OTAY:ONII - Love Is In The Shit

"I got no talent

Just a story after another story"

While I cannot deny the urge to argue about the truth of that statement with her, let's just assume Lane Shi Otay:onii is completely right... ... ok ... Can I even do that?

Given the sheer amount of stories being told by her in solo works, bands, collaborations (for example with thisquietarmy), her recent commissioned "Moonstruck Old Tales" show, which won Roadburn for me, or that completely over the top post-apocalyptic Biennale Venice open air performance with a coven of naked mermaids, of which I'd really love to see more than these already mind-blowing Instagram snippets, attributing the artist no talent feels like an almost criminal understatement.

Almost as criminal as seeing her new record in the Roadburn merch area, but not buying it and having to wait a couple of weeks longer, because you had already pre-ordered the thing long before the festival from her new label home Pelagic Records...

OTAY:ONII - Love Is In The Shit (World Class Citizen Edion vinyl LP) (2026)

But now finally here it is! Given the title and artwork, which shows that the artist doesn't take herself too serious, and the short playing time of little over half an hour, anyone not familiar with her music might assume that "Love Is In The Shit" is a rowdy Crass style Punk affair. And that for sure isn't completely wrong. Because in spirit this surely is Otay:onii's most Punk release to date. However it of course works with different musical tools.

Uncomfortably dissonant synths acompanied by glitchy beats, beauty covered by walls of Harsh Electronics and chaotic Noise. Experimental interludes, Black metal Mr. Bungle apocalypse meets Cabaret, piano ballads or the cadence of Chinese Folklore - and inbetween there are even moments, when she even hints at Hyper Pop, which puts her surprisingly close to parts of the new Laibach album "Musick" (to be reviewed here soon).

No, deciphering this album by genre is doomed to fail, especially since after side A features the tracks which are still discernable as "real" songs, the album's second half dives much deeper into into a diffuse shapelessness, where the idea of style or category becomes only a tiny drop in a current of sound that feels like the soundtrack to a mental breakdown.

Otay:onii live at Roadburn

Of course the music still matters a lot. The arrangements are actually much more meticulous and magnificient than the shock of listening to this for the first time will allow you to perceive. And listening to "Love Is In The Shit" on headphones will reveal many great layers and details in the production. Even as a fully instrumental version this would still be a remarkable release. And with everything that goes on here it doesn't even feel as short as it indeed is.

The main force behind the power of Otay:onii's art however remains the absolute fearlessness of Lane Shi's vocal performance. No matter if she embodies the playfulness of an innocent child, a fairy's song carried by the wind or the pain of an old soul which has suffered way too much, no matter if she's sarcastic or dead serious. From weeps and wails to dramatic belts and the demonic shrieks of ghosts torturing the living - she always throws her whole being into it, creating an inescapable linguaignotaesque intensity, which you cannot just pass without being caught and spellbound - for better or worse.

While I'm not sure yet whether "Love Is In The Shit" can beat the gold standard of her 2021 work (and my personal introduction to her music) "Ming Ming", it unequivocally shines and mercilessly burns as a beacon of full commitment to unapologetic art - talent or not -, that must definitely already be recognized as one of the standout releases of 2026.

If this album is your first contact to Otay:onii, don't expect it to deliver the Chinese-American artist's full story to you! For that at least experiencing her live once is probably mandatory. But as the book keeps writing itself, "Love Is In The Shit" will certainly prove itself to be a key chapter.

"Have you ever looked down and found out that the shoes' gone?
Than you know what it takes to move on."

JEGONG - Gomi Kuzu Can

No, I didn't miss this in February! I only ordered it alongside another record which hadn't been released yet.

But here it is now, album number three of Sum Of R mastermind Reto Mäder's and Mono drummer's Dahm Majuri Cipolla's duo JeGong:

JEGONG - Gomi Kuzu Can (Glass Clear vinyl LP) (2026)

As always both musicians are responsible for all instruments - which include hypnotic bass, motorik drums and percussions, trippy and noisy analogue synths, mellotron, occasional guitars, samples and effects. And on "What Ever Happened To The Gene" Dahm even surprises us with some decent clean lead vocals in German accent Krautrock style.

