Music from Japan

Japan's king of noise returns with Zophorus. Speaker massaging pulsations of psychic skree & frequency abuse housed in a deluxe 5 color digipak designed by Masami Akita, in february of 2007.

"La Grima (Tears) was performed on August 14, 1971, at the Genyasai festival in Sanrizuka, Japan. The first six minutes or so of this performance can be heard on the omnibus LP Genya (released on CD in 2004). This CD presents the complete, unedited version of the performance.As if to slash through the audience's scornful, jeering reaction to Takayanagi's opening remarks, the group launched into a fiercely convulsive performance. Despite having a variety of objects thrown at them, Takayanagi and …

Another previously unreleased archive release from Takayanagi, the premier Japanese free-guitar stylist. Recorded live in 1970, waves of trademark feedback abound, but also some more serene segments with flute, freedom atmospherics, etc. Not as overwhelmingly brain-bombing as his previous release on the label (PSF 41), but definitely another important piece in the crucial documentation of Takayanagi's career.

Takayanagi is the premier free-guitarist legend in the Japanese underground story. This CD features unreleased material by the master, from 1970. The sound is heavy improv, with Takayangi's explosive feedback wail in prominent display. As fine an introduction to his music as you could hope for (most of his albums from the '60s & '70s are impossible to track down)

Originally released in 1975 as an LP on Iskra Records (ISKRA-001). 'First session 1: Gradually Projection'. 'First session 2: Gradually Projection'. 'Second session: Mass Projection'. New Direction Unit are Masayuki Takayanagi: electric guitar. Kenji Mori: alto saxophone, flute, recorder. Nobuyoshi Ino: bass. Hiroshi Yamazaki: drums, percussion. Recorded by Mikio Aoki in Tokyo, March 14, 1975. Includes liner notes in English by Alan Cummings.

Originally released in 1976 as an LP on Offbeat Records (ORLP-1009). Masayuki takayanagi New Direction Unit. Masayuki takayanagi: guitar. Kenji Mori: reeds. Nobuyoshi Ino: bass, cello. Hiroshi Yamazaki: percussion. Recorded live at Yasuda Seimei Hall, Tokyo, September 5, 1975. Remastered by Tsutomu Suto. 'Fragment I: Gradually Projection'. 'Fragment IV: Mass Projection'. 'Fragment V: Mass Projection'. All compositions by Masayuki takayanagi. Includes liner notes by Teruto Soejima in Japanese an…

restocked! Originally released in 1975 as an LP on Offbeat Records (ORLP-1005). 'Fragment II: Gradually Projection'. 'Fragment III: Percussion Solo'. 'Fragment VI: Mass Projection'. All compositions by Masayuki takayanagi. Masayuki takayanagi New Direction Unit: Masayuki takayanagi: guitar. Kenji Mori: reeds. Nobuyoshi Ino: bass, cello. Hiroshi Yamazaki: percussion. Recorded live at Yasuda Seimei Hall, Tokyo, September 5, 1975. Remastered by Tsutomu Suto. 'One begins to see--and hear--each sound…

Vienna artist Klaus Filip plays music using nothing but sine waves produced with 'lloopp,' an improvisation software program he invented and continues to refine. Toshimaru Nakamura makes music simply by controlling a mixing board's internal feedback, inputting no external sounds. Two artists with highly individual playing methods, they came together to create this album of improvisational works. Two of the three tracks were recorded in a Tokyo studio in May of 2005, when Filip came to Japan alon…

American performance/noise/percussion artist Z'ev, Japanese composer/performer K.K. Null, and field-recording artist Chris Watson (formerly of Cabaret Voltaire and the Hafler Trio) conjoin in a first collaboration for Touch. The idea for this recording, generated by Z'ev, has three elements: 1) to use the structure of the Noh Theatre cycle as the basis for the composition; 2) to consider the initial sound development in terms of developing "characters" which would then interact with one another …

5 tracks 46 minutes 43 seconds performed & produced 2005. Packaged in a full-color cardboard sleeve.

