Black Box: Torture Garden/Leng Tch'e

John Zorn & Naked City includes: John Zorn; Bill Frisell (guitar); Joey Baron, Fred Frith (bass).
Engineers: Martin Bisi, Roger Moutenot, Seigen Ono.
Naked City: John Zorn (vocals, alto saxophone); Bill Frisell (guitar); Wayne Horvitz (keyboards); Fred Frith (bass); Joey Baron (drums).
Additional personnel includes: Yamantaka Eye (vocals).
Personnel: John Zorn (vocals, alto saxophone); Yamatsuka Eye (vocals); Bill Frisell (guitar); Wayne Horvitz (keyboards); Joey Baron (drums).
Audio Mixer: Roger Moutenot.
Recording information: Martin Bisi, Brooklyn, NY (1989-1990); Roger Moutenout, New York, NY (1989-1990); Seigen Ono, Tokyo, Japan (1989-1990).
Illustrator: Maruo Suehiro.
Unknown Contributor Role: Macioce.
Both Torture Garden and Leng Tch'e are from Zorn's work with Naked City, a collective of avant luminaries including Joey Baron, Bill Frisell, Fred Frith, and Wayne Horvitz. (Yamataka Eye provides vocals on Torture Garden.) Originally released on a small Japanese label, the two-CD set was subsequently issued on Zorn's Tzadik imprint. For its U.S. re-release, the set was dubbed the Black Box, with no cover art or discerning characteristics other than the list of musicians and album title. The reason for the Black Box assignation is the unprintable nature of the artwork (banned in the U.S.) accompanying the album in its Japanese pressing. Upon opening the album, one is greeted by scenes from various Japanese pornographic films and shots of the final public execution to take place in Japan. These rather forbidding pictures set the tone for the music, inspired by Zorn's increasing fascination with the darker side of Japanese culture. Leng Tch'e, translated as "thousand pieces," is a ritual torture (involving administration of large doses of opium to a victim during the course of slow dismemberment) practiced in Japan until the early 20th century; Zorn's musical piece of the same name is a slow, abrasive, 30-minute exploration of the emotions behind this torture. Torture Garden is based on the maniacal anguish presented in the S&M film underground of late-'80s Japan. With its series of 42 pieces ranging in length from eight seconds to one minute, the Torture Garden CD reflects Zorn's infatuation with this element of the Japanese psyche. The complex arrangements span jazz, metal, rock, fusion, and cacophonous noise. With their opposing tempos, the two discs complement each other well. Providing a sense of Zorn's diverse capabilities for expression, this is perhaps the most intense work done by Naked City, and certainly the most ominous. ~ Marc Gilman