[ aquarius records — Japan Noise Free Psych ]

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Merzbow may be prolific to the point of no return by now, and so you may scoff at yet another release (that makes what, 10 so far this year?) but don't pass this one up. All of us around here have been mildly obsessed with Swedish ambient / noise / drone technician Nordvargr, from his days in the dark-ambient-in black-metal's-clothing outfit MZ412 to his later militaristic folk ensembles Toroidh and Folkstorm. Strangely these two noiseniks make the perfect combination, Japanoise meets Scandanavian power electronics and the result is a crushing slab of low end doom drone dirge. Merzbow created the source material for Nordvargr to process in his inimitably grim fashion. Three lengthy tracks. The first is a spine tinglingly creepy and gut churningly, ominously oppresive rumbling glitchy throb, crumbling slabs of low end over sinister whir and brittle crackling skeletal beats like the scary parts of Tron, or the part in some demonic anime snuff film when you first discover the true face of evil. Track two turns crushing ambient sludge into HUGE crunchy stuttering beats, not just block rocking beats, but beats that flatten entire neighborhoods like Autechre or Aphex twin jamming with Sunn 0))), spare and skittery, wandering through a precarious landscape of hissing blasts of Japanoise and keening squalls of high end iridescence. The final track is clicky, glitchy, haunting almost-IDM filtered through the noxious fumes of demon's breath and dipped in boiling pitch. ominous and frighteningly lovely. One of the best noise / sludge / drone / slow-motion-dance-music-for-demons record of the year!

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The long awaited second installment in the who-knows-how-many-parts Patikel series, which features a collaboration between AQ fave Swedish dark ambient, militant folk, black metal noise technician Nordvargr (Toroidh, MZ412, Folkstorm, Goatvargr, HH9, etc...) and Japanese noise legend Masami Akita aka Merzbow. Strange bedfellows maybe, but the results here, as on the first installment, are pretty mind-blowing. Akita generated the sounds, Nordvargr took those sounds and twisted them into completely new forms, the result some strange noise/drone/rhythm hybrid that is WAY more listenable than it has any right to be. The opener sets the tone, a twenty minute crumbling distorted noisescape, like bits of old Merzbow records all chopped up and assembled again Frankenstein's monster fashion, that veers from full on near-metallic crunch, to strange skittery almost IDM, but even at it's calmest, the track is still rife with strange sounds and damaged FX, bursts of harsh noise surfacing here and there amidst an alien landscape of stutters and shuffles, of creaks and squeaks, almost like a black metal Mouse On Mars if one could even imagine such a thing. The second track sounds heavier on the Nordvargr than the Merzbow, a rumbling shimmering low end, that creeps and drifts before splintering briefly into another rhythmic glitchscape, just as quickly transforming into a buzzing snarling fuzzed out drone, thick and corrosive, subtly rhythmic, but intense and crackling with energy. Deep cavernous tones swell in the background, while above the blurry buzz, strange crunchy electronic pulses mark out a simple static rhythm. The third track is Part 2 to the opener's Part 1, and takes the openers skitter to a much meaner, much harsher place, a swirling high end cloud of hissing static and keening sine waves, over a relentlessly pulsing backdrop, that changes pitch, and tempo, stuttering and hiccuping, creating a gorgeously confusional rhythmscape, eventually breaking into a near-groove, a loping downtempo slither, but still wrapped in all manner of electronic detritus and squalls of fuzz and crackle and whir. The closer winds things down with more of a whisper than a scream, the glitchy rhythms are still present, but they are ultra minimal, skeletal, almost like shortwave interference, beneath a tidal swirl of murk and blur, a dark ambient buzz that stretches lazily into long expanses of slow shifting sounds. Over the course of the track, little bits of melody surface here and there, the rhythms get more agitated before drifting back beneath the surface, and mysterious voices surface amidst sparkling sonic glimmers and moaning ambient rumble, a dreamy dark ambient coda to an intense slab of droning skittering buzz and crunch, shimmer and swirl. Partikel II is IDM for the demon set, a blackened noise drenched skitter, an abstract metallic free-electronica, and a definite droney dancefloor filler, that is if you want your dancefloor filled with shuffling zombies, growling beasts and unspeakable denizens of the underworld... And who doesn't?!

