LETHE Catastrophe Point 7 & 8 (Invisible Birds) 2cd 63.00
It's hard not to jump right into discussing the packaging that Invisible Birds has crafted for this opus by the peripatetic Japanese experimentalist Lethe (aka Kuwayama Kiyoharu), but that will have to wait for later on in the review as it's the incredible, occluded sounds that Lethe generates that are of true import here.
For many years now, Kuwayama had been recording the resonance of various abandoned spaces, first around his native Japan and more recently from sites far far away. He seeks out an old warehouse, airplane hanger, the hull of a ship, or any massive slab of architecture shaped by concrete and/or steel which happens to have an open door (or broken window) and a choice amount of natural reverb and resonance. There he collects whatever he can find within the space to use as source material to resonate those industrial spaces: slabs of metal, empty water tanks, sodden wood, broken glass, small bones, and the flotsam that had collected on the floors after years of neglect. Out of these found objects, Kuwayama has an uncanny knack for producing natural, acoustic drones which hold a haunted aesthetic amplified through the cavernous reverb of those crumbled cathedrals to industry. Given the seemingly surreptitious nature of Kuwayama's wanderings, these recordings are swaddled in the darkness of night with only candles or a bonfire somewhere in the far corner of the building as his illumination. It has to be said that Kuwayama does overlay and edit all of his recordings into composition, following liked minded artists such as Tarab, Eric La Casa, or John Grzinich.
Catastrophe Point 7 begins with this process at a site deliciously referred to as Arsenic in Lausanne, Switzerland. Well, it turns out that Arsenic is a contemporary theater space in current use, and despite his non-feral residence, Kuwayama offers an incredible assortment of acoustic drones, noises, and textures. Bellowing tones emanate from a variety of long plumbing pipes, replicating the circular breathing strategies of Yoshi Wada; and around these leaden flutterings, he scrapes uneasy textures and builds clattering crescendos. The point about Arsenic not being a totally disused space comes to the forefront about halfway through Catastrophe Point 7 as he rolls a piano into the empty theater space and sets forth a melancholy series of clustered piano tones, much like his one time collaborator Jonathan Coleclough produced on his signature album Period.
Catastrophe Point 8 was recorded in an abandoned space. This time, it's a former power station in Scotland. A mournful acoustic drone, perhaps from a similar set of plumbing pipes heard in the Swiss recordings opens this disc, with small crumblings of wood, glass, and concrete positioned close to the microphone. Set in spatialized contrast to these closely miced sounds, Kuwayama captures various clanks, thumps, and other bumps in the night all decaying in the prolonged reverb of that power station. It's a much more Spartan affair than the first disc, but just as effective in its haunted sensibility. Highly recommended listening!
And yes, the packaging. The discs themselves are housed in a beautifully printed letterpress folio, with a lengthy booklet written by fellow industrial shadow-master Giancarlo Toniutti. For this small art-edition, Invisible Birds has housed the two discs in an archival, embossed box with another booklet of photographs from Kuwayama and a snippet of 8mm film. The art edition is beautifully done and well worth the expense. Needless to say, they made just 100 of the art edition!
MPEG Stream: "Catastrophe Point 7.2"
MPEG Stream: "Catastrophe Point 8.1"
MPEG Stream: "Catastrophe Point 8.3"

LETHE Catastrophe Point 7 & 8 (Invisible Birds) 2cd 19.98
Here's the regular (and much more reasonably priced!) edition of the ultra deluxe Lethe 2cd set we reviewed a few weeks ago.
For many years now, Kuwayama Kiyoharu (aka Lethe) had been recording the resonance of various abandoned spaces, first around his native Japan and more recently from sites far far away. He seeks out an old warehouse, airplane hanger, the hull of a ship, or any massive slab of architecture shaped by concrete and/or steel which happens to have an open door (or broken window) and a choice amount of natural reverb and resonance. There he collects whatever he can find within the space to use as source material to resonate those industrial spaces: slabs of metal, empty water tanks, sodden wood, broken glass, small bones, and the flotsam that had collected on the floors after years of neglect. Out of these found objects, Kuwayama has an uncanny knack for producing natural, acoustic drones which hold a haunted aesthetic amplified through the cavernous reverb of those crumbled cathedrals to industry. Given the seemingly surreptitious nature of Kuwayama's wanderings, these recordings are swaddled in the darkness of night with only candles or a bonfire somewhere in the far corner of the building as his illumination. It has to be said that Kuwayama does overlay and edit all of his recordings into composition, following liked minded artists such as Tarab, Eric La Casa, or John Grzinich.
Catastrophe Point 7 begins with this process at a site deliciously referred to as Arsenic in Lausanne, Switzerland. Well, it turns out that Arsenic is a contemporary theater space in current use, and despite his non-feral residence, Kuwayama offers an incredible assortment of acoustic drones, noises, and textures. Bellowing tones emanate from a variety of long plumbing pipes, replicating the circular breathing strategies of Yoshi Wada; and around these leaden flutterings, he scrapes uneasy textures and builds clattering crescendos. The point about Arsenic not being a totally disused space comes to the forefront about halfway through Catastrophe Point 7 as he rolls a piano into the empty theater space and sets forth a melancholy series of clustered piano tones, much like his one time collaborator Jonathan Coleclough produced on his signature album Period.
Catastrophe Point 8 was recorded in an abandoned space. This time, it's a former power station in Scotland. A mournful acoustic drone, perhaps from a similar set of plumbing pipes heard in the Swiss recordings opens this disc, with small crumblings of wood, glass, and concrete positioned close to the microphone. Set in spatialized contrast to these closely miced sounds, Kuwayama captures various clanks, thumps, and other bumps in the night all decaying in the prolonged reverb of that power station. It's a much more Spartan affair than the first disc, but just as effective in its haunted sensibility. Highly recommended listening!
MPEG Stream: "Catastrophe Point 7.2"
MPEG Stream: "Catastrophe Point 8.1"
MPEG Stream: "Catastrophe Point 8.3"

LI JIANHONG Classic Of The Mountains And Seas (PSF) cd 17.98
This actually came out last year, and we'd been wanting to review it (and confer upon it Record Of The Week status) ever since, but held off until we were able to do an order directly with the PSF label in Japan and thus get a bunch of 'em for a better price ($16.98 being not that bad for a Japanese import these days, eh?). Finally, they're here, and this is the Week it gets to be a Record Of, though really it's a timeless piece of work that we've been enjoying for a while now, as we said.
Why the high honors? Well, we know there are those of you (and of us) who love guitar, loud GUITAR. Y'know, who just bow down to sheer, untrammeled outward bound electric six string axe action. This is for YOU. Another amplifier worshipping guitar god for you, in turn, to worship, one we can readily place in that eternal electric guitar pantheon that includes among noisy others Jimi Hendrix, Randy Holden, Ax Genrich, Masayuki Takayanagi, Uli Jon Roth, Caspar Brotzmann, Keiji Haino, J. Mascis, Thurston Moore, Matthew Bower, Campbell Kneale, and, well, Li Jianhong! Perhaps you've heard of him already, after all, we've reviewed at least one of his previous solo releases (on aRCHIVE), and also his noise guitar/drums duo D!O!D!O!D! (also on PSF), and drone guitar/laptop duo VagusNerve (on Utech). This, though, definitely the best thing from him we've heard yet, and is his first solo album for PSF, where he most definitely belongs, alongside the likes of Haino, Takayanagi, and High Rise's Munehiro Narita. Though, he's not Japanese, he's Chinese and as PSF says, is "China's hottest, loudest and most psychedelic avant-noise guitarist". Dunno why you wouldn't just believe that but if you want definite proof, here it is, take a listen!
It's mindbending, utterly mesmerizing stuff, pushing into the red at all times almost, but also supremely controlled, like an elemental under command, lotsa "static" but not static, instead always moving forward into searing, cosmic white light oblivion... The disc is seventy minutes long, comprising two longer-than-side-long tracks (32:47 and 37:15), but it pretty much stops time when you're listening. Ultra droney deep distorted sheets of amped up sound, howling wah wah fuzz fuzz to the extreme, cranked to 11 (though we dare you to dial it up half that high at home), but what's got us is that he's definitely playing, we mean SOLOING, melodically, the whole time pretty much. So it's got that Earthless, endlessly jamming guitar solo vibe to it, but imagine Earthless that sounds more like Earth (the band), and it's JUST guitar too, though it sounds like more than one of 'em. Jianhong never lets it turn into unrecognizably guitar-generated skronky noise, it's not like Metal Machine Music or Solmania or Merzbow, though they're on the horizon perhaps. Even at its most abstract, when it sounds like a jet airplane engine drone or an ecstatic chorus of angelic screams, wavering and echoing, you can still picture him wielding his axe in a classic guitar hero pose, conjuring all sounds with his fingers, strings, amp, and intervening pedals.
Of the two tracks, the 1st is more active and "shreddy", 2nd is calmer, but still full of energy and motion. Both are beautiful... if you think sounds like grinding whale calls having close encounters with UFOs and swarms of bees in a hurricane can be beautiful. Pretty much a must-have for fans of such artists as Urthona, Ulaan Khol, Keiji Haino, Earth, Boris (in their Absolutego / Feedbacker / Cloud Chamber mode), Skullflower, Makoto Kawabata & Acid Mothers Temple, Neil Young (on Arc anyway), etc. Bow down!!
MPEG Stream: "Classic Of The Seas"
MPEG Stream: "Classic Of The Mountains"

