Been meaning to get to this one for a while... and then we reviewed it and our supplier was out of stock... but now they've got 'em again and here you go: Japanese guitarist Hisato Higuchi's previous disc on the Family Vineyard label, Dialogue, was all about the almost motionless, mysterious spare strum, a lonely n' lovely abstract guitar meditation. This newer disc starts off that way, with the quietly beautiful "A Hundred Signs Of Light"... but then, when track two, "Grow", kicks in, Higuchi's guitar playing suddenly, surprisingly takes a thrilling turn into amped up electric skree territory. It still sounds lonely and lovely - just WAY more loud and distorted. "Blood And Leaves" follows in the same vein. But then "Melody In The Mud" takes us back to the hushed, minimal moodiness of the first track... though 'tis only a brief (1:39) interlude before the next track, "Electric Guitar Light", erupts in full speaker shredding glory. It's a bit like Loren Connors sharing an album with Keiji Haino (hmmm, actually, those two have done that, but it's been a while and we can't say for sure that's what this sounds like...).
This album continues like this, Higuchi's somnolent, near-ambient songs (with some breathy, barely-there vocals), abutting others that aren't nearly so mellow... one of those is album-ender "Cry Baby Flowers", which sounds something like Eddie Hazel's "Maggot Brain" with a Merzbow makeover. Actually these crinkly-cranked distorted guitar solos -are- still sorta mellow, or at least mesmeric, but only if you're used to enjoying noisier stuff. Certainly they share the same slo-mo suggestions of melody and melancholia with the quieter pieces on here...
Definitely for fans of Neil Youngish fuzz freakout feedback side of Nagisa Ni Te, or Hjiokaidan noise guitar maven Jojo Hiroshige's more "musical" solo efforts. We really, really like it.
First domestic release from this puppeteer turned slow motion sound sculptor. This is some of the most breathtaking, delicately lovely music we've ever heard. Barely strummed guitars, like flickering candlelight, each note sent fluttering by the tiniest breeze, above these crystalline melodies drifts a barely-there vocal, a hushed, near whisper, like a shadow, there one second, fading to nothing the next. Imagine the most spare and skeletal blues, then somehow imagine the ghostly after image after a quick glimpse, nothing left but the spare outline, a fading melodic memory. Definitely reminiscent of Loren Connors. But even more shadowy and mysterious. Imagine being lost in some old black and white movie, and stumbling upon a dimly lit bar on the edge of nowhere. Once you step inside it's suddenly no longer black and white, instead everything is an oversaturated deep red, almost black, you settle into a corner table, and a deep dark billow of sound drifts off of the darkened stage. Like tiny tendrils of sonic smoke. A lone figure sits, cloaked in shadows, hunched over a guitar, barely moving, but each tiny movement releases another smattering of notes, that drift in the deep red light like dust motes, the entire room captivated and motionless. This is the sound of that. Gorgeous and lonely, wonderfully wistful and so so lovely.
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Ten inches of Japanse noise from the undisputed kings. Merzbow's Masami Akita guests on drums!
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That's right, what with the "Merzbox" and all we've been on a bit of a nostalgic Japanese noise kick here at AQ, and now there's these Hijokaidan reissues on Osaka's Alchemy label to contend with. Hijokaidan deservedly use the "King of Noise" title, as they, along with Merzbow, are one of the oldest and longest running, not to mention noisiest, artists in the Japanese noise scene. This 1985 album certainly lives up to their reputation, with tracks like "Tod Dem Marxismus" and "Self-Mutilation". What makes this disc stand out among some of the other Hijokaidan releases we've heard, though, is the presence of T. Mikawa (of Incapacitants) on drums, as well as his usual voice and electronics. The tracks with his drumming make this into slightly more of a rhythmic noise-rock or VERY free jazz thing than the unrelenting vacuum-cleaner-from-hell howl typical of Hijokaidan. But the duo (for here Hijokaidan is but a duo, with usual member Junko credited only as "watcher" on 3 tracks, not even all of 'em!) doesn't neglect their trademark feedback frenzies with Jojo's electric guitar doing maximum damage. Perhaps for noiseniks only, but a good 'un. Brain-cleansing.
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The self-described King of Noise (and sports-card shop owner) returns with a new blast of, um, noise. Other participants include members of fellow Japanese noise royalty Merzbow (on drums) and Incapacitants...and there's one track recorded live here in San Francisco by the way.