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Attention Masayuki Takayanagi fans! Actually, attention all '70s Japanese free jazz fans!! Heck, attention everybody!!! (Well, everybody who likes crazy creative freeform improv skronkiness.) Doubtmusic brings us this compact disc reissue of a 1976 album by Japanese improvising cellist/bassist Keiki Midorikawa playing with several heavy friends, nicely packaged of course, in a miniature LP style sleeve. Actually, it's more than a reissue, as this double cd edition has been expanded twofold to include previously unissued music. The original LP documented Midorikawa's duo with legendary guitarist Takayanagi on one side, and his duo with pianist Masahiko Sato on the other side, about 20 minutes each. But at the same concert, Midorikawa had also performed a duo with percussionist Mashaiko Togashi, the 40 minute recording of which appears here for the first time, as disc one of what's now a two disc set, which is why it's now considered "Complete". Additionally, it's been remastered, and includes both the liner notes from the original vinyl release as well as new liners penned by Taku Sugimoto. Perhaps they explain why all the titles are given in what appears to be German, we don't know though, we haven't read 'em yet. Since we came to this primarily as Takayanagi fans, naturally we jumped right to disc two to hear his contribution to this set. The Midorikawa/Takayanagi duo, entitled "An die Prinzessin die aus dem Maulbeerbaum geboren wurde", is crammed with plinking and plonking, scrabble and scrape, silences and even some (vocal) screams, the busy fingers of both men rustling up some (mostly quiet) noise. It's the Derek Bailey-ish side of Takayanagi on display here. Following it on the same disc, Midorikawa's duo with Sato, "Der Todeskampf am Maderospatch" is rather more dramatic, sounding melodically lovely (jazzy) in parts, but also building to loud, rumbling crescendos. Quite satisfying for our free jazz cravings. But actually, turning to disc one, we soon discovered that Midorikawa's lengthy duo with Togashi, "Dichorragia nesimachus", is probably our favorite piece here. It's both wonderfully moody, Midorikawa caressing his strings in "classical" mode, melodically droning away amidst beautiful bells and gentle shimmer, which gives way on the percussive side of the equation to more martial drum beats, a physical pounding that then elicits a sawing, shuddering response from Midorikawa's cello, both players coming together for rapidfire percussive skitter-scatter... of course, it's a long piece, and that only describes a portion of it. Nice to have it rescued from the vault!

MPEG stream: Dichorragia nesimachus
MPEG stream: Der Todeskampf am Maderospatch

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SORRY. Along with LSD-march's Shindara Jigoku, here's another slab of vinyl on Siwa from another excellent underground Japanese psych unit. Tokyo's Miminokoto (who, like LSD-march, have also released a cd on the Last Visible Dog label) present their appropriately titled third studio recording as a limited, vinyl-only edition boasting a nice hand-screened cover. Collectors will want this, but also anyone into garagey guitar psych... And we weren't aware of this before, but Miminokoto is somewhat of a Tokyo psych veteran supergroup, with a line-up that includes: Masami Kawaguchi (Broomdusters, LSD-march, Aihiyo), Koji Shimura (White Heaven, High Rise) and Takuya Nishimura (Che-Shizu)!

Glory be! We've got not one but TWO new albums from Miminokoto, who you may already know as one of the new wave of Japanese psych trios (along with LSD-march and Up-Tight also) making the rounds of late. Miminokoto currently consist of singer/guitarist Masami Kawaguchi (LSD-march, Broomdusters, Aihiyo), drummer Koji Shimura (White Heaven, High Rise) and bassist Hiroaki Takeuchi. How does this particular unit stand apart from their peers? Well, although quite capable of building up into big, burning, fuzzed-out guitar clangor (and when they do, they get just as gnarly as the rest), they have a mellow side to 'em, one that's very melancholic and emotional, that they explore in perhaps greater depth and duration than those other bands tend to do. With weary vocals of which maybe even Jandek would be proud, Miminikoto can create a sense of sadness which makes Kawaguchi's howling guitar, when it kicks in, all that much more cathartic. They also aren't afraid of some poppy jangle too, so you're never sure what's around the corner. From track to track, one cut might be a punked out stormer, the next a gentle web of fragile notes. Of these two new releases, one's an import studio recording, and the other's a domestically released live album (though this sort of stuff always seems live). There's five magnificently meandering and oft harrowing new tunes on the Alchemy disc Green Mansions, while the live disc on LVD, Orange Garage (named for the venue where these void-vibes were conjured), features new n' heavier versions of three previously recorded Miminokoto tracks plus three other totally new compositions, culminating in the 16+ minute "Kumononaka". Can't really pick between 'em, either or both should be of interest to any Japanese psych-scene follower...

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The last time we heard from Tokyo underground psych-meisters Miminokoto, with their 2009 PSF release All About Mimi, they were calling themselves New Miminokoto. On account of how they'd replaced longtime lead singer/guitarist Masami Kawaguchi with Suzuki Junzo (ex-Overhang Party). Well, that's not news any more, so now they're back to calling themselves just plain Miminokoto. Suzuki Junzo is still capably fronting the group, wearing shades (we presume) and wranging his guitar through the usual distortodelic psych storms and melancholically poppy ramshackle jangle we expect from these exemplars of the hazy, heavy lidded, late-night "Tokyo Flashback" sound. Singing in Japanese, his voice is hushed and weary, the music often likewise, though they rev up for some of those feedback filled, Rallizes style blowouts we love at times too. On All About Mimi, the band covered a couple songs by the late Jutok Kaneko (Kousokuya), here they do another one, along with six others of their own, equally emotive and wrecked composition. The label that put this disc out calls their style "decadent death doom" and while that might be a bit misleading to those of you who think you already know what "death doom" sounds like ('cause this definitely ain't metal, though it may be decadent), that description definitely captures the downer vibe. For sure they've got the blues, though this also isn't "blues" as commonly known, either. What it is, is a sad and gorgeous session of shimmering amp bliss, burbling bass, slow shuffling drums, aching vocals, creaky chords, and minor key melody. Fans of prior Miminokoto output (new and old) as well as other Tokyo flashbackers like LSD-March, Up-Tight, Suishou No Fune, Kawaguchi New Rock Syndicate, Overhang Party etc. etc. should definitely dig!!

