KAZE: Uminari

The new recording from KAZE, a Japanese-French quartet — drums, piano, two trumpets — reminds us that all music is noise. Some noise, it seems, sounds better than others. On Uminari (a low frequency hum rising from the sea), the usual hallmarks of through-composed music (meter, melody, harmony) aren’t exactly absent, they’re just not terribly important. This is the kind of record in which toys, human breathing, and unexplained sources make sounds/noise/vibrations that alchemically transform into something like music. Some will find it tedious and inscrutable. We find it hypnotizing.