Volume Six in the "Hijokaidan Rarity Series" is another treat for all of you into UTTER DEVASTATING NOISE. As practiced in Japan, which makes it even better. Hijokaidan, despite fierce competition from Merzbow, Masonna, and quite a few others, are still the reigning Kings Of Noise in the Land Of The Rising Sun. With a cover and title paying homage to their krautrock heroes Faust, Hijokaidan's Tapes is a crucial entry in their discography, a record originally released in 1986 as sort of a career retrospective to date, comprising tracks from various eras and lineups, all only previously available on cassette. It starts off way back in 1979 with Hijokaidan's first ever recording, the studio-destroying (so they, rather believably, claim!) electric guitar and vocal skree of "Angel Dust" as performed by the founding duo of Jojo Hiroshige and Naoki Zushi. 1980's "Circles" adds more members and instrumentation (including drums and saxophone) and certainly doesn't let up from the noisy standard set by "Angel Dust". Then there's a 1985 track by the Incapacitants (members of Hijokaidan, equally noisy on their own), followed by two lengthy cuts from '85 and '86 inspired by horror film/fiction ("The Beyond" and "Salem's Lot", the latter an especially effective/destructive 18+ minute drones n' screams attack). And then Tapes finishes up with a cover tune, their beautifully blown-out take on the classic '70s space rocker "Silver Machine" by another band of Hijokaidan heroes, Hawkwind. Good stuff. Plus, the front cover features very personal notes on each track, and a history of the band '79-'86, neatly typed up in English. How can any Hijokaidan/noise fan do without this??
Really? The Last Recording Album from the not merely long-running but legendary Japanese guitar-destruction, electronic-overload and vocal-screech noise outfit Hijokaidan? Well we're not exactly sure if that means that this is truly the final album that they plan to unleash before unplugging their amps, selling their effects boxes on eBay, and enjoying a well-deserved retirement after 25+ years of eardrum abuse (what does a retired Hijokaidan do? golf? take guitar lessons? what?) or, if it's simply their last album...before the next one. We'll see. In any event, either way, fans of Hijokaidan / Japanese noise will find this quite a satisfying experience. The line-up for this disc features the usual Hijokaidan core duo of Jojo Hiroshige (guitar) and Junko (voice), along with both members of Incapcitants (T. Mikawa and F. Kosaki) on electronics and also Nao Shibata on drums. So they've got a lot of noise/rock/more noise firepower here! DISTORTION. FEEDBACK. SCREAMING. And pummelling percussion too. It's a beautiful thing. If you're into it, that is. And if you aren't, a paragraph from us saying it's great won't change your mind. So, Hijokaidan fans, here's five tracks, about 70 minutes, of what you love. Maybe for the last time.
The Lord Of The Noise? Well it's either Hijokaidan or Merzbow, innit? And this "best of" (greatest hits??) disc and dvd is a strong argument in Hijokaidan's favor. Though any fan of Japanese noise is probably a fan of both artists. And to purchase The Lord Of The Noise, you'd almost certainly have to be a fan, although, price aside, this actually might qualify as a good entry-album for novices. That's 'cause it brings together a 78+ minute, six track sampling of their most chaotic, noisy, mayhem from recordings spanning the years 1979 to 2004, including such ear-raping classics as "Before The Heat". And (in case you didn't know, or haven't figured out) chaos, noise and mayhem are what Hijokaidan are all about! Don't believe us? Well, check out the DVD disc. That's the real treat here for fans: four archival live performances in living color (mostly black), two from '81, one from '87 and the most recent from 2003. The earliest two have the most physical chaos and absurdity, but all of 'em are plenty noisy! Don't expect easy listening, or even easy viewing: the video footage is dark and grainy from the early years, and even the 2003 performance is a strobe-fueled apocalypse. In other words, utterly how it should be.
Japanese noise alert! Here's Volume Three in Alchemy's Hijokaidan Rarities Series: remastered live recordings circa 1987, that originally appeared on the LPs "Limited Edition" and "No Paris/No Harm". The Hijokaidan line-up here consists of Jojo, Junko, and T. Mikawa (of Incapacitants). This disc features their version of Jimi Hendrix' "Purple Haze", believe it or not!!
If all Japan's Alchemy Records label ever did was keep Hijokaidan stuff in print, noise-lovers around the world would be happy. Alchemy does a lot more than that, as you probably know, but their cd reissue program of rare '80s and '90s output by their flagship noise outfit is definitely a good thing. So here's volume 5 in Alchemy's "Hijokaidan Rarity Series", another crucial entry in that band's murky, dissonant discography: Viva Angel, originally released on LP back in 1984.
The track "Seeds Rock'n'Roll" starts things off with maniacal, repetitive babble over a constant drum beat, amidst ambient noise... then with "Hellthy Girl", Hijokaidan (and Alchemy) kingpin Jojo Hiroshige's skronky shrill swirling guitar feedback takes center stage, for an onslaught of garbled, damaged drone... drone that continues on "Secret Desire", sounding like a defective, lo-fi tape playback of a barely-heard free jazz session. Next, "Twilight Guitar" sounds like just that. So far so good, a varied palette of noisy treats. But when the title track hits, with throbbing psych-rock heaviness and wordless singing (not screaming, amazingly), even non-noiseniks might be intrigued. This could be some really extreme krautrock jam, or Hawkwind fronted by Yoko Ono. Very cool. Elsewhere, there's more than enough harshness to impress any Merzbow or Wolf Eyes fanatic...especially on the 24+ minute album-closer "Bad Character, But Great Sounds". Yet still there's something always underneath, on Viva Angel, that's either really rockin' or (more strangely) blissful. And again it's pretty clear that Faust was a big influence on these folks.
