Japanese Rock and related

"'Koyonaku' is the result of the encounter in downtown Tokyo between Japanese accordionist A Qui Avec Gabriel and guitarist Michel Henritzi. The duo re-interprets the soulful and melancholic popular Japanese Enka-music through improvisation. They meander solitary through these sad melodies in their very own iconoclastic ways."

"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

Daevid Allen - gliss guitar & vocals
Gilli Smyth - space whisper / vocals
Kawabata Makoto - guitar & voice
Atsushi Tsyuama - bass, whistle & vocals
Josh Pollock - guitar & megaphone voice
Hiroshi Higashi & Cotton Casino - synthesizer & voice

“Absolutely superb listening to be had on 'Live In Tokyo'. Gig was recorded at the Doors Club in in Tokyo, Japan sometime in April, 2004.
Tunes that more than make this disc a keeper are first two minute-long wacky cuts "Gnome 11

"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...

“The first-ever vinyl edition of Acid Mothers Temple's classic self-titled first album.
Over the last 25 years no group has been more prolific or dedicated to pushing psychedelic rock to its limits than Japan's Acid Mothers Temple. Their maximalist technicolor vision was first revealed on this, their now legendary self-titled 1997 debut released by P.S.F. Records.
Led by Makoto Kawabata, the album contains some of the group's most cosmic, hypnotic and over-the-top material; it kick-started and.

"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...

“Hallelujah Mystic Garden Part Two contains a new deep-pocket groove disco version of fan favorite "Pink Lady Lemonade". Side two is a slick kosmiche-electro-disco number that unfurls over a period of 20 minutes and is periodically punctuated by Makoto Kawabata's unruly soloing.
Recorded at Acid Mothers Temple, June 2016-March 2017; produced and mixed by Kawabata Makoto.
Personnel: Cotton Casino - voice, astral mama; Kawabata Makoto - guitar, fretless bass, bouzouki, organ, rhythm machine...

"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...

Issued in a limited edition of 1,000, this is a real vinyl beauty!

"Acid Mothers Temple's In Search of the Lost Divine Arc heads in a completely different direction from 2012's Son of a Bitches Brew. Harder, faster, and more riff-rock oriented...

"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...

This is released in an edition of 1,000 copies. "Limited edition 2006 US Tour CD featuring recordings from 2004. 'Dark Stars in the Dazzling Sky' (aka Dark Star Blues) was recorded at Spaceland on June 6, 2004 -- a great show. And the other track is...

"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.'...

“Japan's long running masters of psych/kosmische jamming return to Important Records for a vinyl outing featuring beloved original member Cotton Casino. This first edition is pressed in an edition of 500 copies. Trust Masked Replicants finds AMT in fine form, creating experimental psych-rock improvised around skeletal compositions. The group's leader, Kawabata Makoto, holds the group together while they navigate chaos infused, drone-based jamming at the outer edges of human consciousness.
Side B...

"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!”

"New 2nd album by the japanese AMT trio, an outfit led by Magic Aum GiGi alias Jerome Genin, Fractal owner for the fake secret. The Soul of a Mountain Wolf is a concept album, short and definitely ROCK dominated by wild fuzz psychedelic guitar."

"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...

This is the third album by the power trio of Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins, Koenjihyakkei) and Tsuyama Atsushi and Kawabata Makoto (of Acid Mothers Temple).
Tsuyama Atsushi : bass, vocal, recorder, soprano sax
Yoshida Tatsuya : drums, vocal...

"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 ...

Another exciting unit out of the infamous Osaka underground rock scene. Close friends with the Boredoms and Acid Mothers Temple, Afrirampo is a bizarre duo of two twenty year old girls who sing and play guitar and drums like no one else. Scantily clad ...

“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..

This is a collection of most of the 1984 album “Glass Tube”, which was After Dinner’s first album + some other stuff, plus 30’ of live material by this Japanese new music rock band, who predated the current huge interest in all things "Japan".
Characterized by leader Haco's vocals, this is subtly detailed, almost pastel, progressive Japanese music; they don’t sound like ANYBODY else!

“Can't say I've heard anything quite like this. Truly awesome in its presentation, it's hard not to want to...

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...

This release is by a Japanese duo that Soleil Zeuhl discovered. Yoshiyuki plays keyboards/synths/programming and Yoshihiro Yamaji plays guitar and bass. All of the drums are programmed, but they do a very good job of it, and this excellent debut does not suffer from 'canned band syndrome'.

"Amygdala is a Japanese band, heavily Zeuhl-influenced (much more on the UZ side than Magma, I'd say), with that RIO edge that seems to be the landmark of the greatest Japanese bands of these last few years...

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.”

