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fakeman_pretendname @feddit.uk

Damo Suzuki, experimental musician, dies aged 74

"Singer whose idiosyncratic performances helped the German band Can stretch the limits of experimental rock"

Saw him sing/speak/make noise at a 2 hour long improv set in a small gig venue in Yorkshire about 10-20 years ago, supported by a handful of local improv musicians.

After they finished the set, he individually thanked (and optionally hugged) every single audience member.

2 comments

  • This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The first of these was the double album Tago Mago (1971), a mesmerising brew of jazz drumming, instrumental improvisations, inventive tape-editing techniques and Suzuki’s enigmatic vocal acrobatics.

    In his book Japrocksampler (2007), Julian Cope described the Japanese fondness for bilingual “Japanglish” phrases “as evidenced by the singing style of Damo Suzuki … who successfully inspired a whole generation of punk and post-punk singers to follow him, myself included”.

    However, Can’s next album Ege Bamyasi (1972) did produce a hit single with Spoon, a faintly sinister piece that reached No 6 in Germany, thanks to its inclusion in the German TV thriller Das Messer (The Knife).

    As a teenager in the 1960s he soaked up Anglo-American pop music, from soul and Motown to the British invasion bands, though he found the Kinks more interesting than the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

    Can’s original vocalist, the American singer and sculptor Malcolm Mooney, had recently quit the band after appearing on their debut album, Monster Movie (1969).

    He became a Jehovah’s Witness and stayed out of music for a decade, doing a variety of jobs, including working as a hotel receptionist and exporting vintage cars.

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