Fertile is KK NULL's first album for touch, following his collaboration with Chris Watson and Z'ev [Number One - Tone 24, 2005], which boomkat called 'moving and atmospheric', and The Wire wrote 'a complex dramatic work from a strict economy of means'. KK NULL (real name Kazuyuki Kishino) was born in Tokyo, Japan. Composer, guitarist, singer, mastermind of Zeni Geva and electronic wizard. One of the top names in Japanese noise music and in a wider context, one of the great cult artists in experi…

A former member of Merzbow, Mizutani has been creating his solo work since 1989, delving into areas of electronic noise, structural sound systems of feedback and instrumentation as well as natural compositional arrangements of field recordings. Yokosawa-iri falls into the latter category. All field recordings were made at this Satoyama<pi>, a traditional form of agricultural environment consisting of a mountain, a rice field and a small village where people and nature coexist in harmony. With be…

ErstLive is a new series of releases from Erstwhile Records, documenting notable live sets associated with the label. The discs are designed to simulate a concert experience, each in the same template design using two colors chosen by the musicians involved, with a photo of the concert on the back cover. Each will be in an edition of 800 CDs and not reprinted. The initial releases will be chosen from the AMPLIFY 2004 festival which took place in Cologne and Berlin in May 2004. ErstLive …

"between", for me is about the tension and space between objects, and how we might occupy this area, to reside if you like between the conventions, to locate the flexibility that comes from de-theorizing the dogmas. It seemed to me as if Toshi and I were navigating a route through a familiar part of town, where each of the buildings stood for and represented expectations, styles, outcomes and histories. We wanted to resist entering the buildings and to stay between. The cover art and photo attem…

That said, "Weather Sky" is another thing altogether. Bruno Meillier invited Toshi to play a duo concert in St Etienne with AMM's no-concessions table guitar master Keith Rowe, and took them into the studio the day after to record for Erstwhile. Sensitivity to pitch is less important here (Rowe, remember, hasn't tuned his guitar since the early 1960s): the album's three tracks are real slow-burners. Rowe can be agile and aggressive when he wants to, but his preferred working method is to lay dow…

ErstLive 005 is from the quartet of Keith Rowe, Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura, and Otomo Yoshihide, the centerpiece show of AMPLIFY 2004: addition, the "four hour quartet". ErstLive 005 contains three individually packaged slimline CDs in a slipcase with original artwork by Keith Rowe, which wraps around the entire box, front, side, and back, as well as liner notes from all four musicians and numerous pictures from Yuko Zama. ErstLive 005 documents only the second performance of this quartet, a…

Collaborative studio album from Keji Haino of the legendary FUSHITSUSHA & KK Null the man behind ZENI GEVA. Limited to 1000 copies beautifuly printed with vegetable based inks using both traditional letterpress & offset printing methods on custom black folders.

Ergosphere was recorded live during Kazuyuki Kishino's (Zeni Geva, etc.) tour of Russia in late 2005, specifically on his only two solo dates, live at Moscow Palace of Youth in Moscow Russia October 5, 2005 and 'Festival Hea Uus Heli' Kanuti Gildi Saal in Tallinn Estonia on October 7, 2005. An uneasy balance of lull and divide.

'Prime Radiant' is noise as a spray of blood-red roses, a vast wash of colour concealing six inch thorns. Kazuyuki Kishino has been at the forefront of the Japanese noise scene for over 20 years, both as guitarist/leader of extremist sludge rockers Zeni Geva and as a solo artist exploring the outer territories of electronica. Along with Masonna and Merzbow, he is part of a trinity of noisemakers whose work seems to operate at the very limits of human endurance. Like theirs, Null's work transcend…

Five tracks from 2002 recorded live in Japan by Tetuzi Akiyama. The first four feature Butcher solo on tenor or soprano sax, and were recorded at the Oya Stone Museum. The final track is a 20-minute duet with Toshimaru Nakimura on no-imput mixing board, recorded at Super Deluxe. Released in 2004, this is the first release on Butcher's Weight of Wax labe