First Thirst, Live at Cave12

First Thirst – Live at Cave12 captures a fierce, unfiltered encounter between two generations of improvisers whose energies collide with volcanic force. Recorded in Geneva on June 19, 2008, the performance brings together Japanese avant‑garde icon Akira Sakata and the British‑born, Swiss‑based drummer Nicolas Field for a duo set that feels as raw, immediate, and combustible as improvised music gets.

Sakata — who first came to international attention in the explosive Yosuke Yamashita Trio of the 1970s and has remained a defining force in Japanese free music for more than fifty years — arrives here with the full breadth of his expressive arsenal: alto saxophone, clarinet, and the unmistakable vocal eruptions that have long been part of his musical signature. His playing is a study in extremes — guttural cries, piercing upper‑register runs, sudden lyricism, and the ritualistic vocalizations that have long been part of his expressive vocabulary. Field, several decades younger but every bit as fearless, meets him with drumming that is both volatile and finely attuned. His approach is less about keeping time than about shaping momentum: rumbling undercurrents, shimmering cymbal washes, and explosive bursts that match Sakata’s intensity gesture for gesture.

The opening title track sets the tone: a sustained surge of energy in which both musicians push hard against the limits of breath and pulse. “Kaigara‑Bushi,” framed by Sakata’s traditional Japanese singing, offers a striking contrast — a moment where folk memory and free improvisation briefly touch before dissolving back into abstraction. “Walking the dog gone deaf” centers on Sakata’s clarinet, revealing a more restrained, shadowed side of his playing, while Field constructs a shifting percussive environment around him. The closing piece, “Stable stables, towards ten more,” returns to high‑voltage interplay, the duo locked into a dialogue that feels both chaotic and uncannily precise.

What makes the recording so compelling is the responsiveness between the two musicians. Despite the age difference and the distinct musical histories they bring, Sakata and Field operate with a shared instinct for risk. Sakata’s lines leap unpredictably across registers; Field answers with textures that expand or redirect the music in real time. Their interplay is dense but never cluttered, intense but never static — a sonic storm shaped by two improvisers who refuse to settle into predictable roles.

In the context of Not Two’s long tradition of documenting uncompromising improvisation, First Thirst stands out as a duo recording of rare immediacy. It is music for listeners who welcome volatility, who appreciate the beauty in abrasion, and who understand that freedom in sound often emerges from the willingness to leap without a net. Sakata and Field leap constantly — and the results are electrifying.

A document of liberated energy and fearless communication, First Thirst remains a testament to the enduring vitality of Sakata’s art and to Field’s ability to meet him on equal ground. It is a recording that burns hot from the first moment to the last, alive with the urgency of two musicians pushing each other toward the edge.