Yuka Honda - Live in NYC
Tonic - March 6, 2002
Concert Review by W. Dire Wolff

Yuka Honda released her debut solo album "memories are my only witness" in February 2002. In order to celebrate the release of the new CD, Yuka put together an all star New York City underground jazz punk rock band to play the Tonic on March 6, 2002. In the past few years Yuka and her friends have played in this little New York City club in various configurations. The intimate atmosphere of the Tonic was the perfect place for friends to come together and enjoy the music.

There were two shows that featured Yuka and friends; John Zorn on Saxophone, Dave Douglas on Trumpet, Timo Ellis of Cibo Matto was playing electric guitar, Russell Simins of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Butter08, etc. and Dougie Bowne of Skeleton Key alternated as drummers, and Rick Lee of Cibo Matto, Skeleton Key, Butter08, etc. was playing slide guitar, bass, guitar, and the electric sampler suitcase. Yuka has shared various musical projects with everyone who played with her that night. She has worked in various bands with everyone, in some type of Cibo Matto project, or even in the days before Cibo Matto was formed. But if people came to see Cibo Matto, they might have been surprised to find that Yuka's show offered a very intense, hard driving instrumental live performance, that was almost devoid of vocals. During the show, Yuka played some of the music from her new CD, but the music was rearranged for the live performance.

Yuka switched between playing keyboards to playing bass guitar on various songs. Some of the slower songs featured more of the keyboards interwoven with the saxophone and trumpet. Later in the set, Yuka lead the band into a musical frenzy as she attacked the bass' strings. Rick Lee was playing bass when Yuka was playing the keyboard. Russell, Timo, and Rick worked really tight together and formed a powerhouse of energy that burst sharp blasts around every sharp corner. When the horns were playing and everyone is taking it slow, it's just a jazz band playing a little club in the Big Apple. Sometimes Dougie was laying back and keeping everything steady, while the brass kept talking. Then later when everyone was watching Yuka going crazy, with Russell on the rhythm, Timo played all this electric bio signals, Rick pulling samples out of his suitcase, and it's just this punk rock space ensemble. Once again, you get caught up in these crazy horn players just wailing. There is this squeaking and squawking and wailing, like the wildest of beat players. The music played that night was a brilliant fusion of jazz, rock, country, punk, and whatever else they could pluck out of the air. Yuka has a mastery of the keyboard, but you can really see her soul goes into her bass guitar playing.

While the music was not as mellow as the music on her new album, many of the songs were of a more gentle nature. Most notably was her handling of songs from her new album such as "small circular motion" and "the last one to fall asleep with". She played almost the same set for both shows, with some minor changes. Although the set lists were basically the same, each of the two shows had a slightly different feel and musical intonation. The late night show was much more intense that the first show, but the sweet spots were more fluid in the opening show.

The members of the band followed each other through a series of musical changes and passages. Timo Ellis' guitar playing went from rapid fire leads, to power chords, and then spacey effects that tightly interacted with Yuka. You can see her looking around and directing everyone. Her musical conversation with each of those really outstanding musicians was really visible. You could see her pulling them all together into one tight ball of energy. Then there would be Rick Lee's slide guitar licks that made a slightly space cowboy feel to part of the show. Which faded away into Russell banging on the skins with savage vengeance. Yuka pouring every ounce of her energy into a frailing heavy metal bass barrage. It was a musical fusion that passed from form to chaos and back around again.

Both shows ended with Yuka introducing the band and then calling her "b!tches" up on stage to sing the last number. The final song was a sweet sounding song of misplaced emotions. Seven beautiful women went up on the stage, including Ganda of Cibo Matto fame, and the album photographer Kyoko Hamada.The women sang while swaying gracefully and blowing bubbles that floated out over the audience. It was a nice way for Yuka to tell everyone, "Thank You and Good Night!"

Yuka Honda has been working to put together various musical ensembles and creative outlets. She has the artistic need to express herself through many different types of music. While she plans to continue to work on music that is similar to that of her CD "memories are my only witness", she also has been putting together a more hard rocking band to record and tour with. When time allows, Yuka works with other people in the studio on the production of various projects. Yuka's reflective nature combined with her diverse musical tastes provides the base of her current creative use of composition and improvisation. I think the fusion of jazz and punk that I saw on March 6, 2002 was one of the most interesting musical conversations that I have witnessed in a long time. Yuka was really out there, she found that place where she was just flowing and jamming with these other really great musicians. It's all she wanted to do, was to be there playing with those friends of her. That love of playing music, is what produces really great music.

Click Here - Find out more about Yuka Honda's CD - "memories are my only witness"