[ aquarius records

IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion): Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps OUT OF PRINT/UNAVAILABLE notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock — or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us — please email our mailorder department for availability status — or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.

Showing results 1151 through 1200 of 1581.

Always something interesting being dug up by those Alchemy archeologists! This archival release from a Kyoto-based band called Rasen Kaidan ("Spiral Staircase" I believe) is a very moody and lo-fi, contemporaneous Japanese take on the UK post-punk sound of the early early '80s, a la Joy Division, Comsat Angels, and The Fall, maybe. Also of note, this trio included guitarist Jojo Hiroshige, who was soon to form seminal Japanese noise act Hijokaidan (and also went on to found the Alchemy label). What you'll hear from Rasen Kaidan here are recordings from two live performances, dating from 1979 and 1980. The 1979 tracks are more witchy and gloomy, with plodding bass and female vocals. The first cut from '79 actually makes us think of a sedated Bardo Pond slogging through a droned-out "Iron Man"! We're reminded of some old NZ stuff like Dadamah as well. The 1980 material makes a switch to male vocals, getting more into that post-punk thing, but still with a weird, almost mystical atmosphere. Murky, raw, psychedelic new wave art punk, yeah!!

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This isn't that much different than the Tsurubami disc also just released by Strange Attractors, in large part because it's another two long tracks of spacey psych guitar jamming featuring Kawabata Makoto of Acid Mothers Temple! So get 'em both, is what we're saying. Compared to the Tsurubami though, this is more late-night and eerie. Rebel Powers sees Kawabata joined by guitarist David Keenan of Telstar Ponies (whom you may also know from his rock criticism in The Wire). Also in the band is AMT vocalist/synthethist Cotton Casino and original AMT drummer Koizumi Hajime. They went into a London studio back in '98 during an AMT UK tour, and now these black pools of sound they created finally seep into view, with further touring/recording promised. Rebel Powers is all about nightmarish and indistinct psychscapes, Keenan adding some more insistent, nay sinister, bent-metal guitar figure repetition, while Cotton's voice wordlessly haunts the Rebel Powers chapel. Their improvised droning is enhanced by Kawabata's occasional sarangi bowing. As with Tsurubami's new one, we can't help but add Rebel Powers to the ever-growing pile of AMT-related successes.

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SORRY.

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SORRY.

The proto-metal lovin' legions who read the AQ list should be quite pleased with this reissue - take a trip down this particular Road and it's heavy riffing all the way, early '70s style! A power trio put together by former Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding in 1972, Road only made this one record for a rock-oriented Motown sub-label (the eco-friendly Natural Resources) before they broke up, and it quickly became lost to the mists of time, though we'd have thought Hendrix fans, if they'd heard it, would have been chuffed... anyone who likes stoned hard psych, with loads of wah wah wailing will dig this, it's total hippie heaviness (well, "I'm Going Down The Country" isn't so heavy, it's an acoustic jam, natch). There's some sixties sike-pop to it as well. But tracks like "Mushroom Man" and "Spaceship Earth" are spaced out and heavy all right, these three long hairs dishing out quite the din, with the 9+ minute album closer, title track "Road" gettin' almost DOOMY riff-wise. Certainly deserving of recognition in the proto-metal realm, Road goes with Toad, Cactus, Moses, Tiger B. Smith, etc., and is probably the best thing that Redding did post-Hendrix, though we haven't heard his whole discography, to be sure. But it beats Fat Mattress, in volume and heft for sure, despite that earlier outfit's name (the drummer here was also in Fat Mattress, by the way, while the guitarist hailed from Rare Earth). This is one of several new reissues from the new Relics label (Churchills, Aguaturbia are some other, more internationally-oriented titles that just came out, we'll be listing soon too). Nice to have, though the booklet's a bit skimpy, the cover reproduction looks kinda washed out and blurry. It does include something in the way of liner notes, though, from which we learn that Redding fell down some stairs at Frank Zappa's place prior to the formation of Road. Hmm, that almost sounds like the description of a band, but not this one! Thankfully he recovered from the accident and added Road to the list of awesome proto-metal obscurities.

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As much as we'd prefer not to, we're sure some of you would appreciate if we started this review with one of those AQ alerts. Goes something like: BORIS ALERT!!!! BORIS ALERT!!!! NEW ON INOXIA!!!! BORIS RELATED NEW RELEASE!!!! Okay, so now all you Boris obsessive can skip right to the buy button and move on, you're probably gonna want this, cuz A. it's on Inoxia, and B. it's produced by Atsuo from Boris! Oh, and let's not forget C. IT'S LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!! For the rest of you, who need more than a loose Boris connection, this is in fact a pretty awesome slab of drifting droning acid psych. No huge pounding sludge, or blown out fuzz rock, most of the tracks on Pinhole meander aimlessly, wandering from fluttery folks, to ambient drift, and back again, with the occasional squall of distorted buzz. The record opens with a thick wash of blurred guitar, dense and swirling, groaning waves of distortion flecked with streaks of feedback, while beneath lurks a playful little melody, gently swaying peacefully beneath the sonic turbulence. Then suddenly, the record shifts gears, and we're floating weightless through some sun dappled glade, lilting detuned guitars unfurl gentle melodies all wistful and abstract, WAY off in the background some tape hiss and crumbling distortion. It's very spare and lo-fi, wreathed in sparkling solar flares and soft focus reverb, sort of like a druggy mix of Jandek, Loren Connors and the Durutti Column. Elsewhere reverbed guitars sway suspended in clouds subtle delay, nursery rhyme melodies and hummed / mumbled vocals draped over a shimmery crystalline latticework of delicate drifts of sound, super simple and unobtrusive percussion as well as barely audible field recordings. Now and again, the band launches into some super aggressive strumming, kicking up dense clouds of high end skree and blown out free noise fuzz, but even at their noisiest, Rollo are never far away from settling back down into another long stretch of soft psychfolk shimmer. Good stuff for sure. Not necessarily sonically something Boris fans will automatically love, although some of this did remind us of Boris at their dreamiest and most abstract, but fans of Japanese stuff like L, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Masaki Batoh, Eddie Marcon and the like will be in heaven.

