MAGICAL POWER MAKO s/t (Hagakure) cd 33.00
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MAGICAL POWER MAKO Super Record (Hagakure) cd 33.00
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MAGICAL POWER MAKO Super Record (Radioactive) cd 17.98
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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
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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
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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
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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.

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ Open Field (Geographic) cd ep 9.98
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See the review of Maher Shalal Hash Baz's Blues Du Jour album for information.

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ / THE CURTAINS Make us two crayons on the floor. (Yik Yak) split cd 13.98
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The wonderful, willfully naive Japanese indie-pop psychedelic ensemble Maher Shalal Hash Baz takes the first half of this split cd with a live performance recorded in Scotland. Honking sax, wayward vocals, sad-sack percussion, helpless guitar, plinking piano, and even skipping rope make it into the mix. Somehow, it's gorgeous, in a melancholy off-kilter way that few bands could pull off. Following Maher Shalal Hash Baz's seventeen tracks there's ten more by San Francisco outfit The Curtains, who likewise manage to make a virtue out of simplicity and spontaneity, their technical abilities (or lack thereof) never hampering their expressiveness. A good pairing indeed. The Curtains are noisier and more 'plugged-in' than MSHB, with electronic keyboard sounds forming some of their most striking moments. With both bands, what's improvised and what's not is hard to suss out, but experiencing the results can be quite pleasant either way if you don't demand much precision from your 'pop'. To us, these 27 tracks are a pleasant jumble worth experiencing.
MPEG Stream: MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ "Medicine For Melancholia"
MPEG Stream: THE CURTAINS "Bummer With Cakes"

MAHER SHALAL HASH BAZ W/ MASAMI SHINODA s/t (PSF) dvd 27.00

MAHIKARI s/t (Birdman) lp 14.98

MAINLINER Imaginative Plain (PSF) cd 22.00
The "Psychedelic Solid Free Attack Group" from Tokyo return on the legendary Psychedelic Speed Freaks label with five scorching new tracks. Mainliner this time around are bassist/vocalist Nanjo (High Rise, Toho Sara, etc. etc.), guitarist Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple, Musica Transonic, etc.), and newcomer Shimura on drums. Not as dynamic as their previous outings when Yoshida (Ruins) was in the lineup, "Imaginative Plain" just delivers what you'd expect from Nanjo -- overdriven psychedelic rawk guitar freakout! Crushing fuzz insanity! Primal and oh-so-satisfying. Mainliner/High Rise fans will not be disappointed.
RealAudio clip: "Static"

MAINLINER Mainliner Sonic (Charnel Music) cd 11.98
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Nanjo, Kawabata and Yoshida return, with another blast of High Rise-style psychedelic riffery. Turn it up past, like, "2", and give your stereo speakers a few final thrilling moments before they fry.

MAINLINER Mainliner Sonic (Assommer) lp 17.98
CLEAR VINYL! Limited release!!
Back in '97, when this utterly distorted slab of Japanese psychrock was originally released on compact disc, we were perhaps a little bit more succinct in our reviews than we are now, saying simply in two sentences:Ê
Nanjo, Kawabata and Yoshida return, with another blast of High Rise-style psychedelic riffery. Turn it up past, like, "2", and give your stereo speakers a few final thrilling moments before they fry.
Still true! Perhaps, for those just tuning in, we should add that Asahito Nanjo is the bassist from legendary PSF-label psychedelic speed freaks High Rise, Makoto Kawabata is of course the hairy bearded "motor psycho" guitarist from the beloved Acid Mothers Temple, and Tatsuya Yoshida is the eight-armed drummer from Magmoid prog duo Ruins, just to mention the primary crucial underground Tokyo acts these cats have been involved in. Mainliner Sonic was the trio's 3rd album, give or take a cd-r or cassette or two, if we've got the chronology correct. And it's just one of two Mainliner efforts with Yoshida on the drums, a lineup that happened to be identical to that of another, more spazzed out band, Musica Transonic.Ê
At a little more than a half hour in length, these five tracks represent a typical in-the-red session of Mainliner's more Les Rallizes Denudes than thou loud garage psych improv groove mayhem. Really, you've heard of "fuzz monsters"? This is, like, fully 94 percent fuzz, almost like a blast of Merzbowian noise, with some crashing drums and raucous riffing and squiggly soloing buried beneath. Totally trance inducing. All the noisiest garagiest bands today PLAYING AT THE SAME TIME might not be able to top this. For fans of Acid Eater for sure!!!
The cd version has been out of print for years (though we hear rumors of a reissue on a Chinese label...) so it's even awesomer to have this vinyl edition on new label Assommer (run by one of the guys from the LA psych band OGOD, currently on tour in the USA with Acid Mothers Temple).
MPEG Stream: "Tsukisasaru"
MPEG Stream: "Mainliner Sonic II"