LIBIDO SPACE DIMENSION s/t (Gyokumon) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Most of you have yet to hear the mighty Solar Anus, Japan's masters of stumbling psychedelic doom (although thanks to tUMULt's forthcoming double cd collection of the first three SA albums, you soon will -- beware!), but in the mean time, Solar Anus mainman Tenkotu Kawaho and his label Gyokumon (a word which loosely translates as asshole, in keeping with the anal theme) give us the lysergic, fuzzed out stoner psych-rock of another great Japanese band, Libido Space Dimension (a name we'll forgive 'cause they're Japanese, and so good). LSD channel the spirit of Hendrix through the overdrive dimension inhabited by Japanese noise-psych-rock monsters like Mainliner and High Rise, and mix in some modern stoner metal stylings a la Monster Magnet (in fact they even cover 'Long Hair', from MM's "25...tab" ep). LSD certainly put their Orange amps to the test with their ultra-fuzzed out guitar explosions/explorations... Factoring in their hyper-distorted, buried in the mix vocals and frenetic, spastic Mitch Mitchell-style drumming, they go to the top of the heap of '70s worshipping stoner rock bands. Plus, being from Japan, they have that unpredictable X-factor most US bands lack, allowing them to do things like segue into the freaky trance/techno electronica that ends the album!
RealAudio clip: "Long Hair"
RealAudio clip: "Gokumonki"
RealAudio clip: "Tatooed Dancer"
RealAudio clip: "Nehang"

LIMITED EXPRESS (HAS GONE?) Feeds You! (Tzadik) cd 16.98
John Zorn and his Tzadik label have yet again come up with another unknown (to us) Japanese avant-rock band to feature in their "New Japan" series! Previous entries have included Melt Banana, Ruins, Rovo, Mono, Ground Zero and Hoahio, among others. This weirdly-named trio hails from Kyoto and specializes in quirky, oft-noisy, sometimes quite poppy rock that comes closest to Melt Banana (or Deerhoof, for an American comparison -- they definitely remind us of Deerhoof). Yelping female vocals are of course part of the equation, along with totally pretty parts, skittery guitars, schizoid changes, energetic drums, and mucho distortion and heavy skree (with light-speed dynamic shifts into lighter territory and back again). Super fun, executed to perfection. True, this type of thing isn't as bizarre and groundbreaking to Western ears as it once was, but it's still really good. Definitely a new name to watch, one for fans of Melt Banana, OOIOO, Boredoms and the like to check out. So, chalk another one up for Tzadik!
MPEG Stream: "Aloha!"
MPEG Stream: "Spy"

LIMITED EXPRESS (HAS GONE?) s/t (Memory Lab) cd ep 5.98
A two-song cd single from this Japanese outfit, whetting our appetites for a full-length follow-up to their fine 2003 Tzadik-label album debut Feeds You. Yelpy, dizzying avant-rock a la Melt Banana or Deerhoof. One of the two tracks is a warped cover of "There She Goes" by The La's! In no frills packaging with only an obi for artwork. Limited stock.
MPEG Stream: "There She Goes"

LIMITED EXPRESS (HAS GONE?) Sacrificial Jesus Child (Phono-Statique) 7" 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Heads up! Here's three new songs from these Japanese spazz-art-poppers. This bright opaque blue 7" record is comin' atcha by way of Australian record label Phono-Statique! Churningly angular and dizzyingly rambunctious, it sounds like they loosened all the strings on their guitars for this one. The b-side "Halation" features lyrics that are primarily a male singer chanting "one two three four" in Japanese. Count along with him! We've said it before and we'll say it again: definitely for fans of Deerhoof and Melt-Banana... and of course Limited Express (Has Gone?)!

LOCUST, THE / MELT BANANA split (GSL) 7" 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We stocked up on this one, but it'll probably still go real fast 'cause, well, the word for fans of either band is "rabid". You know what I'm talking about if you're one of 'em. And it's on colored vinyl, a nice marbled orange color. The music? Extreme hardcore. 5 songs from San Diego screamo kids The Locust and 2 from Japanese spazzers Melt Banana. With disturbing cover art from Born Against's Sam McPheeters.

LOOP CIRCUIT Sound on Sound (Starlight Furniture Co.) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Originally released in an edition of 88 on Japan's cassette-only G.R.O.S.S. label in 1994. Loop Circuit is a collaboration between Akifumi Nakajima (better known as sound artist Aube) and Dub Murashita (?). Limited to 222 copies, on vinyl only...

LOVE LIVE LIFE + 1 Love Will Make A Better You cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally, a cd reissue of this extrememly rare, sought-after early '70's document of Japanese psychedelia. Includes a live bonus track. Essentially, freaked-out "krautrock" a la Faust, but from Japan. (There even seems to be a little Sly Stone to them too.)

LSD POND (LSD MARCH + BARDO POND) s/t (aRCHIVE) 2cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This one hardly needs a review. Space rockers Bardo Pond, jamming with Japanese psych-rockers LSD-March! Two discs, looooooooong songs, plenty of sprawling druggy psychedelia, throbbing serpentine basslines, busy groovy drumming, and lots and lots and lots of guitars, buzzing and whirring, grinding and roaring, wailing and howling.
Culled from two stoned, late-night recording sessions on days off from the 2006 Bardo Pond / LSD-March / Masami Kawaguchi's New Rock Syndicate East Coast tour, these tracks were edited together by Bardo Pond-er Michael Gibbons with no overdubs, just a document of epic, swirling, lurching, grooving spaced out psych rock.
Incredible recording, super clear, almost studio quality, multiple drummers, multiple guitar players, the sound is loud, and intense, sometimes blissing out into laid back stretches of near ambient tranquility, but always building back up into howling squalls of freaked out psychrock nirvana. The first disc is the more jammy of the two, more loose and improvised sounding, even the opening track fades in with the track already in full swing, like they had already been jamming for a while before we even got to the part.
The second disc introduces flute, and some electronics, and begins with a looped lick, over some skittery drumming, and some serious grinding growling low end, it goes on for ages, and we never really wanted it to stop. It does eventually, which is okay as the band has already moved on, locking into some new looped rhythm, the guitars fiery arcs of sound, that low end continuing to grind and buzz, the multiple guitars and guitar parts careening wildly over a roiling backdrop of howling moaning distorted buzz.
The second track on disc two is almost entirely ambient, sounding more like Toho Sara or something, the guitars smeared and blurred, everything buzzy and rumbling, clouds of tinkling shimmer and random percussive clatter, hand drums, glitchy electronics, streaks of feedback, thick swaths of distorted abstract riffing, culminating in a soaring blown out multiple guitar-ed Ur-drone. The disc finishes off with a 20 minute scorcher that goes from furious psych skree meltdown, to stumbling abstract freeform flutter and back, the players locked in a battle to the death, full freakout, ultra-noise mode, vocals scrambling over a dogpile of grinding electronics, a sea of shrieking feedback, an avalanche of drum chaos, and about a ton of blown out guitar damage. Phew.
Every time we play this in the store, someone buys one, or someone comes out from the back to see what the heck is playing. This might just be one of the most played discs in the store recently. And rightfully so.
As always, aRCHIVE spares no expense on the packaging, but they may have outdone themselves this time. A thick textured black ink on cream cardstock gatefold sleeve, the words LSD and POND embossed and printed in reflective silver ink, inside an 8 page black and white booklet affixed to the sleeve, with live photos and liner notes, each disc in it's own black sleeve, printed in silver ink, Japanese characters, the two discs held together by a Japanese style obi, in the same style as the cover. WOW.
LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES. A one time pressing, so don't miss outÉ
MPEG Stream: "We Are LSDPOND (2nd Version)"
MPEG Stream: "Sugatanaki Kyofu"