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SORRY. Japanese instrumental trio, equal parts King Crimson, Don Caballero, Circle, Ruins, Altered States...pretty great and affordable too.

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SORRY. Ron Anderson of the Molecules teams up with the Ruins, to play hyperspeed absurdist prog.

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SORRY. Violinist/samplerist Rose teams up with turntablist/guitarist Otomo in a parody of consumer culture, the "Japan/China Point of Sales Tour". Guests include Sato Michihiro, DJ Mao, DJ Car House (Otomo), Hoppy Kamiyama, etc.

At long last we have this much-sought after Japanese title back in stock, thanks new local label Incidental who have licensed it for domestic release. Here's what we said about the import version: SF's KUSF radio station has had this Japanese band in heavy rotation for months now...what's all the fuss about? Rovo is a new group featuring violinist Katsui Yuji (of Bondage Fruit) and All that still applies to this version (although there's no bonus 3" cd like the import came with). The band is soon to be touring here as well, in July. They'll be playing in San Francisco with Live Human, which should be a good, interesting matchup. Also look for a future live release on Zorn's Tzadik label...

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Double disc live document of the Japanese supergroup -- which features Seiichi Yamamoto of Omoide Hatoba and the Boredoms and Yuji Katsui of Bondage Fruit, among many others -- while on their white hot jaunt across the US in 2001. Recorded and mixed by Bill

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SORRY. This disc pairs up two jazzy-but-weird underground Japanese bands: Rovo (featuring Yamamoto Seiichi of Boredoms/Omoide Hatoba) who you probably know from their popular "Imago" disc released last year on San Francisco's Incidental Music label, and the delightfully-named Date Course Pentagon Royal Garden, a crazy big-band project that's got Ground Zero's Otomo Yoshihide playing guitar. Rovo's half-hour track "Sino" starts off all droney and spacious, with pretty keyboard frills and sparse, funky drumming. Thirteen minutes into the piece, a propulsive, trance-inducing percussion-driven jam ensues. A soothing, muted violin passage is shortly interrupted by a funk bass line, which some of us here found kinda annoying, before settling back into some sort of zoned-out space-jazz. This is followed by DCPRG's 32 minute piece (entitled "Pan-American Beef Steak Art Federations") which is a schizoid, cut-up composition that incorporates bad jazz, rap, psych guitar, funk, sampling, etc., etc., and makes about as much sense as its title. It has an undeniable sense of fun, however. So, Rovo is calmer, DCPRG more chaotic, and neither do we fully understand, except that somehow it seems appropriate that they're together on this cd.

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Guitarist Keith Rowe is a busy guy. He still plays with British improvising legends AMM, and he also leads the Euro laptop improv conglom MIMEO, plus he's had a bunch of other collaborative and solo releases as of late. Here he teams up with Japanese "onkyo"

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For the potential disaster of free-improv cacophonic sound that these five could have produced, "Thumb" is remarkably restrained and almost contemplative in its singleminded pursuit of the tiniest of details. Recorded live at the Parisian club, Instants Chavires on May 29, 2001, Rowe, Ambarchi, Sachiko M, Yoshihide, and Avenaim focus their activity on the buzzing of amplifiers and the shimmer of close-looped feedback, which they have resampled, tweaked, and modulated into a fluttering drone that is too irritable to be seductive or meditative, but is remains an understated constant. Delicate scrapings and small electrical disturbances occasionally make themselves evident, but mostly these five remain very calm. It's such a restrained effort that at the end of the brief 30 minute program the environmental din outside of Aquarius made for a nice complement to the sounds on "Thumb." How Cageian of them.

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Another disc of gorgeous smoldering dronemusic from long time fave RST, aka New Zealand dronelord Andrew Moon. The follow up to Tomorrow's Void, RST's Utech debut, a crushingly heavy and dark black hole of a record, The Sunset Limited, while in its own way still heavy and dark, dials back the intensity a bit, swapping downtuned thrum for shimmering murmur, metallic buzz for tranquil drift, allowing the ominous swirls and hushed low end creep, to swell and build into thick undulating landscapes of muted melodic glow and dense tectonic rumble, deep cavernous billows of blurred black sound and strangely melodic sprawls of warm gauzy ambience. Dark and grim, haunting and harrowing, but also strangely lovely, a series of gorgeously luminescent soundfields, each track a sonic alien topography, slow shifting shapes, layers unfurling and overlapping, intertwining, bleeding into one another, the notes and chords fluid, the various melodies stretched into blurred fragments, pulses and throbs coalesce from muted loops, a thick patina of fuzz and grit, swirls above the various sounds like some mysterious fog. Here and there, distorted tangles of guitar are unfurled and allowed to hover, suspended in tranquil expanses of muted buzz, a sort of glacial Appalachia, viewed in stop motion, each sonic exhalation a single frame, woven into a warped, woozy wash of slow moving sound. Elsewhere, the sound devolves into a sinister black ambience, evoking all manner of existential dread, tense and mysterious, long tones and softly swirling overtones, and near the end of the disc, the sound settles into a warm burnished buzz, a gorgeous dreamscape of chordal smolder and hazy late evening drift, a gorgeous melancholy finale, letting the listener drift off into the ether, with the last light of day. So great. Super cool car-jumpin sunset cover art too!

