Bleak Bliss: November 2017

Inryo-fuen - 品品

Jun Harada, Masamichi Oyama and Naoyuki Masuda defining the unclassifiable.

7" released on Cragale in 1982.

Shina Shina

This was their second album, recorded in 1985 but never released at the time. Cathedral keyboards that gradually inherit an AFX glitch before everything begins to turn inside out.

CD released on EM Records in 2014.

Ho-aku

Inryo-fuen - Early Works 1980-82

The first track is 妥協せず (aka Dakyo Sezu that was released as a single sided flexi in 1980) and it is truly magnificent. It's well worth the price of admission alone ... but given that you're not paying ... ah well, you know what I mean. From there, it just keeps on becoming more joyously dislocated.

Released on EM Records in 2014, this is the CD version that contains two additional tracks.

Early Works 1980-82

Inu - 牛若丸なめとったらどついたるぞ!

Naoto Hayashi was the guitarist with Inu (and Auschwitz and The Genbaku Onanies and various incarnations of Hijokaidan). In 1984, he co-founded the mighty Alchemy records with Jojo Hiroshige. They chose this as their third release and it offers up Inu in a live context. Given that one of the first things that they did was release this and reference it as "The Original Inu" suggests that the band weren't particularly happy with the rather polished production of the studio recordings. I am, of course, speculating. I really like the first album, but I prefer this ... a feckin' great band!

LP originally released on Alchemy Records in 1984 and reissued the following year with a single-sided flexi included for good measure. This is the latter.

Ushiwakamaru Nametottara Dotsuitaru Zo

Inu - メシ食うな！

Really really good early punk band who have proper songs and everything. As far as I know, this is the only studio recording they made.

Originally released as an LP on Japan Record in 1981, this is the CD reissue on Wax Records from 1998.

メシ食うな！

3/3 - Sanbun no San: Early Sound Archives of Pre-Friction 1973-1978 2xcd [p-vine, 2007]

The precursor to Friction that included Reck, Chiko Hige and Higo Hiroshi (who was also in Friction, Chance Operation, Mirrors and The Stalin). This includes the original (probably only) LP that was released in 1975 with a second disc of live recordings from 1975-1977.

Double CD released on P-Vine Records in 2007.

Sanbun no San

Friction - Maniacs

Founded by Reck (aka Kawashima Akiyoshi who was also in ◯△▢ and Teenage Jesus And The Jerks) and Chiko Hige (who was in ◯△▢, Chance Operation and The Contortions), Friction were one of the first Japanese punk bands. This provides an excellent overview, with one disc of studio output and one set of live recordings.

Double CD jointly released on Pass Records and P-Vine Records in 2007.

Maniacs

Various - Taste Of Wild West 2

An anonymous and magnificent human being has just answered the call and sent me this. My day is made and the world has just become a brighter place!

Folk Tales is the fuzzed out psych-rock of Masahiko Ohno (who is one half of Solmania) and Shinji Uemoto, the always excellent Hanadensha, the bluesy Mannish Tone, the sublime Subvert Blaze with "Elegy (Of Turkey City)" (that is on the double CD collection that I posted ages ago) and the hardrockpsych of Auschwitz.

Originally released in 1990, this is the CD reissue on Wax Records in 1998.

Taste Of Wild West 2

Various - 東京 Rockers

Friction, Mr. Kite, Lizard!, Mirrors and S-Ken recorded live at Shinjuku Loft on March the 11th, 1979.

Originally an LP released in 1979, this is the more than welcome CD reissue from Pass Records in 2001

Tokyo Rockers

Various - City Rockers

From the hardcore punk of Gauze, the harmless postpunkpop of Isolation, the smart surf-jerk of Radical to the sinister dubbed up Pop Group/Ruts stylings and charming melancholia of the brilliant Nursery Rhyme. It seems that the latter only appear here ... a crying shame. I could listen to them a lot!

LP released on City Rocker Records in 1982.

City Rockers

Various - Nagasaki Nightrider

Most often, the "unofficial" releases don't contribute too much to the wealth of the human race. But then you get something like this. A brilliant compilation of Japanese hardcore / punk that doesn't disappoint from start to finish (well, it doesn't disappoint me). Quite brilliant.