LSD-MARCH Big Jar Solo Sets (aRCHIVE) dvd 11.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Found a small handful of these!
Japanese heavy psych guitar exploders LSD-march performing live in a book store?? What happened to shhhhh, quiet please, people are reading? Well actually this DVD document of LSD-march live at Philadelphia's Big Jar books is actually a triptych of solo sets from each of LSD-march's three members, so they are relatively quiet (as compared to the usual full-band blow-out volume dealing). Filmed whilst on a brief US tour last fall, the softer side of each individual in the band is revealed. Drummer Ikuro Takahashi gets the most avant-garde, with an odd apparatus of oscillators giving off experimental drones... while both guitarists Shinsuke Michishita and Masami Kawaguchi do sets of gentle vocal/guitar folkiness, a la the calm in the storm often heard in LSD-march sets. Totally personal, and perfect for this intimate setting. Some use of video effects adds to the psychedelic atmosphere. And of course aRCHIVE has packaged this 550-copy limited edition (natch) dvd handsomely in a hand silkscreened folder with some very cool artwork commissioned for this release.
Long out of print, last copies!!!

LSD-MARCH Constellation Of Tragedy (Important) cd 14.98
Fans of the "Tokyo flashback" scene, time to turn out the lights (or put on your shades), and curl up in the fetal position to slowly rock back and forth as you enjoy the latest from downer psych outfit LSD-march. This lovely new studio album is slow and sad, its depressive drowsiness expressed via gentle guitar strum, a background flutter of electronic theremin waves, whistling in the dark, fragile harmonica wheeze, somnolent harmonium drone, and Shinsuke Michishita's weary vocals...
Definitely inspired by Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, as well as the likes of The Jacks and Les Rallies Denudes out of the Japanese dark-psych past, LSD-march conjure a "constellation of tragedy" indeed, quite effective emotionally even though English speakers won't understand the lyrics.
Those of you who primarily listen to this stuff for the primal heavy duty psychedelic guitar slow-burn gunk, don't worry, your needs haven't been neglected either. You get a dose of that void-crawling, amped-up drone-a-delic action when the plodding track four, "Moeru Pyramid" hits the scene! One of their overall best, and best-recorded for sure (no live-in-a-trash-can bootleg sounds, though we like those too).
MPEG Stream: "Kimi Wa Tengoku"
MPEG Stream: "Moeru Pyramid"

LSD-MARCH Empty Rubious Red (aRCHIVE) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Last time we listed a limited edition cd by Japan's LSD-march from the Archive label, we sold out of it in about, oh, two seconds. That was the Live cd that came our way (and went) last month. Well here we go again -- but this time we were able to score more copies than before. So we figure our stock of Empty Rubious Red will last, say, four to five seconds. Why are y'all so grabby with the LSD-march? Is it because of the cool packaging with which Archive always takes great pains? Is it because there's only 500 pressed? Maybe... but of course it's also 'cause if you love heavy duty distorto guitar psych in the vein of cult '70s Japanese heroes Les Rallizes Denudes. And you do get that here on the dronily intense, trippy title track, in spades. But for much of the rest of the album you also get the kinder, gentler side of LSD-march, with Shinsuke Michishita handling vocals and guitar and bass and percussion and whistling (yes, there's some whistling!) all by himself, joined by drummer Ikuro Takahashi on just two of the tracks. It's quite intimate, really, maybe even romantic -- these are love songs, aren't they? The lyrics are in Japanese but the titles "I Have Been Saving My Love For You" and "I Only Have Hands For Hold You" (sic) sure sound like love songs. Dunno about "Nude And Bizarre" though. A gorgeous late night listen, echoey and emotional. Spacious, slow, drowsy. Melancholic, melodic. Compared to the destructive, amped-up attack of that Live album, the beautiful balladry here is like night and day... a mistily overcast day with rays of sun glinting between the clouds.
Nice packaging and graphics as usual (a clear plastic insert overlays the cd, which rests on a nub affixed to a card printed with curls of dark hair similar to the Live cd, if you ever saw one). Mastered by Khanate's James Plotkin, also as per usual with Archive releases. Ok, 'nuff said. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Nude And Bizarre"
MPEG Stream: "Empty Rubious Red"

LSD-MARCH Empty Rubious Red (Tequila Sunrise) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Super deluxe, and of course ultra limited vinyl version of the now out of print Empty Rubious Red cd released on aRCHIVE a while back. Thick vinyl, gorgeous sleeves, even an obi! Limited to 1000 copies, only 800 in the US, pressed on 180 gram vinyl and so so nice.
The last time we listed a limited edition cd by Japan's LSD-march, we sold out of it in about, oh, two seconds. That was the Live cd that came our way (and went). Then we listed the cd version of Empty Rubious Red, which lasted only slightly longer. Why is everybody so grabby with the LSD-march? Is it because of the cool packaging? Is it because they seem to always be limited? Maybe... but of course it's also 'cause if you love heavy duty distorto guitar psych in the vein of cult '70s Japanese heroes Les Rallizes Denudes. And you do get that here on the dronily intense, trippy title track, in spades. But for much of the rest of the album you also get the kinder, gentler side of LSD-march, with Shinsuke Michishita handling vocals and guitar and bass and percussion and whistling (yes, there's some whistling!) all by himself, joined by drummer Ikuro Takahashi on just two of the tracks. It's quite intimate, really, maybe even romantic -- these are love songs, aren't they? The lyrics are in Japanese but the titles "I Have Been Saving My Love For You" and "I Only Have Hands For Hold You" (sic) sure sound like love songs. Dunno about "Nude And Bizarre" though. A gorgeous late night listen, echoey and emotional. Spacious, slow, drowsy. Melancholic, melodic. Compared to the destructive, amped-up attack of that Live album, the beautiful balladry here is like night and day... a mistily overcast day with rays of sun glinting between the clouds.
Mastered by Khanate's James Plotkin.
Ok, 'nuff said. Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Nude And Bizarre"
MPEG Stream: "Empty Rubious Red"

LSD-MARCH Kanashimino Bishouen (HP Cycle) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What sounds like a live LP from this Japanese guitar-psych combo, whose recent Suddenly, Like Flames cd we gave the thumbs up to not long ago. If you liked that one and have a turntable, you'll probably want this. It's more dark, distorto bar rock balladry from these black clad Les Rallizes Denudes worshippers, for fans of that band, as well as similiar Japanese downer-retro outfits like White Heaven, Overhang Party, and Shizuka. Assuredly limited too.

LSD-MARCH Live (aRCHIVE) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We could go on and on about how this is some awesome, super blown out and distorted Rallizes-like Japanese psych here but let's mention the important stuff first: this nicely-packaged live disc is limited to 500 copies, and is already sold out at the label and thus out of print! So the few copies we have now are the last ones we're gonna see. Maybe Archive (same folks who've brought us equally precious live documents by the likes of Boris, Khanate, Growing, and Keiji Haino, some of which went so fast we never even listed 'em) ought to up their press runs?
If you've never heard LSD-march before, we'd direct you to investigate their not-so-limited album Suddenly, Like Flames -- if only so as to leave more of these Live discs for all the fans who're sure to be elbowing each other aside to grab one of these.
But to fulfill our descriptive duties, we'll go on... Bookended by two different versions of "Black Bouquet" done by different lineups, this disc captures performances that were distorted to begin with, but whose clangor is only enhanced by the "recorded-in-a-concrete-garbage-can" atmosphere. And that's PERFECT for them, making this sound even more like of of those rare Les Rallizes Denudes boots... so we're not complaining at all! Lotsa flaming wreckage of wailing guitar, feedback and murk. Headnodding, driving beats. Slowing down for stretches of gentle balladry before kicking in again with the jams and cranking the VU meter...well actually their "VU" (as in Velvet Underground) meter is always cranked, isn't it?
Five of the eight tracks here were recorded in 2002 by guitarist/vocalist Shinsuke Michishita, bassist Masami Kawaguchi, and drummer Ikuro Takahashi (ex-Fushitsusha). The other three date from 1997 and thus feature an earlier LSD-march lineup with Shinsuke Michishita joined by Makoto Inoue on bass, and Eddie and Bill from the band COA on guitar and drums!
MPEG Stream: "Physical Bud"
MPEG Stream: "Clepsydra Flames"

