Bleak Bliss: July 2016

va - CD Voor De Instabiele Media

Live recordings taken from three iterations of the "Manifestation of the Unstable Media" festival, held in 1988, 1989, and 1990, compiled by Jac van Bussel (aka DMDN and a member of THU20 and Lewd) and Peter Duimelinks (of THU20 and Kapotte Muziek). The CD, published by V2_Archief in 1992, is one long track so that all the pieces run together and the listener is unable to skip around to just the artists they already know. But go with it and listen the way it seems to have been intended and you'll find excellent music from Merzbow, Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock, THU20 with Gregory Whitehead (one of the highlights of the album, in my opinion), Chris Mann & Warren Burt, Ad van Buuren, Voice Crack, Strafe Fur Rebellion, Dick Raaijmakers, and a few others. More information and a track list can be found here.

va - CD Voor De Instabiele Media

Asahito Nanjo - Greed

Hisashi Yasuda (formerly of Toho Sara and Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO) on bass. Nobuko Emi (of Tsurubami and South Saturn Delta) on drums. Makoto Kawabata on guitar. Asahito Nanjo on guitar and vocals.

Wonderful LP released on Sparkling Spare Wheel in 2004.

Greed

Asahito Nanjo - M

Asahito Nanjo on guitar and vocals alongside Takashi Matsuoka on keyboards. A quite gentle and contemplative C40 released on La Musica Records in 1996.

M

Asahito Nanjo Group Musica - Contemporary Kagura-Metaphysics

No idea which other artists are involved here. My bet is that it is Satan's orchestra tuning up whilst waiting for the end of times. Or something. CD released on Fractal Records in 2004.

Contemporary Kagura-Metaphysics

Ohkami No Jikan - Psychedelic Atmosphre Beatnik

Asahito Nanjo, Makoto Kawabata, Shinya Nana and Shimura Koji recorded live at Charnnel One, San Jose.10 July 1999.

CDr released on La Musica Records in 1999.

Psychedelic Atmosphre Beatnik

Mystic Sensorium - Psychedelic Atmosphere Beatnik

One track from Mystic Sensorium plus a collaboration with Ohkami no Jikan.

Released on La Musica Records in 1999.

Psychedelic Atmosphere Beatnik

Various - Psychedelic Atmosphre Beatnik Volatile Fixvm Music

Psychedelic Background, Toho Sara, Acid Mothers Temple and Splendor Mystic Solis.

CDr released on La Musica Records in 1999.

Psychedelic Atmosphre Beatnik Volatile Fixvm Music

Toho Sara - Hourouurin Part 1-5

The cover only includes the involvement of Asahito Nanjo and Makoto Kawabata although it is likely that Mineko Mido and Hisashi Yasuda are here as well.

CDr released on La Musica Records in 1998.

Hourouurin Part 1-5

Inyogogyo - Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water

Makoto Kawabata and Asahito Nanjo delivering transcendental and ephemeral temple music.

C40 released on La Musica Records in 1997.

Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water

Purple Trap - Decided ... Already The Motionless Heart Of Tranquility, Tangling The Prayer Called "I"

Keiji Haino. Bill Laswell. Rashied Ali.

Double CD released on John Zorn's Tzadik label, as part of the highly influential New Japan series, in 1999.

Decided

Already

Fushitsusha - Purple Trap - The Wound That Was Given Birth To Must Be Bigger Than The Wound That Gave Birth

No introductions necessary.

Double CD released on Blast First in 1995 that captures the mighty Fushitsusha live in London.

Allurement

You Within Me

White Heaven - Out

Blown-out psych monsters mixed with lilting balladeer tactics on this P.S.F. Records release that saw a vinyl version in 1991 and a CD in 1994.

Out

White Heaven - Strange Bedfellow

60's garage-psych with a soupçon of L.A. Woman era Doors vibrations.

LP released on P.S.F. Records in 1993.

Strange Bedfellow

White Heaven - Threshold Of The Pain / 4 Hours (In The Afternoon)

In the hands of somebody else Side A would be a pop song. The reverse is a gorgeous desert song all wrapped up in sustain until it feeds back.

7" released on HG Fact in 1994.

4 Hour Threshold

White Heaven - Next To Nothing

This comes straight out of a very unexpected place where the Heaven audition as Van Morrison's backing band circa 1972 and You Ishihara comes across as a swooning, crooning Nick Cave ably supported by Go Hirano's lounge bar keyboards. The full intentions for this release are revealed by the cover of Bacharach And David's "The Look Of Love". There is a sly genius behind this music that never stops making me smile ...

CD released on Noon Disk in 1994.

