ONO, YOKO Plastic Ono Band (Ryko) cd 15.98

ONO, YOKO / IMA Rising Remixes (Capitol) cdep 11.98
Remixers make each song sound like themselves: Cibo Matto, the ABA Allstars (Adam Yauch aka MCA, Mario Caldato Jr, Cibo Matto and Sean Ono Lennon), Ween, Tricky, and Thurston Moore, who features in his remix Masonna, Incapacitants, CCCC, Hanatarash, Aube, Monde Bruits, Gerogerigegege, Keiji Haino. There are also some cd-rom-able additional trax.

ONO, YOKO / JOHN LENNON Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (Ryko) cd 15.98

ONODERA, YUI Entropy (Trumn) cd 21.00
Plenty of artists we love have mustered beautiful, droney compositions through the act of decay. Look no further than the AQ favorites from William Basinski's sublime Disintegration Loops, the crumbling digitalia of Tim Hecker, and even our own Jim Haynes has his special rusting techniques with sound and image. So when it comes to an album called Entropy which comes from the Japanese drone 'n' field recordist Yui Onodera, we have to wonder how it measures up.
We gotta say this is a beautiful piece of grey-smeared ambience, but we're scratching our head over how this sounds like the world falling apart. This would be a perfect rainy day, contemplative soundtrack, but not exactly a meditation on entropy. Well, maybe except for the Loren Chasse-like crumbling of soil, pebbles, and leaves on the untitled second track which quietly tumbles into a series of evolving loops that blur into a sleep-inducing drone of oceanic waves and shimmering tones. The way this track progresses is how the entire record is situated -- a very calm, sedate, yet hypnotizing collection of drones and tones that float out of stacked guitars and processed field recordings. The fourth track is pure drone bliss straight out of the Chalk / Coleclough axis of smeared dronemaking precision; and the sixth has more of a Popul Vuh two-note melody oozing out of Onodera's shoegazing guitar chords, which have been filtered, layered, re-recorded, layered again, echoed, reverbed, and back again. Onodera has produced some great recordings for Mystery Sea and And/OAR, but this one was actually something he released back in 2005 through his Critical Path imprint. Even if this doesn't inspire the idea of entropy for us, Onodera has still made a fantastic and beautiful drone record here. Check it out!
MPEG Stream: "Track 2"
MPEG Stream: "Track 4"
MPEG Stream: "Track 6"

OOIOO (Time Bomb) cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We had the lp version ($7.98) on our last list, but here's the expensive (but amazingly beautiful) import debut cd of Yoshimi P-We's new all-girl band, a fun combo of Boredoms-punk chaos and more DJ-oriented groove.

OOIOO (Kill Rock Stars) cd 11.98
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While the Boredoms weirdly and wonderfully work out their new psychedelic rock (rock?) jams-kick, Yoshimi P-We (Boredoms drummer/vocalist/trumpeter) takes her all-girl ensemble OOIOO down similiar paths as previous Boredoms records with this groove-infused avant-vaudvillian punk, with a slant towards the poppier electronica-era rock of Buffalo Daughter and even some hints of Devo. Updates the sound of her stranger-than-Boredoms solo singles.

OOIOO (Time Bomb) lp 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Yoshimi P-We (Boredoms/UFO or Die/Free Kitten) has a side-project, the all female rock group with a name that's apparently pronounced "oh oh eye oh oh." Kind of a development from her crazy solo singles on Ecstatic Peace. Julie Cafritz and Eye Yamantaka put in guest appearances.

OOIOO Armonico Hewa (Thrill Jockey) cd 16.98
Oh, OOIOO! No one makes spazzed out splashes of sonic color with more energy and spirit than you. While Yoshimi will always be best known for being a member of The Boredoms and the inspiration for a Flaming Lips album (Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots) we think her output with her band OOIOO over the years definitely stands on its own. Able to meld psychedelia into an infectious and dizzying pulsation of sound, OOIOO give us more of what we love with Armonico Hewa, which sonically falls somewhere between the circular and lysergic sounds of our favorite OOIOO record Gold & Green and the more tribal and repetitive groove of their last outing, Taiga.
So many folks have taken ingredients from OOIOO and gotten lots of mileage and attention out of it, for instance, we can't help but think that Gang Gang Dance owe much of their sound and visual aesthetic to OOIOO. Herky, jerky and no-wave, rich with the spirit and energy of vintage Plastic Ono Band. Folks who love OOIOO and Yoshimi will of course love this to death, but we also think this will totally hit the spot for Boredoms fans who miss the varied sound of records like Super AE. Also, be sure to see OOIOO live if they come anywhere close to you as they are for sure one of our favorite live bands around.
MPEG Stream: "SOL"
MPEG Stream: "ULDA"
MPEG Stream: "NIN NA YAMA"

OOIOO Armonico Hewa (Thrill Jockey) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oh, OOIOO! No one makes spazzed out splashes of sonic color with more energy and spirit than you. While Yoshimi will always be best known for being a member of The Boredoms and the inspiration for a Flaming Lips album (Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots) we think her output with her band OOIOO over the years definitely stands on its own. Able to meld psychedelia into an infectious and dizzying pulsation of sound, OOIOO give us more of what we love with Armonico Hewa, which sonically falls somewhere between the circular and lysergic sounds of our favorite OOIOO record Gold & Green and the more tribal and repetitive groove of their last outing, Taiga.
So many folks have taken ingredients from OOIOO and gotten lots of mileage and attention out of it, for instance, we can't help but think that Gang Gang Dance owe much of their sound and visual aesthetic to OOIOO. Herky, jerky and no-wave, rich with the spirit and energy of vintage Plastic Ono Band. Folks who love OOIOO and Yoshimi will of course love this to death, but we also think this will totally hit the spot for Boredoms fans who miss the varied sound of records like Super AE. Also, be sure to see OOIOO live if they come anywhere close to you as they are for sure one of our favorite live bands around.
MPEG Stream: "SOL"
MPEG Stream: "ULDA"
MPEG Stream: "NIN NA YAMA"

OOIOO Gold & Green (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98
This came out about five years ago as an expensive Japanese import -- now at last it's been released domestically at a much more affordable price. Thanks Thrill Jockey! Here's what we said about it before:
This is the third album from OOIOO (say "oh oh eye oh oh"), the Osaka based, all-female quartet masterminded by Yoshimi P-We (drummer/trumpeter/vocalist for the Boredoms, et al.) At times playful and childlike, Gold and Green abandons the grating, no-wave dissonance of earlier albums for a more textural, atmospheric and melodic experience. "Mountain Book" (which seems to be the musical accompaniment to the lovely artwork for this record) is the beautiful standout track on which they are joined by many guests including Seiichi Yamamoto (Boredoms), Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto) and even Sean Lennon: epic, hypnotic, dreamy psychedelia with piano, dulcimer, and tabla.
This Thrill Jockey version lovingly re-creates the original release's stunning packaging, a gatefold complete with a booklet of children's psychedelic fantasy artwork by Yoshimi herself!
MPEG Stream: "Mountain Book"
MPEG Stream: "Grow Sound Tree"