Another Hijokaidan re-issue for salivating Japanese noise junkies. "Zouroku No Kibyou" was a 1982 LP featuring some legendary early Hijokaidan performances, back when they had a over a dozen people in the band! The folding cd booklet includes a photo collage documenting the insanity, with much in the way of food and fluids being flung about. Packaged in a jewel box with cardboard slipcase, bizarre cover painting intact.
Ranging from goofy electronic pop to jazz/rock collage to noise improv, this band really runs the gamut of underground Japanese sound. Of course, they've been at it for about 25 years, so it's not surprising that this collection is so varied and bizarre.
As we said, the music here is quite varied, utilizing toys, mellotron, synths, sax, samplers, cornet, guitars, etc. -- and on the more recent material, there's even some turntable scratching courtesy of Otomo Yoshihide, whose Ground Zero band might have taken some inspiration from the cut-ups of Hikashu. The Boredoms probably did too. It's a mixed bag (some of the more poppish stuff wasn't really to our taste, although it certainly has a uniquely Japanese flavor), but for fans of wacked-out left-field Japanese avant-pop-whatever this is one of the more necessary Tzadik releases to date.
Drum'n'bass full-length from this young Japanese artist.
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Japanese psych fans! Here's the follow-up to Alchemy label boss and Hijokaidan guitarist Jojo Hiroshige's Donari Chirasu Boku No Koe Wa Amari Ni Mo Chiisai (whew!) disc that we reviewed not long ago on list 200. At the time, we erroneously identified that as being a Jojo collaboration with the all-girl psych band Doodles, when in fact only one half of the Doodles duo that was present on Donari Chirasu..., that being guitarist Akiko Terashima. And the other, non-Doodles musicans were bassist Yoshie Tanuma and drummer Naoko Otani, she formerly of Angel'in Heavy Syrup. This same backing band is, um, back with Jojo this time for Boku Wa Mo Utawanai Daro. And again it's one of the most 'musical' efforts we've heard from the notorious noise-meister, Jojo and Co. getting really into a '70s inspired heavy psych thing that all you stoner rockers and krautheads and Terrastock natives ought to dig. The gentle and melancholy parts (with words we wonder if, as on the previous album, are by cult '70s singer Sai Yoshiko?) are perhaps more prevalent here, the album striking a balance between blown-out, thudding rock riffery and actual out-and-out psychedelic pop, that tilts more towards the latter. For a guy that's best known for utter destructo noise mayhem, this can be shockingly sweet and melodic! If you liked those Night Gallery comps from Jojo's label, or that other recent Jojo disc, or a lot of other things on Alchemy or PSF or wherever that fall in line with the Tokyo Flashback aesthetic, this is definitely one to check out!
Japan's Alchemy Records has started releasing discs in a new cosmic-music-oriented series called "Inner Mind Music", and label boss Jojo Hiroshige's Crimson Voyage is one of the first offerings. With guitar, keyboards and percussion he creates some spacey
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Er...we think that's the title. Anyway this appears to be a collaboration between Jojo Hiroshige (boss of the Alchemy label and guitarist for legendary Japanese noise band Hijokaidan) and one-half of the all-girl psych-rock duo Doodles (who you'll also hear on the first Night Gallery comp of "21st Century Psychedelic Underground" music, also on Alchemy), plus a couple other friends. And it's great. Press start and you're immediately confronted with some totally heavy, thudding noise rock, dense and rhythmic. With the ripped-from-the-throat vocals of Jojo (screams of anguish as much as they are singing), this reminds us of KK Null's Zeni Geva. Track two follows, a lumbering, stoner rock, slow-mo stomp. These gals and guy are a noise band, a psych band, a tripped out doom band. What's not to like? And it's not quite ALL distortion-infused bludgeoning, dundering, damaged Blue Cheer riffage. There's some spacier, haunted sound-worlds to wander lost and lonely in on here as well, melodic minor key melancholia that soon enough is joined by crashing waves of heavy guitar and drums. We wonder, has Jojo borrowed Keiji Haino's shades and black clothes? Certainly Jojo and the Doodles girl's mutual love of heavy psych and krautrock freakiness bear massive, ripe, deformed fruit here. Goes well with the Up-Tight album, also new on Alchemy, reviewed this list too!
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Solo album from Hijokaidan guitarist.