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Aquarius customers probably know this band already, the famed hardcore progrock bass/drum duo from Tokyo led by drummer extraordinare Tatsuya Yoshida. They're big favorites of several AQ-staffers, being one of Allan and Jeff's favorite bands ever! This new Skin Graft cd collects (as its title suggests) tracks from the first six years of the Ruins career, which, as great as the Ruins still are today, may have been their best era. There's the happy, hectic (Hella-like, to reference another two-piece we've recently raved about) really early stuff from when Hideki Kawamoto was the Ruins' bassist, and then more massive, majestic material from later on with bassist Kazuyoshi Kimoto and then Ryuichi Masuda (yep, Yoshida is currently playing with bassist number four). About half of these tracks are from long-out-of-print Japanese releases, while (the second) half of the disc pulls from the Ruins' two Shimmy Disc albums, which are also more-or-less out of print as well (the reason we say 'more-or-less' is kinda complicated, ask Allan if you care). And the tracks selected (by Yoshida, who also remixed and remastered 'em) do make for a good "best of" -- we'd have picked many of the same tracks ourselves. (Though Yoshida should have included "Power Shift" from "Burning Stone"! oh well). Ok, this part of the review is for fellow Ruins fanatics: basically, you don't need this ONLY if you already have the "Burning Stone", "Stonehenge" (the original Shimmy version with the bonus tracks that is), "Ruins III" (aka "Infect"), and "Ruins II & 19 Numbers" cds. Otherwise you definitely need this!! Not to mention, these tracks are remastered, and you probably don't have the track "Cambodia" from the "NG II" comp... And if you've got the rare "Early Works" Ruins cd, don't worry, none of those recordings are on here. Everybody else -- this is a great collection that we'd highly recommend as a starting place for your Ruins experience, although you'll eventually want to hunt down their out of print cds too, to hear the entire albums. Essentially, essential.

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The single's title comes from some actual ruins, one of them "stone ships" the Vikings built, so appopriately it's a Swedish 7" import release by AQ-fave Japanese prog-core duo Ruins. Six songs, recorded in '97 and '99 in Tokyo. These are studio recordings, not live. Here's the track listing: Snare, Laiptchig, Dagad, Korromda Deimm, Nivaftopoftz, Jallamjikko. It's all the sort of crazy stuff you'd expect from these guys. Further description is probably unnecessary as this is limited to just 300 copies -- we got a dozen, and that's probably it, so act fast, Ruins fans!

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

SORRY. Allan's favorite album ever? Yes, also this one.

Relisting this in case you missed it on our mystery themed in-between list last week (we gave it a new, expanded write-up just for that). "Japanese duo on John Zorn's domestic label." Good grief, is that ALL we wrote about this when we first listed it way back when (1995)?? Might as well say that the Beatles were "a British quartet on London-based label Parlophone". There's a lot more to the story. First off, bass and drums two piece Ruins are/were probably our favorite crazy underground Japanese band, next to the Boredoms. Drummer/mastermind Tatsuya Yoshida is a musical genius, and if you've been paying attention to our site over the years you're read our raves about many, many of his various albums and projects, from Ruins to Koenjiyyakei to Korekyojinn to Zubi Zuva... etc., etc. Hyderomastgroningem (that's a mouthful!) was the first Ruins disc to come out on Tzadik. It features bassist Ryuichi Masuda, who also played on their out of print classic Burning Stone (1992), and may in fact be the only Masuda-era Ruins disc still in print, as well as being the last one that he appeared on (Ruins has had several bassists over the years, all of them amazing, but Masuda was our fave). There's 20 tracks here of the Ruins' complex, heavy, stripped down Magma-inspired prog madness, some continuing the catchiness of Burning Stone and earlier works, others getting more imrov-like and experimental and noisy... super distorted bass, faux-operatic (and nonsensical) vocals, Yoshida's usual octopoidal drumming, repetitive rhythmic bludgeon... it's all here, along with unique touches to this album, like a track where Masuda plays a radio, for instance.

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Yo, all fans of spazzed-out mathrock madness! Here's drummer/vocalist Tatsuya Yoshida and bassist/vocalist Sasaki Hisashi (joined by local guest vocalist Wong Lei on the one final improvisational track) captured live in full, frantic action on August 13th, 2000, and released on Hong Kong label Noise Asia which has also recently graced us with discs by Otomo Yoshihide and the Keiji Haino/Tatsuya Yoshida duo. The 19 tracks here mostly draw from Ruins' most recent albums, with nine songs from "Pallaschtom" and two from "Vrresto". Plus, there's a few new and/or impromptu tunes (with titles like "I Ate Yu Bing This Morning" and "Eating 7 Kinds Of Chang Fen Was Too Much") as well as some old favorites like "Hyderomastogroningem" and "Del Fanci Kant". Oh, and of course this also features their now obligatory insane progressive rock and classical music medleys (which are fun, but I always wonder if it's pandering for a band with Ruins' accomplishments to resort to what is basically gimmickery...what the hell though, such jaw-dropping entertainment can't be argued with). Nicely recorded, "Live In Guang Zhou - China" is a fine addition to the vast Ruins discography. We can't say it's essential (being their second -- or third, if you count the Enterruption cassette -- live record within less than two years) but it's darn good, and both fans and novices alike will find it suitably mind-boggling. If you ARE a novice, look elsewhere on our website for more info about Ruins, Japan's drum/bass heavy progcore dervishes.

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If you've never been fortunate enough to see these marvels of Japanese musical technology perform in person, you'll be extra blown away by this new live document. The Ruins are a super heavy and hyperkinetic bass and drums duo from Tokyo, who over the past

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A collection of tracks culled from live shows in Japan in 1997. This cassette-only release is 46 minutes long, limited to 100 handnumbered copies, and comes w/a button and one of 6 color postcards featuring photos taken by Ruins dude Tatsuya Yoshida himself. First come, first served.

Ruins fans! Here's a vinyl version of the now out of print cassette previously released by SF label Enterruption. The dynamic drums/bass duo of Tatsuya Yoshida and Sasaki Hisashi kick out the jams live in Japan and France, back in fall 1997. Selected and mixed by Yoshida, there are sixteen cuts, including "Hyderomasgroningem", "Plexus", "Snare", "Pontemcorary Music #1", and their much-loved progressive rock medley. Limited to 500 (there were only 100 of the cassettes).

