Half Japanese
Hear The Lions Roar

In the end, I think many would agree in defining Jad Fair as an eccentric personality. Many might even claim that he has some kind of dark side: they imagine him with frizzy hair, as if he has just undergone some sort of electro-shock, a stereotypical figure, like that of the mad scientist typical of popular culture. Basically, a kind of caricature of a creative artist who must be crazy or at least peculiar and therefore somehow led to have an unusual and indefinable personality and an odd nature that drives him to perform strange experiments. Perhaps it is also for this reason that a lot of people still evidently consider over the years Jad Fair and the Half Japanese, the band that Jad formed with his brother David in 1975 in Uniontown, Maryland, as something that belongs to a remote and undefined moment of the past. A moment in which, however, a piece of music history was made with the triple album '1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts' (basically a collection of a whole series of home recordings that the two brothers had recorded over time), a moment which for many is enough to qualify this artist and the band as a kind of 'cult' and object of devotion. But this kind of consideration, in my opinion, is not enough to truly describe his artistic qualities. It is not sufficient to describe all the artistic and creative qualities of Jad Fair, an artist who is still as productive as he is brilliant today and who, on the other hand, has never wanted to be an object of particular devotion.

On the other hand, it is a fact: the music critics have created a lot of terms that are derived precisely from the early episodes and recordings of Half Japanese and Jad Fair: lo-fi, noise-rock, indie-rock, alternative-rock... All terms and definitions that are still used and abused today. In a sense, we can say that Jad contributed to the creation of a true musical vocabulary, as well as to what was, in all effects, a new way of approaching musical matters because he and his brother introduced some elements (the typical use of home recordings, the use of disturbing, even excessive, noise distortions, playing out of tune, the simple fact of being completely uninterested in doing something formal and requiring a particular technical training, the rejection of the typical song form in every possible sense) that are still considered particular and absolutely experimental today.

What I find somehow strange but mostly superficial in speaking of Jad Fair is the fact that these works, '1/2 Gentlemen/Not Beasts' or, for example, 'The Zombies of Mora Tau', which Lester Bangs, a great fan of Jad Fair and his works (how could it be otherwise, given that in some way the two shared the same approach to art and proposed the same type of social culture), wanted to define as one of the greatest examples of 'noisy' music, are considered by many as a single event. In fact, I do not see many people interested in what Jad Fair is still doing today, and I am sincerely surprised by this. Firstly, because his records are absolutely fantastic, the album he released at the beginning of this year, for example, 'Perfect' (Joyful Noise Recordings), is objectively one of the finest art-rock episodes of recent years and sounds in a much more innovative, fresh, virulent, and provocative way than much other stuff that is generally considered by critics and that I might just throw directly into the trash without passing go. The second reason lies in the simple fact that Jad has never stopped making new records over the years. Indeed. His entire production is practically impossible to reconstruct. I myself have no problem recognizing that I haven't listened to his entire discography, and I wonder if this is somehow possible. I wonder if he himself has ever done so. But who cares, after all. I think that even Jad doesn't care much about all this and that for him what matters is being creative and giving vent to his creativity and ideas by making them 'real'. This is for what concerns music and what concerns the arts in general, considering the fact that we are talking about someone who is also a great visual artist (the artwork of Half Japanese's albums are obviously all his works). He has never stopped making new music and over the years he has also collaborated with an infinity of artists, many of whom could also be defined as 'mainstream' or certainly followed: John Zorn, Yo La Tengo, J. Mascis, his good friend Daniel Johnston, Steve Shelley, and Thurston Moore of the Sonic Youth...

Why. I mean, why does the music world continue not to give this brilliant artist, who is also such a sweet and gentle person (he really is), not only the glory but especially the right attention that his art requires. Probably this happens also because, in a sense, Jad truly has an eccentric personality, but this is because he has an ideological vision of himself and his music that is far from any stereotype of a pseudo-rock star or pop artist. He started making music before punk in the UK became a reality. Half Japanese were publishing and recording music before no-wave became a cult phenomenon in New York City. Jad Fair and his band were noise, indie, alternative before anyone else was defined this way. But the gist of the matter, in my opinion, is precisely in the fact that Jad has always done and still does today simply what he wants and without any particular intent aimed at obtaining a certain fame or a figure of himself that is particular and different from who he really is and that's how his music and his songs are conceived.