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Last Visible Dog brings us the first US release for this Tokyo-based trio, a self-described 'romantic psychedelic band'. Recorded live at Tokyo's Penguin House back in January of this year, this disc starts off with a raucous tangle-jangle of bright garagey guitars ("Tottemo"), followed by a melancholic pop dirge that then erupts into sky-scraping psych guitar overload ("Subeteha"). The rest of the set follows a similar pattern, juxtaposing the quiet and folky with the loud and shrill. You'll get a song that features mopey Japanese vocals over jazzily listless instrumental backing, that'll be followed by piece built around some severe, noisy guitar rockin' and crashing drums. Often one thing builds into the other, which is quite satisfying. Definitely a 'Tokyo Flashback' style band, for fans of Shizuka, Nagisa Ni Te, White Heaven, Kousokuya, all that sort of thing!

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Calm and chaos intermingle on this intriguing solo disc of quirky and uncategorizable improv-avant-pop from experimental Japanese bassist Nasuno Mitsuru (Altered States, Korekyojin, etc.). Aside from one bonus track, it's all stuff recorded about ten years ago, and previously unreleased, except for a couple cuts that were part of the massive 10cd "Improvised Music From Japan" box set, now out of print. He gets a bunch of help from his friends here, including Otomo Yoshihide and his turntables on a few of these pieces! Already, the very first track isn't what we expected at all. (Not that we really knew what to expect.) It's over 12 minutes long, quite strange and lovely; a countryish song for slide guitar twang and mumbled indie-folk vocals, that's also utterly overrun with stuttery glitch, random noise and electronic skree, like some old-timey back porch blues broadcast on an ancient radio, garbled by jamming and interference. The "alien Appalachia" of Ignatz comes to mind, or Geoff Mullen's abstract banjo experiments, or John Fahey at (and beyond) his most avant-garde. We'd buy this just for that alone. But of course there's more, other oddities abounding. The very next track features what sounds like an electronic approximation of a Jew's Harp, all zips and zaps and boings and burbles, accompanying some dramatic female vocals, both breathy and wailing. Whereas the third song is sung by a slowed-down, distorted, whispery male voice. Elsewhere, Nasuno explores clamorous rhythmic avenues on several more beat-heavy tracks. Folk/noise is returned to later in the disc, where traditional Japanese shamisen and singing is subverted by waves of electronic glitch and distortion. All in all, another quite interestin' Doubtmusic disc, providing a glimpse into the fascinating, unique personal soundworlds of one of the many creative musicians on the Japanese scene whom we weren't nearly familiar enough with before.

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Yay, the '70s Japanese psych rock reissues continue! Years ago this one was available on cd as a fancy expensive Japanese import, but that's been gone for ages so it's nice to have this new reish. A Path Through Haze (great title, eh?) is the mostly instrumental 1971 solo album from acid guitarist Mizutani, a fixture of the scene as a session axe, you'll find him supplying the fuzzed out leads on such records as Love Live Life +1's Love Will Make A Better You and People's Ceremony - Buddha Meets Rock. With this, he stepped out on his own with what proved to be his only album as leader. It's an ambitious affair, employing not only an all-star cast of his heavy friends from the psych scene, but also both string quartet and woodwind quartets. Also prominent on this record is the Hammond organ, piano, and Moog synth of Masahiko Satoh, who did his own album also entitled A Path Through Haze somewhat later. Confusing, eh? "A Path Through Haze" is also a song on both albums, it seems it's a Satoh composition. Here that song starts off with gentle keyboard shimmer, before Mizutani gets his licks in about halfway through, amidst much spaceiness of effects. And that's sorta how it goes with this record, lots of pretty keyboards, yes, plenty of nice moody melody, but Mizutani (usually) eventually unleashes the fuzz, particularly on rockier/riffier numbers like the Hendrix-y "One For Janis". The "chamber rock" restraint characteristic of some of this record only lasts so long, the likes of "Tell Me What You Saw" being a bit of a freak-out, with mathy prog rock rippage galore. And its Satoh's synth that goes nuts some of the time too. This one didn't make the top 50 in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler, by the way... in fact, he actually bags on this one a bit, but WE like it, so there. Cope also didn't like Foodbrain either. While we'll agree that we'd have been happy to hear Mizutani wail away here even more than he does, it's still a beautiful album, and even its most stonery sit-com soundtrack fusion moments have a certain charm.

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A few years back, Kiyoshi Mizutani ventured into the Tanzawa mountain range located to the southwest of Tokyo in order to document the sounds of that very isolated region. In the liner notes to this album, Mizutani explains that this region enjoys a complex history with centuries worth of military endeavors and legends including one tragedy which Mizutani alludes to about "the losing army's princess." Needless to say, the mountains may have been of strategic importance to any number of rival factions; but by now, their remoteness and desolation harbors only a small population. He focuses his attention upon three aspects of those mountains: the natural (which is the dominant voice of the Tanzawan environment), the ceremonial folklore of the people, and the residual noise of the man-made. Mizutani's love of bird sounds was evident on one of his early sound works simply entitled Bird Songs; and the spirited chatter of many a bird dots Mizutani's field recordings. Crickets, cicadas, and plenty of insect choruses also feature into Scenery Of The Border, as does a broad range of watery recordings from quiet drips from a misty rain to the immersive white noise of waterfalls. The few recordings that feature a human presence are of restrained Shinto and Buddhist ceremonies, which Mizutani mentions have rarely been heard outside of that region. It's these ritualistic stompings and hushed bits of chanting that stand amongst the highlights of this incredible field recording document.

