Out of Perspective (Various Artists)

Pity the poor Japanese. And while you're at it, pity us poor Americans too. They muck up a lot of our low culture, but damn, they do it much better than we ever did. They have Guitar Wolf in sweat-encrusted rock 'n' roll leather 20 years after the Ramones. Our biggest "rock" star is on a nationwide acoustic (!) tour. Their hit pop songs have garbled English lyrics like, "Hot dance in cherry moon." Ours: "Near, far, wherever you are." Cornelius, who sells out Japanese stadiums, stole his name from Planet of the Apes. Charlton Heston is president of the NRA. Yes, America, be very afraid.

But who woulda thunk that those guys could screw up the most American of music, jazz and hip-hop—'and some British jungle too? Or that it would sound so much cooler than anything we're doing? Cooler than cool. The new Soup-Disk sampler, Out of Perspective, is just that. If it isn't exactly a redefinition of American music, it's a nice change from jungle that farts out Muzak melodies and hip-hop tha "steals hits from the '80s." And it only costs two bucks.

The Soup sound demolishes categories by combining so many of them, often simultaneously. Bird songs and banjo-plucking battle breakbeats. Riow Arai makes three beats chase each others' tails by dropping in ray guns, funk bass, and even some live-sounding drum solos.

The jazz is rather bizarre, as is the hip-hop. But, while sometimes repetitive and never organic, it's great to hear boogie-woogie piano, angular live bassline, and free jazz sax instead of elevator music over electronic beats. Or Nagi's robotically vacuumed hip-hop, the seal punctured only by hiss and echo, every beat sparse and syncopated.

Cornelius: "We thought you were inferior." Charlton: "Now you know better." Or is it the other way around? (Dutch East India)

—Sam Frank

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