The natural expectation of what a band like this should sound like is of course a mix of their respective main projects, and once again this is true for JeGong, but not in a 50/50 ratio. Especially the parts reminiscent to Mono have rather decreased in comparison to the more Post Rock influenced predecessor "The Complex Inbetween".

While grand escapist textures in that direction are still being teased in tracks like "Sister", most of this album focusses on a repetitive Psychedelic purity layered with Ambient and Noise. Similar to the last Sum Of R record there's a lot of eeriness and darkness on "Gomi Kuzu Can", but this album omits the outright evil escapades and leans more into cosmic and retro-futuristic atmospheres, with vibes all in all reminding me more of recent electronic Ivan The Tolerable solo works.

btw: With the obvious reference to Kraut legends Can in the titles of the album and the track "Müll Schrott Dose" ("garbage scrap can") I'm of course now wondering if Mäder also thought of them on Sum Of R's "Beer Cans In A Bottomless Pit" now.

But back to the release at hand: My favorite feature of JeGong's new work is its all-embracing analogue warmth. "Gomi Kuzu Can" baths in a 1970's feel with relish and obviously follows a nostalgic impulse, but it doesn't just copy what has already been done. Instead Mäder/Dahm find their own timeless sound and once more confirm the special impression their live debut gave me at Roadburn 2024.

As you can see below the vinyl in a gatefold cover is also a beauty, so why haven't you given Pelagic Roecords your money yet? 

CAVS - Sojourn

After reviewing Flea's debut it's only logical to continue with another solo album more interesting than the recent output of the artist's main band. Enter King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard drummer Michael "Cavs" Cavanagh!

CAVS - Sojourn (Clear Orange vinyl LP) (2026)

Ok, maybe writing this would have been the right occasion to finally give King Gizzard's last two studio albums a proper listen. On the other hand I just can't bother. What I heard of their respective singles felt so Dad Rock that I still don't feel any motivation to do so. But now, a relative eternity of three years after "The Silver Chord (Extended Mix)" there's finally some exciting studio material from the Australians' camp again, even though it only involves their drummer - and Joey Walker on bass.

Not to downplay the skills and importance of other more front and center members like Stu or Amby, but the secret most valuable player of KGLW has always been the drummer, without whose endurance, prowess and increasingly in the pocket beats the whole genre-switching shtick of the band simply wouldn't work as successfully as it does.

On "Sojourn" the drum grooves are unmissable, his clean snare and hi-hat-heavy style unmistakable and maybe most reminiscent of what he did on "Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava". But even though the cover artwork might suggest that, and Cavs is aided by more drums and percussion, performed by co-producer and engineer Jim Rindfleish and conga player Robyn Poppins, this album is not some exclusive rhythm-only Afro-Beat thing like for example the self-titled debut of Klaus Weiss' Niagara.

It is however clearly an instrumental Jazz thing, a funky Fusion fest - yet it also doesn't deny Cavanagh's Psychedelic roots. So all in all these ten tracks - all filled with rich textures and melodies of guitars, piano, keys, saxophones, flute, harp and more - are an inspiring, vitalizing source of feel-good vibes.

Cavs and company cite Jazz Rock, Kraut and Latin music of the 1970's, yet make it sound young and excited like a freshly hatched bird of paradise. In terms of recent artists this album scratches an itch similar to Cazayoux and parts of Ivan The Tolerable's oeuvre for me. An easy but not shallow pleasure trip to the inner happy place.

The typical (p)doom Records packaging and the clear orange vinyl with not even a label blocking the transparence in the middle are a nice touch adding to my enjoyment of this spiritually stimulating delight of a record. It might take a while - and potentially several albums - for that Lizard Wizard to exceed the bar set here.

FLEA - Honora

In my last post here I reported four severe Jazz crimes to the Jazz Police. I also announced that I would soon write about the so far worst offender this year. And here we are!

But first let's answer the potential question what the Jazz Police even is:

In German we call them Jazzpolizei. They are the Star Trek canon fundamentalists and the Trve Black Metal gatekeepers of Jazz - a phalanx of fans, writers, snobs dedicated not really to save the purity of Jazz, but in truth mainly rather to loudly verbalize their personal superiority over the lesser jazz-enlightened mob, who doesn't reject what they deem unworthy of being taken serious as Jazz.

