Ruins

Reissue and remasters of the first 5 ruins releases on 2 CD. Without a doubt, Tatsuya Yoshida was one of the most important drummers on the Japanese scene in the final decades of the 20th century, having spearheaded at least a half dozen of that country's most important groups. Tatsuya Yoshida discovered prog rock as a teenager, instilling a deep love of complex structures and irregular time signatures, but it was listening to Magma and This Heat that inspired him to start making music of his own. As a composer, drummer and vocalist, he’s spent much of his career pursuing a maximalist vision with minimal means, most famously with his bass/drums duo Ruins. They are known for their rapidly shifting and complex rhythms, and for often sounding like five artists instead of two.

The group, formed in 1985, was supposedly intended to be a power trio; the guitarist, however, never showed up to the band's first rehearsal so the group remained a duo. The French progressive rock band Magma is the group's most important influence, to such an extent that Ruins' original lyrics are written and sung in an invented language which, at first glance, resembles Kobaïan, the language invented by Christian Vander of Magma. Ruins' material (which Yoshida, who composes the majority of their pieces, writes out in score form) is generally of extreme complexity and thus is often described as inaccessible; potential listeners may be bewildered by the band's unrestrained yet disciplined approach.