"Since his early death, Kaoru Abe has attracted much attention and a loyal following among aficionados of free jazz and improvised music, but fans who might be tempted to listen for signs of the alto saxophonist's impending doom in this recording made on August 29, 1978, in Hokkaido might be disappointed, for the simple reason that there's not much music to listen to: 14 and a half minutes of actual playing preceded by a minute and 41 seconds of "rehearsal" (this amounts to little more than a couple of arpe

"Acid Mothers Guru Guru features Mani Neumeier from the legendary and influential German Krautrock group Guru Guru as well as Kawabata Makoto and Atsushi Tsuyama from Japan's holy Acid Mothers Temple. The result is a fiery fantasy filled, loud/soft...

"Another smoker from Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O., in typically fine form. Benzaiten is an In C-style homage to the classic Osamu Kitajima record Benzaiten (1973). Acid Mothers Temple covers the title-track and reprise using...

"Acid Mothers Temple return with an expanded Melting Paraiso U.F.O. line-up, featuring the added guitar skills of Japan underground legend and new full-time member Tabata Mitsuru (Boredoms, Zeni Gava, Leningrad Blues Machine, etc.). IAO Chant from...

"Acid Mothers Temple and Important Records have decided to release the complete Magical Power From Mars in its entirety with the addition of the fourth and final track 'Aladdin Kane.' Magical Power From Mars comes housed with completely new front and back art and no expense was spared on more 3D lenticular covers for the front. This is the complete album available for the first time in its entirety. Magical Power From Mars is an album full of epic statements from the Acid Mothers. Each track has an...

"Recuring Dream And Apocalypse Of Darkness is by far the heaviest Acid Mothers Temple record yet. So heavy, in fact, that Kawabata Makoto jokingly said 'the album is really heavy, maybe a bit like Sunn O))). hahahaha.'...

"Son Of A Bitches Brew is a true electric jazz record from the Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO. Rooted in the sound of Miles Davis' electric era this record melds jazz, funk and psych with AMT's synth swoops, space whispers and cosmic...

"Japan's psychedelic troubadours return with a new album focusing on the folksier galaxy of their tripped-out universe. Highlighting new vocalist Jyonson Tsu, Acid Mothers Temple put the acid back in acid folk with this release! Upping the ante is Geoff Leigh (Henry Cow, Hatfield & The North, Univers Zero) on all tracks! Limited edition of only 800 lps made!”

"Disc 1 tracks the band through the first decade from 1998 to 2007, through rare footage featuring guest appearances from members of Guru Guru, Afrirampo, Ruins and others. Disc 2 features a historic performance of La Novia featuring Occitan Queen of...

"Without a doubt, this is one of the holy grails of the Japanese early seventies lysergic psych scene, together with Speed Glue & Shinki, Sato Masahiko & Soundbreakers and People/Ceremony.
Privately released in a tiny edition on the Oz Records label way back in 1973, the original artifact was and is till this day the only legitimate recording on vinyl to feature the Rallizes and Acid Seven, in addition to a side each from Minami Masato and the legendary Taj Mahal Travellers.
New double-CD ...

“1982-85 includes all their first productions; the complete first album Glass Tube (1984), the two tracks from the first 7" single (1982) and a bonus track from the compilation LP Welcome to Dreamland (1985). Includes a 24-pages booklet.

After Dinner from Japan, embraced new wave, traditional Japanese music, free contemporary and avant-garde rock. Founded by female vocalist, musician and composer Haco in 1981, After Dinner broached a very interesting collective cohesion. Their backgrounds, though..

The second, final and best studio album from this early to the scene Japanese avant / art pop ensemble!

“After Dinner's Paradise of Replica is a concise nugget of tomfoolery that occupies a whimsical no man's land between art pop, Japanese folk music, and full-assed Art Zoydian avant proggery.
Gentle, arcane and covertly sweeping, it typifies that friendly strain of experimentalism that Eastern music seems so predisposed towards and which curious minds find such great delight in...

Kawabata Makoto : guitars (Acid Mothers Temple)
Nakaya Koichi : synthesizer, theremin (Nasca Car)
Okano Furtoshi : drums (Acid Mothers, Ghost)

“Andromelos2 brings an electronic-psychedelic-progressive sound to rival with early Tangerine Dream and early Heldon but in the spirit of Acid Mothers Temple.”