LSD-MARCH Nikutai No Tubomi (Beta-Lactam Ring) 2cd 23.00
It's Japan's LSD-march at their heavy psych droney mostest, this time just the duo of guitarist Shinsuke Michishita and drummer Ikuro Takahashi, laying down two discs worth of Tokyo flashback style murk and grime...well especially on Disc 1, which is entirely one long song, the title track. It's a slow-building densely textured piece, a 39 minute slithering dark psychedelic guitar solo set amidst thick waves of distortion effects and cymbal washes... perfectly paced and hypnotically foreboding. Gradually the pulse quickens, vocals murmer o'er the miasmic throb, and the living ghost of Les Rallizes Denudes nods approvingly... this piece's payoff being its own mesmeric momentum. When the end does come, after an appreciable increase in volume and noise from the disc's beginning, you can imagine amps falling over, toppling like the monolith in 2001. Boris fans should approve of this metallic rumble.
Disc 2 features eight individual pieces, and offers a mediative comedown from disc one's climactic intensity (at first), track one "Aubade" being composed of tingling bells. "Elephant" is next, and is a weird one, a pattering of drums accompanying atonal string scrape that maybe suggests an elephantine trumpeting sound? The disc continues in an equally weird and diverse manner, all the tracks much more intimate and oddly experimental in sound than the more usual LSD-march issue electric storm of disc 1. It's more-or-less acoustic up to track 5, "Love", which stomps on some pedals for a distorted electric (distorted vocals too) dubby noise rock stumble. And then track six enters into some sort of ritual drone ceremony or something... all of this is pretty cool, LSD-march letting their hair down and doing something completely different from track to track, like we said in an experimental spirit, culminating in track 8, "Holy Ghost", a festive freakout for harmonica and scattered percussion. Perhaps their tribute to Albert Ayler, to hazard a guess.
It's like these two discs, one a long-form, heavy-duty improv, the other a potpourri of creative freaky ideas, are the intended out-there companions to their recent, much more tightly song-based album Constellation Of Tragedy on Important, a recent AQ highlight. Nikutai No Tubomi comes as equally recommended!
Oh, and lest we forget, this is a NUMBERED, LIMITED EDITION OF 500 COPIES!!! And comes in a fancy, thick gatefold package.
MPEG Stream: "Nikutai No Tubomi (excerpt)"
MPEG Stream: "Stone"
MPEG Stream: "Love"

LSD-MARCH Shindara Jigoku (Siwa) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The second vinyl-only release we've had from Tokyo's LSD-march, whose LP Kanashimino Bishouen on HP Cycle and cd Suddenly, Like Flames on Last Visible Dog were both devastating dark psych-out outings in the tradition of Les Rallizes Denudes. This one, handsomely presented in hand-screened cover in a limited edition (of course), hews to their murky brand of psychedelic blackness, while leaning perhaps towards the gentler side of said blackness... Fans will recognize three of the six tracks here as being reinterpretations of cuts from the Suddenly, Like Flames cd. Again the line-up features guitarist/vocalist Shinsuke Michishita joined by drummer Ikuro Takahashi and guitarist (not bassist, this time) Masami Kawaguchi. We've only got a few...

LSD-MARCH Suddenly, Like Flames (Last Visible Dog) cd 12.98
Downer murk and amp-flaming distorto rock from a young Japanese psychedelic rock trio in the wasted, wigged-out tradition of many on those PSF label Tokyo Flashback comps, also harking further back of course to underground '70s lo-fi legends Les Rallizes Denudes! LSD-march, named for a track on the first, heaviest album by krautrockers Guru Guru, slowly whisper and wander through a veil of feedback and plodding rhythms. There's both gentle and searing stuff to be found here. These guys are more serious, mysterious and melancholy than Acid Mothers Temple, with a definite Velvets vibe at times. And when the guitars get cranked, this sounds like the Neil Youngiest of Nagisa Ni Te freakouts. With liner notes (and stamp of approval) from Japanese translator/psych expert Alan Cummings.
MPEG Stream: "A Bud Of Flesh"
MPEG Stream: "Suddenly, Like Flames"

LSD-MARCH Under Milk Wood (Important) cd 14.98
Here's another fantastic transmission from the Black Snowflake Sound studio in Sapporo, Japan, sent out by these prolific psych peddlers! The duo of Michishita Shinsuke on vocals/guitar and Takahashi Ikuro (ex-Fushitusha) on drums have crafted what sounds to us like sort of a cross between two of their recent releases, Constellation Of Tragedy on Important (the gentle, twilight ballads) and Uretakumo Nakunarutorika on Beta-Lactam (freaky, experimental WTF?). Of course, with more than a few flashes of the heavy Les Rallizes Denudes-style amped-up throb and grit we all love included as well. Starting off all slow sad and soft, this disc would be a good LSD-march for Nagisa Ni Te fans as well as those into Rallizes. Moody melody abounds. "Bisyonure No Kimi" is lovely and languid, but also blanketed with shivering guitar feedback and distortion, clouding over Michishita's gentle vocals. Meanwhile Takahashi's drumming is also an crucial contributor to the mood. His deliberate, echoing clank and plink of rhythms on "Ai No Sakebi" are especially effective, in unsettling combination with the piercing Quicksilvery lead guitar unleashed by Michishita.
At about halfway through the disc, LSD-march kicks the volume up a few notches for the lumbering, distorto-rocker "Dare Ga Hoeru". But then the very next track, "Taiyoko No Uta" is so weird and glitchy it could be by Starfuckers or US Maple - it's a good example of the abstract, experimental side of LSD-march to which we referred above, like something from Uretakumo Nakunarutorika. They do channel the Rallizes once more, though, on the disc's final and longest named track, "Kimi No Uta Wo Kiite Boku Wa Akuma Ni Natta" (7:17) a slow burner which eventually erupts into muzzy heaviness, mustering quite a bit of drama in the manner of Up-Tight or Shizuka.
That's the last song, sort of, but the disc ain't over. And just gets stranger. There's two unlisted, untitled bonus tracks yet to come, including an 8 minute cut stringing together botched takes of a song called "My Mother's Killed Me" (?), featuring all their flubs and false starts, including talkback from the increasingly frustrated (and British?) sound engineer. At one point, they have to stop 'cause someone's cell phone goes off and ruins the take. Whoops. But eventually, by the end, they get the song on tape in its entirety, and it's a nice garagey groover. We're really into the fact that they included all the screw-ups. We love stuff like that. And halfway think that's how they wanted it to sound, based on some of their other strange ideas... There's another, similar bonus track that's only 18 seconds though. More WTF? for you.
Basically, Under Milk Wood manages to incorporate everything we already loved about LSD-march, plus some other confusional stuff we didn't even know they were into that's also rad. And everyone here seems to be digging it, even if they weren't already huge LSD-march fans. The band's best yet? Maybe, certainly a good one to get!!
MPEG Stream: "Bisyonure No Kimi"
MPEG Stream: "Ai No Sakebi"
MPEG Stream: "Kimi No Uta Wo Kiite Boku Wa Akuma Ni Natta"

