artist: JEAN-FRANÇOIS PAUVROS & MAKOTO KAWABATA
title: Mars
label: Prêle
country: France
format: CD
title: Mars
label: Prêle
country: France
format: CD
"Guitarists Jean-François Pauvros (who has collaborated with the likes of Arto Lindsay, Keiji Haino and
Noël Akchoté) and Makoto Kawabata (of Acid Mothers Temple, 'f course) met this year for a European
tour, and recorded this 5-track, 61'40" album in Paris. I wonder if they ever met before, because the
sinergy between the two is remarkable. Both mostly play their guitars with a bow, with or without effects,
and the result is, well, as trippy as you'd expect from a modern psychedelic troubadour like Makoto. The
first three tracks almost sound like movements of a larger piece, as they display a rising climax: from the
moody and subdued bowings of the first one, through the increasing screeches of track 2, to the electric
storm of of the third one, where the wailing feedback eventually settles to a metallic cloud, as rich in
tones as an organ drone. After such a progression, the other two tracks naturally tend to add more of the
same, but it's a sturdy addi(c)tion. After collapsing to near silence, the fourth performance weaves
drones sounding like distant passing cars, then transfigured by delays and loops in a cosmic broth, which
soon leads to another distorted crescendo. Hendrix's ghost is finally summoned in the last track, with the
more aggressive, electric and "rock" elements ebbing and flowing in an exhausting wall of sound. Even
if cosmic '70's guitars are not your cup of tea, you'll probably find yourself guilty of a few air-pick up/air
pedal, until some orgasmic scream closes the album." (Eugenio Maggi - Chain DLK)
Jean-François Pauvros
Guitarist, man of action and of love. Unclassifiable, of course. After leaving the danceclub, he
exploded onto the scene as the guitarist for the group Catalogue (with Jacques Berrocal and Gilbert
Artman), before traversing the world in search of encounters with the likes of Arto Lindsay, Noël Akchoté,
RED, Evan Parker, Aki Onda, poets Charles Pennequin and Gozo Yoshimasu... He proves himself as well
as a singer of the blues with Jonathan Kane from The Swans, a singer of incantations with Keiji Haino,
going as far as pop music with his cover of "Mon Homme"... With Makoto Kawabata he simultaneously
reveals his rock'n'roll spirit and his poetic restraint, equipped with an extremely diverse force of
expression.
Makoto Kawabata
Guitarist, with his instrument grafted onto his skin. Furious leader of men at the heart of the group Acid
Mothers Temple, impetuous virtuoso composer somewhere between contemporary music, hard rock (his
first influences being Stockhausen and Deep Purple) and traditional music (his love for the
Troubadours), he has played with David Allen of Gong, Damo Suzuki, André Minvielle... Although he
has experimented with several other instruments (synth, homemade instruments, violin, sitar...), it is
undoubtedly through his electric guitar that he expresses most firmly the heady aroma of the sound he
calls "absolute". When he plays with JF Pauvros, they stretch themselves to the point of intoxication and
deliver with their guitars alone a style and colour that is completely unique.
Noël Akchoté) and Makoto Kawabata (of Acid Mothers Temple, 'f course) met this year for a European
tour, and recorded this 5-track, 61'40" album in Paris. I wonder if they ever met before, because the
sinergy between the two is remarkable. Both mostly play their guitars with a bow, with or without effects,
and the result is, well, as trippy as you'd expect from a modern psychedelic troubadour like Makoto. The
first three tracks almost sound like movements of a larger piece, as they display a rising climax: from the
moody and subdued bowings of the first one, through the increasing screeches of track 2, to the electric
storm of of the third one, where the wailing feedback eventually settles to a metallic cloud, as rich in
tones as an organ drone. After such a progression, the other two tracks naturally tend to add more of the
same, but it's a sturdy addi(c)tion. After collapsing to near silence, the fourth performance weaves
drones sounding like distant passing cars, then transfigured by delays and loops in a cosmic broth, which
soon leads to another distorted crescendo. Hendrix's ghost is finally summoned in the last track, with the
more aggressive, electric and "rock" elements ebbing and flowing in an exhausting wall of sound. Even
if cosmic '70's guitars are not your cup of tea, you'll probably find yourself guilty of a few air-pick up/air
pedal, until some orgasmic scream closes the album." (Eugenio Maggi - Chain DLK)
Jean-François Pauvros
Guitarist, man of action and of love. Unclassifiable, of course. After leaving the danceclub, he
exploded onto the scene as the guitarist for the group Catalogue (with Jacques Berrocal and Gilbert
Artman), before traversing the world in search of encounters with the likes of Arto Lindsay, Noël Akchoté,
RED, Evan Parker, Aki Onda, poets Charles Pennequin and Gozo Yoshimasu... He proves himself as well
as a singer of the blues with Jonathan Kane from The Swans, a singer of incantations with Keiji Haino,
going as far as pop music with his cover of "Mon Homme"... With Makoto Kawabata he simultaneously
reveals his rock'n'roll spirit and his poetic restraint, equipped with an extremely diverse force of
expression.
Makoto Kawabata
Guitarist, with his instrument grafted onto his skin. Furious leader of men at the heart of the group Acid
Mothers Temple, impetuous virtuoso composer somewhere between contemporary music, hard rock (his
first influences being Stockhausen and Deep Purple) and traditional music (his love for the
Troubadours), he has played with David Allen of Gong, Damo Suzuki, André Minvielle... Although he
has experimented with several other instruments (synth, homemade instruments, violin, sitar...), it is
undoubtedly through his electric guitar that he expresses most firmly the heady aroma of the sound he
calls "absolute". When he plays with JF Pauvros, they stretch themselves to the point of intoxication and
deliver with their guitars alone a style and colour that is completely unique.