OOIOO Kila Kila Kila (Thrill Jockey) cd 15.98

OTOMO YOSHIHIDE Modulation With 2 Electric Guitars and 2 Amplifiers (Doubtmusic) cd 24.00
A carefully crafted, sculptural sonic study in amp buzz and feedback and stereo soundwave interaction, one of Japanese experimentalist Otomo Yoshihide's more extreme offerings of late. The last few albums we're heard from this maverick composer and guitar/turntables improviser have been more on the jazz tip, including two live discs with his New Jazz Orchestra. Sure some noisy stuff got woven into those, along with quiet "Onkyo" sounds and plenty of trad. jazz standard-bearing, but here, though, there's nothing "jazz" at all (unless perhaps the existence of smooth-jazzer Pat Metheny's infamous and atypical Zero Tolerance For Silence album has allowed such metal machine music stylings into the jazz canon). Even Otomo's previous solo guitar album on Doubtmusic, while quite skronky at times, included lovely takes on Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" and Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman". Whereas Modulation With 2 Electric Guitars And 2 Amplifiers consists of one track, 40 minutes and 16 seconds of the noisy abstraction the title suggests: droning hums, piercing tones, the crinkle-crankle of electrical excess. If Otomo's Fender amps were made of flesh and blood you'd imagine that veins would be standing out on their anthromorphic-amplifier foreheads, bulging with the constantly building pressure exerted by his feedback array... Though there certainly are parts of this disc that do achieve a sort of placid serenity, a steady state of soothing molecular vibrations. Of course it could be that by those points one's senses have been numbed, this disc when played loud enough having an auditory-overload effect. And Otomo does suggest it should be played loud ("at the highest possible volume"!), through speakers, "to obtain the desired results". This recommendation (or requirement) is made specifically because the conceptual, compositional goal here has to do with making music that exists as a physical presence in the space in which it is played, in three dimensions. Otomo explains: "Feedback sound issues from two amplifiers, each connected to one of two guitars placed on a tabletop.
Due to this stereo effect, the feedback mutually interferes, producing beatlike fluctuations, creating black holes into which the sound suddenly disappears, sounding completely different depending on the position of the ears, creating the illusion that the sound is coming from only one speaker when the listener is in certain locations, and so on, thus turning into truly interactive music.
Because these effects cannot be obtained unless the sound coming from the two amps mutually interferes, we recommend listening without earphones or headphones, through speakers, with the sound as loud as conditions allow. Depending on the positions of the speakers, the interference effect and sound image will surely differ as well." Of course, anybody could hook up a couple guitars and amps and make some noise, the key here is the "Modulation" in the title, something that Otomo has a deft hand (and foot on pedals) with, making this an interesting (if extreme!) listen -- unique repeat listens, in fact, as you experiment yourself with the positioning of both your speakers and your ears.
MPEG Stream: "Extract 1"
MPEG Stream: "Extract 2"
MPEG Stream: "Extract 3"

OTOMO YOSHIHIDE / BILL LASWELL / YOSHIDA TATSUYA Episome (Tzadik) cd 16.98
Yes, Otomo Yoshihide (Ground Zero, etc.) + Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins, etc.) + Bill Laswell (Painkiller, etc.), that's right! A trio sure to intrigue any avant-Japanophile or Tzadik label lover. In fact, lots of folks will probably buy this on the strength of just one or two of those names alone, and why shouldn't they?
Otomo fans will be interested to know that his instrument here is the electric guitar, not the turntables for which he is better known, and he wields his axe with much muscle on Episome's five long tracks, which give free reign to Yoshida's limber drumming, Laswell's liquid low-end, and Otomo's slashing, slow-burn six-string. It's powerful, confident and moody amped-up improv from these three skilled vets.
MPEG Stream: "Fudge"
MPEG Stream: "Substantiality"

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE Anode (Tzadik) cd 15.98
Three part composition exploring noise, free jazz and minimalist structures. The basic conditions in which the performance of these pieces are executed: Do not respond to the sound of others / Do not form a course from the introduction to the conclusion / Avoid any popular rhythm, melody, cliche, etc. The first part, "Anode 1", buries a heavy percussive jam (six percussionists!) under an ear splitting assault of sine waves and high frequency test tones. Very much like the electronic works of Greek composer Iannis Xenakis. Parts two and three are intentionally less abrasive, exploring territories reminiscent of John Cage, emphasizing minimalist aesthetics and chance. Another wonderful electroacoustic piece from the amazing Otomo Yoshihide!
RealAudio clip: "Anode 2"
RealAudio clip: "Anode 1"

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE Ensemble Cathode (Improvised Music From Japan) cd 16.98
The latest from Japanese turntable/guitar experimentalist, composer, and sometimes jazz musician Otomo Yoshihide (if he needs an introduction, this isn't the place to start). "Ensemble Cathode" is a beautifully packaged cd -- anyone who's seen the Improvised Music From Japan box set knows about their nice cardboard mini-lp style cd sleeves -- featuring the works "Cathode #3", "Cathode #4" and "Cathode #5", all lengthy (14 to 22 minute) pieces composed by Otomo but allowing for much improvisation from the musicians. Otomo's Tzadik releases "Cathode" and "Anode" have already explored this idea -- small groups of musicans, some playing traditional Japanese instruments (in a modern context, as with Nishi Yoko's "prepared 17-string koto"), some with jazz instruments, others with electronics: samplers, contact mics, and turntables, in a structured improv setting. This Ensemble Cathode disc is as gorgeous and adventurous as those others, full of rumbling percussion, bowed cymbal drone, ethnic coloration, crackling noise, and piercing sine wave tones... The latter courtesy of frequent Otomo Yoshihide collaborator Sachiko M.
Also appearing are Taku Sugimoto (a wonderful, wonderful electric guitar abstractionist), percussionist Ichiraku Ysohimitsu (of the Acid Mothers Temple!), Andrea Neumann (playing "inside piano"), Akiyama Tetzui (who plays a turntable without records), and many others. A quiet, quite lovely listen, with many carefully wrought textures.
RealAudio clip: "Cathode #4"

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE Flutter (Tzadik) cd 16.98
Imagine some gorgeous, high energy free jazz (including compositions by Eric Dolphy and Gerry Mulligan) melded with electronic drones, sine wave tones, and some Merzbow-style noise. That's what our favorite Japanese new music guru (turntablist/experimentalist/jazzbo Otomo Yoshihide) delivers with this new album on John Zorn's Tzadik label. Otomo and four other stellar players from the venerable Japanese free jazz scene are joined by none other than Merbow's Masami Akita and frequent Otomo collaborator Sachiko M (she's the one playing the "empty sampler w/ sine wave"). Fans who're already into his work with Ground Zero, ISO, Filament, and all the rest will have an idea of what this sounds like if we say it's a cross between the amazing Ground Zero "Plays Standards" disc and the minimalist clicks & drones of his more recent ISO project. Also it follows on nicely from his previous Tzadik release "Cathode", mixing the acoustic and electronic elements as on that disc. In other words, Otomo fans, it's essential! For those who have yet to explore the man's work (and who like jazz!) this would be a great starting place.
There's moody parts with record crackle and smokey sax soloing, and then there's full-on intense combustions of improv interplay, total electronics/jazz freakouts. Here's a more detailed rundown: the opening title track is a ten and a half minute exercise in tension: skittering drums, suspenseful noir film bass lines, slowly ascending distorted guitar feedback, topped with badass horn interplay straight outta "The Shape of Jazz to Come", and layered with ear piercing high frequency sine wave tones, courtesy of Sachiko M. "Spin" is a delirious hyperfrenetic bebop jam with subtle blasts of noise and space age guitar jabs that whirlpools into an ending that has to be heard to be believed! The two Dolphy numbers covered are "Les" and "Serene". Then the album concludes with an epic twenty two minute track that begins with the sweet sound of Gerry Mulligan's "Night Lights" and transforms into the beautifully abstract, Otomo-composed "Density". The whole disc is fantastic, beautiful stuff, something we're sure was conceived partly in tribute to a young Otomo's 1970s Japanese free jazz heroes, who no doubt would approve. Brilliant and highly recommended.
RealAudio clip: "Spin"
RealAudio clip: "Night Lights / Density"

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE Re/Cycling Rectangle (Rectangle) 7" 5.50
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two short sides of sound collage from Tokyo's masterful sample artist and leader of the late great Ground Zero. These pieces are made up of short sound samples of almost any instrument imaginable: saxophone blasts, cello strokes, short metallic chord bursts, single plucks of the guitar as well as the noises made by hand movements all set to a metronomic sampled drumbeat. Quite interesting, but not a fully realized work. If Otomo chooses to continue this process, it could potentially have wonderful results.

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE Sound Factory: Memory Disorder vol. 3 (Gentle Giant) cd 13.98
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Two twenty minute pieces for turntables, mixer and hard disk recorder, by the leader of Japanese jazz/noise/sampling outfit Ground Zero. Amazing cut-up symphonies of parts and particles of hundreds of impossible to recognize sound sources: cartoon music to car alarms to straight ear-splitting noise.

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE Sound Factory: Memory Disorder vol. 3 (Gentle Giant) lp 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two twenty minute pieces for turntables, mixer and hard disk recorder, by the leader of Japanese jazz/noise/sampling outfit Ground Zero. Amazing cut-up symphonies of parts and particles of hundreds of impossible to recognize sound sources: cartoon music to car alarms to straight ear-splitting noise.

