impressive in itself, that he’s maintained relatively clear identities between his various projects is also interesting, and Fuko No Project – and Global Trotters – fit that bill as well. All of Hirasawa’s material has some like-minded elements which make it likely that you’ll like one if you like the other, but the Halydn Dome collection that paired these particular works was a wise pick; it’s some of Susumu’s more open-ended and experimental type stuff, though with a grounded focus on rhythm and musicality that keeps it engaging.