Next To Nothing

White Heaven - Electric Cool Acid

The first six tracks are from a gig in Tokyo (apparently recorded from the back of the room) in 1987 with Tetsuya Sakamoto alongside Michio Kurihara on guitars. This saw a tape release in 1988 but for this version, there is a "bonus" 15 minute studio recording from 1988 where the line-up reverts to the same as the previous post.

Fuzzed out, heads down CD released on Noon Disk in 1995.

Electric Cool Acid

White Heaven - Levitation

Souichirou Nakamura on bass, Ken Ishihara on drums, Michio Kurihara on guitar and You Ishihara on guitar and vocals.

Psyched out rock expansion recorded in 1988 and released on vinyl by The Now Sound in 1997.

Levitation

S.Isabella - Point De Caption

"Unfilmed 'avant-garde' soundtrack to movie yet to be made."

Stunning CD released on Xerxes in 1996.

Point De Caption

S.Isabella - Pleroma

Kayako Hosoi, Setsuko Martin, Yasutoshi Yoshida (aka Government Alpha) and Yoshiaki Funayama. This features sound sources from the people named on the front that are then given the Government Alpha treatment to offer haunting glimpses of the real lives lived behind the junk noise.

CD released on Xerxes in 1998.

Pleroma

Ground Zero - Consume Red

Ground Zero were an astonishing collective with Otomo Yoshihide at the helm. This is simply his good self sampling Kim Suk Chul playing the Hojok (a Korean double reed wind instrument) and then giving it the Otomo Yoshihide treatment.

That is until around 25 minutes when everybody else arrives and it transforms into another half hour of the greatest bass and drum foundation ... and the sample returns and returns ... and it destroys itself ... and the sample returns and returns.

The only downside is that this eventually ends. Just play this on a perpetual loop. Your life will be fulfilled. You don't need anything else.

For me, this is truly a work of beauty. Words are overrated, just listen.

The preceding two posts are other artists re-imagining this wonderful thing. All three are exquisite in their own way ... but nothing / no thing is better than this!

This one was released on Creativeman Disc. in 1997.

Consume Red

Ground Zero - Conflagration (Project: Consume / Consuming Ground-Zero Vol. 2)

The first remix take on Ground Zero's "Consume Red" released on Creativeman Disc. in 1997.

Conflagration

Ground Zero - Consummation (Project: Consume / Consuming Ground-Zero Vol. 3)

The second remix take on Ground Zero's "Consume Red" released on Creativeman Disc. in 1998.

Consummation

The Fifth Column - The Early Fifth Column: Indiscreet Music 1976-1980

So here's the Early Fifth Column.

You've already met the Middle Fifth Column.

The most late Fifth Column tape that I have is the 48th release (the "Ants Walk On The Door" compilation tape and that was released in 1990). The late fifth Column? Post 1990? I always assumed that there was no such thing. I could never really find any information about the Columnists and haven't been able to find anything on the Alchemy list to confirm the existence of a late period.

It turns out that there were plans to release it but that never happened. I only know that because some gorgeous human has uploaded the translated liner notes for a three disc box-set (with a DVD as well for christ's sake) that was released on Youth Inc. in 2013. Apparently, it's called "The Fifth Column 1976 〜 2010 Sound and Images". Youth Inc. is a truly truly great label but it only has a Japanese option as far as I can tell which means that I can't really navigate it and the treasures pass me by. Maybe you will have better luck.

Anyway. This was originally released on Alchemy Records in 2001 and you can find the artists involved here on the aforementioned liner notes.

The hidden world of The Fifth Column is a profoundly beautiful place to live ... and Donkey Stomp on rotation provides my internal monologue.

Welcome to The Fifth Column. Long live The Fifth Column.

The Early Fifth Column: Indiscreet Music 1976-1980

The Fifth Column - The Middle Fifth Column: Suspect Music 1981-1990

Let's leave the explanation to Geso: "My friends and I wanted to do something and just started it in about 1977. We were all interested in music, poetry, and art. There was no set purpose. We wanted to make it something that refuses definition and can only be explained as a situation or place that resolves or dissolves by itself while searching for something unknowable, unnameable. We just named it [The Fifth Column] because it would be inconvenient if it didn't have a name. The Fifth Column is a non-organisation; it's such a vague entity, it has no stipulations or fixed members. We wouldn't mind anyone calling themselves a Fifth Columnist (though we'd be annoyed if someone abused the name to do terrible things) ... It could be said that the Fifth Column exists only when the name is being used. Therefore, most of the time, the Fifth Column does not exist."