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE Turntable Solo (Alcohol) 3"cd 11.98

MPEG Stream: "Turntable Solo"

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE Vinyl Tranquilizer (Sonic Factory) cd 19.98
Solo turntable medicine from Otomo of Ground Zero. "1 minute memory tranquilizer x 60 capsules. Dosage 10 capsules 1/2 hour before sleep, repeat every night if required. Composition: Each capsule contains 1 minute, concentrated 1 vinyl experimental record. Caution: This may cause drowsiness, if affected, do not drive or operate machinery." Hong Kong import.

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE + NOBUKAZU TAKEMURA Turntables and Computers (Headz) cd 18.98
You'd almost like to think that with a title like Turntables and Computers, this would turn out to have been made with rocks and sticks. But no, the title is indeed a very literal labelling of this disc's musical contents. Otomo Yoshihide is one of Japan (and the world's) top turntable experimentalists, whilst his countryman Nobukazu Takemura is a laptop jockey of some reknown. Together they craft a humming, droning, pulsating, glitchy bleepathon. It sounds like a field recording from some sorta sci-fi birdhouse, with a radio on in the background. Voices from Otomo's vinyl records drift in and out of the mix, as if from persons lost amid the pleasantly noisy chaos being created. It's one long 46-minute track, the result of a live improv session. Apparently it was the first time these two had ever worked (or played) together. What they came up with is probably closer to the less pop, more abstract aspects of the Powerbook electronica that Nobukazu is known for, intersecting with the minimalist electronic rather than jazz side of Otomo's ouvre. By the end it gets into mindshredding noise territory, a real nice finale to a disc that visits much quiet beauty as well.
MPEG Stream: "Turntables and Computers (excerpt)"

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE NEW JAZZ QUARTET + TATSUYA OE s/t (P-Vine) cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE NEW JAZZ QUINTET Live (DIW) cd 21.00
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What serious jazz ensemble will you find playing versions of compositions by Wayne Shorter and Eric Dolphy, AND Otomo Yoshihide and Jim O'Rourke? Well, Otomo Yoshihide's own New Jazz Quintet of course. Far from the turntables-and-noise shock tactics of his seminal Ground Zero group, Otomo's New Jazz Quintet is much more on the "inside" of jazz tradition, and although you can expect some surprises, this disc, recorded live in Tokyo March 2002, is fairly straightforward compared to the Quintet's two previous releases on John Zorn's Tzadik label. No guest vocals from Phew, no electronics from Merzbow or Sachiko M. No, instrumentally this is indeed nothing but a jazz quintet: Otomo's on guitar, with four of the best and brightest from the Japanese underground jazz scene on saxophones, bass, and drums. The experimentation (with noise, with pop) of those two Tzadik albums gives way here to Otomo and co.'s abiding love for serious jazz, full of color, beauty, feeling, and powerful playing. Amid the two jazz standards assayed here, Otomo's compositions, and the O'Rourke piece, fare quite well. Otomo's twenty minute "Flutter" (from the Quintet's first Tzadik disc) is one of the disc's highlights, in fact, jumping off from its melodic, noirish motif into an electric build-up and blow-out of massive proportions. The Shorter and Dolphy pieces are handled with energy and respect, and then Otomo's NJQ winds up the disc with their 18 minute take on O'Rourke's "Eureka" -- achingly sad and pretty, reaching densely layered heights of group improv, then subsiding into a lonely finale. Very nice, actually!
RealAudio clip: "Flutter"
RealAudio clip: "Eureka"

OTOMO, YOSHIHIDE/ VOICE CRACK Bits, Bots and Signs (Erstwhile) cd 14.98
First ever collaboration between the long-running (since the '70s!) Swiss experimental duo Voice Crack and Japan's master of free-jazz turntablism, Otomo Yoshihide. Voice Crack specialize in the use of "cracked everyday electronics" (imagine raiding the local Radio Shack and turning your kitchen into a living nest of crackle and hum), and Otomo has been investigating minimalist electronic soundscapes of late. Together they've created a quiet, detailed sound-world of electro-acoustic improvisation. Quite nice, fans of both should be pleased.

OUT TO LUNCH Speakers (Captain Trip) cd 18.98
Japanese ambient psych trio featuring Kohji Nishino of Ghost and Overhang Party on bass, Takiko Yoshizaki on synth, and Iwao Yamazaki on drums. Yamazaki explains: "In 1994 I built unusual speakers for a solo exhibition. They could only put out at extremely low volume, but the sound they produced was totally pure. I connected our instruments to them to test how they would sound. The results are recorded here." Watery electronics, sparse drumming, gorgeous melodic bass tones... restrained, quiet beauty. Then an eventual upsurge of energy, into dronier, heavier territory. Perfect for a darkened room. Quite nice.

OVERHANG PARTY Complete Studio Recordings (Important) 4cd 33.00
Finally, the complete studio recordings of this legendary Japanese psych band, available all together, at an affordable price, and including a handful of bonus tracks, as well as their unreleased final recording session - which means even all you folks who already have these records, just might need to buy them again!
Formed in the early nineties, and originally featured on several early PSF Tokyo Flashback compilations, Overhang Party mainman Fukuoka Rinji (who also runs the Pataphysique label, which originally released most of the band's recordings) continued to make records until the early 2000's, with a handful of releases over the years (Overhang Party 1, 2 and 4 are included here, 3 was live), the ever shifting lineup of Overhang Party featuring members of Fushitsusha, LSD March, Kousokuya, High Rise, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, which should most definitely give the uninitiated an idea of Overhang Party's sound. Which is incredibly varied, from tripped out psychedelic abstractions, to full bore heavy psych freakouts.
Overhang Party's 1993 debut, starts out all spacey and minimal, scattered percussion, abstract string scrape, strange blurred melodies, distorted croons, weird animal sounds, and wild blurts of drum splatter, before launching into a dense noisy guitarnoise freeform blowout, swirling clouds of grinding, howling heaviness, laced with wild loose drumming, mostly buried in the mix, the sound more Sunroof! or Skullflower than Fushitsusha, but the next track finds Overhang Party firmly in Les Rallizes Denudes, smoldering psychedelic balladry, wailed vocals, woozy swirls of guitar thrum, simple propulsive drumming, and of course some guitar freakout, but also some hushed drift, replete with falsetto vox! The rest of one splits the difference between freak out and dramatic broody ballad, the bonus track, a 14 minute epic recorded live on KFJC in 1999, a gorgeous tranced out psychguitar blowout!
The second record, originally released the next year, starts out all riffy, and immediately launches into some heady psychedeia, that's not that far removed from classic Hawkwind, chugging, churning, soaring and epic, the vocals much more polished and pronounced, and of course plenty of heart-of-the-sun guitar shreddery. The whole of two tends toward the riffier, more melodic, more polished, but also more rocking, almost all the tracks smoldering slow building space-psych epics, culminating in some fierce mega guitar jams, with one track slipping into something more pastoral and dreamy, while the bonus track here, another live track, is like a more melodic version of the album songs proper, jangly and dreamy and lilting, but with some crunchy riffs, dramatic vox, and some spiraling tangled super distorted leads. A definitely Les Rallizes feel for sure.
For disc three, we skip ahead to 1996's Overhang Party IV, since three is a live disc, and these are the complete STUDIO recordings. IV starts off with piano, pounding away in a squall of guitar shred and cymbal shimmer, the sound immediately launching into something distinctly proggy, sounding a lot like seventies prog, but with some extra guitar, in fact, a LOT of extra guitar, which is what transforms prog into heavy psych, the song mostly one part, that builds and builds and builds. But much of IV tends toward the proggy, "Barcelona" barely getting psychedelic, but then when we get to "The The Ship Sank" which while still more moody and melodic and proggy, is seriously majestic, and heavy, the guitars distort and howl, sounding like some sort of slow burn post rock intro, expanded to a droned out epic. "Winter Lovers" gets downright Hawkwindy, before slipping right into the soaring psychedelic prog-pop of "Mirror". "G House Blues" is the live bonus track from the first disc, and in the studio, it's somehow way more abstract, a heaving wall of layered guitars, buzzing and distorted, swirling textures, pretty free form and avant, total experimental guitar freakout bliss for sure. The bonus track is total Stooges / Hawkwind heaviness, all chugging riffs, and wild wah wah guitar shred, and super dramatic soaring vox. Maybe the heaviest jam here.
The holy grail of this set though might be the final disc, the group's last ever recordings, previously unreleased, done between 2003 and 2005. The opener is all acoustic guitar and woozy bass, dreamy jangle, and keening melodies, a seriously classic rock vibe here, softly crooned vocals, a minimal amount of psyche guitar, more a sort of dreamy laid back drift. In fact the awesomely titled "Wolf, Scorpion, Earth Fang" we sort of expected to be a scorcher, especially with its buzzing guitar intro, but instead it's another psychedelic ballad, albeit one with plenty of psych guitar. It's not really until "Pyramid", that things get really rolling, a dirgey slab of buzzing heaviness, more dramatic vox, over wah guitar, and pounding drums, swirling and VERY psychedelic. "Marseille" is another broody ballad, but one that features some wild shredding psych guitar freakout, and again, has a serious Les Rallizes feel. "Who Are You" is a woozy dramatic dirge, rife with keening melodies, awkward English vox, and yeah, plenty more buzzing howling guitars. The bonus track "Duo Improvisation", is just what it sounds like, guitars and drums, freeform, spaced out and spacious, the drums jazzy and free, the guitar emotional and intense, would have loved if this jam went on for another 30 minutes, but as it is, it's a seriously potent six minutes.
So great. And perfect timing what with the recent spate of Les Rallizes reissues. Anyone who has been obsessing over that group, owes it to themselves to check these guys out. You will not be disappointed.
Most definitely essential listening for fans of Fushitsusha, Flower Travellin' Band, Taj Mahal Travellers, LSD March, Kousokuya, Les Rallizes Denudes, Miminokoto, High Rise, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Magical Power Mako, and even Acid Mothers Temple.
Comes in a deluxe TEN panel fold out color coordinated digipak, not much in the way of liner notes, but there is a booklet, with credits for each record, as well as lyrics.
MPEG Stream: "Twins Of Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Bass Oscillation"
MPEG Stream: "My Blue Heaven"
MPEG Stream: "Then The Ship Sank"
MPEG Stream: "Mirror"
MPEG Stream: "Pyramid"

