Alchemic Life

For a label that rarely foregrounds guitar, Alchemic Life is a striking exception. Not Two’s catalog has historically leaned away from guitar‑centered music — aside from early titles by Jarek Śmietana and Bohdan Lizoń, and later Joe Morris (mostly on bass) — making the bold, electric presence of Natsuki Kido all the more surprising. In Kazutoki Umezu’s KIKI Band, however, the guitar becomes essential: sharp, expressive, and central to the album’s high‑energy identity.

Kido, a major figure in Japan’s progressive rock and avant‑garde scenes, brings a rare mix of technical command and emotional range. His playing moves from jagged riffs to lyrical arcs, from rock‑driven authority to textural abstraction, giving the music its volatile, shape‑shifting character. Umezu — one of Japan’s most inventive reed players, with a career spanning free jazz, rock, folk traditions, and countless hybrid forms — drives the quartet with restless imagination. Takeharu Hayakawa’s electric bass and Joe Trump’s dynamic drumming complete a band built for contrast, velocity, and surprise.

Across eight tightly crafted pieces, Alchemic Life channels Umezu’s global reach into razor‑edged riffs, fractured grooves, sly humor, and bursts of open improvisation. Named in homage to Kraków’s Alchemia club, the album embodies transformation through collision — a vivid, full‑throttle entry in the Not Two catalog that expands the label’s terrain while remaining unmistakably in its spirit.