MAINLINER Mellow Out (Riot Season) cd 16.98
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At last, a reissue of the debut album from Japanese heavy psych trio Mainliner. It came out on Charnel Music in '96, but has been out of print for a long while now and with its unavailability has grown in stature. Of course, it's a great record, the one that Acid Mothers Temple were trying to emulate on their recent "Electric Heavyland" set. And yep, it does feature AMT's Kawabata Makoto on 'motorpsycho' guitar, along with free jazzer Hajime Koizumi on drums and bassist Nanjo Asahito of the legendary High Rise. Mainliner always was just a slight variant on the High Rise template (themselves a variant on the Les Rallizes Denudes template it seems), formed originally by Nanjo 'cause his High Rise bandmates were averse to touring and he wanted to take his rock on the road, or so the story goes. Anyway, this disc was Mainliner's first and best, all players outdoing themselves in the realms of psychedelic heavy garage improv distortion overload. So, if you missed it the first time around, now's your chance to experience this classic. It's nice to have it back in just 'cause now we're listening to it again and we'd forgotten how great it is. Rock!
MPEG Stream: "Black Sky"

MAINLINER Mellow Out (Riot Season) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now, for the first time, on vinyl! Yes, in addition to reissuing the debut cd from Japanese heavy psych trio Mainliner, Riot Season have gone and pressed it on wax. A pressing probably not long for this world, however... Here's what we just wrote about the cd version: It came out on Charnel Music in '96, but has been out of print for a long while now and with its unavailability has grown in stature. Of course, it's a great record, the one that Acid Mothers Temple were trying to emulate on their recent "Electric Heavyland" set. And yep, it does feature AMT's Kawabata Makoto on 'motorpsycho' guitar, along with free jazzer Hajime Koizumi on drums and bassist Nanjo Asahito of the legendary High Rise. Mainliner always was just a slight variant on the High Rise template (themselves a variant on the Les Rallizes Denudes template it seems), formed originally by Nanjo 'cause his High Rise bandmates were averse to touring and he wanted to take his rock on the road, or so the story goes. Anyway, this disc was Mainliner's first and best, all players outdoing themselves in the realms of psychedelic heavy garage improv distortion overload. So, if you missed it the first time around, now's your chance to experience this classic. It's nice to have it back in just 'cause now we're listening to it again and we'd forgotten how great it is. Rock!
MPEG Stream: "Black Sky"

MAINLINER Psychedelic Polyhedron (Fractal) cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The new cd from Japanese psychedelic power trio MAINLINER is actually a reissue of their previously vinyl-only Psychedelic Polyhedron LP from back in '97, which was MAINLINER's second album, though a lot of folks never saw it. At last it's now on cd for all you MAINLINER fans who missed out on that long-gone import vinyl. Huh? No, I'm not shouting at you. It's just that putting MAINLINER in all-caps seems like a fitting way to indicate how loud and distorted and blown-out and in-the-red these guys are. But you know that already. Alongside bassist Asahito Nanjo's other band High Rise these guys are the kings of Japanese garage acid fuzz speedfreak heavy psych, pretty much. Though, actually, on this record, the original two side-long cuts, "Show The Cloven Hoof" and "Cardinal Virtues", were slightly less bludgeoning than usual Mainliner fare, being dark, meandering improvs closer to another of Nanjo's projects, Ohkami No Jikan, than to the pedal-to-the-metal rock insanity of, say, Mainliner's perversely titled debut Mellow Out. But compared to almost anything else they're certainly over-the-top. And this compact disc reish includes a bonus third track also from '97, a riffier ten-minute rocker called "Solid Static" if somehow you need an adrenaline kick after those first two 20 minute tracks. In case you're curious, the line-up for this particular Mainliner album is the same as yet another of Nanjo's bands, Musica Transonic, the trio consisting of Nanjo with guitarist Makoto Kawabata (Acid Mothers Temple) and drummer Tatsuya Yoshida (Ruins)!
MPEG Stream: "Solid Static"

