Band: Knead Album: 1st Label: PSF 128 Musicians: Keiji Haino (g,vo), Tatsuya Yoshida (dr,vo), Hisashi Sasaki (b) Release Date: May 25, 2002 Haino has released recordings of him playing in a lot of varied guitar-bass-drums trios: Fushitsusha (the rocking trio), Aihiyo (the cover band trio), w/ Barre Philips and Sabu Toyozumi (the European Free Improv trio), w/ Greg Cohen & Joey Baron (the downtown NYC improv trio), w/ Bill Laswell & Rashid Ali (the tepidly received Tzadik supergroup trio). This latest trio, Knead, has been billed as Haino + RUINS and that description is relatively accurate. The sound is a blend of Fushitusha and RUINS. The cd is 75 + minutes long and is a recording of a live show from December 8, 2001. It contains several 13-17 minute tracks. On some of the tracks, particularly the opening track, the dense ferocity of Fushitsusha is clearly evident, hearkening back to earlier Fushitsusha albums such as Pathetique. On other tracks the arrhythmic rhythm section of RUINS is the prevalent sound, accompanied by Haino on guitar and voice. Altogether, the album is a rock album. This is in contrast to Haino's last release, "Until Water Grasps Flame", which was a duo with Tatsuya Yoshida and was more in a non-rock improvisational vein than this current release. This album will certainly please Haino's Fushitsusha fans. David K. p.s. Other related Haino news: (i) Solo percussion video on PSF released, (ii) new Vajra album next month, (iii) long interview in the upcoming issue of The Wire.