Japan's Jojo Hiroshige, self proclaimed King Of Noise (noise fans commence argument now), has been abusing guitars for years as the leader of seminal 'Japanoise' outfit Hijokaidan. He's also responsible for many solo recordings and collaborations, many of them tempering the pure noise aesthetic of Hijokaidan with more rock, psych, or folk elements... likewise with the label he runs, the eclectic and extreme Alchemy, which delves into noise, psych, punk, improv, and heavy rock. In the Japanese noisy underground music scene, Jojo's the man. And he's also quite the performer, as this dvd will prove. He very definitely has a stage presence -- and knows how to make a racket!
One track will feature Jojo solo, shirtless, dramatically lit, with a mirrored stage backdrop, Gibson SG and microphone his weapons for unleashing relentless drone and cathartic screams... or, you'll find him in another segment wearing a leather jacket, wielding a baseball bat and a boombox, on stage with Masonna... or, in a more sedate setting, seated, jamming with the girls in Doodles, or members of Angel In'Heavy Syrup... there's even an MTV style promo video for a track from Jojo's Boku Wa Mo Utawanai Daro album (which also appeared on the Alchemism 2dvd collection). All in all, in addition to that promo clip, you'll find 15 different performances from the past few years documented here, including the bonus track that finds Jojo kicking out the jams with free folk legend Kan Mikami! It's a really nice package of music and visuals for the Jojo fan.
Jojo Hiroshige is the founding member of the Osaka-based noise unit Hijokaidan. Along with Merzbow, Hiijokaidan is one of the oldest post-Masayuki Takayanagi noise artists in Japan, with recordings that date back to the late seventies. In addition, Jojo
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Another Solo album from Hijokaidan guitarist.
Yes, it's true. Though his solo discography is quite small, Jojo has assembled a great introduction to his post-Hijokaidan world of painful dissonance. As founder of said group as well as the mighty Alchemy label -- responsible for the most cohesive and consistent output of powerful noise artists from around the world, Jojo's history is long and impressive. A true visionary, full of integrity and a dedicated advocate of difficult and extreme musics, he is the Eastern Godfather of noise. Collecting some of the strongest moments from his three solo records, this is an indispensible peek into the sonic malevolence and brute force that is Jojo Hiroshige. If you've been afraid to step into his world, give this disc a chance. But still, be very afraid!
Pretty much what it says!
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Totally great debut recording by this all-female Japanese electronic avant-pop trio featuring sampler player Sachiko M. (ISO, Ground Zero), koto player Yagi Michiyo (who has a solo disc on Tzadik), and vocalist Haco (After Dinner, Acid Mothers Temple), who also contributes theremin, guitar, tapes, effects, and handclaps. This group also has an upcoming release on Tzadik (May 23rd) which we eagerly await. (This release isn't all that new, but we hadn't stocked it before...)
Fantastic 2nd (first US) release from this all-female Japanese avant-pop group. Yagi Michiyo on the koto (veteran of a Tzadik solo release), Haco on vocals and other instruments, and sinewave sampler virtuoso Sachiko M (known for her work with Otomo Yoshihide in Ground Zero and ISO). Includes a couple of reworked tracks from the import debut on Sachiko's Amoebic label, and more, new wonderful electronic/experimental pop songs in the same vein, strange and lovely. Recommended. [/cat/experimental84.html]
The Hoahio girls are back with their second release for John Zorn's Tzadik label's New Japan series. As before, this trio concoct exciting, experimental pop music that's at once both very strange and very charming. However, Sachiko M's sine-wave sampler is no longer present in the group, which now consists of avant-vocalist Haco, koto virtuoso Yagi Michiyo, and new member Era Mari on multifarious percussion: marimba, vibes, xylophone, etc. Yet even without Sachiko, a big electronic element remains, as Haco toys with various synths, effects, and thermin (along with playing electric mandolin on several songs). Sundry other samples and sound sources -- a speed-skating broadcast in one song, crickets in another -- mix with Haco's lovely, supple voice. Some tracks are delicate, atmospheric and folky, while others utterly rock out with quirky, spunky abandon. Bravo Hoahio!
It's been a while since we heard from Holy Fuck, we were pretty into their debut, a swirling mash up of blown out loops and space krauty synths, of fuzzy bass and fractured beats, and it seems like maybe things have gotten even more twisted and far out on this latest. After a slow tranquil drone, that gradually builds to a wall of white noise, comes a sort of looped Beastie Boys style funk jam, all loping bass, wah guitar, shimmery synths, but it's not necessarily as simple as that, it sounds, well, created, not played, so there's an element of lurch and stutter, the sounds jagged and not entirely smooth, occasionally locking into parts that almost sound like skipping cds, peppered with little shards of glitch and squelch. And that's sort of the way the record plays out, fuzzy, synth heavy grooves, that sound a bit motorik, a bit spaced out, super propulsive, and heavy in their own way, sometime slipping into almost jazzy sounding post rock, a la Tortoise, but still like that opening track laced with all manner of subtle electronics and production weirdness. There's definitely a pop element, as well as a space age bachelor pad vibe too, a la Stereolab, and tracks like "Silva & Grimes" are total krautrock Neu! worship, repetitive and hypnotic, swirling synths and clouds of distorted buzz wrapped around total head nodding beats, and while those elements inform the rest of the record there's also plenty of big block rocking beats, Daft Punk style synth wave, lo-fi electronic skitter and crunch, and a closing jam that's like some super cool eighties new wave jam, super charged and doused in crumbling distorted synths and buried blown out beats.