OVERHANG PARTY Otherside of (Pataphysique) 2cd+7" 43.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This underground Tokyo psych rock ensemble presents an extensive and expensive but freakin' great live document, recorded at shows from '95 to '99, including two tracks from their 1999 US tour that for some reason they couldn't fit on either of the two cds in the package but had to press on 7" vinyl, also included! Limited, numbered, all that. We only have a couple and when they're gone, we're pretty sure they're really gone for good. Overhang Party is a guitar duo augmented with guests like Tokyo underground superstar psych guitarist Michio Kurihara (ex-White Heaven, now of Ghost) and former Fushitsusha drummer Ikurou Takahashi. They produce gorgeous psychedelic guitar freakout storms to match those from your most stoned Neil Young fantasy. Fans of that sort of thing, and those already into the PSF-documented "Tokyo Flashback" scene (High Rise, Fushistusha, Marble Sheep, Shizuka, etc.) should serious consider lightening their wallets for this item! First come, first served.

P.O.N. (Creative Man 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.
Members of Ground Zero play breakneck, heavy jazzpunkfusion a là Naked City.

PAN SONIC / KEIJI HAINO Shall I Download A Blackhole And Offer It To You (Blast First Petitie) cd 17.98
Whoa! Talk about an unexpected, yet killer collaboration. In this corner, arctic electronic experimentalists Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen (aka Pan Sonic), from Finland. In the other corner, blackclad Emily The Strange lookalike and psych guitar shaman Keiji Haino, from Tokyo, Japan. Both parties know a thing or two about manipulating electricity, noise, and drone. You'll hear plenty of that here, the Vainio/Vaisanen/Haino trio recorded live in Berlin, November 2007.
Heck, we're always happy hearing Haino in any setting, but it turns out that Pan Sonic are particularly perfect to accompany him, they bring the darkness too... note that it's usually Haino's unique presence that makes itself felt most prominently in any collaboration with which he's been involved (Boris, Merzbow, Sitaar Tah, Zeitkratzer, etc.), and such is the case here, even the title is obviously Haino-esque. And nothing else sounds like his occasional, anguished vocals, which when they appear here, are in stark organic contrast to the digital, mechanical machinations of his co-conspirators Pan Sonic.
Guttural throat-torn outbursts from Haino screech forth over palpitating drum machine clicks and throbbing low-end pulses. Sizzling buzz and whirr wreathe the proceedings. Haino's whale call guitar feedback breaches the dark void, Tibetan monks are channelled. The dynamics shift from mysterious quiet groans and beautiful keening drones to loud, out and out distorted glitch/guitar warfare... It's been a loooong time since there's been an album from Haino's band Fushitsusha, but this is the next best thing!
Well, we dunno if you can download a blackhole but basically there's equivalent blackness and gravity on this compact disc, that we'd be happy to sell to you. And unlike any download, it's housed in nice Stephen O'Malley designed digipack packaging with the artists' names in spot varnish on the cover.
MPEG Stream: "track 3"
MPEG Stream: "track 4"
MPEG Stream: "track 8"

PARDONS Charlie's Pardons (Acid Mothers Temple) cd 18.98
Maybe we shouldn't be so hard on the Acid Mothers collective for being so prolific. You and I go do our jobs everyday, and no one complains as long as we do a good job, and are productive and successful, right? So until AMT start peddling utter crap, maybe we should give them a break. It just so happens that their job is to explore the cosmos with spaced out synths and swirling rattlesnake guitars, and to spread wild, freaked out psychedlic love. And they continue to do it better than most of their contemporaries. It just gets frustrating from a fans point of view to try and keep up. So here we have the third or fourth AMT release this month (seriously), this time it's record number two from the Pardons, the guitar/synth duo of AMT frontline Cotton Casino and Higashi Hiroshi. And it's quite a gorgeous affair. Any traces of pychedelia dissipate into an expansive and spacious dreamscape of tinkling shimmering chimes, spacy dreamy ambience, gently finger picked guitars, reverbed crystalline tinkle, theremin like vocal trills, and soaring distant operatic vocals, like wisps of smoke floating lazily through the air. Beautifully serene and gorgeously otherworldly.
MPEG Stream: "Lune Qui est a Son Premier Quartier"
MPEG Stream: "Se Promener au Clair de Lune"

PEOPLE Ceremony - Buddha Meet Rock (Phoenix) cd 17.98
Yay! Back in print! New label, new packaging, and also now on vinyl!
1971 strikes again! Here's a new cd reish of this beautifully freaky album by a Japanese "Buddhist-psych" band called People, featuring guitarist Kimio Mizutani (who played with Love Live Life + 1, Hiro Yanagida, and others, and did a solo album called A Path Through Haze). There's monk-like chanting and resounding gongs, field recordings of birds and street sounds, and even, strangely enough, samples from soulful psych-funk producer David Axelrod's classic 1968 album Song Of Innocence. And of course heavy wah wah guitar action. The album is a real 'trip', much of it indeed very ceremonial-sounding, venturing from blissful grooves with tick-tock rhythms ("Shomyo Part 2") and placid, lovely droniness ("Prayer Part 1") to sheer pounding electric fuzz riffage laced with screams of orgasmic ecstasy ("Prayer Part 2"). The puzzling use of those lush, orchestral Axelrod samples on the first and last tracks just helps to make this somehow both very much of its time and also way ahead of it (since Axelrod is heavily sampled by folks today as well!). Quite recommended.
This was previously reissued by Teichiku, but that one's been gone for a while. This new reissue on Phoenix is the same price, with the cd packaged in one of their usual "wallet" style cardboard sleeves - and they also did vinyl.
MPEG Stream: "Flower Strewing "
MPEG Stream: "Prayer Part 2"

PEOPLE Ceremony - Buddha Meet Rock (Phoenix) lp 24.00
Yay! Back in print! New label, new packaging, and also now on vinyl!
1971 strikes again! Here's a new cd reish of this beautifully freaky album by a Japanese "Buddhist-psych" band called People, featuring guitarist Kimio Mizutani (who played with Love Live Life + 1, Hiro Yanagida, and others, and did a solo album called A Path Through Haze). There's monk-like chanting and resounding gongs, field recordings of birds and street sounds, and even, strangely enough, samples from soulful psych-funk producer David Axelrod's classic 1968 album Song Of Innocence. And of course heavy wah wah guitar action. The album is a real 'trip', much of it indeed very ceremonial-sounding, venturing from blissful grooves with tick-tock rhythms ("Shomyo Part 2") and placid, lovely droniness ("Prayer Part 1") to sheer pounding electric fuzz riffage laced with screams of orgasmic ecstasy ("Prayer Part 2"). The puzzling use of those lush, orchestral Axelrod samples on the first and last tracks just helps to make this somehow both very much of its time and also way ahead of it (since Axelrod is heavily sampled by folks today as well!). Quite recommended.
This was previously reissued by Teichiku, but that one's been gone for a while. This new reissue on Phoenix is the same price, with the cd packaged in one of their usual "wallet" style cardboard sleeves - and they also did vinyl.
MPEG Stream: "Flower Strewing "
MPEG Stream: "Prayer Part 2"

