Music from Japan

**500 copies only, remastered & the first vinyl reissue EVER of this legendary Japanoise LP. Pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Wow!** On King of Noise Hijokaidan is pared down to the duo of Jojo Hiroshige (on electric guitar) and Toshiji Mikawa (on drums, electronics, and voice.) In it’s early years, Hijokaidan saw as many as 19 members, but whether it be 19 or just two, Hijokaidan creates the same sheer wall of noise that gives them their apt title, King of Noise! On the opening track The Wreck of a O…

On the verge of their 40th and in the midst of their 20th anniversaries, respectively, Hijokaidan and Sissy Spacek merge in Tokyo for their first collaboration, featuring Jojo Hiroshige, Junko, T. Mikawa, Charlie Mumma, Futoshi Okano, Tentenko (guest), and John Wiese. Hijokaidan formed in 1979, marking the first wave of groups in Japan exploring extreme noise. Sissy Spacek formed in 1999, often playing in large ensembles of players, and frequently exploring grindcore as a base for creating extre…

Hochono House is a re-imagining of Haruomi Hosono’s 1973 solo debut album Hosono House. Recorded 45 years after The Band-like sessions that produced the rootsy Japanese Americana classic, Hochono House is an entirely solo affair, with Hosono himself handling all the recording, engineering, programming, arrangements, instruments, and singing. It’s a perfect distillation of the various styles Hosono has cultivated over his 50 year career, from his folky beginnings through his techno-pop era, to pu…

**300 copies, clear vinyl** Brilliant collaborative debut album of riveting noise and widescreen synths by Merzbow and Posh Isolation’s Vanity Productions featuring two longform, elemental works transmuting worries about ecological disaster into a torrent of spirit-gnawing, experimental noise that surpasses the sum of its parts.  Masami Akita and Christian Stadsgaard both hail from places with a lot of coastline vulnerable to sea level rises, ‘Coastal Erosion’ sees them grasp the nettle of impen…

The story of Japanese psychedelic band Apryl Fool and their eponymous debut album is simply extraordinary. It was the vehicle by which bassist Haroumi Hosono first came to prominence, years before he became known as the “Godfather of Japanese electronica” as the founding member and leader of Yellow Magic Orchestra, though this musical titan had work released prior to the group’s 1968 founding, such as the song The Sea of Summer Day, recorded with Yuko Okuyama and released by King Records the yea…

For this historical concert held at the Yubin Chokin Hall, in Tokyo on May 14, 1986, the legendary Japanese drummer Masahiko Togashi brought together an amazing line-up with such modern jazz luminaries as Steve Lacy (soprano sax), Don Cherry (pocket trumpet) and Dave Holland (bass). This particular album consists of four previously unpublished tracks (on vinyl), including some highly regarded Lacy's compositions such as The Crus and Quakes, and Don Cherry's African flavored anthem called Mopti. …

**500 copies** Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita was born in Tokyo in 1979. Inspired by dadaism and surrealism, Akita took the name for his project from German artist Kurt Schwitters's pre-war architectural assemblage The Cathedral of Erotic Misery or Merzbau. Just as Schwitters attacked the entrenched artistic traditions of his time with his revolutionary avant-garde collages, so too would Akita challenge the contemporary con…

CD Edition. **Legendary "lost" album originally due to be released on the ESP-Disk, but the label folded before its release. Limited Edition** Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi (1932 - 1991) was a maverick Japanese guitarist, a revolutionary spirit whose oeuvre embodied the radical political movements of late '60s Japan. Having cut his teeth as an accomplished Lennie Tristano disciple playing cool jazz in the late '50s, Takayanagi had his mind blown by the Chicago Transit Authority's "free form guitar…

**125 copies** Rudolf Eb.er needs little introduction; except to those not yet privileged enough to be a witness to the madness and discomfort he creates. But maybe his work represents the segments of life that most of us chose to ignore or pretend that we are unaware of their existence. Yes, Rudof Eb.er’s work as a performance and sound artist is evocative, visceral and downright bloody frightening at times. He’s not simply a noise artist, an experimental musician or just a performance artist. …