LSD-MARCH Uretakumo Nakunarutorika (Beta-Lactam Ring) cd 16.98
Lest we forget, it bears repeating that LSD-march is named after the final song on side two of the first album, UFO, by heavy krautrock legends Guru Guru back in 1970. That the modern day Japanese band chose such a moniker implies taking on not just a certain influence, but something to live up to. Are they worthy? Well, we think LSD-march have already proved pretty deserving of their name. But if there was ever any doubt, this new album ought to settle the question. It's seeeeeeeeeeeeriously trippy. I mean, wow, man. Honorary krautrock magna cum laude!
And surprisingly, that's -without- really sounding like the usual LSD-march fare. The sunglasses-at-night-Les-Rallizes-style-distorted-guitar-blowout side of LSD-march isn't exactly in evidence. The mellow, melodic VU-ish balladry for which they are also known is not to be found here, either, this doesn't have the slow and sad vibe of LSD-march's previous studio outing Constellation Of Tragedy. This is a different beast, far freakier really! There IS guitar on here, of course, but the focus isn't on riffs, but rather primitive rhythmics, built in part from tape loops and tape edits. These tracks are shambolic, stripped down, not really song-like, much more confusional and counterintuitive than we'd have expected, except that we were prepared for this by the odd, interesting material on the eclectic, experimental 2nd disc belonging to LSD-march's earlier Beta-Lactam opus, Nikutai No Tubomi. It's as if a lot of other, heavier LSD-march stuff is what they do when they're in public, playing a "rock show", all amped up and emo, but this is more like what goes on at home, at the LSD-march Temple down the block from that of the Acid Mothers, unwinding, getting high, and fooling around with some weird DIY psych that's more playful than it's dark, more delightfully demented than downer depressive.
The freakiness is in full effect right off the bat. Track one, "Kumoitachikumo", has a skittering beat wending throughout, hippie hand percussion intercut with distorted abstract noises and weird chanted Reynolsian vocals. We could imagine a cool 12" techno/disco edit of this, actually. Like something Eye from Boredoms would remix. We're also reminded a bit of the recent AQ Record Of The Week from Finland's Fricara Pacchu. And it just gets curiouser and curiouser... a few tracks later, "Aimakuramaku" sounds like a jam session for drum kit + chirping crickets. Maybe it is?
The carefully channeled cosmic chaos and lo-fi psych ritual found on Uretakumo Nakunarutorika could be Ya Ho Wa 13 and Amon Duul inspired, the cut-up weirdness perhaps a nod to early Faust. And there's parts that are even sorta Sun City Girlsish, like track five, "Uzunisase", utilizing a looping lick of exotic Eastern-sounding psych guitar, that halfway through gets mutilated and mangled by some abrupt tape edits. And actually they do slip on the shades to delve into some eerie dronology a few times too...
The strange sounds here really manage to invoke a lot of AQ-approved musicks, from the aforementioned krautrockers, to (most definitely, and dear to our hearts) the '90s underground Japanoise outsiderness of the Boredoms and Omoide Hatoba, to peeps from the freakfolk Finnish scene like Anaksimandros and Avarus. In fact, if you told us that LSD-march had moved to Finland and recorded this deep in the woods there, we'd believe it. Now that's a recommendation!!
We know that's not the case, though recommended this is, as it was recorded at someplace called Black Snowflake, by a sound engineer named Richard Horner (which doesn't sound Finnish, or Japanese for that matter, does it?), who also happens to be credited with some voice and electronics, alongside the two usual LSD-march band members, founder Michishita Shinsuke ("vocal, guitar, bass, electronics" it says) and drummer Takahashi Ikuro, ex-Fushitsusha (here, credited with "vocal, instruments"). Also worth mentioning, is the swank packaging, a thick, colorful oversized glossy cardstock sleeve, like a miniature LP jacket. First 500 limited copies only, anyway.
MPEG Stream: "Kumoitachikumo"
MPEG Stream: "Uzunisase"
MPEG Stream: "Tatamikomo"

M, SACHIKO Detect (Antifrost) 3"cd 9.98
Austere sine-wave tones, clicks and silence from Japanese experimentalist Sachiko M, known for her work solo and in the avant-pop trio Hoahio as well as with collaborators like Otomo Yoshihide (in Ground Zero, ISO, Filament, etc.). This cdep (in the irresistable 3" format) fits firmly into her ouvre of barely-there, barren electronic soundscapes of blips and non-blips. Is it zen art? is it conceptual bullshit? Depends on your tastes, but it seems quite lovely for those whose ears are attuned to such efforts. On the new, potentially interesting Greek label Antifrost.

M., SACHIKO Imaginary Soundtrack (Out One Disc) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

M., SACHIKO Sine Wave Solo (Amoebic) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Frequent Otomo Yoshihide collaborator (Filament, I.S.O., Ground Zero) presents her first solo album, taking her lone instrument, the "100% Free Memory Sampler" to the outer limits of blistering sine wave manipulation. With these mere sine waves she produces a lot of variety - from tracks of piercing test tone torture to more serene, sparse blip-scapes. Impressive.

M., SACHIKO / TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA / OTOMO YOSHIHIDE Good Morning Good Night (Erstwhile) 2cd 21.00

M.S.B.R. + KENGO LUCHI (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
Japanese noise, three live duets plus a solo track from each artist. M.S.B.R. does musique concrete/electronics, Kengo Luchi does "death folk" with anguished vocals a la Keiji Haino. Together, it's meandering no wave folk with electronic freakouts, not for the faint of heart.

MABUKI, JUNKO Slave Of Love (Tiliqua) cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What was meant to be a limited series, seems to be extended indefinitely, with a new disc on this week's list, and at least two more installments planned. And if anything, they just keep getting better, and more perverted! There's just too much sexy sound to stop now. Longtime readers of the aQ list will no doubt be familiar with the Erotic Oriental Sunshine series of archival releases from Tiliqua Records in Japan (who also released the Joakim Skogsberg, this week's Record Of The Week). Each disc in the series unearths a lost gem from a particular sexy chanteuse, lost examples of a strange, and distinctly Japanese artform, where studio bands would perform groovy tunes, exotica, lounge, new age, jazz, even sometimes sort of Morricone style soundtracks, while a starlet would coo and purr, groan and moan over the top.
Past installments have included sexy action heroine Ike Reiko, Japanese "Play Girl" Kuwabara Yukiko, seventies bondage / S&M queen Naomi Tani (who Mabuki is often compared to), legendary porn actress Taguchi Kumi, sexy Lolita, Petite M'Amie, aka Mari Keiko and the most recent disc (and the only one not out of print), which instead of focusing on a particular starlet, focused on the composer responsible for many of these releases, Masami Kawahara.
But this newest installment returns to the series' original pattern, collecting all the recorded works by a single actress/performer, in this case, S+M / bondage queen Mabuki Junko, who essentially took over when Naomi Tani retired. Mabuki was curvaceous and busty, and a spirited performer, writhing and squirming as she was restrained, tied up, whipped and spanked, finding fame starring in films with titles like All Women Are Whores. Her film career was brief, her musical career even more so, having released a single 7" and a single cassette. The cassette was part of a series called Yoru No Driver, designed for truckers, to keep them company on long lonely all night drives, and were thus sold primarily in gas stations and truck stops. Both are collected here, and both are as weird and wild, freaky and fucked up as all of the other installments. And in its own way, one of the weirder installments.
Playing more like some soap opera on tape, the music is exotic and groovy, somewhere between easy listening and light jazz, but with strange Eastern tinges. The music fading out, to play in the background, while Mabuki and her male 'co-star' deliver their lines. Growing more and more frenzied and feverish, until Mabuki begins to sob, and groan, and squeal, the sound of fabric tearing, the sound of tape being pulled from a roll, the sound of whipping, grunting, breathless grunts and howls, all bathed in reverb, and over a smooth jazzy backdrop.
Other tracks feature fuzzy flute, muted trumpets, string stabs, groovy guitars, some actual singing (most notably on the second track, which was the title song to one of Mabuki's films), steel string guitars, spacey synthesizers, shimmering harps, shuffling snares, what sounds like koto, xylophones, some tracks totally goofy and cheesy, others haunting and ominous, at least one a groovy string soaked disco groove, but most all of them featuring long stretches of soap opera drama, with Mabuki pleading and sobbing tearfully, eventually giving in, and losing herself in some sexy punishment. Weird weird weird, but as always pretty fascinating and of course way recommended for fans of wild and exotic sounds.
Packaged in a super deluxe Japanese miniature gatefold style cd sleeve, with a printed obi, sexy photos of Mabuki including the cover shot of her gagged with a scarf, and the gatefold phot showing Mabuki in an open robe trussed up with red cords, and extensive liner notes in English and Japanese including a biography of Mabuki, and notes on each track. ULTRA LIMITED!!! Like most of the releases in this series, this one is a one time only limited pressing of only 1000 copies, and is already SOLD OUT. There's a good chance once these are gone we will be unable to get more...
MPEG Stream: "1"
MPEG Stream: "2"
MPEG Stream: "3"