PHANTOM LIMB & TETUZI AKIYAMA Hot Ginger (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.
East meets West, two electric guitars meet two organs, a fuzzed out rumbling abstract epic. Phantom Limb just so happens to be 1/2 of Brooklyn noise terrorists PeeEssEye (PSI) who met up with legendary Japanese axeman Tetuzi Akiyama to jam and hang out and the result was this 30 minutes slab of divine droning drift.
Starting out with super spare clatter and rumble, the quartet quickly up the ante, the swirling buzz transforming into huge grinding walls of guitar crumble and amp frying crunch. But this is no simple guitars-against-amps Sunn-drenched dirge. No things get way more interesting. As the guitars start unfurling strange little riffs, repeating and slowly shifting, the organs releasing dense clouds of chordal warmth and ear piercing sine wave skree, everything swaying and shimmering as various internal components twist and transform, gorgeous melancholy melodies appear here and there, haunting angular licks surface, as do strange squeaks and creaks, all the while, a huge soft focus swirl of sound wraps its fuzzy tendrils around everything. This is definitely noisy, but it's that thick sort of super listenable noise, soothing and dreamlike, more dense and droning than harsh, all the sharp edges rubbed smooth, still explosive and intense and LOUD as hell, but surprisingly blissed out and so subtly serene.
SUPER LIMITED!! ONLY 500 COPIES! We got a bunch but they won't last long...
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 1"
MPEG Stream: "Excerpt 2"

PICA PICA PICA, DJ Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin' 199999 (Comma) cd 29.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Huzzah! This hard to find import from '99 has now gotten somewhat better US distribution, and we're happy to have it. Osaka-based bizarre-beat DJ Pika Pika Pika is actually Eye Yamantaka, mastermind of the Boredoms. This mix cd comes housed in a translucent green jewel case overprinted with an abstract pink and orange design. The case's innards are nice too, with more of Eye's trademark colorful crazy collage art Eye's interest in both collage and sampling has been evident for a long time, from his involvement in the hiphop project Audio Sports, to his cut-up shennanigans on his noise band Hanatarash's 4 album, to the various recent heavily-studio-manipulated Boredoms releases, but here is his first ever recorded DJ set. And, unlike Hanatarash 4, on this one all samples are cleared, and clearly credited...so it's with full authority (no guessing games) that I can tell you you're gonna hear everything from minimalist composer Philip Glass to Bay Area turntablist DJ Disk to British electronica artist Twisted Science to the water drums of the Baka Forest People on Planetary Natural Love Gas Webbin' 199999! What ties it all together and makes it flow is the quirkiness of Eye's selections -- his deftness as a DJ notwithstanding, the segues are rather more playful than beat-driven. But there are plenty of beats, bubbly ones at that, it's just that they're accompanied by such weirdness that your typical club-going dancer probably couldn't deal with it. Eye is as likely to make use of the funky jazz breaks of Japanese artist Woodman as he is to throw in the sounds of the Wedell Seals from the AQ-fave Antarctica cd recorded by naturalist Douglas Quin (yay!). This weird and wonderful disc gives some interesting insight into the contents of Eye's eclectic record collection, for sure, and thus somehow can also increase our understanding of (or possibly heighten our confusion about) his work in the Boredoms, for those inclined to puzzle about such things.
RealAudio clip: "03"
RealAudio clip: "13"

PIKACYU-MAKOTO Om Sweet Home: We Are Shining Stars From The Darkside (Riot Season) cd 16.98
Acid Mothers Temple alert!! Afrirampo alert too! Fans of either/both of those bastions of underground Japanese trippy hippy psych rock weirdness, listen up! This new Riot Season release is one of thee best Acid Mothers Temple related recordings we've heard in a while (and we've heard a lot). AMT's bearded guitar guru Kawabata Makoto teams up here with an old pal, drummer Pikacyu from the avant all-girl group Afrirampo, for a delightfully demented duo session, the two of 'em egging each other on to ever-more ecstatic extremes of cosmic chaos... Frazzled fuzz and reverbed wall of sound guitar from Kawabata accompanies multiple layers of echoing overdubbed vocalizations (chipmunk one minute, chanting monk the next) from Pikacyu, who also moves things along with energetic abandon on the drums.
The 13 tracks here vary from lovely drone-outs to noisy but poppy songs to short, sharp skronkfests - the 25 second "Oscar No Hope" being this disc's shortest and skronkiest, while the likes of "Back To Your House Over The Rainbow" and "Birth Star" are MUCH longer and more epic. The propulsive, rhythmic latter number being a good example of how this disc at its wild and playful best sounds a bit like Circle meets Melt Banana, or Yoko Ono jamming with Faust, or a nuttier, more psychedelic Deerhoof... yeah, far out! Some of the time Pikacyu-Makoto come across like a (two person) "tribe" a la ESP classic Cromagnon, and there's definitely a big krautrock influence at play (as always with Kawabata, right?).
Even if you're not a dedicated AMT fan, we'd say this is one worth checking out!
First pressing limited to 1000 copies in special gatefold sleeve packaging.
MPEG Stream: "Birth Star"
MPEG Stream: "Wild Rise"
MPEG Stream: "OM Marijana FU pt.2"

PINHAS, RICHARD & MERZBOW Rhizome (Cuneiform) cd + dvd 15.98
Thee prolific master of Japanese noise, Merzbow, once again teams up with French '70s synth-prog veteran, guitarist Richard Pinhas of AQ faves Heldon. Their first collaboration, the double disc Keio Line from 2008, was quite a success, Merzbow's electronic noise tempered into more of a sci-fi synth enhancement to Pinhas's glorious pulsating psychedelic guitar drone. The two made such beautiful music together, that they continued the collaboration on another double disc, with Wolf Eyes (!) joining in as well. Now, here Merzbow and Pinhas are again, with a cd -and- dvd package, documenting a live duo performance (Merzbow: laptop(s), Pinhas: guitar and "loop system") at the Sonic Circuits Festival in our nation's capital, September 2010. The five tracks on the hour-long cd ebb and flow with shimmering glitch and stutter, it's a fuzzy warm bath of distortion/drone that's loudly blissful, and on occasion even melodic! Meanwhile, the dvd disc features video excerpts from the same performance, so you can see just what these two are up to on stage.
Lovely stuff, for fans of Pinhas in particular, and the not-so-harsh side of Merzbow.... As one reviewer has said, they're like an updated version of Fripp & Eno, and that's not far off the mark.
MPEG Stream: "Rhizome 1 - 010011010011011"
RealAudio clip: "Rhizome 2 - 100101000111010"