Latin might just be the weirdo dance party record of the year... And both the cd and the lp come in super cool, super swank diecut covers!
Technically this doesn't come out until next Tuesday, so locals will have to wait until then for us to put 'em out in the store, but mailorder customers, go ahead and order like normal, since it'll take at least until Tuesday for you to get your package anyway, most likely.
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SORRY. NOW AVAILABLE ON THE SKIN GRAFT LABEL DOMSTICALLY, THOUGH, SEE ELSEWHERE ON OUR SITE!
This amazing 1994 debut by Ruins side-project Koenjihyakkei (aka Hundred Sights of Koenji) is supposedly out of print, but miraculously back in stock! We're not sure if it's actually been repressed or if somebody just found a hidden cache of these in a warehouse somewhere, but either way we're happy (and suggest you get 'em while you can)!
If you're familiar with the Magma-obssessed Tokyo bass and drums duo Ruins, imagine them becoming EVEN MORE Magma-obsessed and adding female vocalist/keyboardist and a guitar player (actually, adding a bass player, as the Ruins bass player switched to guitar for this). This uber-Ruins quartet then wrote a bunch of insane, gorgeous prog rock tunes (or, in one case, adapted a traditional Bulgarian one) and play them to dazzling perfection. The French '70s prog band we keep mentioning (Magma) were insane, but not quite this heavy or hyper. If you like Ruins and/or Magma and/or weird prog music, you might want to get this if you haven't already. Probably the best of Koenjikhyakkei's three albums, which are all pretty cool ("II" being out of print still, though).
This trio of Danish freaks delved into the psychedelic, progressive styles of the day (1971) to produce this underground hard rock artifact, now reissued via Akarma in one of their trademark gatefold cd sleeves, like a minature version of the original vinyl packaging. Hurdy Gurdy were a "heavy" band, in the '60s sense -- there's more Hendrix than Black Sabbath here. Their repertoire is quite varied/inconsistent, from catchy vocal numbers to convoluted hard rockin' instrumentals. One track is a great, folky sitar-driven rock raga a la the Incredible String Band, but others are Cream-y electric blues numbers. All boast suitably far-out lyrix. File with Captain Beyond, Toad, High Tide, and similar hard rock obscurities of the era.
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BOREDOMS!! BOREDOMS SIDE PROJECT! LIMITED. JAPANESE IMPORT!! WON'T BE AROUND FOR LONG!!
Okay, just wanted to get that out of the way so those of you who NEED everything Boredoms, and don't really care what it sounds like, can stop right here and order this before they're all gone. In fact, you've probably already ordered this from us. For those of you who are less well versed in all things BOREDOM, let's delve a little deeper.
First, it's a soundtrack for Takashi Miike's Ichi The Killer, an unbelievably tasteless, disgusting, ultraviolent, hilarious Manga cartoon come to life (it's actually based on a popular Japanese Manga) with lots of blood, cum, killing, torture, and violence. Some of you may recognise Miike's name as another of his films, the horrific The Audition, recently got a lot of attention in the US. Anyway, who better to score the ridiculous mayhemic bloodbath that is Ichi The Killer than the purveyors of ridiculous musical mayhem, Boredoms. So what you have here is a group calling itself Karera Musication, featuring Yoshimi p-we, ATR, Hilah, and Seiichi Yamamoto, which basically amounts to Boredoms without Eye. But what does it sound like you ask? Let's put it this way, if someone played this for you and told you it was the new Boredoms record, you wouldn't bat an eye. Lots of spaced out, percussive jamming, trippy sound effects, chimes, chopped up / processed electronic squiggles, weird seventies porn funk, full on Japanoise, blissed out Krautrock (sounding a lot like old Kraftwerk), little vocal bleats from Yoshimi, drum vocal raveups ala old Boredoms, thick distorted guitar rock, dreamy tranced out spirituals and everything in between. Andee says go rent the movie or buy a copy on eBay, but even if you're not up for an ultra-violent movie about a nerdy guy in a leather superhero suit (equipped with razor sharp boot-blades) who jacks off while he watches pimps beat up prostitutes and then loses control whenever he is teased and dismembers everyone within arms reach, you can still enjoy this! And you Boredoms fanatics will get the fix you need until the next proper release.