As so often with cops, members of the Jazz Police aren't always the brightest. So when non-Jazz band Red Hot Chili Peppers bass player Flea's first solo album was being announced as a Jazz album with him playing trumpet and featuring guests like non_jazz singers Thom Yorke and Nick Cave, naturally parts of the social media Jazz bubble reaction were predictably embarrassing...

In truth however Michael Peter "Flea" Balzary knew exactly what he was doing there, came prepared and made (almost) all the right decisions!  

FLEA - Honora (red vinyl 2LP; side D with print) (2026)

[DISCLAIMER: This is not a biased text from a Red Hot "fanboy". Of course I like certain RHCP hits from all over their career, but there's actually only one of their albums in my collection - and you know it's "Blood Sugar Sex Magik", because if you only own one of their albums it has to be this one, right?Anyway, I think it's established now that buying this solo album wasn't an automatic no-brainer for me, but required seeing the video for its first single "A Plea" and being surprised / blown away by it.]

"Honora" is not a spontaneous or commercially driven let's-do-a-Jazz/Country/[insert any hyped genre] album, but the fulfilment of a decades old dream. If you're in need of a positively moving YouTube rabbit hole and have already watched all the cat content, try looking for Flea talking about Jazz! You cannot be more joyful, true and passionate about a topic than Flea expressing his love for music.

His first real contact with music was zoning out to seasoned Bebop players jamming in his family's living room, his musical idols all were Jazz greats and his first instrument was the trumpet.
Only as a teenager, when a friend was looking for a bass player, he kind of "got distracted" by Rock music for a while. He still occasionally played the trumpet, but only a couple of years ago, shortly before his sixtieth birthday, he decided that if he ever wanted to make a serious Jazz record, he had to practice again, and so he did: He played the trumpet every day and took music lesson from Ricky Washington, who among many others also taught his son Kamasi Washington.

That was the preparation. Of course he didn't suddenly become the most stellar professional trumpet player of all time - but he took to heart Miles Davis' lesson that it it's not about the note, but about the motherfucker who plays it. You cannot deny that his trumpet playing is not only technically at least very solid now, but that it expresses plenty of emotions and personality.
So when he felt ready he first recorded demos on his own and later got together with the right mixture of experienced Jazz musicians and guests like the aforementioned singers, as well as some smaller RHCP cameos.

The result is a fifty minutes long Jazz / Jazz Fusion album that surely will be a gateway for many RHCP fans to explore the genre, but which also has merit on its own without context. What was firstly envisioned as an album with Flea playing lead trumpet all the time, has evolved into something richer in variety, with many amazing performances from all players involved, where every track tells a a different distinct story, with a healthy balance of instrumental pieces and songs featuring singers.

Flea himself also appears on vocals, in an almost spoken word way, very raw, but honest and fitting, while "Traffic Lights" with Thom Yorke and the classic "Wichita Lineman" with Nick Cave showcase both singers on the top of their game.
More importantly - even though this is his trumpet record - Flea naturally contributes several amazing electric bass parts, but is wise enough not trying to shoulder the upright bass part, which carries so much in Jazz and is brilliantly executed by Anna Butterss.

"Honora" is roughly divided into two parts: First most of Flea's own compositions, funky, fluid, atmospheric, with a successful balance of fixed arrangements, but also lots of freedom given to the individual players and room for joint improvisation, all demonstrated best in maybe the whole album's central piece, the over ten minutes long "Frailed".

These first five tracks already include a wide range of Jazz styles Flea is paying tribute to, but then he gets even more explicit in the album being a declaration of love to music by including several cover versions of songs important to him, which either come from the world of Jazz or are transferred to it by his interpretation. He turns Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" from a guitar to a trumpet piece and follows the same approach with Frank Ocean's vocals in "Thinking Bout You".
The standard "Willow Weep For Me" (famously interpreted by Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Frank Sinatra) becomes a synth-heavy Tangerine Dream-inspired Kraut Ambient piece, before the album ends with Flea's most Nu Jazz composition "Free As I Want To Be".

And this is the part where I explain the almost in my earlier statement that Flea made (almost) all the right decisions. Not that the closer would be a bad track, even though it's not my personal favorite. Instead of side D being printed with the lyrics to "A Plea" however I would have loved the album to be bookended by one more track matching the energy of that song, since the whole cover section is rather mellow in comparison. There's no lack of quality, but another more punching banger would have provided the whole album with a better overall balance.

