BUFFALO DAUGHTER
Brownie's, New York City, March 16, 1998

If aliens ever want to make contact with us earthlings, Buffalo Daughtershould be the ones to work out a common language. That is, if Perry Farrellhasn't already figured it out.

A Japanese three-piece who first made waves on these shores with a Grand Royalseven-inch called Legend of the Yellow Buffalo in 1996, BD layerpatterns of sound on top of each other until melodies miraculously emerge fromchaos. BD's latest effort is called New Rock, and it's a prettyaccurate description -- except for the fact that they don't play anythingresembling rock and roll. It's more like krautrock-based techno with heaps ofDust Brothers/Beck sample-pop and lots of hip-hop hooray mixed with a jazzsensibility. Everything gets thrown into their jambalaya, and it works.

On stage, SuGar Yoshinaga, Yumiko Ohno, MoOog Yamamoto and drummer Atsushi(brought in to augment BD's live show) seemed more interested in the processthan on the effect their music had on the audience. That's a shame because thecrowd loved it. Even if the band stood stock still, there was plenty of booty-shaking going on down below.

Concentrating mostly on songs from New Rock, BD faithfully recreatedthe grooves on the album. With two main approaches to making music -- one inwhich the lead instrument (usually SuGar's guitar) creates the groove, theother in which the lead provides a dissonant counter-groove -- BD alternatedbetween smooth flowing instrumentals a la Pell Mell ("Great Five Lakes," "SkyHigh") and geometric skronk that recalled avant-rock masters Sonic Youth("Autobacs," "Rhythm & Basement"). Only rarely did they extend and explore thepossibilities of a song, though when they did, as on the encore "L1303VE,"the results made up for the wait.

If jazz is about "listening to the notes they don't play," as pint-sizedbeatnik Lisa Simpson is wise to point out, then BD's take on New Rock -- or,as their T-shirts read, Neu Rock -- is well-described by this phenomenon. BDprovided all the right sounds during their performance here; it was up to thelistener to put the songs together.

RANDY SILVER