MAKI, CARMEN & BLUES CREATION s/t (Phoenix) cd 17.98
Protometalheads, psychfreaks, Japanophiles - listen up.
Imagine, what if Janis Joplin sang for Black Sabbath? And further imagine, what if both Janis and Sabbath were in fact Japanese?
Well, you almost don't have to imagine. 'Cause Carmen Maki and Blues Creation's album together has just been reissued, on both cd and vinyl!
It dates from the magic year of 1971, originally released 'round about the same time as Blues Creation's all-time proto-metal classic Demon & Eleven Children, which we've gone on and on about before, one of the heaviest albums of the era, from a band who were basically the Japanese answer to Black Sabbath. And Japan had some heavy bands back then, like Flower Travellin' Band, Flied Egg, Ranmadou, and Speed Glue & Shinki. But of all those, the most Sabbathy one was probably Blues Creation (though of course FTB comes close, having actually covered the song "Black Sabbath" on their debut).
The lovely Carmen Maki, for her part, was already a popular Japanese singer, definitely of the Janis Joplin blues belting school. Though she's also been likened to Grace Slick, and even to a female Robert Plant. Made sense for her to team up with this particular shit-hot blues rock outfit, both live and on this record.
Bands back then tended to do a lot of covers, but instead of being obvious and covering a Janis Joplin song, the opening track here is a bit more obscure, though it might sound somehow familiar anyway, it's a version of "Understand" by a lady often compared to Janis, Lydia Miller of the American band Fantasy. They do a few other standards on this album, "Motherless Child" and "St. James Infirmary", but all the other tracks were written by Blues Creation guitarist Kazuo Takeda.
And to be clear, this record isn't nearly so heavy as Demon & Eleven Children, not all the time, a lot of it's in fact fairly mellow, and all of it is, naturally, quite bluesy. But, even when they're not in the midst of a rollicking full-tilt Mean Old Boogie, the gentler "soft rock" stuff is pretty nice; and each track usually builds into a fine frenzy of wild wailing blues licks and distorted riffery. Those solo sections are really when the Blues Creation guys get to let loose, though Cream is probably the much bigger influence here that Sabbath.
Maki later fronted a band called Oz (no not the Swedish '80s metallers), who were pretty heavy too, and proggy; we'd love it if that stuff got reissued too someday...
MPEG Stream: "Understand"
MPEG Stream: "Lord, I Can't Be Going No More"
MPEG Stream: "Motherless Child"

MAKI, CARMEN & BLUES CREATION s/t (Phoenix) lp 24.00
Protometalheads, psychfreaks, Japanophiles - listen up.
Imagine, what if Janis Joplin sang for Black Sabbath? And further imagine, what if both Janis and Sabbath were in fact Japanese?
Well, you almost don't have to imagine. 'Cause Carmen Maki and Blues Creation's album together has just been reissued, on both cd and vinyl!
It dates from the magic year of 1971, originally released 'round about the same time as Blues Creation's all-time proto-metal classic Demon & Eleven Children, which we've gone on and on about before, one of the heaviest albums of the era, from a band who were basically the Japanese answer to Black Sabbath. And Japan had some heavy bands back then, like Flower Travellin' Band, Flied Egg, Ranmadou, and Speed Glue & Shinki. But of all those, the most Sabbathy one was probably Blues Creation (though of course FTB comes close, having actually covered the song "Black Sabbath" on their debut).
The lovely Carmen Maki, for her part, was already a popular Japanese singer, definitely of the Janis Joplin blues belting school. Though she's also been likened to Grace Slick, and even to a female Robert Plant. Made sense for her to team up with this particular shit-hot blues rock outfit, both live and on this record.
Bands back then tended to do a lot of covers, but instead of being obvious and covering a Janis Joplin song, the opening track here is a bit more obscure, though it might sound somehow familiar anyway, it's a version of "Understand" by a lady often compared to Janis, Lydia Miller of the American band Fantasy. They do a few other standards on this album, "Motherless Child" and "St. James Infirmary", but all the other tracks were written by Blues Creation guitarist Kazuo Takeda.
And to be clear, this record isn't nearly so heavy as Demon & Eleven Children, not all the time, a lot of it's in fact fairly mellow, and all of it is, naturally, quite bluesy. But, even when they're not in the midst of a rollicking full-tilt Mean Old Boogie, the gentler "soft rock" stuff is pretty nice; and each track usually builds into a fine frenzy of wild wailing blues licks and distorted riffery. Those solo sections are really when the Blues Creation guys get to let loose, though Cream is probably the much bigger influence here that Sabbath.
Maki later fronted a band called Oz (no not the Swedish '80s metallers), who were pretty heavy too, and proggy; we'd love it if that stuff got reissued too someday...
MPEG Stream: "Understand"
MPEG Stream: "Lord, I Can't Be Going No More"
MPEG Stream: "Motherless Child"

