What kind of government would send a lunatic artist, whose idea of self expression is smashing amplified glass against his face, off to China to become a cultural ambassador? Australia the lucky country of coarse! And that’s’ exactly what happened to Lucas Abela (Justice Yeldham) and this album, Mrs Rice is it’s result. With under two months in Beijing he formed the pick up band Rice屎Corpse, (named after the Chinese character for shit, 屎 which itself is the combination of two characters "尸" corpse and "米" rice), jammed with them four times (two off which were recorded for this album) before heading off for a ten city tour of China.A Trio of glass, drums and piano was in Lucas’s minds ear when he arrived and two completely different musicians came forward to form this unlikely band. First to be recruited for drums was Yang Yang whose antics in his own band Mafeisan has given him the reputation of being the craziest exponent of the normally conservative Beijing scene. His ultra loud out and proud personality is in stark contrast to the mild mannered and brutally shy saxophonist Li Zenghui who came to the project as pianist, cause simply put there were no suitable pianists in the city.
Existing for a limited time and without a common language to interrupt they managed to create these six varied and strangely focused improvisations. This despondent attempt at musicality is by far Abela’s most accessible work to date as the addition of Yang and Li’s stabbing rhythm section forced the seasoned noisician to take his glass instrument into surprising new directions. Released on conjunction with SUBJAM and made possible with the kind assistance of Asialink and the Australia Council for the Arts.
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