PINHAS, RICHARD (W/ MERZBOW & WOLF EYES) Metal/Crystal (Cuneiform) 2cd 22.00
Though it's 2011 already, turns out there's still some cool 2010 releases we haven't yet gotten a chance to list. We try to keep ahead of the curve, but we can't always get to everything of course. Here's one we don't want to overlook, though. A couple years ago, veteran French guitar/synth maestro Richard Pinhas (of Heldon fame) teamed up with infamous Japanese noise maker Merzbow for a fantastic double disc entitled Keio Line. That combo of '70s cosmic prog-rock electronics and harsh noise/drone was a winner. Here's the sequel, another double disc this time teaming Pinhas not just with the prolific Merzbow but also everyone's favorite underground American noise mavens Wolf Eyes!! Good lord. Batten down the hatches, people! And not only that, but Pinhas cohorts Antoine Paganotti (Magma), Didier Batard (Heldon), and Patrick Gauthier (Heldon, Magma, Weidorje), among others, also contribute on several of the tracks here... of which there are six, sprawling across the two discs.
The first track, disc one, entitled "Bi-Polarity (Gold)", is nearly 16 minutes of rhythmic spaced-out stoner-funk, with skittering drums and plenty of shimmering guitar widdle amidst much glorious hiss, feedback, and distortion. Groovy. Track two, "Paranoia (Iridium)" is almost as long, at 14:21, and is a searing, soaring, synthy soundscape, kind of like an extreme version of Fripp/Eno. Neither of those first two tracks features Merzbow or any of the Wolf Eyes, and that's just fine. Track three, "Depression (Loukoum)", at last brings those guest stars in, giving 'em plenty of space (the track clocks in at about 29 minutes), for a piece that's kind of a combo of the first two tracks. More free jazzish drumming, layered with droning pulsations and washes of shimmering guitar and electronics. It's sorta like Frippertronics meets a spacey Acid Mothers Temple jam, real nice! We are sure a lot of you, who like the AMT and the Necks and the more abstract Circle stuff, will dig this.
Disc two continues the collaboration, with two more epics from the full Pinhas+Merzbow+Wolf Eyes ensemble, "Hysteria (Palladium)" and "Schizophrenia (Silver)", both each almost 30 minutes. The harsh noise/power electronics element is definitely upped on "Hysteria", which starts off like a field recording from a mad scientist's laboratory and by the end gets quite destructively distorted; very Merzbowian indeed. Awesome and satisfying. "Shizophrenia" is rather like "Depression", but rocks out much more, in a psych prog freakout kind of way, before its over. Wow. And finally, the disc finishes up with a solo, seven minute Pinhas piece, "Legend", a calming coda after the intense ensemble action that precedes it.
Gotta hand it to Pinhas, after 40+ years of music making, keeping yourself challenged and on the cutting edge can't be easy, but this is definitely one way (a great way) to do it. Meanwhile, Merzbow and the Wolf Eyes guys must have been floatin', to get to jam with one of the fellows who helped pioneer much of the music they love. Maybe next time Emeralds, Kawabata Makoto, or Oneothrix Point Never can pay their respects. Recommended, even (or especially) to those who are more used to buying releases on, say, Not Not Fun than Cuneiform.
MPEG Stream: "Bi-Polarity (Gold)"
MPEG Stream: "Depression (Loukoum)"
MPEG Stream: "Hysteria (Palladium)"

PINHAS, RICHARD / MERZBOW Keio Line (Cuneiform) 2cd 16.98
Yes, that's right. Japanese noise maestro Masami Akita, aka Merzbow, teamed up here with guitarist Richard Pinhas of pioneering '70s French synth-prog act Heldon in a Tokyo studio last year. An unexpected collaboration, perhaps, but a successful one - two action-packed discs worth! Here at AQ you could call us Merzbow fans - one of us even dutifully reviewed EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN' DISC in the 50-cd Merzbox that came out a few years ago. He's not only pretty much thee originator of Japanese noise but we still find him to be one of the genre's most interesting practitioners. But since Merzbow is, almost by definition, so prolific, we can't get excited about every single release he puts out (the obi blurb here claiming "He has recorded and released nearly 100 cds" may be the understatement of the century... isn't it more like 1000??). This one, though, we are quite excited about. 'Cause Pinhas is another AQ fave. We love Heldon, and also enjoy much of his solo work since the '70s, right up to 2006's Metatron.
So, what does the Merzbow-Pinhas summit sound like? It's plentiful and varied, but the basic impression is that of Merzbow's fried electronic noise zips and zaps like someone shooting down spaceships amidst Pinhas's glimmering, glorious Frippish guitar drone. Merzbow is credited with EMS Synthi A and "all noises" though Pinhas, with his guitar and "loop system" isn't exactly quiet. As Merzbow's machines emulate the sound of a sparking, arcing live electric wire, electricity shooting sparks in sizzling patterns, Pinhas keeps the pleasurable pulse of his guitar going and going. There was obviously much mutual admiration here, between "Merzdon" and "Heldrow" as one of the track titles puts it, Merzbow thrilled to play with one of his '70s heroes, Pinhas quite aware of how he paved the way for further extremes of experimental, electronic music, but not resting on his laurels at all. They bring out the best in each other, easily making this one of our favorite recent documents from either artist. Pinhas sure can't wimp out here, and Merzbow keeps his contributions psychedelically listenable.
This is available as a double cd on Cuneiform, or a deluxe triple vinyl set on the Dirter Promotions label. Expensive, but quite fancy.
MPEG Stream: "Chaos Line"
MPEG Stream: "Fuck The Power (and Fuck Global Players)"

PINHAS, RICHARD / MERZBOW Keio Line (Dirter Promotions) 3lp 42.00
Yes, that's right. Japanese noise maestro Masami Akita, aka Merzbow, teamed up here with guitarist Richard Pinhas of pioneering '70s French synth-prog act Heldon in a Tokyo studio last year. An unexpected collaboration, perhaps, but a successful one - two action-packed discs worth! Here at AQ you could call us Merzbow fans - one of us even dutifully reviewed EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN' DISC in the 50-cd Merzbox that came out a few years ago. He's not only pretty much thee originator of Japanese noise but we still find him to be one of the genre's most interesting practitioners. But since Merzbow is, almost by definition, so prolific, we can't get excited about every single release he puts out (the obi blurb here claiming "He has recorded and released nearly 100 cds" may be the understatement of the century... isn't it more like 1000??). This one, though, we are quite excited about. 'Cause Pinhas is another AQ fave. We love Heldon, and also enjoy much of his solo work since the '70s, right up to 2006's Metatron.
So, what does the Merzbow-Pinhas summit sound like? It's plentiful and varied, but the basic impression is that of Merzbow's fried electronic noise zips and zaps like someone shooting down spaceships amidst Pinhas's glimmering, glorious Frippish guitar drone. Merzbow is credited with EMS Synthi A and "all noises" though Pinhas, with his guitar and "loop system" isn't exactly quiet. As Merzbow's machines emulate the sound of a sparking, arcing live electric wire, electricity shooting sparks in sizzling patterns, Pinhas keeps the pleasurable pulse of his guitar going and going. There was obviously much mutual admiration here, between "Merzdon" and "Heldrow" as one of the track titles puts it, Merzbow thrilled to play with one of his '70s heroes, Pinhas quite aware of how he paved the way for further extremes of experimental, electronic music, but not resting on his laurels at all. They bring out the best in each other, easily making this one of our favorite recent documents from either artist. Pinhas sure can't wimp out here, and Merzbow keeps his contributions psychedelically listenable.
This is available as a double cd on Cuneiform, or a deluxe triple vinyl set on the Dirter Promotions label. Expensive, but quite fancy.
MPEG Stream: "Chaos Line"
MPEG Stream: "Fuck The Power (and Fuck Global Players)"

PORN + MERZBOW And the Devil Makes Three (Truth Cult) cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Woah. Somebody somewhere just had a fantasy come true, and it's got nothing to do with the bondage photos that often adorn Merbow releases. It's Japanese noise master Masami "Merzbow" Akita jamming with American stoner rock outfit Porn, who feature none other than the mighty Dale Crover of the Melvins on drums. Also Tim Moss on guitar, and heaviness engineering guru Billy Anderson on bass! Add in the Seldon Hunt art/design and this promises to be quite heavy, or noisy, or both. Definitely both, though it sounds much more like a Merzbow record than anything else. Shrieking electronic skree all over the place, with some plodding boombastic drums and heavy guitar riffs struggling through the dense muzzzzzz. Kinda what you might expect!
There are a dozen Roman numeral numbered tracks, each one individualized with Merzbow's noise dynamically varied and vibrating, from crinkum-crankum glitch to high pitched whine to howling, whooshing zapping. Porn's contributions (occasionally) add more structure and momentum. Distorted (natch) vocals surface at one point, the drumming speeds up.... or at other times, despite Porn's presence, the Merzbovian brutal harsh noise simply takes over entirely.
There's certainly precedent for Merbow to mix it up with "rock" music. His Hard Lovin' Man album some years back featured samples of Deep Purple, ferinstance - and of course let's not forget about his couple collaborations with Boris!! Maybe, like those, Porn + Merzbow will be a "gateway drug" for some stoner/doom fans to get into the total noise thing (note however that Merzbow here is far more extreme than his relatively subtle performance on Rock Dream with Boris).
Also, as (in principle) Merzbow fans, but ones often overwhelmed by his prolific output, we're quite partial to his collaborative efforts, giving high marks to recent discs he did with Keiji Haino and Richard Pinhas, juxtapositions like this one which somehow enhance the effect of Merbow's noise aesthetic.
MPEG Stream: "II"
MPEG Stream: "VI"