MAGGUT Into The Gore (Bloodbath) cd 7.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Ultra sick gore grind from Japan via aQ faves Bathtub Shitter. Ahh, the magic words for folks around here. Lord knows we love any and all Bathtub Shitter, so we were super excited when we heard about the band Maggut featuing folks from the 'Shitter. Total old school, nineties, downtuned, cookie monster vocals, death gore grind. We love it! Sometimes nothing hits the spot quite like 16 tracks, each averaging about 90 second, of bowel eviscerating, throat shredding, scalp peeling hypergrind, song titles like "Circle Of Maggots", "Frozen Gut", "Cannibal Carnival", "Vicious Vivit Vomit", and a vocalist who sounds like a rabid dog about to tear your throat out. Maggut are ultra tight and super heavy, with massively thick riffs, a killer production, and an appropriate taste for gore, from the lyrics right down to the Carcass homage cover art!
MPEG Stream: "Into The Gore"
MPEG Stream: "Circle Of Maggots"
MPEG Stream: "Frozen Gut"

MAGIC AUM GIGI MMMM (My Metal Machine Music) (Sparkling Spare Wheel) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This may just be our new favorite record (though, it's not that new -- we've had 'em here for months but they sorta slipped thru the cracks, review-wise, until now). Which is not at all what we were expecting. Not even remotely. The first solo release from ex-Acid Mothers Temple axeman and Acid Mothers Temple soul collective member Magic Aum Gigi, MMMM is not just another AMT related psych rock freakout. As much as we do dig almost everything AMT release, we are definitely filled to overflowing with their endless barrage of tripped out psychedelic rock. So it was with some trepidation that we prepared to review yet -another- Acid Mothers Temple related release, the 30th or 40th in the last year maybe. But HO-LEE SHIT! This record completely blew our minds. When we cracked this open, a big triangular insert fell out, printed on it was a circle with the words "Raga Metal" inside, and on each corner were the words "drone", "trip" and "music." And damn if that ain't exactly what this is. DRONE TRIP MUSIC. Or RAGA METAL. Both only begin to describe the blissy heaviness and abstract beauty of this disc.
Gorgeous, fuzzy Tim Hecker sort of blurry guitars, doused in tons of distortion and reverb, until the riffs are just indistinct blurs, almost like listening to My Bloody Valentine through a transistor radio under your pillow, all murky and muddy but still gloriously melodic and epic. But beyond that, the riffs and thick swirls of sound constantly drop out, glitching into brief crackling silences before stuttering back into motion, like it was recorded on some old, super degrade tape, or as if the needle keeps slipping off the vinyl or some dizzying combination of both. Like an even more lo-fi, metallicized William Basinski, or a blissed out dronier Faxed Head. It ends up being as much about the music as it does about the strange distortions and mysterious drop outs. Like some EVP transmission from beyond, rendered in fuzz guitars and looped murky rhythms. A super distorted slab of metallic dreammusic drenched in hiss and buzz and recorded onto a thrift store cassette with using a toy tape recorder with dying batteries. So goddamn beautiful. And we only have a few, and only will ever have these few, as it's on the out of print wagon now.

MAGIC AUM GIGI Starring Keiko (Fractal) lp 29.00
We proudly proclaimed Magic Aum Gigi's last lp, the mind blowing MMMM, to be our new favorite record when we reviewed it a while back, a dense blast of "raga metal" that pushed ALL our buttons. So we were super psyched when we heard there was a brand new lp, which is way different, but just as cool.
Magic Aum Gigi is a Frenchman, and honorary member of the Acid Mothers Temple extended soul collective, but the music he makes on his own is well removed from the blown out psych of the AMT mothership. You won't find any raga metal here, instead, four extended tracks, each created with a single instrument or sound. From the Ash Ra homage on the cover, we knew we were in for something hypnotic and tripped out.
The opener is worth the price of admission alone, the first half of side one is solo Jew's harp, heavily affected and processed, the twang and buzz looped into an epic expanse of Reichian rhythmic pulses, rife with all sorts of strange and subtle variations and sonic overtones, some so percussive it ends up sounding like some alien robotic transmission. Fans of Daniel Higgs' Jew's harp record will go nuts. And any one into dense looped drones will be in heaven. We could listen to just that track forever.
The second track, and the rest of the first side is a mumbled soundscape assembled from just voices, a background glottal buzz, an undercurrent of rapid syllabic sibilance, all blurred and looped until the voices just sound like haunting tones, deftly arranged into slow shifting rhythms and sweeping moody arrangements. Cool.
The flip side begins with a piece for just synthesizer, and is a crazy tangled chunk of chaotic sound, like a squiggly spaceship harpsichord gone haywire, garbled melodies, synth buzz, all atonal and slippery, dizzying and confusional, a bit like some stately Medieval court music, brought to the future and played by malfunctioning computers. Finally the record finishes off with a piece for just guitar, a gorgeous muted percussive drift, the notes all attack and very little decay, an ultra pizzicato assemblage of melodies, pulses and thumps, delayed and reverbed and woven into tranced out krautrocklike rhythms. So awesome.
ULTRA LIMITED! Only 200 copies!!

MAGICAL POWER MAKO Super Record (Phoenix) cd 17.98
Recently reissued on vinyl, this awesome album is now on cd too!
Mako is truly one of the most masterful musical minds behind some of the best psychedelic sounds that came out of Japan in the '70s, a relatively unsung hero of that scene. While his project Magical Power Mako certainly produced other records that are noisier, weirder, more abstract and fucked up, there is no doubt that the 1975 album Super Record is his absolute tour de force! An album that left many of us stunned upon our first encounter with it. It's one of those records that exemplifies what you really want in a psychedelic record, filled with a wide range of textures and mystical sounds from across the globe that take you on a journey and make you forget where you are.
Super Record melts into an unforgettable washed out pastoral setting as it glides and floats through different terrain of dripping colors and hallucinatory smoke. Like the best psychedelic albums of this era, Super Record is an absolute start to finish experience, with different interludes laced with lute, harmonica, melodica, charged fuzzed out guitar all in a ceremonial tone which creates a mood and vibe that would be at home in a film by Jodorowsky or Antonioni.
Think of some mind melting combination of Ash Ra Temple, Bo Hansson, early '70s Pink Floyd, Jean-Claude Vannier, and a dash of The Incredible String Band and you start to get a picture of the kind of musical magic that is happening on Super Record. We also get the feeling that some of our favorite modern day psych music makers like The Alps, Blues Control, and Dungen have all been influenced by the brilliance of this album as well. Super and magical!
MPEG Stream: "Andromeda"
MPEG Stream: "Tundra"
MPEG Stream: "Silk Road"

MAGICAL POWER MAKO Hapmoniym 1972-1975 (MIO Records) 5 cd box set 117.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We recognize that probably only people who've been looking for these five cds ever since they were first released in limited and expensive form in Japan almost ten years ago are likely to want to pay nearly $120 for this box set reissue, and they already know they want it and why, so we needn't go too far overboard with our description! But, in case you're curious, here's a little background info on this long-awaited re-release:
In 1993, Japanese label Mom & Dad promised to release fifteen discs chronicling the unreleased studio recordings of Tokyo psych legend Magical Power Mako, but were only able to produce the first five. Israel-based MIO has decided to take on the project and will release three box sets containing five discs each. The material that makes up Hapmoniym 1972-1975 was recorded while Mako was working on his second masterpiece for Polydor, "Super Record". Often compared to krautrock pioneers Faust, this collecton is an incredible assemblage of sound experiments, collage pieces, tape manipulations and astral folk-psychedelia so epic and so out, one might be so bold to state that Hapmoniym as a whole even surpasses the density and innovation of the mighty Faust Tapes. And he was only a wee sixteen years old on the earliest of these recordings! Andee is especially fond of disc two, the part where it sounds like Jimi Hendrix jamming with a meowing cat. Keiji Haino fans take note as he appears on disc one, on possibly his most spaced out psychedelic trip ever. We await the remaining two 5-disc volumes with curiousity and excitement (and, patience). We do, however, have to scold MIO for a slight problem with the packaging: the 5 discs are in slim cd5 cases inside a little red cardboard box, with a booklet as well. It looks handsome, but each disc has its own unnecessary obi that doesn't really fit anywhere in the package once opened, but that of course you can't throw away, either, if you're like us. Oh well. We also could have done with more English language text in the booklet, it's mostly the original Japanese liner notes.
RealAudio clip: "One"