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Originally released in 1975, this is one serious slab of mind blowing Japanese improvised kosmiche drone music, featuring legendary composer / performer Toshi Ichiyanagi (a student of John Cage who was once married to Yoko Ono!), Takehisa Kosugi, the mastermind behind one of our favorite bands ever, the Taj Mahal Travellers, here teamed up with Stockhausen percussionist Michael Ranta, for two extended free drone workouts.
The trio employ reverbed ring modulators, threaded vocals, melodicas, pianos, violins, gongs and Japanese biwas and shamisens, and weave an elaborate and lush tapestry of sound, one that is really not that far removed from Taj Mahal Travellers. Brooding, shimmering expanses of muted tones, of layered rumbles, dreamlike melodies, peppered with strange electronics, haunting and otherworldly, with a distinctly krautrock vibe, or krautdrone, all of the current practitioners of spaced out kraut inspired dronemusic, as good as they may be, can't even touch this.
The music is alive, a living thing, that the players breathe life into and guide, letting the sounds love and drift and fluctuate, creating something organic and expansive and breathtaking. The percussion adds a unique element, not really adding any propulsion, but instead, contributing texture, and a framework that the players often let collapse, before bringing it right back. The second track begins with a cool skeletal groove, all clank and clatter and thump, the space around the sounds as much a part of the overall sound, eventually slipping back into something more murky and subterranean sounding, the percussion switching to something more tabla-like, draped over an oozing sea of rumbles and growls, scrapes and whirrs.
This is one of those rare pieces of music that manages to be two things at once, a gorgeously dreamlike, relaxing bit of sonic ambience, but also something elaborate and dense, opening up the listener to dual experiences, drifting off on the surface, or strapping on the headphones, letting that extra weight carry you down into the swirling blackness at the heart of this recording.
Incredible. And essential. About the closest we'll ever get to a lost Taj Mahal Travellers record...
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The conceptually leaning WrK label out of Japan presents a solo piece from both Hiroyuki Iida and Atsushi Tominaga as well as a collaborative piece. Iida's solo piece "BPM 60" ampilfies two quartz watches using the electro magnetic inferference caused by two loop antennas, producing a noxious hypnosis of clattered rhythms. Tominaga's "050" piece is an ominous recording of bass rumbles which occurred when he recorded the sound of boiling water using speakers as the microphone. "Grainness" - the collaboration between the two - is a performative piece for a vibrating plate glass and a steel pipe. Fluxus to say the least.
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Some of you are probably hip to the Pinky Violence films of early seventies Japan, especially with a handful or recently reissued DVD's, an eye popping, mind blowing combination of not so subtle eroticism, extreme ultraviolence and over the top ACTION! The twist, being that the brutalizers tended to be bad ass Japanese women, cat fighting, beating the crap out of men, always seeming to be clad in boots and with their shirts 'accidentally' torn open to reveal their breasts. Which miraculously never kept them from kicking still more ass! What's not to love?
Sort of in concert with the movies, a whole genre of erotic music was spawned, Iroke Kayoyoku, a bastardized version of a more popular music, sexed up as it were with chanteuse like crooning, but most important of all, an amazing array of moaning and groaning and cooing and giggling, as if in the throes of EXTREME passion. And at the time, 1971 (THAT seemingly perfect musical year!) this was indeed pretty dang racy and risque.
The sound is a blend of soft core soundtrack music, groove jazz, playful exotica, a little Spaghetti Western, with Herb Alpert horns, fluttering jazz flutes, Spanish guitars, smokey sax, hip shaking rhythms, marimbas and xylophones, very moody and dreamy sometimes, wild and playful at others, but always with Reiko's sexy croon, and of course her very convincing sounds of passion, including an unexpected bout of spanking at one point (!) accompanied by the proper breathless exhalations of pain/pleasure.
Wow! Wild and fun and sexy, but so so strange. Highly recommended for sure.
Packaged in a super deluxe Japanese miniature gatefold style cd sleeve, with a printed obi, saucy nude photos of Reiko on the cover, and extensive liner notes in English and Japanese!
ULTRA LIMITED!!! This is the fourth and final pressing, after the first three sold out in no time at all. Limited to only 500 copies, this is already sold out and we only got a handful, the last 15 or so from the label, so you know what that means...
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This sexy sultry silly slab of seventies Japanese exotica, now on vinyl!
Some of you are probably hip to the Pinky Violence films of early seventies Japan, especially with a handful of recently reissued dvd's, an eye popping, mind blowing combination of not so subtle eroticism, extreme ultraviolence and over the top ACTION! The twist, being that the brutalizers tended to be bad ass Japanese women, cat fighting, beating the crap out of men, always seeming to be clad in boots and with their shirts 'accidentally' torn open to reveal their breasts. Which miraculously never kept them from kicking still more ass! What's not to love?
Sort of in concert with the movies, a whole genre of erotic music was spawned, Iroke Kayoyoku, a bastardized version of a more popular music, sexed up as it were with chanteuse like crooning, but most important of all, an amazing array of moaning and groaning and cooing and giggling, as if in the throes of EXTREME passion. And at the time, 1971 (THAT seemingly perfect musical year!) this was indeed pretty dang racy and risque.