PORN + MERZBOW And the Devil Makes Three (Truth Cult) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Woah. Somebody somewhere just had a fantasy come true, and it's got nothing to do with the bondage photos that often adorn Merbow releases. It's Japanese noise master Masami "Merzbow" Akita jamming with American stoner rock outfit Porn, who feature none other than the mighty Dale Crover of the Melvins on drums. Also Tim Moss on guitar, and heaviness engineering guru Billy Anderson on bass! Add in the Seldon Hunt art/design and this promises to be quite heavy, or noisy, or both. Definitely both, though it sounds much more like a Merzbow record than anything else. Shrieking electronic skree all over the place, with some plodding boombastic drums and heavy guitar riffs struggling through the dense muzzzzzz. Kinda what you might expect!
There are a dozen Roman numeral numbered tracks, each one individualized with Merzbow's noise dynamically varied and vibrating, from crinkum-crankum glitch to high pitched whine to howling, whooshing zapping. Porn's contributions (occasionally) add more structure and momentum. Distorted (natch) vocals surface at one point, the drumming speeds up.... or at other times, despite Porn's presence, the Merzbovian brutal harsh noise simply takes over entirely.
There's certainly precedent for Merbow to mix it up with "rock" music. His Hard Lovin' Man album some years back featured samples of Deep Purple, ferinstance - and of course let's not forget about his couple collaborations with Boris!! Maybe, like those, Porn + Merzbow will be a "gateway drug" for some stoner/doom fans to get into the total noise thing (note however that Merzbow here is far more extreme than his relatively subtle performance on Rock Dream with Boris).
Also, as (in principle) Merzbow fans, but ones often overwhelmed by his prolific output, we're quite partial to his collaborative efforts, giving high marks to recent discs he did with Keiji Haino and Richard Pinhas, juxtapositions like this one which somehow enhance the effect of Merbow's noise aesthetic.
MPEG Stream: "II"
MPEG Stream: "VI"

POWERHOUSE s/t (Erebus) cd 17.98
This cd reissue of a 1969 lp documents the Japanese answer to the British blues rock boom of the late '60s. It's from a band called Powerhouse, featuring future members of underground Japanese psych units Food Brain, Strawberry Path, Flied Egg, and Speed Glue & Shinki. Pertaining to the latter, this album's definite selling point is the fuzzed out guitar wailin' of axe-meister Shinki Chen. Though, in keeping with the blues theme, there's plenty of harmonica blowin' too, including on their rendition of the Beatles' "Back In The U.S.S.R.", which is blusified enough to fit comfortably next to the version of "Hootchie Kootchie Man" that follows it on this record. Hmm, a bluesy "Back In The U.S.S.R."? That's maybe not something we think most folks are in the market for these days...
The album's in fact all covers, all of 'em with heavily accented English language vocals. There's more Beatles ("Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da"), and Hendrix ("Foxy Lady"), and a bunch of blues standards popularized by the likes of Cream and the Yardbirds. While "Ob-la-di" can't help but be fairly upbeat, many of the other tracks here tend towards the groggy and lumbering. Their version of Willie Dixon's "Spoonful" is downright sludgey, and clocks in at over 15 minutes. Also given an extended (16:08) workout is Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning Little School Girl", doubtless inspired by the Yardbirds' version. Another Yardbirds nod is "Mr. You're A Better Man Than I", Powerhouse's lovely version possessed of the melancholic vibe that Japanese psych bands old and new seem to be so good at.
MPEG Stream: "Spoonful"
MPEG Stream: "You're A Better Man Than I"

PSYCHATRONE RHONEDAKK WITH COTTON CASINO Baron Von Rhonedakk and the Crystal Sun (Black Plastic Sound) cd 14.98
Baron von Rhonedakk and the Crystal Sun is a deep-space collaboration between home-taper Psychatrone Rhonedakk and Acid Mother Temple's keyboardist, Cotton Casino. Its cosmic contribution to the psychedelic droneiverse is a spaced-out Japanese freak up, man! Through textural, multi-colored and sometimes noisy soundwaves, the duo offer us covers of Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and Nazareth's "Night Woman".
MPEG Stream: "Set The Controls for the Heart of the Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Several Species of Alien Beings Gathered in Space Jamming with Cotton"

PSYCHO-BABA On The Roof Of Kedar Lodge (Japan Overseas) cd 14.98
I'd guess that most of us are big fans of Japan's Boredoms. In recent years, they've explored what Andee likes to call "hippie drum circle" percussive jams, with varying (sometimes great, sometimes patience-wearing) results. When it's done well, their psychedelic, rhythmic excess can be transcendental, and will result in a record as wonderful as this Psycho-Baba album. Leader of the band Mhayow plays sitar, and helping him out on this incarnation of Psycho-Baba are two Boredoms members: drummers Atr and the mighty Yoshimi P-We (whose other fabulous side project, OOIOO, is touring the USA in March 2001).
In addition to the Eastern flavor imparted by the sitar, the tabla, and other ethnic instruments, plus the wild vocal effects courtesy Yoshimi and her chaos pad, this East-meets-Electronica group has imbued the music with jubilant trance-inducing electronics. There's a certain undeniably sunny, bouncy exuberance that keeps the record flowing colorfully and prevents it from becoming self-indulgent or too heavy. And we even hear the odd echo or two of Miles Davis' lengthy '70s jazz fusion experiments. Yes, "Psycho-Baba" is a terrible, terrible name, but what can you do? Let the music speak for itself.
By the way, On The Roof Of Kedar Lodge is Psycho-Baba's second disc -- we also have the first one in stock, and it is similar, but was recorded before Yoshimi and Atr joined.
RealAudio clip: "On the Roof of Kedar Lodge"
RealAudio clip: "I Give You This Mirror"
RealAudio clip: "Bhajan Me"

PSYCHO-BABA TabLoveDubLa (Japan Overseas) cd 14.98
1st album, before On The Roof.

PURPLE TRAP Decided...Already the Motionless Heart of Tranquility, Tangling the Prayer Called 'I' (Tzadik) 2cd 19.98
Purple Trap is a "supertrio" indeed--the unearthly vocals and guitar of Keiji Haino, backed by ubiquitous bassist Bill Laswell and free-jazz drum legend Rashied Ali! Certainly fans of Haino's Fushitsusha outfit, who themselves released a double cd entitled Purple Trap, will dig this double cd sprawl of howling fury.

PUZZLE PUNKS BuduB (Time Bomb) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We can never get enough Boredoms. But unfortunately, there's never enough Boredoms. We hate waiting years between releases. Thankfully there are plenty of side projects and offshoots to hold us over. One such Boredoms related outfit is Puzzle Punks, featuring Eye from the Boredoms, along with his PP partner Shinro Otake. We carried the limited picture disc of this release years and years ago, but for some reason were never able to get the cd. We recently discovered that there is a NEW Puzzle Punks record (we're not sure if it is indeed new, or just a new collection of old material, but we'll hopefully have it in time for the next list) and at the same time we discovered we could finally get this, the cd version of the Puzzle Punks' 2nd album Budub.
And we forgot just how great this stuff was. Even after a decade the sounds on Budub sound fresh. Weird and fucked too (it is Eye after all) but fresh enough that you could be forgiven for thinking this was some weird Excepter record or No Neck side project. Which just goes to show you how much influence Eye and his gang had and still have on modern music.
The sound of Budub is less caustic and spastic than the first Puzzle Punks records, or the Boredoms records released around the same time. Instead it's a series of experiments in rhythm, maybe hinting at the direction Eye would take the Boredoms on late albums.
Imagine some impossible jam session between the Boredoms and This Heat, or a lobotomized Hawkwind left to jam with the infant versions of the No Neck Blues Band. Or even a room full of musical toys, possessed and allowed to run amok. Dark and deliriously playful. Sometimes creepy and dark, but more often sort of strange and hypnotic. And always some bizarre world of rhythm and rhythmic wonder. Every track a strange sonic trip: analog synth squelches over dreamy chimes and tinkles, processed fuzzy krautrock grooves beneath strange chanted and muttered vocals, murky percussive plod and thud, over which a tiny sped up voice drenched in reverb mews and warbles, haunting vocal and percussion duos, very tribal and mysterious, thick washed out expanses of fuzzy spacerock FX and distant feedback, skittery almost techno shuffles, with bizarre vocalizations, deconstructed melodies played on a toy guitar, accompanied by a slowly wound jack in the box, a grinding wash of super thick distorted throb, a wall of low end whir, a murky world of jungle sounds like a lo-fi Perry And Kingsley and every random rhythmic stop in between.
Boredoms freaks who never picked this up NEED THIS BAD. And all you modern free folks and random rock weirdos into No Neck, Excepter, Sunburned Hand and the like might just dig this a lot!
MPEG Stream: "Ouck Nuff"
MPEG Stream: "Unlimited Toothpicker"
MPEG Stream: "Pep & Kep"
MPEG Stream: "Xicotepecker"

