The World Turned Upside Down was recorded live at Les Instants Chavirés in Montreuil (Paris, France) on October 14, 1999. It was the first time guitarist Keith Rowe (one of the founders of the collective AMM back in 1965), Swiss improviser Günter Müller (electronics, selected drums), and Japanese guitarist Taku Sugimoto played together as a trio. Sugimoto's almost melodic figures serve as the backbone for these two improvisations. His guitar lines, going from dreamy strums to feverish runs, take center stage; it's the most consistent sound heard on the record. The other two follow his moods, weaving textures around his guitar, Rowe using long glissandos on the strings, Müller softly hitting objects on a floor tom and treating the sounds electronically. The resulting music is paradoxically busy and quiet, like the meditation of a madman. Although the trio's performance can't be considered transcendent, the musicians' personalities were compatible and World Turned Upside Down offers a nice hour of soft mayhem.