MPEG stream: Hail At Mt. Tanzawa
MPEG stream: Million Times Invocation Of Yozuku
MPEG stream: Blue And White Flycatcher At Shiomizu Pass

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SORRY. Japanese noisicians Mayuko Hino (she of dripping candlewax on her naked body performance fame in her other band, CCCC) and Ranko Onishi (dunno much about her) here collaborate as Mne-Mic. Their album "Gulf Stream" is dominated by muffled blasts of synth-generated white noise, with distortion laden theremin warbles and distant screams. But their more subtle work with contact mic-ed buckets of water and Onishi's "fogphone" (which from the back photo appears to be smoke bellows) is even more effective in creating a jarring dislocation between the slashing noise and the brief interludes of silence. Scary, powerful stuff, culminating in the ultra drone-howl of the final, 16-minute track "A Sigh of Clam".

The dronier, gentler (but not necessarily quiet!) side of Japanese garage rock maniac Shinji Masuko (DMBQ, Boredoms) is revealed here via the guitarist's new project, Moan, a duo with vocalist/keyboardist/bassist Makiko Toba (Water Fei). Waves of shoegazing distortion push needles way into the red on opening epic "The Murmur Of The Zodiac Voices", and it's a beautiful thing. Over 26 minutes of drifting, droning psychedelic soundscapey guitar graced with floating female vocals. It's obvious why they called themselves Moan. Parts sound like Boris at their most blissed out, other passages could be the heavy psych guitar explorations of Ulaan Khol. With that massive track alone, the disc is already well worth the price of admission, but the murmuring continues on the lovely slowcore song "No No I", Moan dialing down the volume, getting moodier and even more melodic, before Shinji unleashes some searing distorted guitar like he's having a Tokyo Flashback or something in the second half of the song. The remaining two tracks on the disc, the folky "Soda Song" (Shinji using effects, we assume, to create an effervescent "soda" sound that bubbles along in the background) and the equally-effervescent-even-without-soda-sounds "My Noctiluca Town" are also both individually interesting and pretty and mesmeric. Quite recommended, all in all. We'd often thought that 'Moan' would be a good name for a funereal doom project, but with a record this fantastic (if non-funereal) we don't mind that Shinji & Makiko snagged it.

MPEG stream: The Murmur Of The Zodiac Voices (excerpt 1)
MPEG stream: The Murmur Of The Zodiac Voices (excerpt 2)
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SORRY. A collection of previously unreleased stuff from this Japanese noise maven. With Jojo of Hijokaidan on one track. For fans of Monde Bruits previous album from years ago on Charnel Music, here at last is some more of his noise-stylings. [/cat/japan24.html]

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Psychedelic pioneers in their home country, The Mops (great name!) were one of the originators of the Japanese GS (Group Sounds) scene. They were among the first in Japan to experiment with psychedelic studio effects like flanging and phasing, as well as with

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RealAudio clip: I'm Just A Mops
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Ms. Mukai and her Chinese er-hu (a bowed, 2 stringed instrument) have been a part of the underground Tokyo improv psych scene since the '70s playing in the PSF "dream-psych" band Che-Shizu, while Osaka's Seichi Yamamoto is known to most AQ customers as the gonzo guitarist for Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba, Rovo and more. This live document, another real cd on the moving-away-from-cdrs label Last Visible Dog, sees the two of 'em teaming up for two long duets of late-night atmospheric rumble and squeak. It's totally dark in the Keiji Haino drone mode, or like Taj Mahal Travellers, all abstract and drifty, cries echoing out in a black, empty space. Real nice in other words. Plus there's a third, thirty-minute track where the Mukai/Yamamoto duo are joined by an all-star Japanese drone trio with the humorous name of Lamones Young (yes, their idea is 'what if Lamont Young played Ramones songs', though that's not necessarily what they sound like). Cellist Fukuoka Rinki, drummer Kosakai Fumio, and bassist Nagakubo Ryuichi (variously, members or former members of Incapacitants, CCCC, G-un, Overhang Party, etc.) add even more scraping, sawing drone to the proceedings, while Yamamoto's guitar and Mukai's voice, percussion and er-hu continue to generate sheer alienated psychedelic beauty as per their duo tracks. NB. if you liked the Tangerine Dream Syndicate cd we had a while back from the Alchemy Label, be aware that the Lamones Young were essentially an early version of that band. The liner notes by Tokyo psych expert Alan Cummings provide further info...

RealAudio clip: ...with Lamones Young

Basically, this is what we were hoping the Acid Mother Temple's "Electric Heavyland" would sound like! Musica Transonic is yet another project featuring the wild guitar playing of AMT's Kawabata Makoto, in a trio with two other notables from the Japanese underground: the Ruins' incredible Tatsuya Yoshida on drums, and High Rise/Mainliner/Ohkami No Jikan leather-and-shades master Nanjo Asahito on bass. They've been around for a while, this is their sixth album of instrumental psychedelic improv rock in fact. Previous efforts were a lot more jazzy and spazzy, and while this has total psych guitar freakouts, they're in the context of some speedy, steamroller, straight-ahead heavy rock n' roll, '70s-style. Hence the title "Hard Rock Transonic" I guess. Not unlike the blueprint for Nanjo's bands High Rise and Mainliner: distorted garagey fuzz-fests with searing psych solos (Kawabata rips on here). The driving, riff-repetitive parts are almost metal, kinda like Circle's "Sunrise" in that way. Nanjo's rumbling Blue Cheer bass and Yoshida's solid beats, along with the aforementioned Kawabata guitar freakouts, are total head banging material. Add in the Greek song titles, the crazy cover drawing, and boob n' panty baring cheesecake shots of young Asian women in the booklet, and you've got one wild Japanese psych-metal album.