Somehow I don't think Ayuo was thinking of Ameri"The creator of two of the most fascinating releases on the New Japan series (Izutsu and Red Moon) now turns his hand to one of the most curious of all Japanese musical forms, the Noh play. Mixing the....

“Batoh is back! Solo again after last fall’s new Silence album, the Japanese psychedelic guru makes some one-man performances,, with others featuring Ghost and Silence family members, including free drumming legend of Fushitsusha and early Ghost, Hiroyuki Usui. In the richness of an all-analog production, Batoh decries the existential opacity of our latter-day faith, drawing deeply from the musical, linguistic and spiritual traditions of ALL countries, fused into a new music for the believers and non...

"Behind the Shadow Drops is the new solo endeavor from Takaakira 'Taka' Goto, founding guitarist and composer of iconic Japanese experimental rock group, MONO.
Established in 2016, Behind the Shadow Drops combines Goto's disparate but commensurate interests in many different forms of music, most notably ambient, trip-hop, industrial minimalism, and modern classical.
Recorded at Goto's home studio and mixed with esteemed producer and percussionist, John McEntire (Tortoise, The Sea and Cake...

Out of print world-wide for years, this makes a welcome, very limited re-appearance in Japan at a reasonable price.

Nice to have their 2nd, early 1980's studio disc available again from this very King Crimson-influenced Japanese ensemble. This adds guests on keyboards, violin, cello & trumpet to the basic guitar/bass/drums lineup. For me and my avant-progressive tastes, this is by far their best work and is one of the very best 80s Japanese progressive albums ever!

Yeah, you can tell who.

Like Soft Machine, the band doomed to have a number after their name for each album! Bondage Fruit, led by guitarist Kido Natsuki, who also plays in Bondage Fruit, led by guitarist Kido Natsuki, who also plays in Korekyojinn, were part of the Japanese...

Tokyo playwright, director and artist J.A. Caesar sprang to prominence in the early '70s largely through his work with Shuji Terayama's Tenjo Sajiki Theatre, specializing in vaguely sinister music reminiscent of a Hammer House Of Horrors soundtrack...

"Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails) and Japanese noise legend Masami Akita (Merzbow) share a mutual love for the EMS Synthi, a British synthesizer from the early '70s notorious for its patch matrix, portability, and distinct tone. Astonishingly, these two disparate artists meld into a single sound as they flex the analog circuitry of the EMS Synthi in new ways; giving this classic synth a modern workout and proving that, in capable hands, a 40-year-old analog synthesizer is a tool for the ages...

“With OBI strip and insert.
Originally formed in 1968 under the name The Silencer, Nagoya, Japan progressive rock band Cosmos Factory didn't change their name until their 1973 debut on Nippon Columbia with An Old Castle Of Transylvania.
Loaded with heavy psychedelia and prog rock guitar moments, experimentally blended with the use of Hammond and Mellotron, the band lead by keyboardist / vocalist Tsutomu Izumi takes you on an adventure throughout the dark forests of Transylvania. Throughout the..

It wasn't readily apparent (this is a good thing) when I played and enjoyed this, but Fossil is a solo project by guitarist Hiraku Sekine. There are always at least 2 guitars going, and sometimes more, both electric and acoustic/nylon string, so I was ...

This works computer controlled synthesizer tuned in justintonation in with Buddist chant, traditional Japanese instruments, Indonesian gamelan modes and texts. [Tzadik]

Satoko Fujii is an masterful Japanese pianist who is also ridiculously prolific, which dozens of releases, most of them Japanese-only, to her credit. She works in a pretty wide variety of jazz styles, from utterly free to scored big band and many...

Pretty fascinatingly hypnotic noisy electronics, sounding somewhere like early Suicide (without Alan Vega’s singing), Pascal Comelade’s early electronic experiments, ala Parallelo and Plaster Falling by John Bender. Conditionally highly recommended!

“Japanese experimentalist Hiiragi Fukuda supposedly picked up an aging monophonic Yamaha synthesizer, hooked it up to a cheap digital delay, turned on his hand-held cassette machine, and began improvising; a couple days later, the five-song album...