The sound is a blend of soft core soundtrack music, groove jazz, playful exotica, a little Spaghetti Western, with Herb Alpert horns, fluttering jazz flutes, Spanish guitars, smokey sax, hip shaking rhythms, marimbas and xylophones, very moody and dreamy sometimes, wild and playful at others, but always with Reiko's sexy croon, and of course her very convincing sounds of passion, including an unexpected bout of spanking at one point (!) accompanied by the proper breathless exhalations of pain/pleasure.
Wow! Wild and fun and sexy, but so so strange. Highly recommended for sure.
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We're always excited when a new disc from Ryoji Ikeda appears. As far as we're concerned, this Japanese electronic composer is the master of the "clicks and cuts", minimal-micro-sonic scene. And Dataplex is his latest masterpiece, a twenty-tracker with titles like "data.complex", "data.googolplex", "data.superhelix", "data.vertex". With each data dot shift, clinical little sounds that clearly come from a computer -- datastreams it would seem, that's the idea here -- are presented and then worked into rhythmically complex techno music. It's not exactly "dance" music though, but these carefully placed, computer-generated clicks and whirrs and glitches and high frequency pulses you could maybe THINK about dancing to... certainly they're something for your brain to marvel at, edging closer to seizure as the album progresses, though Ikeda gives some relief with a more ambient ten-minute track near the end of the album. It all starts off with sounds that are almost raw data, morphed into music as Ikeda, track by track, engineers more and more 'plexity into the disc, working with a purity of sound and at so microscopic of a scale that Ikeda and his music seemingly belong in the science laboratory. Yet, at the same time, he breathes a lot of life into these little bits of information, making them dance even if you don't. Recommended -- and don't let what's stickered to the cd tray scare you off: "Caution! This cd contains specific waveform data that performs a data-read test for optical drives. The last track will cause some cd players to experience playback errors, with no damage to equipment." We love warnings on cds like that!
Yes indeed, after his successful foray into orchestral instrumentation on 2002's Touch release Op., long time fans of Ikeda (like us) should be happy that he's still also forging ahead in the digital realm, Dataplex being a fine successor to such past Ikeda classics as +/- and Matrix.
"Matrix" completes the trilogy of releases that Japanese electronica-experimentalist Ryoji Ikeda has put out through the Touch label (also including "0ÉC" and "+/-"). Inspite of what the title may imply, Ikeda hasn't taken to computer-assisted wire stunts, battling Keanu Reeves in a kung fu competition for the title of Cyber-Christ, though we think that the first half of "Matrix" could use a little more high-flying, ass-kicking action...of which, thankfully, there's plenty on the second half! Let's explain: "Matrix" is a double cd that explores a conceptual relationship between the body and architecture within a controlled sonic field. Disc one concentrates on the architectural metaphor as Ikeda unleashes two closely matched sine wave frequencies which quickly fill up any enclosed space which can offer body-cavity-churning standing waves or warm blissful drones, depending on where you stand in that room. An interesting conceptual piece but one that you might not listen to too many times...
Disc two, on the other hand, is the reason to pick this up. Ikeda explores the idea of broadcasting his sine waves through the much more complex architectural system of the body, which with its amorphous surfaces and natural electical field reacts in a much more interesting way than a boxy cube. Ikeda begins the second half of "Matrix" with some amplifications of his own heart pulse, then phases in top quality Raster / Noton digital rhythms in only the low and high frequencies, sounding much closer to Mika Vainio's earlier recordings. So, focusing on disc two, this turns out to be a pretty exceptional release! Regard disc one as a bonus disc of conceptual-ambient stuff, with the main disc (disc two) being completely amazing and powerful clicking and humming "dance music". His tones are so pure and his sense of dynamics, contrasts and rhythms so exciting that this is already Allan's favorite "party" album of the year...
Joking about "The Matrix" aside, one can imagine that this style of "techno" should have been used on the soundtrack to it (or better yet, "Run Lola Run") but I don't know if theatre audiences would have survived. Certainly the action on the screen would have taken on secondary importance!
Ryoji Ikeda scored the soundtrack for CS Leigh's film See You At The Regis Debray; and this two disc set is the entire soundtrack to the film split into two sections, approximately 45 minutes each. We've not seen the film; but from what we can gather, it describes a few days in 1969 when Andreas Baader (of Baader-Meinhof fame) spent with the French intellectual Regis Debray, while Baader was on the run from the German authorities. Debray himself had quite a storied past, having spent time in a Bolivian jail for associating with Che Guevera.