No label vinyl release from 1998.

Nagasaki Nightrider

Various - Outsider

The Crass inspired sleeve will tell you that we are firmly into Anarcho branded territory. Seminal recording featuring G.I.S.M., The Comes, Laughin' Nose, Gauze, Masterbation, Fullx, Madame Edwarda and some incongruous pub rock from Route 66.

LP released on City Rocker Records in 1983.

Outsider

Various - Great Punk Hits

When you started getting into the early 80s, there was this weird confluence of metal (sorry ... METAL!) and punk (with or without a slice of post-punk). At one point, everybody was firmly divided into their own camps and then it all started to merge. This LP is a great representation of the melting pot ...

G.I.S.M., The Execute, Aburadako, Laughin' Nose, The Clay and G-Zet.

LP released on Japan Record in 1983.

Great Punk Hits

Various - Burst! New Wave 1980 - 爆裂!ニュー・ウェイヴ 1980

Compilation containing quite a few that have been in recent posts and (as always) some even more obscure outfits who will be new to you. And then there is Cosmic Invention who have to be seen to be believed ... hearing them is a whole heap of holy what the fuck ... a real Teletubbies meets Vengaboys monstrosity ... but I'm starting to like it. You have been warned!

Double CD released on Victor in 2006.

Burst! New Wave 1980

Various - Pass No Past - EPs & Singles

I thought that posting this would be a great idea. Well, it is a great idea. It's just that I've realised that Mrs Inside beat me to it by three years and nine months ... and she articulates it better than I would have done:

"This two-disc set collects post-punk & industrial EPs and singles released by Tokyo's Pass Records in that magic interval between 1978 and 1980. Some of the artists included here went on to achieve some notoriety: Friction's lead singer, Reck (formerly of Stooges-esque punk band 3.3), moved to New York City just in time to join the final incarnation of Teenage Jesus & the Jerks. Members of Can backed Phew (who previously led the punk band Aunt Sally) on her first solo album, and she's had an interesting career that continues today. Totsuzen Danball made records with Fred Frith and Lol Coxhill, and I believe are still active. The rest, though, are gloriously obscure and equally worthy no-wave exponents. I enjoy the miserable disco grind of Tsunematsu Masatoshi ("grinning grinning grinning in your face!!") and the jittery DNA-ish blurt left behind by Gunjogacrayon. The lone 7" by Rough Trade-ish Boys Boys (reminds me of Bow Wow Wow or X-Ray Spex, sort of) is fun, too."

So here it is again ... a double CD jointly released on P-Vine Records and Pass Records in 2005.

Pass No Past

Various - Rebel Street

A little belter that includes E.D.P.S., Chance Operation, Non Band, P-Model, Totsuzen Danball, Daisuck & Prostitute and more ...

LP released on Japan Record in 1982.

Rebel Street

Various - 東京ニューウエイヴ '79 [Tokyo New Wave '79]

Here's a couple of tracks by the aforementioned Pain alongside Bolshie, Sex, Jisatsu and 8 1/2.

LP released on Pass Records in 1979.

Tokyo New Wave '79

Various - Gozira Special Dinner

Originally, this was an LP released courtesy of Gozira Records and Telegraph Records in 1983 showcasing Mirrors, Mr. Kite, Tsunematsu Masatoshi, Flesh, and Maria 023. This is a later reissue that also gives you live tracks from the same people. There was a track by Pain that appears on the original LP (and the cover here) but not on this release ... no idea why.

Double CD released on Disk Union in 2010.

Dinnertime

Various - Alchemism

Hijokaidan, Hanatarash, Ultra Bide and High Rise nestling in with a raft of punks such as Inu, SS and Sekiri.

CD released on Wechselbalg Syndicate and Alchemy Records in 1988.

Alchemism

Various - Alchemism2

Cracking compilation only improved by the fact that it contains previously unreleased tracks by UFO Or Die, Omoide Hatoba, Mannish Tone, Sekiri, S.O.B.Kaidan, Hijokaidan and Incapacitants.

CD released on Wechselbalg Syndicate and Alchemy Records in 1989.