MAKOTO MANGO Guru & Zero (Swordfish) cd 19.98
That *Acid Mothers Temple Alert!* *Acid Mothers Temple Alert!* *Acid Mothers Temple Alert!* emergency warning alarm has been going off pretty much continually here at Aquarius over the past couple weeks, driving us all batty. We thought it must be broken or something but no, there's just been THREE more releases from those hairy Japanese hippies known as AMT plus another Kawabata collaboration (w/ Daevid Allen of Gong). So let's assess the threat.
Makoto Mango is a pseudonym for Kawabata Makoto for this release, entitled Guru & Zero. He's joined by Psycho de Lick (Daevid Allen) and Mango Cottongo (guess who). Together they recorded this disc, one single 48 minute trip, I mean track, that's full of "organic loopage", "bio illogical yodelling" and "glissando guitar". Hallucinatory drone, whispered vocals, heavenly guitar tones, sci-fi effects, spoken psychedelic sermonizing... these guys aren't known for their restraint, but they do manage to maintain a nicely tripped-out mood for the duration. A bigger success than Gong's Acid Motherhood album, from the standpoint of someone who digs Kawabata's mellower journeys. Note: y'know that picture of Kawabata on the toilet that graced the back cover of that disc? Well on the inside of this cd's booklet they take that unfortunate idea and run with it...
MPEG Stream: "Kawabata Biodynamique (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: "Kawabata Biodynamique (excerpt 2)"

MAKOTO, KAWABATA Tales of The Dream Planet (Housepig) cd 10.98
Even if it didn't say Kawabata Makoto on the cover, or if you didn't know that Kawabata is the guitar player in Japan's Acid Mothers Temple, you might guess that this was somehow Acid Mothers Temple related, just from the cover graphics. Naked hippy chick in yoga pose, check. Flying saucer, check. Comic book style voice balloon, check. (She's saying, "AHAAAAAAA... UMMMMMM", which could be alternate, onomatopoeic titles for this disc's two tracks, actually.)
And knowing that, you have an idea what this is all about. It's one of Kawabata's most blissed out, droned out efforts. Actually, it's hard to imagine something as physical as a guitar being involved in its making. Kawabata seems to be playing some more ethereal instrument, a simple shimmering cloud of cosmic sound that already existed at the dawn of days, long before anything as mundane as a guitar was ever invented. The transcendent, translucent 46 minute "She Came From The Shining Sea", followed by the shorter (17 minute) and even quieter "Kiss On The Dream Planet", seem more like mental projections, delicate dream drones direct from Kawabata's inner space practice space. It's certainly difficult to believe that he's actually, you know, touching anything to make this music. In reality, these two tracks were recorded at the actual Acid Mothers Temple (Kawabata's flat in Tokyo, we assume, or better yet a commune filled with those naked hippy chicks) in January and March of 2006... Kick back, close your eyes, and enjoy.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES.
MPEG Stream: "She Came From The Shining Sea"
MPEG Stream: "Kiss On The Dream Planet"

MALDOROR She (Ipecac) cd 17.98
A collaboration between Mike Patton (Mr. Bungle, Faith No More, Fantomas) and Masami Akita (Merzbow). This is actually quite listenable, considering their combined propensity for annoyance. Playful and downright giddy Noise!