At last, back in print! This Ruins album from 2000 had been unavailable for a while, but Skin Graft, recognizing the severity of the situation, has stepped in to address that problem. For those who don't know, the Ruins are a Japanese duo on bass and drums who since 1985 or so have played a pretty unique form of hyper-kinetic hardcore prog rock with schizoid changes, influenced by weird French progsters Magma -- and themselves influencing stuff like John Zorn's Naked City. Here's our original review of this, with a few additional notes tacked on at the end: Mastermind Tatsuya Yoshida (drums) and his current sidekick Hishashi Sasaki (6-string bass, MIDI) kick out the jams yet again on this, the Ruins' upteenth (15th?) cd. Beware their percussive frenzies, sizzling bass guitar acrobatics, and bizarre vocals (with lyrics in their own improvised language, that seems to mean something to them, even though they don't). With "Pallaschtom" the Ruins have really settled into a tight, mind-bogglingly complex compositional style, that's perhaps not as catchy as some of their past classics, but is still definitely insane and amazing, and incorporates some new, what you might call "post-rock" influences (i.e. there's moments on here that sound more like a Storm & Stress record than your usual Ruins stuff). And, it's also true that they are further in danger of garnering official "novelty act" status, especially with their newfound penchant for cover-song medleys: for instance, this disc ends with a track of 26 classical music themes (well-known tunes by Beethoven, Satie, Musorgsky, Bach, Chopin, Mozart, Vivaldi, etc.) run through in a little over one minute! Exhausting, and entertaining! Novelty act or not, they're still one of our favorite bands. Since then, there's been a few live Ruins albums released and one newer, more multi-dimensional studio disc (Tzomborgha) that we thought was superior to Pallaschtom, though that's not to say that any self respecting Ruins fan should be able to live without Pallaschtom in their collection! Also, Sasaki isn't in the band anymore, either. A further note: this Skin Graft reish adds two more medleys (Hard Rock and Prog Rock) as bonus tracks.

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Back in print! And a "Special Edition" to boot, meaning Skin Graft have made some slight changes to the artwork and, more importantly, tacked on five previously unheard bonus tracks! That makes for 25 tracks in total of frantic riff-packed precision prog punk on this collection of unreleased studio (4 and 8 track recordings) and live material from one of Japan's most amazing bands, the heavy & hyper drum/bass duo led by Tatsuya Yoshida. Originally released in 1997, this disc featured four songs with former bassist Ryuichi Masuda, while the rest heralded the debut of then-new six-string bass man Sasaki Hisashi (since departed, from Ruins that is). The live tracks also have guests from Boredoms/Omoide Hatoba, Tipographica (a saxophonist, for maximum jazz-Ruins dementia) and other bands, jamming on some of the Ruins' "greatest hits", including such favorites as "Hyderomastgroningem", "Burning Stone", "Dhaskrive", "Del Fanci Kant," and "Infect" (that one particularly enhanced with some intense synth keyboard action). The studio material includes some songs originally written as far back as 1988 but never before recorded, all super killer stuff to say the least! We should mention the track "Still Life", a good portion of which almost sounds like something by Italy's Sinistri, it's so abrupt and sparse. Fittingly, the disc ends with their now notorious prog-rock medley, referencing dozens of obscure riffs -- from King Crimson, Yes, Gong, Goblin, Rush, ELP, Samla Mamas Manna, PFM, Caravan, Area, Magma (of course), and many more -- in a lightning-fast fury. Recommended for all Ruins fanatics of course, probably even if you already have the old version, thanks to the bonus tracks...

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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. Back in print! And a "Special Edition" to boot, meaning Skin Graft have made some slight changes to the artwork and, more importantly, tacked on five previously unheard bonus tracks! That makes for 25 tracks in total of frantic riff-packed precision prog punk on this collection of unreleased studio (4 and 8 track recordings) and live material from one of Japan's most amazing bands, the heavy & hyper drum/bass duo led by Tatsuya Yoshida. Originally released in 1997, this disc featured four songs with former bassist Ryuichi Masuda, while the rest heralded the debut of then-new six-string bass man Sasaki Hisashi (since departed, from Ruins that is). The live tracks also have guests from Boredoms/Omoide Hatoba, Tipographica (a saxophonist, for maximum jazz-Ruins dementia) and other bands, jamming on some of the Ruins' "greatest hits", including such favorites as "Hyderomastgroningem", "Burning Stone", "Dhaskrive", "Del Fanci Kant," and "Infect" (that one particularly enhanced with some intense synth keyboard action). The studio material includes some songs originally written as far back as 1988 but never before recorded, all super killer stuff to say the least! We should mention the track "Still Life", a good portion of which almost sounds like something by Italy's Sinistri, it's so abrupt and sparse. Fittingly, the disc ends with their now notorious prog-rock medley, referencing dozens of obscure riffs -- from King Crimson, Yes, Gong, Goblin, Rush, ELP, Samla Mamas Manna, PFM, Caravan, Area, Magma (of course), and many more -- in a lightning-fast fury. Recommended for all Ruins fanatics of course, probably even if you already have the old version, thanks to the bonus tracks...

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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. Allan's favorite album ever? Possibly. The domestic debut of Tokyo bass/drum duo Ruins, who when I (Allan) first heard 'em seemed like the unholy melding of the Boredoms and the Melvins. Essential heavy, energetic avant-rock genius.

Like the title implies, this is Japan's Ruins in full "symphonic prog rock mode", that is, the core duo of drums and bass are augmented by keyboards, additional vocals, etc. It's mostly old Ruins compositions (with the exception of one new track) getting reworked. The results venture more overtly into the 70's style symphonic prog rock territory from which the Ruins in the past have derived much inspiration but not sounded like. It can't be said that any of the new arrangements (complete with, of course, breathtaking playing) really improve upon the original versions, but they are still great fun to hear--especially if you're a fan into drummer Tatsuya Yoshida's Magma-oid side project Koenji-Hyyakei. Yep, this really shows their roots in the '70s extremes of bands like Magma and Area.