Here you have offerings by Akanarum, Akira Ichiguchi, Anode/Cathode, Geso, Ice⁹, Jun Mizukami, Koichiro Watanabe, Kumio Kurachi, Onnyk, Seiichi Nakatsubo, Tadashi Otsuka, Takashi Kazamaki, Tsutomu Terakawa and Wolfgang Wiggers that had appeared on previous releases by the Fifth Column label and on Pinakotheca.

Welcome to The Fifth Column. Long live The Fifth Column.

Released on Alchemy Records in 2005.

The Middle Fifth Column: Suspect Music 1981-1990

Ultra Bide - The Original Ultra Bide

Fujiawara Hidenori, Jojo Hiroshige, Koichiro Watanabe and Tomiie Taiki. All legends! Imagine the blueprint for Hijokaidan played out by an early line up of the Fall.

Featuring recordings made between 1978 and 1979, this was originally released as an LP on Alchemy Records in 1984 and given CD re-releases in 2002 and 2009.

The Original Ultra Bide

Various - Dokkiri Record

This LP was the only thing released on 必要レコード (which apparently translates as "Necessary Record") in 1980. Across two sides of vinyl, you get Ultra Bide (who included a young Jojo Hiroshige), Alcohol 42%, Henshinkirin, Inu and Chinese Club (Jun Shinoda and Tsuyoshi Takeno who were also in Kansai punk outfit SS with the former also appearing in The Continental Kids). It's a fascinating joyride through the weird Japanese punk undergrowth. It might hit the occasional tree along the way but what doesn't kill you makes you stranger!

Dokkiri Record

Keiji Haino - わたしだけ？

This is also known as Watashi Dake? (or Only Me?). Originally, this was an LP released on Pinakotheca in 1981 but it wasn't re-released until P.S.F Records dropped a CD version in 1993 that includes a bonus track. Discogs says that there are three bonus tracks but I don't believe that for a second. The first 12 tracks are from an entirely different time and place. The final 29 minute live track is truly mind-blowing but doesn't chime with what goes before. Don't get me wrong, everything here is classy and classic ... I'm just saying ...

わたしだけ？

Various - Aiyoku Jinmin Jûji Gekijô

It would be so much easier for you to go here to find out who is present and then listen to it and create your own pigeonholes to fit the tracks into and then let me know what I think. Every time I listen to this I change my mind so what is the point in imprinting my opinion on this? There is no point. So shut the fuck up you say. Point taken I say.

LP released on Pinakotheca in 1980 and never reissued ...

Aiyoku Jinmin Jûji Gekijô

Various - Infecund Infection

Pinakotheca had a symbiotic relationship with the 5th Column that I will never be quite able to piece together. A lot of the 5th Columnists are here to deliver an album of wonderfully inventive and curious creations. The term "post-punk" has specific meanings in my part of the world and to be honest it covered a lot of sins. What is on show here is far better than 99.9% of the music that is typically lauded and regurgitated on a million boxsets.

Indescribably great and indescribable LP released on Pinakotheca in 1982.

Infecund Infection

va - Noise Fest

This super-rare (and, if Discogs is accurate, super-expensive) compilation tape recorded live at White Columns gallery in New York City in 1981 and released by ZG Music in 1982. To be sure, not all of these bands are what we today would call "noise", but remember that in 1981 the term wasn't so codified. A lot of this is post-punk, no wave, avant-rock and noisy unclassifiable strangeness, much of which was made by visual artists and/or musicians who played in Glenn Branca's early groundbreaking noise orchestras.

The tape includes tracks by Borbetomagus (truly one of the greatest bands this planet has yet produced, here in their classic trio line-up), Y Pants (short-lived no wave band led by former Theoretical Girl Barbara Ess), Blue Humans (in this instance Rudolf Grey is joined by out-jazz legends Arthur Doyle and Beaver Harris), Don King (including members of Mars), the born-to-be-ubiquitous Sonic Youth, Jules Baptiste's Red Decade (featuring Fritz van Orden, who would later form avant-chamber-group The Ordinaires, and Kurt Hoffman who would become a member of late-period They Might Be Giants), UT (who years later would record for the seminal Blast First label), Mofungo (one of many obscure SST Records bands), Khmer Rouge (a tasteless name, yes, but one member of the band, Klaus Castenskliould, would later paint the cover image for The Fall's Perverted By Language LP) plus other more obscure folks: Off Beach, Smoking Section, EQ'd, Jeff Lohn, Avant Squares, Jeff Rehberger, Primatives (note the spelling... this is not the Chrissy Hynde band!), Ad Hoc Rock (member David Garland would later play in The Angels of Light and World of Love with Ikue Mori), Economic Animal, Glorious Strangers (led by producer Wharton Tiers), Fakir, Chinese Puzzle, Built on Guilt (featuring painter Robert Longo, who very soon would find popular fame for contributing work to a new television channel called MTV), The Problem, and Lampshades. A time capsule if there ever was one.

va - Noise Fest

Takayanagi's Angry Waves - 850113

The cover tells you who is here. Compared to the early '70s work, there is nothing other than relative calm. Released as an LP and CD on Aketa's Disk in 1985 and 1990 respectively.