“Post Floral and pre-Yellow Magic Orchestra "all-star" band featuring among others Haruomi Hosono on bass and Takashi Matsumoto on drums. This album, produced by the Tokyo-based band, encapsulates a transformative moment in the nation's counterculture movement and its contribution to the global evolution of psychedelic music. With intricate guitar work, haunting vocals, and experimental compositions, the album remains an enduring influence in the global psychedelic music landscape. An all-time Japanese...

"The Echo From The Purple Dawn is a brand new full length from C.C.C.C. member Hiroshi Hasegawa's solo project Astro. Using a battery of oscillators, ring modulators and field recordings Hasegawa has created an engaging and versitile album that...

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....

''Ayuo (whose name translates as Fish-Light) is one of the most enigmatic figures in Japan, as unique a figure as Moondog, Sun Ra or Haino Keiji, with whom he occasionally collaborates. Ayuo's music is a delicate balance of world music traditions, new ...

“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...

"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...

Japan's Blues Creation was formed by guitarists Kazuo Takeda, Koh Eiryu and singer Fumio Nunoya, in early 1969, after the dissolution of their Group Sounds outfit The Bickies. Highly influenced by Cream and The Yardbirds, Takeda joined forces with...

"Phoenix Records reissues Brast Burn's Debon -- a classic of Japanese Kraut obscurity originally released in 1975 on Voice Records, now digitally-remastered. Brast Burn are often linked with Karuna Khayal, with many aficionados concluding that they...

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..

"Japan's proggers Flied Egg, consisting of former Strawberry Path alumni Shigeru Narumo and Hiro Tsunoda, supported by former Brush leader, Masayoshi Takanaka, released two albums in the early '70s, Dr. Siegel's Fried Egg Machine being the first and undoubtedly the better of the two. Dr. Siegel's..., originally released in 1972, is a much more keyboard-oriented affair, with Narumo adding a Moog, celeste and harpsichord to his usual Hammond and piano line-up. On this album, the musical influences are more...

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 ...

"In his third CD for Tzadik, Mamoru Fujieda continues his fascinating exploration of the creativity of, by and about plant life with five more pieces from his continuing series Patterns of Plants. Utilizing the violin in combination with two Japanese...

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

''Jazz, contemporary classical and traditional Japanese folk music blend seamlessly in Satoko Fujii's powerful and unique musical universe. Presented here are three intimate groupings: in duo with her long time associate Sachi Hayasaka, in trio with th...

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...

Natsuki Tamura-trompette, Curtis Hasselbring-trombone, Andrea Parkins-accordion, Satoko Fujii-piano. "Min-Yoh means folk music in Japanese. Almost all of them are made by people, not by professional composers. And they were arranged as they were

Compatriots Satoko Fujii and Tatsuya Yoshida thrillingly demonstrated the virtues of speed metal improv. The piano/drums duo threw itself headlong into a wild and bogglingly precise exchange of hammering percussion and jabbering voices - part battle, p...

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...

“Formed in 1984, Ghost burgeoned slowly, blowing open the gate in 1990 with their eponymous debut. Opening with a vast spirit plosion – shards of antique light and clouds of centuries-old, dust-laden airs escaping from a primeval tomb – they settle into the deep feeling. A variety of mostly acoustic instruments aids their projection of traditional sounds from space and time, troubadours of unknown, an enigma of eternal trippiness all about them.”

Great price on a excellent document by this long-standing Japanese new-psychedelic/progressive band. The CD is almost an hour long and the DVD is 90' and is in stereo and 5.1 surround...

"Returned from early '90s Japan are the holy sounds of Ghost. Their collective, clearly inspired by various forms of transcendental music throughout history, created a new syncretic psychedelia with these albums, mixing the texture and vibe of multinational forms of traditional music, with strummed antique stringed instruments and the haunting wail of a recorder on top of their heavy beats and guitars. The considerable depth of this approach was explored through 2014 over another five Ghost LPs, as well as

"Returned from early '90s Japan are the holy sounds of Ghost. Their collective, clearly inspired by various forms of transcendental music throughout history, created a new syncretic psychedelia with these albums, mixing the texture and vibe of multinational forms of traditional music, with strummed antique stringed instruments and the haunting wail of a recorder on top of their heavy beats and guitars. The considerable depth of this approach was explored through...

Fourth release from everyone's favorite very young Japanese noise/psych extravaganza experience!
"Two recordings from summer 2004 Portland, OR. almost representing a transition between "He's Crying Look" and "City Calls Revolution". Here we have another chance meeting of the Green Milk trio hanging with the Zig Zag man and smoking out two improvised, one take, no over dubs, recorded straight to glorious analog tape jams. “KillMeKillMeKillMe” leans toward the Rock In Opposition/Avant Rock space...