So that's my one minor squabble with "Honora" - if we don't count the double LP's painful pricing and impudent, but sadly way too common lack of a download card. But besides that this is just an all around beautiful record, from the cover artwork, which already feels like a not specified homage to times of great film photograph portraits on albums (and actually shows Flea's mother in law in the late 1960's in Iran), to the abundance of character, expression, love carried in its music.

Would it be both as commercially successful and as equally loathed by Jazz Police hardliners? No. But it would still be an excellently produced wonderful modern Jazz release So fuck the police, I love it! 

JAZZ CRIMES REPORT feat. JÜ, OCTO, SUNCUTS and TAUPE

Cover your ears and call the Jazz Police right now!

In this quadruple review I am going to expose brutal atrocities commited by ruthless organisations hiding behind insconspicious short names to the purity and innocence of Jazz. Get ready to cross your arms and frown in disgust! Precious Jazz, what have they done to you?

SUNCUTS - Collective Heliphobic Dream (2026)

I have to start with a confession: I've already known about this crime before it was officially released, but I just didn't find the time to report it. Does this make me complicit? Am I going to Jazz prison now, too? Please let me call my lawyer and complete my full statement first! Maybe we can work on a deal?

Suncuts is the Swiss / exile Russian trio of the perpetrators  Maxime Hänsenberger on drums, Felipe Zenicola on bass and Anton Ponomarev (P/O Massacre, Teufelskeller) on saxophone and electronics. In utter disregard for their listeners' mental health they are combining chaotic Experimental Rock improvistaions with Extreme Metal outbursts, speaker-destroying Power Electronics and Harsh Noise and a disgraceful bastardization of Avantgarde Free Jazz.

This obviously unlawful album must contain forbidden addictive elements. Because despite knowing that this shouldn't be allowed I am still  abnormally drawn to this "Collective Heliophobic Dream" (which is definitely a code for some illegal substance). If it's necessary to keep me out of jail, I will of course agree to go to Smooth Jazz rehab as a part of my deal. One again - I am so terribly sorry! 

JÜ- Rudel (CD) (2025?)

Is this posse also located in Switzerland, evading the Jazz jurisdiction of other European countries? Their new album "Rudel" sounds a little bit like that to me, because the vibe of the the actually Hungarian band's fourth album reminds me a lot of infamous Swiss Jazz Rock mob OM after their reunion.

Musically however their dangerous mixture of Jazz Rock, Free Jazz, Noise Rock, Prog, Afro-Beat and Arabisms is heavier and therefore possibly also a heavier crime. A lot of this could also be adequately described as sounding like one of Jörg Schneider's many collaborations, with a similarly manic drum insanity - only not as just a duo with one guitar player, but with an additional bass on top.

In favour of the defendants one could argue that in comparison to their previous work "III" this is purer, with less carefully planned ventures away from Jazz. Just the trio playing as if you had been kidnapped by them and they were jamming with you shackled in the middle in a smokey small dark room.

Still, this is of course far from automatically meeting the Jazz Police's standards for legal conformity. In addition to that the release in December 2025 is also dubious. Wenn I tried to get hold of the evidence directly from Hungary, my payment wasn't accepted by the dealer. I later ordered it from a retailer on ebay, waited for five or six weeks without any package arriving and immediately got a refund after asking about the CD's whereabouts. Only after a third try via an obviously better connected "enterprise" I got my hands on my copy. So finally, months later than intended I am finally ready to help the authorities' investigations if need be - which was of course always my plan as the subserviant Jazz State citizen I am. 

TAUPE - Waxing | Waning (CD) (2026)

Producing proof was way easier in the case of the three-headed syndicate called Taupe from Glasgow, Scotland - where famously Jazz goes to die. Not my words! It's a common saying, you've heard it before. Well, anyway... I could get hold of this compact disc wrenching it directly from the main suspects for its manufacturing, immediately after those had wreaked havoc - probably forcing them to pay protection money - over an innocent bar in Tilburg, Netherlands, hiding under the bustle of Roadburn Festival, suspiciously acting under the mantly of an Offroad operation.