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SORRY. Third album. Nanjo, Kawabata and Yoshida return, with another blast of...yes, it's the same band as above (Mainliner), with a different name. More spastic, though, and maybe even more fuzz-blasted.

Those who've been paying any attention at all to the extremes of the Japanese prog/psych underground should already be familiar with the band Musica Transonic (responsible for five prior albums on hometown Tokyo label PSF, and one also on Fractal, their last one which came out five long years ago). At the very least, you know the three musical madmen who make up this power trio: drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins, guitarist Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple, and bassist Nanjo Asahito of High Rise. This heavy duty improv freakout summit of theirs is thus a veritable supergroup. All three of these guys have also played together in the band Mainliner. If all that means something to you, then we're pretty sure the news that there's this new 2007 album released on the cool Polish label Vivo ought to be just about enough to get you to want a copy! Or, read on... This long-running act hasn't changed too much this time 'round. Imagine a hyper-active Blue Cheer abandoning the biker-blues riffs to play instrumental freeform jazz instead. Psychedelic skree spills forth as the band settles in to a variety of unsettled grooves. Passages of moody noodilyness collide with amped-up ADD frenzies. Essentially the album title XYOSFBIGKOU (and equally jumbled-looking track names like "Rtufujowvyt" and "Qoixvudgdoasv"), while cryptic, actually give some sense of what Musica Transonic is about. All caps (loud!!), can't understand it (crazy!), but must make some sense somehow to someone (chops?). You'll feel jumbled too after listening to this sonic spooge, sounding somewhere betwixt Lightning Bolt and the Wes Montgomery Trio or something. This recording is not as blown into-the-red as their early stuff, though no less spastic, and also is not nearly as lumberingly "metallic" as their last one, the aptly-titled Hard Rock Transonic, but boy do they grind it out with lots o' feedback on the title track at the end of the album!

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This is John Zorn and "Yamantaka" Eye (Boredoms).

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SORRY. [/cat/20thcenturycomposers9.html]

Long-time followers of the Japanese naive-psych-pop duo known as Nagisa Ni Te may find the contents of this disc oh so slightly familiar, as these four (long) tracks are all re-recordings of Nagisa Ni Te classics taken from previous albums, redone for this collection: "True World", "Anxiety", "Me, On The Beach", and "True Sun". Dream Sounds is of course an apt title, as Nagisa Ni Te's music is certainly dreamlike. A perfect introduction if you haven't yet made their acquaintance (this is their sixth album, some of which have never been released over here, so it'll help catch you up), and a definite treat for fans as well. It's not just a "best of" (that would have to be waaay more than just four songs long!) and these tracks definitely differ from the originals, some of them extended quite a bit. Mellow psych-pop beauty, slow and languid, with delicate vocals and warmly fuzzed guitar solos, so good.

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Disappointed with that crappy new Neil Young album? Try this instead! This is the fourth record (and first domestic release!) from the Osaka psychedelic folk duo of Shinji Shibayama and Masako Takeda. Scotland's Geographic label recently issued a great 'best of' Nagisa Ni Te compilation called "Songs For A Simple Moment" that we've sold quite a few of (reviewed on list 127) so maybe you do already know 'em. The material on "Feel" is newer than anything on that comp, though. This album, with its crisp production quality, intensifies the fragility of Takeda's voice and the overall outsider artist naivetÈ of Nagisa Ni Te. Though it's not a major part of their sound here, you should be aware that this features brief moments of extended electric guitar wank, as with most Japanese artists in the psych vein. Of course, that's one of the things we LIKE about Nagisa Ni Te (and you'll find lots more of that Neil Young-ish guitar stuff on the compilation). But "Feel" generally refrains from cranking up the volume like that. Beautiful and minimalist atmospherics add depth and a visual element to their lyrically melancholic lullabies of hazy reminiscence and love lost. The beautiful photographs (taken by both Shibayama and Takeda) which accompany "Feel" evoke the spirit of spring and feelings of renewal. The music itself however, also reminds us of its bitter breeze and what has passed. Shinji and Masako are joined on several of "Feel"'s tracks by guests including Seiichi Yamamoto (of Boredoms/Omoide Hatoba/Rovo) and Tim Barnes (Tower Recordings).

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Jagjaguar scores major points with us by reissuing here in the USA yet another of the albums by wonderful Japanese outsider-folk-psych duo Nagisa Ni Te. They've previously brought us the band's more recent album "Feel", and now they delve into the past to make 1995's "On The Love Beach" available at a non-import price. Lovely, folky, sunny-yet-melancholic psychedelic pop rock. If you like Ghost, or Neil Young, or Nagisa Ni Te's pals Maher Shalal Hash Baz -- or even the mellower stuff by Acid Mothers Temple -- this band ought to please you greatly. Their songs are works of fragile beauty, with innocent-sounding Japanese vocals, acoustic strumming, and lilting melodies. There's some fuzz bass here, some tuba there, and some shimmering guitar feedback when needed. The liner notes include English translations of Nagisa Ni Te's cryptic love-song lyrics. If you're not already hip to Nagisa Ni Te, there's also a "best of/rarities" comp out on the Geographic label you should be aware of, called "Songs For A Simple Moment". You can read our review of that disc for more background on the band, and that collection would be a good starting point, although both Jagjaguar reissues are equally fine introductions to the band -- all are certainly recommended!