Jad simply expresses himself and this makes him what I define as a truly sensitive artist and consequently, not by choice but by his very nature, a completely independent and consequently underground figure within the music scene and in music history. That's how things are and I am convinced that he has no regrets in that sense and also for me, things are perfectly fine as they are concerning my approach to music. I reject in this sense any encyclopedic approach: I simply listen to what I feel like listening to and if now I can't stop listening to this album, 'Hear The Lions Roar', which will be released next month on Fire Records, it's just because once again Jad has made an excellent and at the same time unpredictable album for those who are his varied and extravagant contents.

A wild, eccentric, and at the same time energetic album filled with that typical Half Japanese humor, 'Hear The Lions Roar' is what I would finally define as an art rock album composed with what is now established and proven experience and with which Jad offers a handful of songs and lyrics in which there is evident optimism and freshness in the sound that blends well with proud sounds and a rhythm section that I would describe as assertive, compulsive. After all, consider that Half Japanese are, in effect, a band. Apart from Jad, the current lineup includes John Slugget, Gilles-Vincent Rieder, Jason Willett, Mick Hobbs. The addition of some guests, such as baritone horn player Lydia Fischer and cellist Sophie Bernadou, brings an added touch of uniqueness to the sound, which is well evident right from the title-track, 'Hear The Lions Roar', probably the best moment of the album, a triumphant anthem of joy in a power-pop style that could probably make many think of an artist possibly even more prolific than Jad Fair, namely Robert Pollard.

Although the fact remains that mentioning artists similar to Jad Fair and Half Japanese makes it practically impossible to establish who influenced whom and to what extent. This is because, for both him and other musicians I would describe as somehow ideologically and musically akin, I believe they have the same approach to music. They consider it a purely expressive art. Their music is an immediate expression of feelings and emotions. Many of the songs on the album seem to be played before even being conceived. I am referring in particular to the more freaky and noise episodes of the album, mostly contained in the first part: 'Wherever We Are Led', 'Of Course It Is', 'Here We Are', the noise of 'Attack Of The Giant Leeches', the joyous and light-hearted ballad in the style of Daniel Johnston 'On Top', the psychedelic and hypnotic, 'It Never Stops'.

It is an album with positive contents, something that generally appears to be in contrast with other 'alternative' publications, but it is a characteristic that doesn't make this album trivial or superficial. At the same time, it would be wrong to think of something totally improvised either. 'On The Right Track', for instance, has a very particular arrangement, an almost dub rhythm section, a certain minimalist approach that makes one think of some episodes of artists like Pere Ubu or Red Krayola. 'The Preventers' shows how Jad has somehow anticipated and influenced or could in any case be considered close to artists like Serengeti, someone who makes hip-hop music and who, however, has always declared to be influenced by garage sounds and who has adopted the mission of bringing what he defines as joy and fun back into the world of hip hop music. 'Super Power' is a 'super-experimental' episode of psychedelic lysergia and truly difficult to define, something completely indecipherable and at the same time particularly evocative, 'This Is What I Know' is, along with the title-track, the best song on the album, a song of garage psychedelia accompanied by the sound of the organ and then fragmented into a shower of confetti, an explosion of cello sounds and guitar feedbacks. But it is probably 'Do It Know' and 'It's Our Time' that better than all represent the true contents of the album and what is the ideological message that Jad Fair wants to convey to his listeners. I thought of a quote from Kurt Vonnegut, which I read in the preface of 'Mother Night', which goes something like this: 'Make love, whenever you can. It's good for you.' That's it. I think this is the true content and ideal testament of the album. Open your eyes and your ears and this will become evident to you. Obvious. Love.