Wow. Probably the best album from this band in a long time. And they're always really good. Still, their last two studio albums (2000's "Pallaschtom" and 1998's "Vrresto"), although amazing musically, might have actually taken their insane technicality to an almost detrimental, one-dimensional extreme, when compared to more melodic and memorable earlier Ruins classics like "Burning Stone". But, with this new release, we're really excited about the Ruins again. It's got more ideas, more variety, more inventiveness, more surprises -- and of course, more of that insane technicality. Let's pause for a quick update for those not familiar with the band: Japan's Ruins are a drums and bass prog-core duo who play crazy, complex, heavy compositions and improvisations. Both members sing operatically in a made-up language, with one of 'em riffing and soloing w/ bass and effects to put most metal guitarists to shame and the other bashing the drums in an impossibly octopus-like fashion. Totally over the top masters of riff and timing they are. They worship French prog gods Magma, and are worshipped themselves equally and deservedly by fans and bands all over -- such as Mike Patton, who's just released "Tzomborgha" on his Ipecac label. And if you've never heard them before, this disc is in fact a great place to start (which is saying a lot). "Tzomborgha" features weird (for them, even!) vocal stylisms, psychedelic fusionscapes, truly melodic and pretty parts, improv spasticity, and even some spacey atmospheric jamming, as well as plenty of the shredding bass/drums workouts with rapidfire, mindboggling changes like you'd expect. Continuing a Ruins tradition, this disc concludes with not one but two of their infamous medleys, the subjects of which in some way sum up the Ruins' appeal: one is devoted to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the other to Black Sabbath! The later is particularily amusing when they attempt to approximate (or parody) Ozzy's vocals... Earlier in the disc you'll also find two cover songs, one supposedly an Olivier Messiaen theme even though it sounds like a Ruins original, and the other the Shankar piece "Chittam Irangaayo", which is especially great. Indian classical music meets jazz meets the Ruins! Tempering their complexicore excesses with a show of some diverse musical interests (along with getting a heavier bass sound that harkens back to older Ruins albums/bassists) results in this disc being the most vital in-the-studio display of their genius since, say, "Hydromastgroningem" back in '95 or 1993's "Graviyaunosch". Yep, "Tzomborgha" is definitely impressive. Think about it. These guys have been around for, like, almost 20 years!! (I believe Ruins debuted in 1985.) They're at that point in their career where their last three releases before this consisted of two live albums and a best of! Isn't that like some Blue Oyster Cult shit? Most bands like that you could write off, yet here comes "Tzomborgha" to kick our asses. Awesome.

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Attention Ruins fans! Attention fans of hyperkinetic bass and drums prog-rock insanity! (Them's one and the same, we're pretty sure.) Here's something for ya, which you may not have already and/or may need again. Previously only available as a French import (and Japanese edition in Japan), Chicago's Skin Graft label have now re-issued this 1998 Ruins album domestically, in a freshly remixed form. And there's two bonus tracks to boot! Previously we called this "demented", and a "showcase" for their style of "utter-insane-complexicore". We'll stand by those hyperbolic statements today as well. Vrresto and its follow-up Pallaschtom saw the Ruins go to the edge and beyond of acrobatic/athletic musical extremity, undeniably impressive (though, it must be said that we found their scaling back of the spasticity on 2002's Tzomborgha album to be a welcome move). Vrresto was the first proper album recorded by the line-up of founding drummer/mastermind Tatsuya Yoshida and (at the time) new six-string bassist Hisashi Sasaki (who despite the onslaught of Yoshida's octopoid drumming can hardly be said to play second fiddle in the band). Cool to have this back in print, just in time for Ruin's 20th (!!!) anniversary.

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Another one for the Ruins fans out there. Along with the amazing Koenji Hyakkei DVD that Magaibutsu also just put out, here's another live DVD, this time featuring Ruins themselves along with three other combos from the underground Tokyo prog rock scene. This certainly lives up to the "Let's Dance With Irregular Rhythms" title! All these bands were recorded one night last July at a club called FAB, shot with relatively static but pro camerawork and fine sound. Ruins do nine songs, some old, some new, in their inimitable frenzied, just-bass-and-drums way. They're kind of an anomaly here, in a way, 'cause their brand of prog is so uniquely stripped-down and heavy. Nothing else on here quite approaches their mania, but prog-fiends will still want to check out the others. There's the exotic-sounding Pochakaite Malko, a quartet featuring electric violin, bass, drums and keys. Quite melodic and flashy. Rather more fierce is the hard-hitting, spazzed out Aburadako. Their singer's got a slicked-back Mike Patton hairstyle and a deadpan delivery, standing motionless in front of his mic with a thousand-yard stare when not singing. Weird, and probably our favorite here next to Ruins. The fourth band on here is a large ensemble called Cicala-Mvta, that's a bit more of a circusy-sounding chamber rock thing, not unlike gypsy wedding music actually, with strings and horns as well as the usual rock instrumentation. Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins sits in as a second drummer!