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"Songs For A Simple Moment" is an introduction to the musical world of Shinji Shibayama. Since 1992 Nagisa Ni Te has released four records of honest, fragile psychedelic folk. With ties to Maher Shalal Hash Baz, whose members have at one time or another With a revolving host of guest musicians, the core of Nagisa Ni Te centers on Shibayama and his partner Masako Takeda. Drummer Ikuro Takahashi, most recently of Fushitsusha, had once been a major part of the lineup, but has recently, mysteriously retired from music altogether. But that's another story... In the Japanese psych underground, there is a strange coexistence of feedback/noise and earnest, heartfelt acoustic folk. Nagisa Ni Te embrace both aspects and combine the two at times. Think a more naive version of Tim Buckley or Neil Young. And if you're at all familiar with the brittle psychedelia of Shizuka, or the primitive guitar feedback freakout of the obscure '70s psych gods Les Rallizes Dénudés, you will definitely want to venture forth. From the fragility and innocence of "Star" and "They" to the shattering, feedback drenched Rallizesesque live rendition of the twenty minute epic "The True Sun", this comes highly recommended as an introduction, and is a great companion to the growing output of Nagisa Ni Te! (Even if you're already a fan and have their Japanese import cds, you'll probably want this for the rare/unreleased/live tracks included.)

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Another lovely outing (their fifth album, if we've counted correctly) by one of our favorite bands from the Japanese indie-psych underground. While the duo of Shinji Shibayama and Masako Takeda have had their moments of Neil Young/Les Rallizes Denudes style slash-and-burn guitar storm in the past, with this album (and their previous disc Feel) they've been concentrating more on the quiet, mellow, melodic side of psychedelia... This is some ever so wistful, slow-moving, "heartfelt folk music" that features the sweet, sad voices of both Shinji and Masako singing their fragile tunes over a backing of strum and shimmer. Various guests augment the core Nagisa Ni Te duo, with sundry instruments employed, including electric and acoustic guitars, bass, mandolin, organ, electric piano, glockenspiel, mellotron, percussion, and such oddities as "backwards cymbal", "uncertain piano" and "electric desert guitar" (that's what it says the liner notes, which also provide English language translations for the band's Japanese lyrics). We said sad voices above, but really much of this expresses hope -- Nagisa Ni Te are a springtime band with memories of winter. So very pretty, lazy Sunday afternoon listening for fans of the softer Pastels, Belle & Sebastian, Ghost, and Maher Shalal Hash Baz sort of thing...

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THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY.

Along with part-time collaborator Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura positions his work in the Japanese movement known as "onkyo" which translates as "the reverberation of sound." Nakamura emphasizes the texture of sound through the manipulation of a restricted

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The second release by this duo after a disc on Meme, presents true "sinecore" sounds for fans of barely-there abstract electronics. We're told that these Japanese artists are part of a new experimental electronica subgenre called "onkyo", which

We just got a few new titles in from Japan's Doubtmusic label, which specializes in the outer margins of "jazz" and other avant garde sounds. This one is perhaps of particular interest to underground Japanese music freeks as it's a duo that features none other than guitarist Yamamoto Seiichi, of Boredoms, Omoide Hatoba, and Rovo fame, among many projects. His partner in crime is percussionist Yoshigaki Yasuhiro (from Ground Zero, Altered States, Rovo, ONJO, and others). These guys are old pros when it comes to making an awesome, interesting racket. As you'd expect, it's a disc of somewhat splattery skronk - but quite listenable by skronk standards! There's a certain sort of catchy, chaotic logic to this duo's jittery, jumbled improvs, all performed live, the ten tracks here selected from several Nambajazz shows for this hour-long disc. Some subtle and moody, others utter stompers. Frantic this can be, but also foot-tappin'. Those looking for tangled, heavy-duty Takayanagi style blowouts need look no further than track 3 to get their ears peeled back. Amped-up guitar mayhem and octopoidal bashing in full effect! Elsewhere, the duo's music, led by Yamamoto's innovative and invigorating guitar playing (and "misc."), takes lots of other surprising twists and turns... ferinstance, track 9, "Ten-Kwaurou" ("An Air Corridor"), works in a bit more melody, even snatches of some classical pieces, in the midst of a satisfyingly shambolic, mathrock workout. Definitely one for any fan of Yamamoto's out-guitar stylings, as well as Zornophiles, Improvised Music From Japan subscribers, Boredoms nerds, etc... you know who you are....!

