Tolerance

This box-set collects all the available recordings by seminal Japanese group Tolerance. It includes both their albums released between 1979 and 1981 on the Japanese cult DIY label Vanity Records, along with never before released tracks recently discovered in Agi Yuzuru's archives.

LP-1 Anonym
(Vanity 0004, originally released in 1979)

Tolerance is a solo alias of Junko Tange from Tokyo. Its sound is made of Tange’s electric piano, synthesizer, and simple electronics playing alongside the whispering of her poetry and the noisy slide guitar sounds of Masami Yoshikawa. The combination of of Yoshikawa’s slow guitar playing and Tange’s parts swirls into a haunting, monotone abstract sounding animus. The album cover was created by Toshimi Kamiya who published a photo book called Tokyo Kitan. Worth noting that the distinguished English experimental/collage music artist Steve Stapleton (Nurse With Wound) took the title of his 1980 album To the Quiet Men From a Tiny Girl from the credits of Anonym. Stapleton also had Tolerance’s name in a list of artists he was influenced by called the NWW List.

LP-2 Divin
(Vanity 0012, originally released in 1981)

Divin is Junko Tange and Masami Yoshikawa’s second album as Tolerance. The title means God in French. For this album, the heavily featured guitar sound of their debut was toned down, while the vibrancy of the drum machine and the cadence of the electronics were emphasized, and a subtle color saturation was added to create a captivating sound atmosphere. In the track T-5 they use a poem by Michio Kadotani (Kussata Telepathy’s) from his book Bokuwa Zurui Roboto (I am Cunning Robot). This album was mixed by Tomoaki Omari (Bushman-19). Between releasing their first and second album, they also produced a one-sided sonosheet, that was released as a supplement for Rock Magazine, and contained the unreleased track Today’s Thrill, not included in either of their albums. Listening to the track now, it definitely stood the test of time. Unfortunately, Tolerance’s activities ceased after the release of this album.

LP-3 Dose (unpublished)

Digital remastering of cassette tapes found in Agi Yuzuru's possession. The only thing written on the cassette is Dose and the names of the songs are unknown. It has a musicality that lies between Anonym (1979) and Divin (1981). An open form that almost approaches the completeness of an album.

LP-4 Demo (unpublished)

Another tape found in Agi Yuzuru's possessions. The sound of desolate, peaceful scenery that is floating and disappearing like running lights.

7"-5 Today's Thrill

Originally released as single-sided flexi-disc for promotional supplement to the "Rock Magazine" (No. 32 - 1980). The original tape was remastered by Yasushi Utsunomiya.