850113

Masayuki Takaynagi Angry Waves - Dislocation

Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar, Fumio Yasuda on piano and Hiroshi Yamazaki on drums. Dislocation is a perfectly appropriate title for this CD released on Jinya Disc in 2005.

Dislocation

Masayuki Takanayagi & Kaoru Abe - 漸次投射 Gradually Projection

49 minutes of relative calm recorded at the same venue on the same date as the previous post. Released on the same label, same year.

漸次投射 Gradually Projection

Masayuki Takanayagi & Kaoru Abe - 集団投射 = Mass Projection

Two of the greatest improvisors captured live at "Station '70", Shibuya, Tokyo, on 9th of July, 1970 and released on DIW in 2001.

Mass Projection

Masayuki Takanayagi, Kaoru Abe - Kaitai Teki Kohkan

Imagine the look on the faces on the executives at Sound Creators Inc. when, in 1970, Masayuki Takanayagi and Kaoru Abe delivered this LP. This is the link (that never existed) between free jazz, Crank Sturgeon and Id M Theft Able!

Resurrected by DIW (mother label of the occasionally brilliant Diwphalanx Records) in 2000.

解体的交感

Abe Kaoru Trio - 1970年3月, 新宿

In an echo of Oppenheimer's "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds", Ornette Coleman must have shaken his head, thought "what the hell have I unleashed?", packed up his horn and left the room.

Kaoru Abe, Senda Keiichi and Nitta Kazunori recorded live at the Pit Inn New Jazz Hall, Shinjuku, Tokyo in 1970 and released on P.S.F. Records in 1997.

1970年3月, 新宿

Fushitsusha - Secret Black Box

This was posted here four years ago and has been dead for far too long ... so just in case you weren't looking at the time:

Six CDr set documenting a seven hour performance at Hosei University in Tokyo on December 13, 2003. It was "released" on aRCHIVE before the end of that year but was never for sale. There were only 20 copies made and were given to Keiji Haino and a small select group of very very lucky people.

First Secret

Second Secret

Third Secret

Fourth Secret

Fifth Secret

Sixth Secret

Fushitsusha - I

Originally this was a double LP released on P.S.F. Records in 1989. It was re-released by the same label as a double CD in 1997 and is the only time Fushitsusha has been officially reissued. The fact that they are so widely revered given the lack of readily available product (outside of the expensive second hand market) speaks volumes about their (cultural) importance and the majesty of their music.

Keiji Haino, Yasushi Ozawa, Maki Miura (of Les Rallizes Denudes, Ohkami no Jikan, Shizuka and Katsurei), Akui (of Ohkami No Jikan) and Seijiro Murayama (of Absolut Null Punkt).

One One

One Two

Fushitsusha - II

Keiji Haino, Yasushi Ozawa and Jun Kosugi (of the marvellous Shizuka).

"150 minutes of soul transmigration. Too long or too short? That depends on just how your heart melts. The paradox of psychedelia."

Double CD released on P.S.F. Records in 1991.

Two One

Two Two

Moon Phantoms - Moon Phantoms

Moon Phantoms were a one off communication between Kageo and Pirako Kurenai of Suishou no Fune with Isobel Sollenberger, Jason Kourkounis and Michael Gibbons of Bardo Pond. This resulted from a collaborative recording session whilst they toured together. It is every bit as good as you have the right to expect.

LP released on Important Records in 2009.