MAMIFFER / HOUSE OF LOW CULTURE / MERZBOW Lou Lou... In Tokyo (Sige) 2lp 29.00
Another impressive release on Aaron Turner (Isis, Hydra Head, House Of Low Culture, etc.) and Faith Coloccia's new label Sige, this one a three way live tag team between Turner's House Of Low Culture, Mamiffer and Japanese noise legend Merzbow.
Spread out over three sides (the fourth is an etching), this live show displays a surprising amount of restraint, considering the multitude of cooks in the kitchen, and considering one of those cooks is the iron chef Masami Akita.
The first side is all Mamiffer, aka Faith Coloccia, with gorgeous bit of dark, droney, cinematic chamber music, what sounds at first like solo piano, until you realize the piano is suspended in a field of glimmery soft focus buzz, atop deep rumbling swells, peppered with distant industrial creaks and groans, the piano occasionally giving way to long shimmering metallic tones, or thick dark blackened swirls, but always settling back in that haunting elegiac piano driven drift. Mamiffer's side finishes off with a final eruption of grinding blackened churn, a psychedelic soft noise squall, that while still laced with melody, is still seriously ferocious.
The second side finds House Of Low Culture teaming up with Merzbow, which on the face of it has the makings of something seriously noisy, but instead, the two created a lush expanse of hushed dronemusic, delicate and haunting, all ominous low tones, and warm washed out thrum, streaked occasionally with feedback, and shards of skree, the sound grows more and more dense, still lovely, but with a sort of blackened cast, dreamily funereal, with mysterious vocals drifting in the softly roiling sonic shadows. A brief crescendo leads directly into another stretch of dark shimmer, peppered with bit crashing gongs, and thick crumbling black buzz sells, it's not until the last minute or two, that things get downright Merzbowian.
The final (playable) side, features all three, a Mamiffer / HOLC / Merzbow collab, and is easily the noisiest of the bunch, a constantly shifting sprawl of undulating low end, blasts of hissy white noise, heaving slabs of crumble and crunch, corrosive and caustic for sure, but still textural and atmospheric, and strangely melodic. By HOLC / Mamiffer standards things definitely get pretty fiery and fierce, but by Merzbow standards, the sound is still relatively tranquil. A pretty fantastic chunk of spaced out abstract noise drone for sure.
LIMITED TO 330 COPIES, each one hand numbered, housed in super swank, black on black Turner/Coloccia designed matte jackets, with printed inner sleeves, pressed on clear vinyl, music on three sides, a cool etching on the fourth.

MANITATSU Reason For Travel (Rhythm Tracks) cd 15.98
Yoshida from Ruins and Mani from Guru Guru!

MAQUILADORA WITH KAWABATA MAKOTO Kiss Over (Acid Mothers Temple) 2cd 21.00
We previously heard from San Diego indie rural-psychsters Maquiladora on the Acid Mothers Temple n' friends 3cd compilation Do Whatever You Want a while back. Now here's a Japanese import cd featuring them jamming with the Acid Mothers Temple's number one guru, guitarist Kawabata Makoto (and also ex-AMTer Cotton Casino). Over these two discs is sprawlingly spread a lot of lovely, drifting, droning, gentle, largely instrumental cosmic bliss with a slight desert-sunset, country-psych feel (hints of Maquiladora's rootsy roots come through with some plantive home-on-the-range harmonica that appears alongside the less rustic instrumentation of analog synth, glissando guitar, Hammond organ, piano, vibraphone, etc.). Maybe it's due to Makoto's usual magic, but this is surely good enough that now we'll definitely have to check out Maquiladora's own couple of previous records! Real nice, mellow, moody.
MPEG Stream: "Sound Is Over"
MPEG Stream: "UFO Goozu"