**300 copies** Hōryū-ji, or else, the Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law is one of the powerful Seven Great Buddhist Temples in Japan. Hōryū-ji is built with entasis, which - in architecture - is the application of a convex curve to a surface for aesthetic purposes. It also serves an engineering function regarding strength, the key word of this collaboration that brought together Sakata, Yermenoglou, Di Domenico and Damianidis in a two-days live concert meeting in Duende jazz club at Thessal…

few copies back in stock, totally sold-out at source - Replica reissue of one of the rarest free jazz LP ever made: Masayuki Takayanagi's Flower Girl. Supposedly released in a limited run of 100 copies in 1968, this incredibly rare record - released as a promotional album, and never marketed - gets its first vinyl reissue via Craftman Records. Japan's leading jazz guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi is one of the first to pursue free jazz music in Japan, and its activity has not been confined to the f…

Edition of 300. Comes with 16pp booklet. The work presented here for the very first time is the full documentation of Japanese sound artist and instruments builder Akio Suzuki’s solo works performed as part of ‘Resonant Spaces’, a tour with UK saxophonist John Butcher arranged in 2006 by the Arika organisation.  ‘Resonant Spaces’ allowed people to experience sound in some of the remotest regions of Scotland for a series of site-specific performances in natural, prehistoric, manmade and industria…

** 300 copies** With his innovative performances, Berlin-based trumpeter Axel Dörner has been a leading figure on the improvised music scene since the 1990s. Internationally popular no-input mixing board player/improviser Toshimaru Nakamura structures sound by controlling mixer feedback. These two musicians released the CD "Vorhernach" on the Ftarri label in 2007, and In "Cotton and Wool" is their second duo album. The four tracks on this album (each between 7 and 12 minutes) were recorded in a …

Akira Sakata is a legendary Japanese jazz musician active since the early 70s (Yosuke Yamashita Trio, Akira Sakata Trio) and also an ocean-biologist. Among others he has toured and recorded with The Thing, Jim O’Rourke, Bill Laswell, Merzbow, Chikamorachi, etc.On this album originally released in 1985 he teamed up with vocalist Akira Emoto to create an incredible record which is rooted in Jazz and explores an entire world of sounds. You got to listen to believe it! 

One of the strangest and most enigmatic groups in the history of rock n' roll, Les Rallizes Denudes, also known as Hadaka no Rallizes or Hadaka no Rarizu, were a Japanese experimental rock band that is often cited as a pioneering force of the noise rock movement. The story of the band is as strange and difficult as the music they made and although much of the tale is shrouded in mystery, everything apparently begins around Kyoto's radical anti-establishment communes of the late 1960s, where andr…

The soundtrack to Hito Steyerl’s new film installation Power Plants features a new collaboration between UK star Kojey Radical and one of the world’s most influential and important visual artists and thinkers, and a beatific ambient classic by late Japanese producer Susumu Yokota.Exhibited at The Serpentine from April to May 2019, Power Plants features a new film work in an immersive installation that expands throughout the building, it revolves around anticipating the future in unpredictable wa…

** Ltd 300, deluxe silver silkscreen on black cardboard + inserts. Masonna first (and lost) album, released for the first time** Cascades of electronic noise, a psychedelic touch and vocal belching mixed together constitute the ingredients of Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé, the double-barreled name for Masonna. Maso Yamazaki founded his project in 1987, with a charismatic and glamorous personality who become a cult figure in “ Japanoise ” scene. Predating the era of dig…

** Ltd 300, deluxe silver silkscreen on black cardboard +  tissue golden paper (plus sticker) as original tape release** Incapacitants are the best noise band to ever come out of Japan. The group was formed in 1981 in Osaka, as the solo project of Toshiji Mikawa, a member of the amazing noise group Hijokaidan. Mikawa, a bank employee who then became a deputy general manager of one of the largest securities brokers in Japan, later moved to Tokyo, where he joined with government office worker  Fum…

After over a year in preparation, we are delighted to announce the new split Merzbow/Band Of Pain full length picture disc LP. Ltd worldwide to 1000 copies, this beautiful picture disc vinyl LP features a side by each of these artists. Merzbow, well established as THE pioneer of the Japanese noise/avant-garde scene and Band Of Pain, leaders in a slightly darker experimental world, who were once described by Terroriser magazine as being 'what Wagner would be doing if he was alive today!' The full…

Sewing together dissonant notes, distorted vocal blasts, intent chaotic torrents of howling noise and highly active percussive waves.  Sounding caustic on a surface level, the collaboration revealed a sense of calm determination, life-affirming energy, and creative joy - a veil of sonic warmth shrouding all participants before their return to the cold embrace of Tokyo in early spring.