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In addition to the great Toho Sara album Hourouurin we reviewed here last time, there's been another new Nanjo Asahito (also of High Rise, Mainliner, Musica Transonic...) and Kawabata Makoto (also of Acid Mothers Temple, Mainliner, Musica Transonic...) project recently released on the French Fractal label -- something called Contemporary Kagura-Metaphysics from Nanjo's Group Musica. What's that? Well the notes on the cd's back cover say the following, in part: "Group Musica is an ensemble that pursues the free use of every type of Western and Eastern musical instrument, is propelled by the vibrations of very subtle rhythms, and that has internalized the methodology of minimalism. The concept behind this album is transform Kagura, an ancient form of Japanese music and dance that was performed for the gods, and is to convert the ideas of 'Secret teachings' and ancient Chinese methods of divination (the I-Ching) into a metaphysics of musical vibrations. The concept of Kagura allows Group Musica to create a unique work that is an experimental symphonic composition, which nonetheless has many rich improvisatory elements. In this unique work, the symbolic/philosophical nature of ancient esotericism is incorporated as improvisation, while the I-Ching is related to avant-garde symphonics. These are then fused into a total concept." OK, got that? We're also told the many musicians involved must remain anonymous for Group Musica is a "total entity". Not sure how that squares with Nanjo's name being emblazoned on the cover, but after all he's the conductor (with help from Kawabata in the structuring and arranging of the music). And what does all this sound like? Well, how 'bout fake 20th century classical improv? With four long tracks of abstract interplay of horns and percussive clatter and woodwinds and so forth, this is kind of like the endless tuning session of a somewhat drunken orchestra... the Taj Mahal Travellers and the Thai Elephants teaming up at the symphony? Sometimes dramatic, often droning, very loose!

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One guy from '70s Japanese psych legends Les Rallizes Denudes (not leader Mizutani Takashi, but one of the other guys, Hiroshi Nar) takes it to the stage again, backed by an Acid Mothers Temple side-project, the boogie crew known as Nishinihon, who as the back cover states are quite adept at creating the "illusion of old-fashioned hard rock". And with Hiroshi Nar's help they do, if your notion of old-fashioned hard rock is all about screaming guitars and psychedelic effects excess. Recorded live in Japan at a club called Mushroom on December 15th 2001, this supposedly limited cd release features four songs (or splurges of rock action), three of them written by Hiroshi Nar, one by bassist/vocalist Tsuyama Atsushi. Anyone into the most blown-out Acid Mothers Temple stuff ought to investigate! AMT/Nishinihon guitarist Kawabata Makoto does his best to keep up with Rallizes dude Nar, doubtless thrilled to be jamming with someone from that so-influential though obscure outfit.

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From the label devoted to attractive unusual packaging, limited edition runs, and way-underground psych/drone artists, comes a solo electric guitar album from Japan's Munehiro Narita, best known as the axe-meister from heavy-duty Tokyo psych legends High Rise. Forty endless exploratory minutes of freaked out freeform feedback and distortion sculpting, recorded at two live dates in 2005 and 2006 but sounding decades older, really, like a wailing '60s psych rock guitar hero going totally over the top -- basically y'know what this sounds like? Jimi Hendrix doing his infamous take on the Star Spangled Banner. That sort of thing. Which of course is cool. LIMITED TO 600 COPIES!

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Fans of the heavy duty Japanese psych guitar action might have noticed the lack of releases from Tokyo's High Rise in recent years -- the last thing we got was a "best of" that came out three years ago. But that doesn't mean that the High Rise guys have all gone into retirement, even if the band itself is on hiatus. Bassist Nanjo keeps busy, as he always has, with various Acid Mothers Temple-associated outfits, and guitarist Munehiro Narita also continues to threaten the public's eardrums in the free jazz inspired duo Kyoaku No Intention with drummer Shoij Hano. And now, Narita gives the fans what they really want with his debut solo album! That's right, over an hour of guitar and nothing but from the wah-master himself (plus, on two of the the four tracks here he's joined by another likeminded guitarist, Ueno Takashi of Aihiyo and Maher Shalal Hash Baz). Stepping back from some (but not all) of the "speed freak" wildness and utter in-the-red distortion of his soloing in High Rise for extended, slowed-down explorations of deeply felt, carefully crafted abstract improv psych guitar sound, Narita demonstrates his guitar's capacity for freedom and expression and originality, and sonically echoes this cd's lovely and precise black (mostly black) and white design. Impressive.

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High Rise axeman Munehiro Narita (known as King of Japanese Speed Freak Guitarist Heavy Motor Cycle Free Sound according to his website!) here teams up with Japanese free jazz drummer (and sometime Mainliner skinbeater, also fresh off another PSF-released

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Elsewhere this list (and last) you'll find the SUNNO))) + Scott Walker collaboration, while this album is the 2nd effort to see half of the SUNNO))) duo teamed up with Japanese psych shaman Keiji Haino. We're hoping that this somehow means that we'll soon see a Scott Walker + Keiji Haino team-up, too... There's not too many degrees of separation left, c'mon! But, that's not what this review is about. It's about the sophomore outing from the in-and-of-itself awesome Nazoranai trio, featuring guitarist/vocalist Haino, bassist Stephen O'Malley of SUNNO))), and on percussion, the ubiquitous Oren Ambarchi - who plays with Haino in another trio also well, with Jim O'Rourke instead of O'Malley. O'boy, these guys do like each other for dance partners, recall also that recently Ambarchi and O'Malley got together with Randall Dunn, too... Anyway, we super duper dug the 1st Nazoranai, as did a lot of you, it's gone out of print (too bad if you missed it) but this is a fine follow-up, again allowing (as if there was any choice) Keiji Haino's musical personality/aesthetic to take the fore: ultra intense dark psychedelic out-rock improv, made all the darker and heavier by the presence of O'Malley, as you can imagine. As usual with anything Haino related, the track titles are long and cryptic, starting with "You Should Look Closely Those Shattered Spells Never Attaining Embodiment As Prayer They Are Born Here Again" (whew!) and the tracks are long, too (that one approaches 19 minutes). All four cuts here are fairly heavy and harrowing, featuring plenty of grinding droning guitars (abetted by some synth played by Haino too). Ambarchi's drums skitter and shake, Haino offers up the gut wrenched vocal lamentations like nobody else, and O'Malley keeps the bottom end solidly way, way down in the abyss. The rapport these three possess is evident, and emotive, whether whilst bringing the freeform freakout action to a boil, or when they lock into more structured passages - as on the album's final cut and title track, another 19-minute epic, that rides a lurching, repetitive rhythm reminding us of some of Haino's legendary band Fushitsusha's 'rockier' moments. Needless to say, recommended to all with fearless ears, poetic hearts and/or sorrowful souls. MPEG Stream: "You Should Look Closely Those Shattered Spells Never Attaining Embodiment As Prayer They Are Born Here Again" [/audio/nazoraniyoushould.m3u]

