Holy shit, why didn’t I expect this? OK, so coming into this review I knew that Hotei was an internationally respected guitarist who hailed from Japan. I knew, also, that Hotei had popped up on the ‘Kill Bill’ soundtrack (and subsequently adverts, trailers and god knows what else with ‘battle without honor or humanity’) and that he had recorded numerous albums, his first, ‘Guitarrhythm’, appearing way back in 1988. But even so, I had no idea at all just how eclectic Hotei actually was, nor how respected he was by his peers. Even a cursory glance at the track listing clears up the latter issue. With contributions from Iggy Pop, Richard Kruspe, Noko (Apollo 440), Matt Tuck (BFMV) and Shea Seger, not only does ‘strangers’ highlight the respect with which Hotei is treated by his fellow artists, it also underscores the myriad influences that pulse through the album. With nods to good old rock ‘n’ roll, industrial rock, heavy metal and even dub, ‘strangers’ should fall apart under the weight of its own myriad influences, and yet, somehow, Hotei draws all of the threads together, creating an album that is not only remarkably cohesive, but also remarkably addictive.
The album kicks off with a fascinating and brief instrumental, which, I suppose, is more along the lines of what I anticipated from the record. Combining eastern and western influences into a smooth, free-flowing instrumental that would not sound out of place on a Joe Satriani album, Hotei draws the listener gently in only to team up with rock’s ultimate rebel Iggy Pop for the blistering ‘how the cookie crumbles’. It’s a kick ass track that is custom built to get bodies moving with its gritty, pumpled-up garage rock feel. It’s as if someone pumped the Stooges full of steroids and marched them into Guns ‘n’ Roses’ rehearsal space and the result is pretty damn brutal. Next we’re into the full-blown industrial stomp of ‘move it’ (featuring Richard Kruspe of Rammstein / Emmigrate) which matches Hotei’s fluid guitar work to a throbbing industrial framework that glitters with all the menace of a metallic endoskeleton showing through ruptured skin. It’s industrial, but not in the traditional sense, and Hotei’s skill is such that he bends the genre to his will rather than simply falling in line with its more familiar tropes and thus the track burns with its own unique fire. The album calms down for the tripped-out dub of ‘barrel of my own gun’ which draws parallels with Massive Attack and which benefits from a sterling performance from Noko (Apollo 440). The sense of stoned calm is maintained for ‘kill to love you’, an initially quiet piece that slowly builds into an orchestral monster. Matt Tuck turns in an exceptional performance and it’s notable that, like Slash, Hotei successfully builds his tracks around his guest vocalists whilst, at the same time, maintaining his own sense of identity. The result is an album that is both cohesive and yet offers a series of tracks that are the unique result of a respectful collaboration. It’s an impressive feat and it means ‘Strangers’ is likely to gain a huge following as fans of the different artists flock to check it out. The first half of the album draws to a close with the throbbing instrumental title track which has a pulsing industrial feel to it that recalls Gary Numan’s modern works. A hulking monster, it shows that, no matter how cool the guests are, Hotel is more than capable of holding his own.
Kicking off the album’s second half with a dark, claustrophobic monster, Iggy Pop returns for ‘walking through the night’, a weird garage rock / remix hybrid that whispers sinister nothings in your ear whilst dragging you down the nearest back alley for a good beating. Iggy is, of course, instantly recognisable, but, to date, only Death in Vegas have drawn Iggy into such cinematically schizophrenic territory. The album’s most incongruous track, ‘Texas groove’ (with Shea Seger) is a thumping mix of programmed drums and countrified blues, as if Dolly Parton was being filtered through the Apollo 440 sound system. The album finally dispenses with the guests and concludes with three instrumental works. The first is the Twin Peaks-esqe ‘into the light’ which has a subtle ambient feel and an undercurrent of gentle sadness that is quite beautiful. Referencing David Bowie’s ‘China Girl’, ‘Departure’ has a strong Eastern feel before kicking into the sort of mid-tempo jazzy groove that Joe Satriani has made such an impressive career out of. One of the few songs that really emphasizes the virtuoso abilities of Hotei, ‘departure’ is pure driving rock, propelled by an insistent beat, and you quickly realise that the absence of vocals is certainly not a handicap where Hotei is concerned. The album ends with ‘battle without honor or humanity’, a re-recorded version of Hotei’s best known song that fits perfectly alongside the other industrial-strength tracks on here. It caps off an album on which the quality rarely dips (although I personally could do without ‘Texas Groove’) and it’s refreshing to note that, despite the track’s ubiquity in the early nineties, familiarity has not dulled its impact.
I love writing reviews when you have an album that is so effortlessly enjoyable. Hotei is a guitar genius but he doesn’t play like a guitar genius. Instead he focuses on the song and on the collaboration and, as a result, he has successfully crafted an album that will have wide appeal far beyond the niche normally occupied by virtuosos. For sure the guitar work is fluid and impressive but, as Slash managed on his self-titled effort, he’s avoided showing off and instead tethered his ability to some excellent and memorable song-writing. For anyone with an eclectic taste in music and an admiration for exquisite guitar work, ‘strangers’ is a surprising and endlessly inventive record that you’ll want to keep coming back to.
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