Ikeda's soundtrack begins as you would expect any Ikeda album to start: with a slow-building ascension of precisely micro-shifting digital tones. Ikeda cuts to a collage of the jarring ring of telephones that dissolves into a repetitive strum of a low-slung guitar that sounds very much like a Morricone sample from The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. This detours into a subterranean field recording of various clanks, muffled rumblings, and distant voices. Then an elegiac chorale of reverb saturated drones with snippets of radio transmission (bells? gongs? chimes? those same digital tones?) completes the first disc. The second disc returns to that Morricone riff, only flushed out this time, given more of an Achim Reichel energy of bad-ass Western twang matching futurist arpeggiation. These 15 - 20 minutes of the soundtrack are the highlight of the album, and make us wish Ikeda would do more of this type of work. The rest of the second disc consists of an eerie collage of someone panting heavily transitioning to a collage of chimpmunked AM radio hits then to dissonant guitar squalor sort of like early Nurse With Wound, before turning to a collection of old Spanish political speeches, perhaps Che Guevera?
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Been waiting for this for a while, the new Raster-Noton disc from Japanese electronic artist Ryoji Ikeda! There's a bunch of other new Raster titles that we're excited about too (Coh, Alva Noto, Byetone, etc.) but this is the one we were anticipating the most. Sure, lots of folks make electronic music of the experimental glitchy, clicky variety - like many of Ikeda's just-mentioned labelmates - but in our book, Ikeda is the KING. His precision architect(r)onic computerized clicks and cuts are on a whole 'nother level, totally hallucinatory and 3-D spatial. An immersive environment you enter at your own risk (of epileptic seizure, perhaps). But if you pass the test (of his relentless electronic pitter patter patterns) you'll be entranced and entangled.
And we're pleased to report that Test Pattern is yet another strobing, brutally stereo display of his skills. 16 binaryily named tracks, "Test Pattern #0001" to "Test Pattern #0000", that provide prickly pleasure with rapid, stuttery nano-beats, like a frantic Geiger counter on the fritz, or some sort of Morse code madness. Ikeda's techniques include both minimalist repetition, and sudden shifts; his skittering, synthetic slices of sound arranged in complex, rhythmic patterns, an omnidirectional aural assault of high pitched, panicked, hissing sine tones, and deeper bass hums n' buzzing drones... it's a pretty incredible collection of constructions, vibrant and varied within Ikeda's self-imposed electronic boundaries and specific sets of data-based building materials. As ever with Ikeda's output, recommended.
Strange that a piece by Ryoji Ikeda would get released on vinyl, but Staalplaat has always been known to defy convention. Originally released as a double 3"cd back in 1998, "Time / Space" found Ikeda first exploring the now commonplace glitch 'n' sinewave agenda. "Space" is incredibly quiet with deep low end rumbles, unwavering midrange tones, terse pinprick pings, and
We're used to hearing clinical clicks from Japanese electronic composer Ryoji Ikeda -- so what's this then? 21st century classical, all acoustic stringed instruments, no electronics at all?? Yes, and it's great. With help from Belgian chamber-prog group Art Zoyd, Ikeda has crafted a gorgeous soundtrack-like suite of droning string bliss, that's far from the chopped-up aesthetic of his earlier use of orchestral elements in the electronic realm.
Two years ago, Ikeda released "Matrix" -- an amazing double cd split between pure sinewave aggrevation on one disc and smooth, post-techno click 'n' grooves on the other. While that album was the conclusion of a trilogy of electronic works that also included "0 Degrees Celsius" and "+/-," it remains unclear if the arrival of "op." also marks a disavowal of electronics altogether (as good as this is, we hope not). While the German avant-garde ensemble Zeitkratzer have done very well for themselves in translating electronoise works by John Duncan and Merzbow into atonal orchestrations for classical instruments, Ikeda's "classical" debut bares little resemblance to anything he's done in the past. No cyclical pulses. No clinical precision. No irritants to speak of. Instead, Ikeda's compositions for strings (one piece for 9 strings and the rest for quartet) gracefully glide in and out of complex timbres, with plenty of breathing room in between all of the harmonic tones. Indeed, the closest resemblance to Ikeda's past work is how initial attack of bows on strings can sound uncannily like the electronically-generated tones on the sinewave half of "Matrix"... Soon they reveal themselves for the acoustic orchestra instruments they are, Ikeda apparently using them to tap into the emotions of sadness and majesty, which rock musicians also have appropriated from romantic composers. Yet, with its stoic simplicity and stately pacing, "op." also mirrors the fascination that fellow minimalist Bernhard Gunter holds for Morton Feldman and Luigi Nono, although Gunter's approach has remained within the scope of sampling and hasn't yet arrived at full blown orchestrations.
As beautiful and compelling as Ikeda's "op." is, Ikeda has to ask himself how he can build a language that not only reflects back upon successes of his previous electronic works but also understand the peculiarities intrinsic to this form of composition. He's already issued vague statements about his electronic works building "invisible patterns filling the listening space." Is this a strong enough bridge between Ikeda's electronic masterpieces and the possible future for other classical compositions? Only time will tell...
