Dekoboko Hajime

Dekoboko Hajime is John Zorn's one-off alias which he only used once to record an album with Japanese improviser, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Yamatsuka Eye in 1995, released as Nani Nani, the sixth album in New Japan series on his Tzadik label. Zorn and Eye had occasionally been working together since they first met in Tokyo back in 1986. Yamataka was a member of Zorn's Naked City band and appeared on most of their albums, and they also toured, performed and recorded together in different groups and projects, from Praxis and Ground Zero (3) to PainKiller (2). All their official released collaborative duo output was limited to a single obscure compilation appearance, with Rectal Mucus track on 4377643 CD attached to an Issue 15, no. 8 Ear Magazine (Dec '90 – Jan '91). In 1995, John Zorn and Yamantaka Eye met in New York City and produced a long-awaited duo album, Nani Nani, where Dekoboko Hajime (Zorn) plays on sax, harmonica, guitar, sitar and sampler, and Eye assisted him with vocals, drums, and toys to produce a fringey, radical blend of ambient screams, freeform jazz, hardcore surf, faux Indian psychedelic, absurd sampletronica, and improv instrumental noise. Zorn planned a series of joint releases with Eye this year, and the sixth album in Radical Jewish Culture series on Tzadik soon followed. 1094664 by Mystic Fugu Orchestra was a half-humorous album, featuring Rav Tzizit (another Zorn's one-off alias) and Rav Yechida (Eye) with mysterious "newly discovered" old Kabbalah recordings, all sounds buried in a dense layer of 78 rpm gramophone record surface noise for authenticity. In September 2003, Zorn and Eye played a live show together at Tonic as a part of John Zorn 50th Birthday Celebration concert series, which became one of the highlights of the program. Yamatsuka Eye was assisted by electronic technician Taeji Sawai, who responded to Eye's sensor movements via Apple Powerbook, and Fred Frith on guitar joined for one song. They also sat again in the studio, and produced a follow-up 884017 album, released in Nov 2004 and featuring Zorn on alto sax, piano, tabla machine, Tibetan bells and percussion with Eye singing and vocalizing, handling electronics and objects, electric fan, organ, banjo, steel guitar, and percussion. Live set from 50th Birthday Celebration was released on 50¹º Digipak CD in January 2005.