Fans of the Japanese underground progcore "Zeuhl" two-piece Ruins have been waiting... and waiting... it's been a while since the last Ruins album. Probably 'cause mastermind (and drummer) Tatsuya Yoshida, busy with a million other projects, has apparently never found a suitable replacement for the other half of the duo, bassist number four Sasaki Hisashi having left after 2002's Tzomborgha. But now, he's decided, he doesn't need another bassist. He doesn't need anyone. That's right, he can simply (or rather, complexly) play all the parts his own self!!! Now, we'd not have thought it possible if we hadn't seen him perform solo before, octopoidally attacking drum kit, bass pedals, keyboard, headset microphone, guitar, etc. But he's a maniac, and he can do it. Sure, presumably this studio recording utilized overdubs (it must have) but we wouldn't be at all surprised if he's able to do pretty much the same thing live, Thrones style, somehow. So, here's the record. 23 tracks, about half of 'em brand new, utterly over the top compositions, the other half being "alone" versions of earlier Ruins tracks (including such old faves as "Grubandgo", "Cambodia", "Dharskrive", "Hyderomastgroningem", "Stonehenge", and "Sanctuary")... plus, as bonus tracks, two of the Ruins' now obligatory medleys - a "Prog Rock Medley" and "Hard Rock Medley", both gleefully ADD insane. Oh, and as another bonus, the surprisingly lovely & placid piano piece "Notturuno". So, we're not sure if Ruins Alone is the way Ruins will be from now on, or if he's still just waiting for the right bass player to turn up, but for now anyway, if you want Ruins, this is it. And Yoshida (of course) pulls it off! Pretty freaking amazing. Y'know how Ruins already sounded like way more than just 2 people? Same goes here, dude's a one man multitude. While hyper-spastic as always (doing it all by himself sure doesn't slow him down!), Ruins Alone IS a wee bit different sounding than most previous Ruins, in that instead of heavy 5-string bass you get shredding, sizzling keyboards, and that's what makes the many tracks here that are renditions of past Ruins numbers especially interesting to hear for those familiar with the originals. The sound is still quite heavy and fuzzy but also uniquely synth-y, it's like some sort of crazy new wave, Nintendo version of the Ruins here, retro-futuristic in a remarkably "now" sounding way. IF you're new to Ruins, you certainly could start with this, but we'd recommend checking out the proper duo recordings as well (Burning Stone, if you can find it!!). This as a taster, though, would help determine if you're crazy enough to become obsessed with this "band" or not. And longtime fans, YES you want this. More proof that Yoshida rules, even alone!Which we've known since his solo debut, Magaibutsu, back in 1991...

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Ok, the first thing you need to know about this, if you haven't guessed already: it's indeed a brand new album spawned from the combined efforts of Japan's Ruins and Omoide Hatoba. These two equally insane outfits got together for a cd once before, about ten years ago, and now I guess they've determined that the world is ready for more of their merged musical mania. Bring it on we say! This installment of Ruinzhatova sees Tatsuya Yoshida and Hisashi Sasaki (of hyper-prog duo Ruins) teaming up with Seiichi Yamamoto and Atsushi Tsuyama (members of weirdo noise-pop-jazz combo Omoide Hatoba). Yamamoto you probably also know as the guitarist from the Boredoms, while Tsuyama is a member of Acid Mothers Temple, and collaborates with Yoshida in the highly conceptual and crazed Akaten duo. So, as you might well expect, this is some wacked-out, noisy, frenzied, chaotic (but doubtless totally tight and composed) stuff!! One hour of prog-spazz insanity. Don't attempt to listen to this if you already have a headache, that's for sure. Not that there aren't moments of pleasantly quiet quirkiness on here as well. The second thing you need to know: these guys are definitely into overtly indulging their prog-rock obsessions here -- the cover photo (a cow in a field) seems to reference Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother, and the album's very title is derived from the Yes LP Close To The Edge. And that brings us to one of the most amazing things on here, actually: this disc's finale is a completely reverential, kick-ass, 18 minute version of that Yes album's incredible title track. Really, they do it remarkably straight (that's what's really so thrilling, they pull off every little nuance from the vocals on down), especially considering that earlier in the album, they do some other covers, not nearly so respectfully. For instance, they cover both James Brown and King Crimson -- at the same time! That's right, on track five on you get "Sex Machine" in your right speaker and "Larks Tongues In Aspic Part II" in the left channel. Then there's the over-the-top, wild and wooly version of Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express" that begins the album... The originals on here also veer wildly and crazily about, making full use of Yoshida's This Heat/Magma inspired drumming, Yamamoto's guitar squiggles, and Tsuyama's vocal histrionics, among the other talents of this always-over-the-top ensemble. Now, like the original Ruins-Hatoba get-together, this album is certainly not the equal of a 'proper' album by either band, but still, there's lots for Ruins/Omoide Hatoba/etc. fans to enjoy on here. And it's worth it for the "Close To The Edge" cover alone, really!

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Japanese underground music nerds (you know who you are) should start salivating right about now. Ruinzhatova aka Ruins-Hatoba, the melding of the formidable talents of two of the Tokyo avant-rock scene's most veteran and insane bands, the Ruins and Omoide Hatoba, is back with a (presumably) improvised live album that offers 110 percent of what's already a Japanese underground music nerd mindblowing potentiality. The Ruinzhatova trio -- drummer Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins), bassist Atsushi Tsuyama (Omoide Hatoba, Akaten, Acid Mothers Temple) and guitarist Yamamoto Seiichi (Omoide Hatoba, Boredoms) are in raging good form here, playing live like their lives depended upon it yet of course sweating it not one wit. From the git-go, with the 11 minute, 12 second track "Everywhere", this album is a jazz-flecked, hard-rock-damaged maelstrom of geetar licks and percussive frenzies and vocal eccentricity. They pull out all the stops. Rather than the jokey hokeyness of some previous RH releases, this one is positively HEROIC, each player here simply going for it to the utmost of their undeniably amazing capabilities. From start to finish, an album of hyperkinetic exhilaration, with breathing room for such things as weird flute blowing and electronic fx... Each of the long (7-13 minute) tracks is varied and eventful and impressive! Meanwhile, Pam says: Middle Eastern Muppet music. Sorta silly but interesting! You be the judge.

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Yup, that's right, Japan's Ruins and Omoide Hatoba (featuring Yamamoto of Boredoms) team up for this crazy cabaret act of demento prog rock insanity. New import version on Yoshida of Ruins' own label.