MARU SANKAKU SHIKAKU s/t (Captain Trip) 3cd 34.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
English speakers may prefer to refer to this group simply as Circle Triangle Square (for their name is actually just those shapes, with no words English or Japanese). Yup, Tokyo's Captain Trip label has really dug up a weird obscurity here for fans of out-there Japanese psych like Taj Mahal Travellers (and, latterly, Acid Mothers Temple). We're also reminded of trippy krautrock stuff (Amon Duul) and other acoustic hippy jams of the era (Third Ear Band, Yahowah 13). This package contains three cds nestled into a colorfully collaged fold-out poster, each cd with two LP-side long tracks. (They self-released five albums in 1973, here's three of 'em, the other two are available on cd by mail order in Japan only, sorry!)
Liner notes (in English as well as Japanese) by leader Sakuro "Kant" Watanabe explain that his group travelled around Japan with tents and sleeping bags doing street performances in costumes and make-up. Meanwhile, along with releasing LPs, Watanabe also privately published underground magazines and played drums in another group called, in English, Social Ostracism. Other Maru Sankaku Shikaku members included a young Reck (later of Friction and Optical*8) and a fellow who also played the starring role in a local production of Hair!
It was apparently a very radical scene going on, in which these folks played a part. Watanabe speaks of his artistic efforts as being "tools for trips" and you'll believe it, particularily in light of this passage of free-association in his liner notes:
"Time, avant-garde, rock n' roll, vagabond, inhaling paint thinner, journey, beat, nihilism, underground, blues, hippie, Kohenji, genius, LSD, Shinjuku, yippie, painkiller, death, shoplifting, long hair, revolution, insanity, Kyoto, grass, hitchhiking, sex, commune, psychedelic, hashish, Zen, Asobi (playing or game), Satori (spiritual enlightenment), make-up, solitude, loneliness, anti-establishment, idiot, cool, rock festival, trip, Guru -- they were neighbors, part of us, and enemies sometimes."
These discs convey the vibe of a quiet, mysterious ritual, one which can build into a sudden frenzy, however. Seemingly random sounds coalesce into rhythm and structure. Vocals, sometimes quite wild, and percussion are the basis for their music, which appears to be entirely freeform and improvised, full of electronic blurts, whistles, bells, clapping, wah wah guitar stabs, plus many and various unidentifiable noises. There's even hints of a very primitive '70s Miles Davis/Sun Ra thing in this stew of sounds, but it's way out, way abstract, and certainly not jazzy or funky. It's either avant garde genius or babbling directionless indulgence, depending on how much into their mindset you can get.
And, it's very important to mention: there's SO MUCH beautiful cracky surface noise from the LPs (no digital clean-up here!) that it almost sounds like Maru Sankaku Shikaku is jamming with Philip Jeck! While perhaps not an intentional part of their music, it really adds to it, making this seem more ancient and secret and hidden and droney. Spiritual/artistic ancestors of the Sun City Girls, the No Neck Blues Band, Thuja, Hochenkeit, AMT, Boredoms, etc. Thus, definitely not for everybody!
RealAudio clip: "disc one, track 2"
RealAudio clip: "disc two, track 2"

MARUTANI, KOJI Pataphysics (Alluvial) cd 12.98
Koji Marutani, who also runs the Digital Narcis label, sets down meditative layers of field recordings and sound fragments, in an attempt to calmly mirror the randomness of memory. Satie like piano improvisations (though he's too cool to mention it's played on a Klavierchord), plunderphonic styled cut-ups of TV commericials and banal pop, and cold fusion pulses are intersperced with the fluid ambient passages.

MASMELO Madeline (self-released) cd-r 5.98
Madeline is the first release from these two Japanese gals currently calling SF their home. Prior to moving to the States, the pair were in a band called Small Universe, and one member is also currently the bassist for The Ass Baboons Of Venus! They dish out five very short (and only occasionally sweet) jolts of super raucous and lo-lo-fi, truly garage-style pop. Primitive thumpin' drumbeats, trashy guitar chords, girl gang vocals and the howl of uncontrolled feedback.
MPEG Stream: "Number Count"
MPEG Stream: "Here We Go"

MASONNA Ejaculation Generator (Alchemy) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Japan's hopping noise honcho. Continues the "Good Alchemy" series of outrageous aural assaults.

MASONNA Hyper Chaotic (V. Records) cd 10.98
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More of the crazy, dynamic noise Masonna is known for, this time available on a relatively inexpensive American disc.