PUZZLE PUNKS BuduB (Time Bomb) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We can never get enough Boredoms. But unfortunately, there's never enough Boredoms. We hate waiting years between releases. Thankfully there are plenty of side projects and offshoots to hold us over. One such Boredoms related outfit is Puzzle Punks, featuring Eye from the Boredoms, along with his PP partner Shinro Otake. We carried the limited picture disc of this release years and years ago, but for some reason were never able to get the cd. We recently discovered that there is a NEW Puzzle Punks record (we're not sure if it is indeed new, or just a new collection of old material, but we'll hopefully have it in time for the next list) and at the same time we discovered we could finally get this, the cd version of the Puzzle Punks' 2nd album Budub.
And we forgot just how great this stuff was. Even after a decade the sounds on Budub sound fresh. Weird and fucked too (it is Eye after all) but fresh enough that you could be forgiven for thinking this was some weird Excepter record or No Neck side project. Which just goes to show you how much influence Eye and his gang had and still have on modern music.
The sound of Budub is less caustic and spastic than the first Puzzle Punks records, or the Boredoms records released around the same time. Instead it's a series of experiments in rhythm, maybe hinting at the direction Eye would take the Boredoms on late albums.
Imagine some impossible jam session between the Boredoms and This Heat, or a lobotomized Hawkwind left to jam with the infant versions of the No Neck Blues Band. Or even a room full of musical toys, possessed and allowed to run amok. Dark and deliriously playful. Sometimes creepy and dark, but more often sort of strange and hypnotic. And always some bizarre world of rhythm and rhythmic wonder. Every track a strange sonic trip: analog synth squelches over dreamy chimes and tinkles, processed fuzzy krautrock grooves beneath strange chanted and muttered vocals, murky percussive plod and thud, over which a tiny sped up voice drenched in reverb mews and warbles, haunting vocal and percussion duos, very tribal and mysterious, thick washed out expanses of fuzzy spacerock FX and distant feedback, skittery almost techno shuffles, with bizarre vocalizations, deconstructed melodies played on a toy guitar, accompanied by a slowly wound jack in the box, a grinding wash of super thick distorted throb, a wall of low end whir, a murky world of jungle sounds like a lo-fi Perry And Kingsley and every random rhythmic stop in between.
Boredoms freaks who never picked this up NEED THIS BAD. And all you modern free folks and random rock weirdos into No Neck, Excepter, Sunburned Hand and the like might just dig this a lot!
MPEG Stream: "Ouck Nuff"
MPEG Stream: "Unlimited Toothpicker"
MPEG Stream: "Pep & Kep"
MPEG Stream: "Xicotepecker"

PUZZLE PUNKS Puzzoo (Time Bomb) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Boredoms were always about rhythm, even if it wasn't overt, theirs was a sound based on rhythm. From the splattery chaotic hardcore of early records like Soul Discharge, to their later incarnation as a modern hippy drum rock jam band, every bit of their music was concerned with pulse and throb, it was propulsive and hypnotic, looped and cyclical, sometimes herky jerky and chaotic (but still precisely choreographed), other times serene and abstract, but always with some internal mechanism that tapped into all of the rhythms of life, which is precisely what made the Boredoms' music sound so alive and vibrant and often completely brilliantly baffling.
Last list we reviewed Budub, the 2nd album by Boredoms offshoot Puzzle Punks, which was the duo of Eye of the Boredoms and artist Otake Noboru. A fascinating very Boredoms-esque concoction of cracked rhythms and krautrock grooves, but super spare and stripped down. A garage rock This Heat maybe, traversing an abstract soundscape of loops and broken drum lines, pulsing and plodding, weaving skeletal song frameworks, and just leaving them like that, barebones and full of space. And the result was divine. Hypnotic and dreamlike. Some weird space rock broken down to its base rhythmic element, would up and allowed to stumble and lurch on its own.
Puzzoo was supposedly recorded right after that record, in secret, and recorded almost as you hear, not culled from hours and hours of jamming, rather a wholly realized organic musical happening, captured alive and kicking. Puzzoo finds the Puzzle Punks expanded to a trio, with the addition of an extra guitar, and includes some guest performances from two of the other Boredoms, one of them being Boredoms / OOIOO heartthrob Yoshimi. The result is like a much more beefed up Budub. A little more aggressive, a little more propulsive, but still stripped down and tripped out.
The opening three track salvo is worth the price of admission alone. A solid 40 minutes of damaged abstract spaced out krautrockiness. In fact, just the opener "Puzoo Lunch", a seventeen minute outer space tribal space jam was all we needed to hear. one of those tracks we wish would go on forever. And if the technology existed, we guarantee we'd spend the next 2 weeks listening to the extended 336 hour version, staying home from work, phone off, lights off, drapes drawn, just sort of drifting off in some body rhythm trance. But as it is we'll just have to continually press repeat on the cd player, and just imagine all that other stuff. But what kind of sound would have us in such a frenzy? Some some super bizarre seventies prog rock all tangled up in an alien percussive temple worship ceremony, like a roomful of deranged wind-up toys each given a little tiny set of drums and cymbals, rocking out in miniature to some acid fried psych rock guitar drift. The guitar weaves a deconstructed lo-fi garage rock, with angular no-wave riffs that drift over a motorik clangscape of clockwork thumps and a cacophony of tinkling bells and chimes and cymbals. Above it all hovers some blown out fuzzy blues guitar, weaving lazily in and out of the tangled rhythms. A dense swirl of warbling melodies and strange little sound effects wrap the proceedings in a mysterious spaced out conic cloak, the various guitar lines and melodies constantly mutating and shifting pitch. An impossible alien krautrock groove, an improbable junkyard space rock symphony, like some stripped down garage rock super jam with members of the Boredoms, This Heat, and No Neck Blues Band. Phew. And that's just the first track.
Track two, "Puzoout" follows a similar blueprint, but wraps its rhythms in fuzzy clouds of 8-bit video game sounds, whorls of primitive lo-fi synth and damaged guitar, all over a dizzying splatter of simple shuffle and propulsive skitter. Like a (more) outsider Acid Mothers Temple, but recorded on some sort of children's tape recorder. Track three, "Puzzub", the final part in the unbeatable one-two-three punch, is another druggy rhythmic workout, this time even more stripped down, a blissed out slow burning tribal jam, the main element being mouth harp which gets distorted and twisted, and stretched into a raga like buzz, in the background simple tablas and primitive metallic percussion, all wrapped in a super thick fuzzy veil of staticky haze, and warm warbling shimmer.
The final four tracks, ranging from under three minutes to a little over five minutes, are stunning little fragments of what must be (or could have been) monumentally epic lo-fi space jams, each one a dense little assemblage of deconstructed rhythms, melodic shards, fuzzy ambience, motorik propulsion, machine-like whir and druggy psychedelic atmospheres. All of them could have been stretched into hours instead of minutes without losing any of their mysterious power.
The sound of Puzzle Punks is very reminiscent of groups like No Neck Blues Band, Sunburned Hand Of The Man, but especially the Finnish contingent of the neo-tribal forest drone folk sound, Avarus, Kuupuu, Kemialliset, Anaksimandros, but infused with a distinctly Japanese aesthetic, as well as a gloriously unhealthy obsession with krautrock, space rock, This Heat and all of the various permutations of the word Puzzle (Puzunk, Puzzdozer, PuZZ-Top, ZZ-Topuzz) So dementedly recommended. As is the previous disc Budub, which we still have a few copies of...
MPEG Stream: "Puzzoo Lunch"
MPEG Stream: "ZZ-Topuzz"
MPEG Stream: "Puzz-Top"