MAGICAL POWER MAKO Hapmoniym 1972-1975 (Bamboo) 5cd-box 62.00
Another '70s Japanese psych reissue treat from the folks at Bamboo. Actually this is the third time we've seen this released. First there was a set of five individual cds on the Japanese Mom 'n' Dad label in the early '90s, though those were almost impossible to obtain. Then, in 2004, the now-defunct MIO label out of Israel released 'em on slimline jewel-cased cds in a red box set. Now Bamboo has brought this amazing collection of private jams by psychedelic guru Magical Power Mako back into print, the five cds (each a single long track) packaged with a booklet in thin sleeves inside a cardboard box with new, poorly Photoshopped cover art, though featuring a suitably strange photo of, we assume, Mako himself.
We reviewed the MIO version, but didn't say a whole lot about it, 'cause "probably only people who've been looking for these five cds ever since they were first released in limited and expensive form in Japan...are likely to want to pay nearly $120 for this box set reissue, and they already know they want it and why, so we needn't go too far overboard with our description."
Well, that may be. But now it's quite a bit cheaper, isn't it? And it is a marvelous artifact of '70s psych weirdness, for a whole new generation (reared on Julian Cope's Japrocksampler?) to enjoy. The material that makes up Hapmoniym 1972-1975 was recorded while Mako was working on his second masterpiece for Polydor, Super Record (also reissued and raved about here recently). Mako's early work has often been compared to krautrock pioneers Faust, and this collection IS an incredible assemblage of sound experiments, collage pieces, tape manipulations and astral folk-psychedelia so epic and so out, that one might be so bold to state that Hapmoniym as a whole even surpasses the density and innovation of the mighty Faust Tapes! (Are we going overboard, yet?).
And, apparently MPM was only a wee sixteen years old on the earliest of these recordings, wow. We are especially fond of disc two, the part where it sounds like Jimi Hendrix jamming with a meowing cat. Also, Keiji Haino fans should take note, as he appears on the first disc, on what's possibly one of his most spaced out psychedelic trips ever.
When Mom 'n' Dad first brought this forth, these five volumes were billed as just the first third of a projected 15 disc set, chronicling ALL of the legendary MPM's unreleased studio stuff from the '70s. The remaining 10 discs, however, never materialized. MIO had intended to take up the torch and do two more box sets, but that never happened either, unfortunately. We wonder if those will ever see the light of day, or if they really even exist in the first place? In any case, great to have this back, and 5 discs is nothing to sneeze at, really! Should keep you and your stereo magically powered up for a long while....
A "collector's limited edition" of 1000 numbered copies.
MPEG Stream: "Hapmoniym Part 1"
MPEG Stream: "Hapmoniym Part 2"

MAGICAL POWER MAKO s/t (Hagakure) cd 33.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MAGICAL POWER MAKO Super Record (Hagakure) cd 33.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MAGICAL POWER MAKO Super Record (Radioactive) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MAGICAL POWER MAKO Super Record (Phoenix) lp 24.00
Mako is truly one of the most masterful musical minds behind some of the best psychedelic sounds that came out of Japan in the '70s, a relatively unsung hero of that scene. While his project Magical Power Mako certainly produced other records that are noisier, weirder, more abstract and fucked up, there is no doubt that the 1975 album Super Record is his absolute tour de force! An album that left many of us stunned upon our first encounter with it. It's one of those records that exemplifies what you really want in a psychedelic record, filled with a wide range of textures and mystical sounds from across the globe that take you on a journey and make you forget where you are.
Super Record melts into an unforgettable washed out pastoral setting as it glides and floats through different terrain of dripping colors and hallucinatory smoke. Like the best psychedelic albums of this era, Super Record is an absolute start to finish experience, with different interludes laced with lute, harmonica, melodica, charged fuzzed out guitar all in a ceremonial tone which creates a mood and vibe that would be at home in a film by Jodorowsky or Antonioni.
Think of some mind melting combination of Ash Ra Temple, Bo Hansson, early '70s Pink Floyd, Jean-Claude Vannier, and a dash of The Incredible String Band and you start to get a picture of the kind of musical magic that is happening on Super Record. We also get the feeling that some of our favorite modern day psych music makers like The Alps, Blues Control, and Dungen have all been influenced by the brilliance of this album as well. Super and magical!
MPEG Stream: "Andromeda"
MPEG Stream: "Tundra"
MPEG Stream: "Silk Road"

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ Blues Du Jour (Geographic) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The unique underground Japanese group Maher Shalal Hash Baz -- a mostly untrained ensemble that plays simple, psychedelic pop songs with child-like innocence and imprecison -- recently performed a pair of shows here in the Bay Area. I caught the one over in Oakland, and it was amazing. Beautiful, shambolic, jazz-flecked primitive pop groove. The weirdest thing, was that they tried REALLY HARD to play the songs 'correctly'. Leader Tori Kudo even stopped the band on several occasions to instruct the bass player (his wife, I believe) on how to play a song's bass line properly. It was a bit uncomfortable, actually, but I'm not totally sure it wasn't intentional. After all, the impact of their naive novice musicanship is lost when the whole audience expects it -- so why not throw everyone off balance by making it seem like it's NOT supposed to sound so warped and damaged, even when it is?? Brilliant. Even the parked car that was set on fire down the block during the show couldn't compete. So, it's nice now to get these two new Maher documents. Blues Du Jour is the full length, and by that we mean it's got 41 tracks on it! Some are full songs, ballads, others short sketches, interludes, cryptic and lovely. Sweetly retarded horns and jangling guitars wearing innocent smiles, music that's cute and quaint but also serious and heartfelt. You'll hear hints of Ghost, the Beatles, Faust, Syd Barrett... Wrong never sounded so right. Meanwhile, they're also released an ep called Open Field that includes four songs from the full-length plus one special mix that features Bill Wells and members of The Pastels. Get it if you can't handle the full 41 tracks or you need everything with Bill Wells on it...
MPEG Stream: "White Dream"
MPEG Stream: "What's Your Business Here Elijah?"

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ Blues Du Jour (Geographic) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The unique underground Japanese group Maher Shalal Hash Baz -- a mostly untrained ensemble that plays simple, psychedelic pop songs with child-like innocence and imprecison -- recently performed a pair of shows here in the Bay Area. I caught the one over in Oakland, and it was amazing. Beautiful, shambolic, jazz-flecked primitive pop groove. The weirdest thing, was that they tried REALLY HARD to play the songs 'correctly'. Leader Tori Kudo even stopped the band on several occasions to instruct the bass player (his wife, I believe) on how to play a song's bass line properly. It was a bit uncomfortable, actually, but I'm not totally sure it wasn't intentional. After all, the impact of their naive novice musicanship is lost when the whole audience expects it -- so why not throw everyone off balance by making it seem like it's NOT supposed to sound so warped and damaged, even when it is?? Brilliant. Even the parked car that was set on fire down the block during the show couldn't compete. So, it's nice now to get these two new Maher documents. Blues Du Jour is the full length, and by that we mean it's got 41 tracks on it! Some are full songs, ballads, others short sketches, interludes, cryptic and lovely. Sweetly retarded horns and jangling guitars wearing innocent smiles, music that's cute and quaint but also serious and heartfelt. You'll hear hints of Ghost, the Beatles, Faust, Syd Barrett... Wrong never sounded so right. Meanwhile, they're also released an ep called Open Field that includes four songs from the full-length plus one special mix that features Bill Wells and members of The Pastels. Get it if you can't handle the full 41 tracks or you need everything with Bill Wells on it...
MPEG Stream: "White Dream"
MPEG Stream: "What's Your Business Here Elijah?"

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ C'est La Derniere Chanson (K) 2cd 13.98

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ Faux Depart (Yik Yak) cd 10.98
San Francisco's Yik Yak label is kindly trying to assure that nobody misses out on any goodness from Japan's Maher Shalal Hash Baz, hence this re-release of Maher's Faux Depart album, recorded at Olympia's Dub Narcotic studio in 2003 with members of Deerhoof sitting in. And fitting in, too, that's for sure! The wonderfully naive psych weirdness of Maher Shalal Hash Baz is well displayed here, with 22 great examples of their mix of woozy, gone-wrong cocktail jazz and soft lullaby indie-pop, the band's instrumentalists coloring outside the lines, their "paints" blurring like watercolors spilled across a canvas but still making such a pretty picture, the kind you'd be proud of if your child brought it home from school to brighten your day.
If you missed this before... you know the drill.
Note: ep price, full-length cd!
MPEG Stream: "A Will"
MPEG Stream: "Lightning #2"

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ From A Summer To Another Summer (An Egypt To Another Egypt) (Geographic) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the Glasgow label run by the Pastels comes the first widely-available collection of music by long-running cult Japanese folk-psych duo Maher Shalal Hash Baz. With 27 shambolic tracks, widely ranging in style, recalling everything from '80s/'90s lo-fi indie-pop like, well, the Pastels, to '60s Japanese psych a la The Jacks to the mellowest, folkiest Albert Ayler freedom jazz jams! Should appeal equally to fans of Belle & Sebastian, {k} Records, and Ghost/PSF stuff. Lovely and fragile, seemingly innocent yet seemingly ancient.
Stephen of the Pastels, who loves Maher Shalal Hash Baz so much that he started the Geographic label _specifically_ to release this collection, says:
"When you consider how rare it is that you actually hear something that is startlingly different from other music in any given year, or even in a decade (I just tried and could only think of Aphex Twin, a couple of hip-hop productions, and the lyrics of Belle & Sebastian and Silver Jews) it feels such a privilege to be working with people you consider to be actual visionaries." (And terrorists, too, if the stories in Stephen's larger article are to be believed. Let us know if you want to see it!)