Moon Phantoms

Re-Ups! Part One in a Never-Ending Series

As we've seen over the years, file servers tend to vanish, taking a lot of uploaded music along with them when they do. I've slowly begun re-upping music that had been stored on Filecloud and is no longer accessible. I realize that this is a futile task, and that it's only a matter of time before our current preferred server goes on permanent holiday, but that hasn't happened yet and I want you to be able to listen to this great stuff.

aal - 13
ASM - Pure Electronics
ASM - 219
Brume - Anthology Box
Brume - Erstastz #0/Tout
Brume - Hysterical
Coma Detox - Concussed and Asphyxiated
Darren Tate - 3/3/06
Darren Tate - Remains
Darren Tate - Strange Artifact
Darren Tate - Time Lag
Darren Tate, Daisuke Suzuki, & Kathleen Vance - Trees Kissing Trees
Dead Body Love - Volcano God
Dead Body Love - Emetic
Golden Vomit - Bird of Doom
Golden Vomit - Eternal Madness
Haare - Skull Worship
Haare - Trauma
Haare - Omega Womb
Happy Halloween - Four Days in Monotony
Happy Halloween - The Speed of Mind
Happy Halloween - To All the Leaders
Juke/19 - 1978-1982
Logoplasm - La Musica Che Finisce Per Sempre
Massimo Toniutti - Cava XI.XI.86 - Impianti Luoghi E Impalcature
Massimo Toniutti - Le Gabbiette di Faraday (e un Programma Radiofinico vol. 1 1996-1998)
Morbid Organ - Scum

More to follow, including the "One Hour As..." series of radio programs, a complete archive of which really deserves a forever-home at Archive.org or UbuWeb. But until the grown-ups arrive to take that massive project on, we will continue with what we're doing over here. If there's an album that you particularly would like to see re-upped, please let us know in the comments.

Suishou no Fune - ライブ

More calm than squall but no less beautiful for that ...

Self-released CDr of live material recorded between 2002 and 2003.

ライブ

Suishou no Fune - "Akatsuki" - The Sky Grayed And The Dawn Came Behind The Fog

It slides into view and holds you in thrall. It doesn't let go. Suishou No Fune own you.

Self-released CDr from 2006.

Akatsuki

Suishou no Fune - 神がいる処 [Where The Spirits Are]

Two sets of live recordings at Koenji UFO Club and Ogikubo Velvet Sun respectively.

CD released on the appropriately named Holy Mountain in 2006.

Where The Spirits Are

Suishou no Fune - I Throw A Stone Into The Endless Depths

Beautifully harnessed chaos.

C64 released on Sloow Tapes in 2007.

I Throw A Stone Into The Endless Depths

JGrzinich - Intimations

Perhaps my favorite album by John Grzinich, recorded in Texas between 2001 and 2003 and released in 2004 as a CD on Richard Francis' CMR label in New Zealand.

JGrzinich - Intimations

John Grzinich - Surface Scripts

Released in 2010 on the magnificent Russian label Semperflorens, as a CD in a DVD-sized box. If you're enjoying this JGrzinich stuff, do yourself a favor and seek out any (or all) of this label's releases. You can't go wrong, they really are all worth hearing.

John Grzinich - Surface Scripts

Suishou no Fune = 水晶の舟 - Suishou no Fune

The core of Suishou no Fune is the double guitar attack and release of Kageo and Pirako Kurenai. United by their love of Les Rallizes Denudes, they have even included ex-Denudes members Yokai Takahashi and Doronco in their time. There is a fascinating interview that tells you everything you need to know about the motivations of this wonderful outfit ... so just listen and marvel!

CD released in Japan on Japanoise Records in 2005.

Suishou no Fune

JGrzinich - Equal and Distant Lines

And now, a brief detour from loud Japanese rock, into heavy textural drone music by American (though Estonia-based) composer/film-maker/installation-artist John Grzinich, whose name is not a typo. Grzinich's music is as difficult to describe as his name is to pronounce, which is why I like it so much. He layers acoustic sounds, field recordings (though nothing so easy to pin to an actual event), and who the hell knows what else, but it's better to not get caught up in how-is-he-doing-that and simply soak it all in. If you like Seth Nehil, Murmer., Lethe, Toy Bizarre or Giancarlo Toniutti, then you will bathe in this album many times. It came out in 2005 as a CD in a hardbound book cover on Cloud of Statics, a short-lived but stellar label run by MNortham.

JGrzinich - Equal and Distant Lines

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Disaster Sources Encyclopedia Volume 2

Another month, another Dénudés boxset.

In 2004, Illegal-Alien Records released two ten disc "Encyclopedia Of Rallizes" volumes which immediately disappeared from view. Then in 2012, Ignuitas repackaged them. I've not seen the first volume yet but until that happy day arrives:

01 Live 1977-1987

02 Live 1976-1983

03 Live 1979-1983

04 7 May 1983 Kyoto University Western Auditorium part one

05 7 May 1983 Kyoto University Western Auditorium part two

06 1983 Festival

07 11 Aug 1983 Chicken Shack Fussa part one

08 11 Aug 1983 Chicken Shack Fussa part two

09 13 Feb 1993　Baus Theater part one

10 13 Feb 1993　Baus Theater part two

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