We'd had a couple cd-r releases from Australian math doom trio Fire Witch, so we were super psyched to discover they had an actual cd that came out on a label in Japan, when we finally got the cd, we discovered it was a split with a band we had never heard called Ryokuchi. All it took was one listen to convince us that we loved 'em and needed to hear more!!! So while this is not a full length proper, it is a brand new record from this Japanese bass and drums duo, one thirty minute track, dense with all manner of low end riffing, blown out distortion and convoluted arrangements, mathy breakdowns, melodic drift and dark ambient shimmer. Ryokuchi call what they do�"Experimental doom tribal hard core" and that's pretty much what it sounds like. The track begins as an atmospheric post rock jam, with blooping reverbed bass, and mathy percussion, sounding not unlike a more drum heavy Three Mile Pilot,� but a few minutes in, the distortion pedals kick in and the band lurches into a crazed doomic plod, heavy and chugging, loping and swaying, gradually slowing down to an almost full stop, before bursting back into action, with a bit of complex mathy Ruins-y prog. For the next 10+ minutes these guys wildly careen from dense proggy rhythmic tangles, to huge slabs of slow shifting doom, to blissy stretches of moody slowcore, occasionally peppered with super distorted vocals buried in the mix, everything recorded super hot and in the red, before finally, with about ten minutes to go, the band pulls back, revealing an ominous dronescape behind the curtain, cymbals sizzle and shimmer, low end rumbles sway back and forth, muted melodies drift intermittently amidst the strange bass heavy landscape, when suddenly and dramatically, the band crash back in, and we're off, a pummeling slow motion downtuned doom drenched sludge, plowing along endlessly, interrupted by brief spurts of splattery spastic prog, before terminating in a huge squall of wild drumming and explosive bass feedback.� Phew. So intense and so amazing. Think the Ruins covering Corrupted, or a doom metal Three Mile Pilot. Or just drums and bass and distortion and doom raining from the sky like some lesser known plague... Packaged in a cool cd-sized DVD-style plastic case, with a full color, two sided cover, and a little mini full color booklet inside that folds out into a mini-poster and hides a sticker inside.

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Aussie noise rockers the Grey Daturas had been telling us forever about some killer band called Fire Witch, who they played with all the time. It took forever, but we finally managed to get a bunch of copies of their Critter / Kritta 3" cd-r, which of course sold like crazy and was gone before we knew it. We stayed in touch with the band, but had been unable to get anything else until now. The strange thing is we had to go all the way to Japan to get this, a split with Japanese duo Ryokuchi... It was well worth the wait though. Fire Witch are another band who traffic in the slooooooooow and heavy, but they definitely give it their own twist. Not sludgy like SUNNO))) or their legions of followers, and not really noisy like many of their countrymen. Instead they're some sort of strange downtuned slowcore mathrock. Massive guitars churn and throb, the drums a crushing pound, over the top, drawn out wailing leads, all the makings of a proper rock band, but instead they fuck it all up, gloriously, lurching forward only to pause briefly, allowing the silence and bits of room sound to seep in, before launching back into downtuned action. And they go on like that for ages, never attaining any momentum, instead engaging is some crowd baiting bit of stop start torture, and we love it. A slow motion wall of psych guitars and slow shuffling drums. Here and there, the band reels it in, allowing the drummer to just wander, while the guitars squiggle and oscillate, a dizzying warbly soundscape of tangled melodies and sea sick shimmer. They finish off with the brilliantly titled "I Spilled A Lot Of Blood To Get This Meal", a lengthy chunk of abstract soundscaping, reverberating metal, soft swells of feedback, lazy basslines, drifting harmonics, shuffling rhythms, eventually bursting into a dense doomy plod, but laced with all sorts of killer melodies, making it sound like a doomed version of June Of 44 or Engine Kid. Fire Witch are teamed up here with Ryokuchi, a Japanese duo (what is it with Japan and duos?), just bass and percussion, who offer up an ultra dense, and relentless onslaught of mathy grinding doom-drenched metallized noise rock. Beginning with strange percussion and fuzzy minimal drones, the band suddenly launches into a massive wall of sludgy pummel, like a more hyper kinetic Eyehategod, or a doom metal Ruins. Relentless and hypnotic, the drums pounding away, the bass a swirling wash of blackened buzz, amidst the chaos duel vocalists howl and shriek. Fuck! And that's just the first track, their second number is way more spread out and sprawling, offering up some stretches of relative tranquility with affected bass and tribal percussion, sounding a bit like a more metal Three Mile Pilot, but the majority of the nearly seventeen minutes is spent furious and chaotic, grinding and crushing, a Tasmanian Devil of sound, going from wild thrashing to slow motion plod and back again in a matter of second. Dense and complex and convoluted and so fucking great!

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Holy shit. The title kinda says it all. This is a reissue of an older Alchemy classic, originally released on cd in 1992 (recorded live a few years before that, circa 1988-89), that pits Japan's Kings Of Noise, Hijokaidan, featuring guitarist Jojo Hiroshige, against seminal Japanese grindcore act SxOxB, who started back in 1983 and whose discography includes several full albums released internationally in the '90s, as well as a split 7" with Napalm Death amongst others... Or rather, it pits 'em both together vs. YOUR eardrums and sanity. Makes sense these two Osaka-based bands would collaborate, being leading proponents in Japan of two strains of quote unquote extreme quote unquote music as it existed at the time! With "song" titles like "Fuck Or Die", "Rising Hell", "Look Like Devil", this is about as punk as you can get, really. There's short blasts, and extended workouts. Gruff shouting (throat abuse from original S.O.B. vocalist Tottusan, who tragically ended his life in 1995 by jumping in front of a train) rains hell over psychedelic sheets of guitar skree from the 3 guitarists on hand, each pretty much doing their own thing all at the same time -- grinding riff frenzy, spaced out soloing -- as loud as possible to compete with the constant drum pummel. It's an abstract cacophony of noise, violence & destroy, yes it is. And guess what? 10 of the 12 tracks feature special guest (on, what else,"noise") Eye Yamatsuka of Boredoms. Good grief, did they think they really needed the help?