MASONNA Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Aureole (Alchemy) cd 21.00
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MASONNA Noskl In Ana (Alchemy) cd 21.00
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MASONNA Shock Rock (MIDI Creative) cd 27.00
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And now for the third of our reviews of the three "Freakout Triplex" cds that were released in 2002 in honor of Maso Yamazaki's 15th anniversary (of noise/music making, presumably). There was a disc apiece dedicated to each of his main projects: Christine 23 Onna's Acid Eater (reviewed on list 255), Space Machine's 2 (reviewed on list 258), and Masonna's Shock Rock (being reviewed right NOW). These weren't readily available over here in the USA when they first came out, so we figured a bunch of you Japanese psychedelic/electronic/noise fans would be interested if we reviewed these, now that we can finally get 'em.
Masonna is Maso Yamazaki's best known project, his solo screaming noise guise. As harsh Japanese noise goes, Masonna's at the top of the heap, up there with the likes of Merzbow and Hijokaidan in a sort of unholy trinity. Quite prolific in the past, Masonna's discography is rather large to say the least. But you can be sure than ANY Masonna album you hear is gonna sound like just about the most insane noisy thing EVER. Shock Rock, his umpteenth cd release, is also as far as we're aware the last full-length Masonna album to come out... So it stands to reason that this could well be the noisiest. We're not talking trance-inducing drone like you might get from, say, Aube or even Merzbow, sometimes. We're talking short sharp shocks of feedback-attack noise, 31 tracks on this 46 minute disc. Ultra-distorted, deliriously painful, apoplectic EXTREME noise here! Which, paradoxically, can be a pleasurable, almost gleeful thing...though it's an acquired taste no doubt! Folks who already know and love the likes of Shinsen Na Clitoris (Vanilla, 1990) or Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Aureole (Alchemy, 1993) will want to add this to their collections. It's as spasmodically fierce as those classics. But for Japanese noise noobs, well, this might be like jumping in at the deep end! However, if you're not afraid, and/or simply want to get maximal noise for your 27 bucks, this surely would be the ticket!
MPEG Stream: "track 1"
MPEG Stream: "track 16"

MASONNA Super Compact Disk (Alchemy) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MASONNA Ultimate Collection Vol.1 (Alchemy) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There's noise, and then there's noise!!! And then, there's Masonna... and this, the Ultimate Masonna (volume one).
Never heard any Japanese noise? Well, there's always a first time, and this could be it. Maybe you'll love it (if not, you'll probably hate it... not much room for any reactions in-between). If you have heard Japanese noise, you probably already know Masonna. Along with Merzbow and Hijokaidan, he's probably the most (in)famous and most extreme of all the many Japanese noisicians. At AQ, he's also quite popular for his other sonic endeavors, the analog spaced out kosmiche electronic trips of Space Machine, the super psychedelic rhythmic synth grooves of Christine 23 Onna, and the fuzz-freaked garage rock of Acid Eater. Those outfits, to varying degrees, can be considered music, even pop music. But recording under the Masonna moniker, Maso Yamazaki makes sheer noise, no "music" involved at all. Just ultra dynamic, distorted screaming and electronic distortion, volume cranked to the max, an all-out expressive attack, acrobatic and energetic. Very similar to his famous "jumping" live performances.
In honor of Masonna's 20th anniversary of noisemaking, packaged with super swank graphics (we dig the elaborate Greatful Dead/Quicksilver looking logo) and liner notes in both English and Japanese, Ultimate Collection Vol.1 brings back two long out of print Masonna documents. It includes the oddly titled Masonna Vs. Bananamara LP, originally released on vinyl in 1989 by Japan's Vanilla Records in an edition of 290 copies, and the aptly titled 1996 album Hyper Chaotic, originally from tiny US label V Records. Reissued together on one compact disc, these two albums comprise 48 mostly short tracks (many of 'em under a minute each) of the most intense, shrieking shards of distortion with which you've ever abused your ears... you've been warned!!
The vs. Bananamara album (which was Masonna's debut LP after some self-released cassettes) perhaps features more high-end skree, while the later Hyper Chaotic is more about blown-out white noise... but there's plenty of both sounds throughout!
MPEG Stream: "Keckold"
MPEG Stream: "Baimn Lamx"
MPEG Stream: "Hyper Chaotic - Chapter 2"
MPEG Stream: "Hyper Chaotic - Chapter 13"