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This Japanese guitarist would have been much better off calling this record anything other than Improvisations #1. To be fair, these five extended pieces of drone smolder are technically improvised, but they sure as hell do not sound like the improvisations of Keiji Haino, Tetuzi Akiyama, Masayuki Takayanagi or any other giants of Japanese improv guitar bruitism. Shinobu's work recalls much more of the post-shoegazing excursions that you would get from Explosions In The Sky, Tarentel (circa From Bone To Satellite), and even some of Machinefabriek's constructions. As we mentioned, Shinobu does technically improvise each of these tracks, although it might be better stated that be records these pieces in single takes, collecting loops through his arsenal of pedals and layering them into these architecturally dense mounds of compacted fuzz, drone, and noise all blurred into a beautifully shoegazing atmosphere. The first track builds a warm enveloping haze on top of which Shinobu plops a rich piece of slide guitar work, that gives this track train-chugging-through-desert-valley-at-sunset type of cinematic scope. The second piece takes a slightly darker arc that billows with bioluminescence and distantly mechanoid pulsations. Again, Shinobu continues darker still throughout the album with the ensuing tracks, as the guitars become more spectral, more laced with shadow, and heavier on the low end frequencies. Here, you'll find more references to Troum or Aidan Baker, in terms of a darker take on the ambience. With the fourth track, Shinobu brightens everything with a guitar driven variation on the Gas / Pop Ambient sound that's very, very nice. Afterwards, the darkened murk and shadow returns on the finale, a majestically black piece of ambience. So so cold. Experimedia has been turning up some pretty amazing artists from around the world that previously we had never heard of, and this album is certainly one of the gems in their increasingly prolific catalogue of releases. Limited to 150 copies!!!

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Japanese duo Nerve Net Noise, with previous releases on Meme, Zero Gravity, and Hronir, make the sort of experimental electronic "music" that really separates the men from the boys (or, shall we say, the insane noise geeks from everyone else). But while Tsuyoshi "Tagomago" Nakamaru (who handles the mix and effects) and Hiroshi Kumakiri (who builds NNN's unique synthesizers) are from Japan, this *isn't* howling vacuum cleaner grinding shrieking death noise in the tradition of Merzbow/Hijokaidan/Masonna/etc. Rather, it's closer in style to the clicks n' cuts of Ryoki Ikeda and the "empty" sine wave pulses of Sachiko M. Some call it "onkyo" music. How about we call it squeaky toy, modem on the fritz, annoying buzzer going off music? Yep, it's still room-clearing stuff, y'know. Indeed, it was hard to review, 'cause my co-workers kept yelling at me to turn it off!! But to NNN's ears, this is beautiful music. From Kumakiri's liner notes: "At first, Nerve Net Noise enjoyed pure sound. These days, we try to think about music. We aspire to create music that is between played and not-played, between controlled and uncontrolled. We feel that consciously performed music can have too much evidence of human planning. But we also dislike random music that displays no evidence of human planning at all. We try to find a satisfying middle area with our albums." Well, that's an uncommon idea of "music", now isn't it!? But it explains a lot about how this album sounds. Basically, Kumakiri's array of homemade synths are switched on and allowed to make the noises they want to make, while the NNN duo tweak the volume and so forth, affecting the sounds and rhythms. When they're happy with what they're hearing, they record the results. It's kind of a Metal Machine Music concept. Imagine a nest of robotic birds, mechanically, repetitively chirping at one another, slowly building into patterns and rhythms that will drill themselves into your brain, causing either the euphoria of a trepanation (if you're into it) or simply the pain of such. But it's clear that the former is the intention. These guys aren't trying to make assaultive music for masochists -- they just hear things differently from most folks. For instance, we suspect they'd hear the beauty inherent in a malfunctioning car alarm. If you want to open *yourself* up to this realm of sound-appreciation, then "Meteor Circuit" wouldn't be a bad place to start -- just don't expect your co-workers, housemates, family, etc. to enjoy it! (Is it perverse to like this stuff? 'Cause some of us here have more than one NNN cd in our collections...)

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"Various Amusements" by the Japanese glitch / onkyo / minimalist ensemble Nerve Net Noise was billed to us as an electronic meditation on the common activities of teenage girl's afternoon, such as shopping, talking on the phone, putting on make up,

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