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Huh, we haven't really ever reviewed any Sabbat before... except for one crazy out of print triple 6" vinyl release, a long time ago. That's despite the fact that all the troo cvlt metalheads here at AQ have lots of Sabbat in their collections. We're talking about the Japanese Sabbat here, by the way, not the thrash '80s British one - though these guys are thrashy and '80s sounding too, and also totally black metal. Heck they did that triple six inch, after all! Can't get much more Satanic than that. So, about time we reviewed something else by them. They've got a massive discography spanning the years, from way back in 1985 'til now, many full-length albums but also a bewildering array of eps and splits, with an unlikely preponderance of their releases being super limited edition LIVE recordings. Sometimes as many as nine in one year. Weird. Who do they think they are, Pearl Jam? Anyway, at long last, this is a new studio recording, and while it's not presented in as quite a "cult" format as that aforementioned 3x6", it's still a fetish object of sorts, the packaging fiendishly glimmering and glittering, with the art and logo in metallic red ink on a white background. And even though it's a domestic US release, they've included a Japanese-style obi strip, nice. A band that gets this lavish attention, either definitely deserves it, or made a pact with the Devil, in this case, probably both! So, for those who have yet to come to the Sabbat, let's explain what you're in for: total raw black metal mayhem, a la Venom and early Slayer, played with infectious enthusiasm by Japanese maniacs so old school and true that they make Darkthrone look like posers. With some NWOBHM elements (this band's Cronos, bassist/vocalist Gezol, is also a member of Metalucifer, after all) they display real heavy metal musical chops even amidst the thrashing, noisy chaos that these songs deliver with such high speed and seeming insanity. That insanity partially manifests this time via a focus on witches, there's no less than four songs here that factor "witch" into the title: "Witchflight", "Witch Hammers", "Witch's Torches", and the instrumental "Witch's Weed"! Don't ask why, or witch. Stereotypically Japanese with such obsessiveness, Sabbat are as over the top as ever on this new album. While our other favorite Japanese black metal band, Sigh, took off in weird avant-garde directions from their Venom-worshipping beginnings, Sabbat stay true to the source, earning a special place in the pantheon of all-time underground black metal greats. Sabbatrinity is further testament to that.

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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. [/cat/japan29.html]

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

SORRY.

Sanhedolin is the new name for the project that brought together two of the most exciting artists in the Tokyo underground prog-psych scene, AQ faves progcore duo Ruins and dark psych shaman Keiji Haino!! They did a cd on PSF under the name Knead three years ago (and also an LP on the French Fractal label). Now they've teamed up again, but because the Ruins have a new bass player, they've changed the name of this unit to Sanhedolin (though, the Ruins didn't change their name, so go figure). Anyway, this what you get when guitarist/vocalist Haino has the hyper-excitable rhythm section that is the Ruins backing him up. Incendiary improv action! Heavy-duty guitar/bass/drums interplay. And... flute? Yep, oddly enough (but much to our approval) this album opens up with the lovely sound of the flute! Haino is not credited with playing flute on the sleeve, but it's got to be him. It's not until a track or so later that Haino unleashes his trademark searing electric guitar devastation. He also screams out some very anguished vocals, more soul-wrenching than those from any black metal throat. Haino's presence is key here (and like we said in our review of the Knead cd, although you can hear both the Ruins and Haino doing their respective, distinctive "things", the combination maybe makes it more of Haino's album than the Ruins -- it's like a really fierce Fushitsusha recording with an uncowed, caffinated rhythm section). And really, we like this better than a lot of other Ruins improv projects 'cause it's not just about the spazz-out bass/drums, the iron first of Haino's guitar playing is so STRONG that it keeps the Ruins in line, it's more purposeful I guess. Fans of either and/or both Ruins or Haino though should like this. And by the the way, new Ruins bass player Mitsuru Nasuno is just as nimble as any who've played with Ruins drummer/mastermind Yoshida Tatsuya before, as he'd better be!

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Scorched earth skronk from some of the best in the business... that'd be the Japanese underground improv psych power trio super group Sanhedrin, who consist of monster guitarist Keiji Haino of Fushitsusha, monster drummer Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins, and monster bassist Mitsuru Nasuno of Altered States. Before this, they had a cd on PSF under the name Sanhedolin, and before that, there was a unit called Knead (Haino + Ruins) but basically it's the same thing. Freeform freakout distortodelic action. Really heavy-duty stuff, fans of Haino know what to expect, if you've been waiting a while to really hear him crank it on the axe again, this is the thing to get! There's eight tracks, about 66 minutes filled with feedback and fuzz, recorded live to multitrack in 2007 at two separate performances. A combustible chaos of roiling drums, seesawing rhythms, angular wandering bass grooves, and, above all, thick wooly slabs of ultra-distorted guitar. Chaotic vocal babble (Haino? Yoshida?) intrudes only occasionally, and amidst all the mayhem there are some relatively serene (but heavy) stretches of black metal-ish amplifier drone bzzzz... Pretty killer! We can't imagine hearing any band of noise rocking whippersnappers doing this sort of thing any better. We don't normally quote from label blurbs, but can't resist this grammatically confused sentence: "Is equal to of the whole body which passion gushes from." Dunno exactly what that means, but y'know, it's probably true! The disc is some kind of limited edition, originally tour-only merch sold at shows in Japan. It's packaged in a glossy black cardstock tri-fold sleeve + obi, adorned with some odd, colorful collage artwork - a typewriter, a dragon, telephones, fish, a frog, a tuba, a Gibson SG guitar, an eyeball with squid-like tentacles...

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[ aquarius records — Japan ]