This disc documents similar activities in a studio, on which the trio of saxophone, guitar and drums follows the example of famous convicts like John Zorn or the Italian mafiosi Zu and blatantly mixes their already too wild and unseemly "not Jazz" with other Experimental Drone and Noise sounds and Math Rock out of all genres. This is scandalous! So should this information help to keep away harm from future Jazz audiences, I am glad to have been of service.

OCTO - Idyll (2026)

Oh no, shame on me! I actually thought I could warn you about an upcoming assault, but I must have memorized my informant's lead horribly - or time just flew by so fast while investigating the shockingly influentual Anti-Jazz underbelly of the music world -, because Octo's "Idyll" (what a maliciously misleading title!) has already been out in the open for one full month now!

It actually appears as if the release was originally planned for the end of May, but somehow moved to almost two months earlier. What happened? Where Octo already too suspicious, so they chose the flight forward?

Who knows? What's for sure is that out all the culprits in this report this German trio surely is the most insidious. They don't even claim to have anything to do with Jazz at all, masquerading as a Noise Rock band. Well gotcha!, the title of track number four, "Jazz Waffen Jemen" ("Jazz Weapons Yemen") tells another story!

Without that harrowing suspicion of conspiracy against Jazz this would actually be a pretty amazing, sophisticated but still direct and energetic album of heavy (almost) Instrumental Rock with sharp rhythmic edges and moments of Post Something greatness, performed on drums and two bass guitars. Great stuff - yet also a severe warning that crimes against Jazz can also be committed be deliquents completely devoid of any Jazz affiliations!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

Please keep a healthy distance from all these scam "artists" and don't support their blatant violation of the standardized regulations keeping Jazz safe and secure! Don't get blinded by the seemingly adventurous appeal of their releases or the colourful allure of their cover artworks!

It's a treacherous world out there with Jazz constantly under threat. Keep your mind alert and your ears protected! There is much more Jazz crime happening out there and I'm already digging into this year's biggest perp of them all. So if you're worried - you have every right to be, but please remember that I am always here to help!   

HYPER GAL and ZAHN live at Hafenklang, Hamburg (May 7th 2026)

Even though I finished my last report for this year a few days ago - somehow it's still Post Roadburn Blues season. So what fits better than a visit to one of Hamburg's most roadburnish locations in terms of program, to be surprised by a crazy, previously unknown Japanese band, as well as to finally tick a box behind an also extremey roadburn-compatible German trio, which I had already missed several times?

ZAHN

Wow! I knew Zahn (="tooth") from their studio work - most recently on their EP "Seite E" and the album "Purpur" -, but how much the polythythmic complexity determines their instrumental music only dawned on my with this performance. And drummer Nic Stockmann has a very special mechanical style of running obliquely to the analog synth loops underneath each track, as well as still coming together with bass and guitar. In that regard this show was definitely the most challenging mindfuck on Hafenklang's "Golden Saloon" stage I had experienced since Kukangendai in November.

The reason I wasn't that aware of Zahn's metric whatthefuckery before of course lies in the quality of the musical environment it's embedded in. And that wasn't lost on stage at all. Their equally forward-thinking, timeless and nostalgic sound between various shades of Post Rock and Kraut was as unique as compelling. From Butter Ride to hike on the volcanic crater, from diving through the coral reef to hopping onto the Flying Cigar, this excellent trip just flew by.

HYPER GAL

The Japanese duo Hyper Gal felt like it was derived directly from the soundtrack to an imagined dystopian anime, where it worked as the rebellious club music of the future. Only consisting of a singer and a drummer, who also operated some kind of electronic synth/sampler/loop device (her floor tom basically only served as a stand for that) their minimalist setup and the energy generated with it reminded me of Benefits at Roadburn 2024, but logically as a female version from the other side of the globe.

Their mixture of hypnotic agitative rally-chant-style vocals and Electronic Harsh Noise / No Wave with ferocious Punk / Grind and danceable drumming felt as thrillingly experimental as gloriously bold and primitive. Koharu Ishida and Kurumi Kadoya for sure gave me one of the weirdest kicks into the face I received in a while.

Hyper Gal's performance wasn't very long, but just right, especially for the Hafenklang crew, who didn't have to deal with states of shock and cardiac arrests in the audience that way. Yeah, this was fun!