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ From A Summer To Another Summer (An Egypt To Another Egypt) (Geographic) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the Glasgow label run by the Pastels comes the first widely-available collection of music by long-running cult Japanese folk-psych duo Maher Shalal Hash Baz. With 27 shambolic tracks, widely ranging in style, recalling everything from '80s/'90s lo-fi indie-pop like, well, the Pastels, to '60s Japanese psych a la The Jacks to the mellowest, folkiest Albert Ayler freedom jazz jams! Should appeal equally to fans of Belle & Sebastian, {k} Records, and Ghost/PSF stuff. Lovely and fragile, seemingly innocent yet seemingly ancient.
Stephen of the Pastels, who loves Maher Shalal Hash Baz so much that he started the Geographic label _specifically_ to release this collection, says:
"When you consider how rare it is that you actually hear something that is startlingly different from other music in any given year, or even in a decade (I just tried and could only think of Aphex Twin, a couple of hip-hop productions, and the lyrics of Belle & Sebastian and Silver Jews) it feels such a privilege to be working with people you consider to be actual visionaries." (And terrorists, too, if the stories in Stephen's larger article are to be believed. Let us know if you want to see it!)

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ L'Autre Cap (K) cd 14.98
27 new tracks (well, newer when this came out in January, we LOVE this band but can't always get to reviewing everything as quickly as we'd like) from Japanese songwriter/bandleader Tori Kudo and his long-running, deliberately amateur-sounding ensemble Maher Shalal Hash Baz. As always, it's a magical, melancholic mishmash of lilting indie-pop, innocently sweet vocals, lovelorn lyrics, little big band (dis-)arrangements, woozy horns, percussive pitter patter, gently jazzy guitars, bassoon bass lines, and dysplastic Farfisa, all performed with unique, shambolic charm. Fans will be happily aware of what they're getting into here. Those unfamiliar with the band, we suspect you'll also enjoy the unsteady but friendly hugs Kudo and crew are doling out to your ears (and wish you could squeeze 'em back). That is, unless you're particularly hard of heart and/or uptight about musicians not "coloring outside the lines" as it were.
Like their previous effort Faux Depart, this was recorded over here in the USA at Dub Narcotic Studios with the help of several guests from Olympia's music scene, including members of Old Time Relijun.
MPEG Stream: "Suspended Season"
MPEG Stream: "Kamakura"

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ L'Autre Cap (K) lp 13.98
27 new tracks (well, newer when this came out in January, we LOVE this band but can't always get to reviewing everything as quickly as we'd like) from Japanese songwriter/bandleader Tori Kudo and his long-running, deliberately amateur-sounding ensemble Maher Shalal Hash Baz. As always, it's a magical, melancholic mishmash of lilting indie-pop, innocently sweet vocals, lovelorn lyrics, little big band (dis-)arrangements, woozy horns, percussive pitter patter, gently jazzy guitars, bassoon bass lines, and dysplastic Farfisa, all performed with unique, shambolic charm. Fans will be happily aware of what they're getting into here. Those unfamiliar with the band, we suspect you'll also enjoy the unsteady but friendly hugs Kudo and crew are doling out to your ears (and wish you could squeeze 'em back). That is, unless you're particularly hard of heart and/or uptight about musicians not "coloring outside the lines" as it were.
Like their previous effort Faux Depart, this was recorded over here in the USA at Dub Narcotic Studios with the help of several guests from Olympia's music scene, including members of Old Time Relijun.
MPEG Stream: "Suspended Season"
MPEG Stream: "Kamakura"

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ Live 1984-85 (Kunitachi Kibun) (PSF) cd 22.00
If you thought that recent recordings by Japanese shambolic psychedelic pop outfit Maher Shalal Hash Baz sound full of simple, child-like naivety, imagine the even less-trained, even more-Shaggsy charm of this band back, say, twenty years ago! Well you actually don't have to imagine 'cause now PSF has provided us with this disc of archival live recordings, from performances in 1984 and 1985. That's truly delving into Tori Kudo's troupe's earliest years (he started the band in '83). In fact, the 1984 performance documented here was in fact their FIRST EVER gig, opening for High Rise and Kousokoya! May have been High Rise's first show too... (hmm, does that mean PSF has tapes of their sets as well?). Their entropic sound was much like it is today, though. Not-quite-jazz horns bleat out distressed melodies over stumbling beats, gentle vocals hold your hand as guitars are strummed with more feeling than finesse. The recording quality is suitably lo-fi and tape-hissy and makes this even more of a warm blanket of softly sunny clangy jangle and blissful pop chaos, so wrong it's right. Ariel Pink's got nothing on this. With interesting liner notes about these early daze from Kudo, translated into English by Alan Cummings.
MPEG Stream: "Unknown Happiness"
MPEG Stream: "View From Midheaven Of Itami Airport"

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ Live Aoiheya January 2003 (Chapter Music) cd ep 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The willfully naive charm of Japanese cult pop act Maher Shalal Hash Baz is hard to capture in words. You kinda have to experience it. And even then you might not 'get it'. But if you do, you've got a new favorite band. Here's a nice chance to have that "experience" -- a cd ep featuring an entire live Maher Shalal Hash Baz performance from 2003, five tracks, a little over 26 minutes in length. And playing live -- raw and spontaneous -- is the MSHB modus operandi. Mournful horns and innocent vocals, no overdubs, it's the MSHB experience all right. After over 20 years in the biz, band leader Tori Kudo is still all about recruiting totally untrained musicians into the MSHB ranks, allowing their barely-rehearsed playing to teeter-totter wonderfully, tilting somehow inevitably towards fragile beauty though it seems like a musical mess should result. You'll hear 'em taking chances on this disc, and much emotion is revealed, much loveliness as well, from a woozy, droning, plinking instrumental called "Asahana" to the jazzy melancholia of "Gratitude"... Short but oh so sweet.
MPEG Stream: "Asahana"
MPEG Stream: "When I Die"

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ Maher On Water (Geographic) cd ep 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
After the lengthy collection (Geographic's From A Summer To Another Summer) that introduced this Japanese band to Western audiences, here's a fifteen-minute quick listen from Tori Kudo's project Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Kudo wields recorder, sweetly-picked guitar and directs various "water"-y sounds made on percussive toys etc. Sing-song vocals, gentle clarinet, warm cello, purposeful organ all are used for maximum sweetly shambolic naive pop. This is released on Stephen Pastels' label, and the Pastels are an apt comparison in terms of sharing melodic styles and a stripped down, lo-fi indiepop aesthetic. Eccentric, playful, sweetly childlike. If you liked their From A Summer collection, this will please you too, and if you've never heard them before, this is a lower-priced way to do so.
RealAudio clip: "Good Morning"

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ Maher On Water (Geographic) 10" 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
After the lengthy collection (Geographic's From A Summer To Another Summer) that introduced this Japanese band to Western audiences, here's a fifteen-minute quick listen from Tori Kudo's project Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Kudo wields recorder, sweetly-picked guitar and directs various "water"-y sounds made on percussive toys etc. Sing-song vocals, gentle clarinet, warm cello, purposeful organ all are used for maximum sweetly shambolic naive pop. This is released on Stephen Pastels' label, and the Pastels are an apt comparison in terms of sharing melodic styles and a stripped down, lo-fi indiepop aesthetic. Eccentric, playful, sweetly childlike. If you liked their From A Summer collection, this will please you too, and if you've never heard them before, this is a lower-priced way to do so.