MASONNA Ultimate Collection Vol.2 (Alchemy) cd 21.00
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What could be better (and noisier) than Masonna's Ultimate Collection Volume 1? Volume 2 of course. In honor of the man's 20 years of noisemaking madness, Alchemy has reissued several crucial, long out of print Masonna documents as two-on-one cds in this Ultimate Collection series. You can check out our review, elsewhere on our site, of Vol. 1 to read more about Masonna and his legendary place in the pantheon of Japanese noise, alongside the likes of Merzbow and Hijokaidan... suffice to say if you've never heard this stuff before, be warned! It's noisy all right. Not everyone will have the same reaction (no siree) but for us, when we hear the harsh sonic genius of Masonna, it's like, we freeze, fascinated, compelled - numbed and hypnotized even. It's really enjoyable... really.
So, Volume 2 comprises the early 1990 album Shinsen Na Clitoris (of which only 499 copies were pressed), and the 1998 cd-r Tripsy Sunshine (which was even rarer, in an edition of 49 copies!). Rather than the many short, sharp, shocking tracks found on Vol.1, there's just four long tracks here, each of the original albums split into two approximately 15 minute pieces. Though, on Shinsen Na Clitoris, it still sounds like a lot of cut-up edits.
That album is all about totally destroyed, distorted to hell vocals, Masonna's insane shrieking demonic baby babble in a swirling vortex of feedback and warped FX, the sounds of guitar (?), electronics, and his voice all one massive noisy jibber-jabber. Whew! He's really freaking out, hyperventilating probably. Later, on the Tripsy Sunshine tracks, Masonna moves more into the fuzzed out psych-synth territory of his Christine 23 Onna and Space Machine projects, with washes of fuzzy synth overload and throbbing pounding rhythms. So it becomes a bit more 'musical' but just barely. There's certainly gobs of sheer chaotic please turn that down NOISE to happily torment your earholes with as well, from start to finish.
You know how you can't fit more than, like, 80 minutes of music on a compact disc? Well this disc is one hour long, but it's probably got more (noisy) SOUND crammed into it than any cd you can find, whatever the length. Basically, Masonna takes to heart the principle that if you're gonna make noise, make it the noisiest. And he sure does.
MPEG Stream: "Shinsen Na Clitoris Part 1"
MPEG Stream: "Space Psychetronics Erector"

MASONNA Vestal Spacey Ritual (Alchemy) cd 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MATSUNAGA, KOUHEI Upside Down (Mille Plateaux) cd 10.98
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Deep pulsing bass drones with creepy slow metallic percussion, and lots of interesting noise-making, featuring voice and cello and appearences by noise-greats Masonna and Merzbow, being not so balls-out noisey, but contributing effectively to the album as a whole.

MAZK Sound Pressure Level (Or) cd 14.98
After years of silence, Zbigniew Karkowski (former Hafler Trio collaborator) joins Masami Akita (of Merzbow, who knows nothing about years of silence) for 55 minutes of signature Merzbow noise processed into heavy chugging pulses and brutal psycho-acoustic drones...not for the faint of heart.

MCPHERSON, DONALD & TETZUI AKIYAMA Vinegar & Rum (Bo' Weavil) cd 17.98

MELT BANANA 13 Hedgehogs (MxBx Singles 1994-1999) (A-Zap) cd 13.98
In the bizarre musical world of Japan's Melt Banana, seven inch singles are hedgehogs, and MB's got a whole mess of em, most WAY out of print and long unavailable. So finally, all of these long sought after hedgehogs, all released between 1994 and 1999, have been gathered up, gussied up, digitized and released on one single compact disc. 13 Hedgehogs featuring all of MB's tracks from the singles "Hedgehog", "It's In The Pillcase", "Untitled (Piano One)", "Eleventh" and "Dead Spex" as well as their tracks from splits with God Is My Co-Pilot, Discordance Axis, Pencilneck, Target Shoppers, Stilluppsteypa, Plainfield, Xerobot, and Killout Trash. Phew. 56 tracks of maniacal squealing and squeaking, stop-start, ultra dense, mega complex confusional punk / grind / pop / whatthefuck! So ridiculous and so totally amazing!
MPEG Stream: "So Unfilial Rule"
MPEG Stream: "Buddhism Core"
MPEG Stream: "Dead Spex"
MPEG Stream: "Last Finger Split"
MPEG Stream: "Bad Gut Missed Fist"