Alchemism2

Various - Revenge Of Wechselbalg

... which includes a whole heap of people from the compilations posted over the past week or so ...

CD released on Wechselbalg Syndicate in 1987.

Revenge Of Wechselbalg

Various - 時の葬列 [Selections From Excommunicated Monument]

Auto-Mod, Sadie Sads, Madame Edwarda and G-Schmitt on a compilation LP released on SMS Records in 1984.

時の葬列

Various - Bloody Valentine : 14.2.'85

Nubile, Sadie Sads, Auto-Mod, Sodom and G-Schmitt.

LP released in 1985 on Wechselbalg Syndicate (an unlikely sounding sub-label of Telegraph Records).

Bloody Valentine

Various - Case Of Telegraph Product 1

Chance Operation, Boy Ball, So-Do, Chiko Hige, Katra Turana, Pablo Picasso, Pineapple 4.9, Concretes and Kujira.

LP released on Telegraph Records in 1983.

Telegraph Product 1

Various - Case Of Telegraph Product 2

Early vinyl showcase of Telegraph Records artists: EP-4, Junk Jungle Genre, Be-2, Sukisuki Switch, Para-Phrase, Allergy, Lezz-Lezz-Mass and Auto-Mod.

LP released on (erm) Telegraph Records in 1983.

Telegraph Product 2

Various - Telegraph Works 1980-1985

Excellent survey of the early 80s Japanese post-punk climate: Non Band, Pablo Picasso, Suki Suki Switch, Katra Turana alongside some lesser known outfits such as Concretes, Bananarians, E.D.P.S. and Noizunzuri.

CD released on Wax Records in 1990.

Telegraph Works 1980-1985

Various - Welcome To Dreamland: Another Japan

A whole raft of post-punk, "new wave" and fucked up skronk funk from Fake, Saboten, Luna Park Ensemble, Akira Iijima & Seiji Murayama, Katra Turana, Sodaneva, The Honeymoons, Mizutama Shobodan (aka The Polka Dot Fire Brigade), After Dinner, Kenichi Takeda, Keiji Haino, A-Musik, Chie Mukai and Ché-SHIZU.

CD released on Celluloid in 1985.

Welcome To Dreamland

Various - Bar Noise (Full Volume Live Vol. 1)

Compilation of artists performing at the legendary Noise Bar in Osaka. Whilst one or two released other material, the majority of the material is murky "get up and do it" improvised chaos. Oh yeah, and there's twelve minutes of Katsumi Sugahara and Masahiko Ohno's Solmania project.

CD released on Japan Overseas in 1996.

Bar Noise

Various - Taste Of Wild West 1

Old school J-punk/grind/pop/metal from Garlic Boys, Rapes, S.O.B., Sekiri, Danse Macabre and The Continental Kids.

We've never seen Taste Of Wild West 2 ... changing that would be a great thing!

CD released on Wax Records in 1990.

Taste Of Wild West 1

Various - Taste Of Wild West 3

U.F.O. Or Die, Incapacitants, Omoide Hatoba, Solmania, Angel'in Heavy Syrup, Boredoms and Hijokaidan.

Compilation CD released on Wax Records in 1990.

Taste Of Wild West 3

Pengo - Toadstools Amongst The Tombstones

I posted this in December 2011 ... it was meant to presage the Pengo avalanche. It took me five years and eleven months (which isn't bad for me) but, to be honest, without the nudge from Mrs Inside it would have been a lot longer. Sorry about that. It seems fitting that this ends my Pengo adventure ...

However, I'd always assumed that Pengo stopped recording in 2008, then apparently out of nowhere ... they released Resurrection Wars (a double C24 on Los Discos Enfantasmes) in 2013. There were only 75 copies and by the time I found out, it was gone and I've never got to hear it. Then in 2016, they reared up on their hind legs again to release Bubbles In A Bomb Shelter which is available on Carbon Records.

Obviously, if anybody can fill in our blanks in the Pengo canon then we will broadcast thoughts of love in your direct direction (this also applies to Jason Finkbeiner's Dedicated To Rochester Charles release on American Tapes that has always managed to elude us).

LP released on Qbico in 2006.

Toadstools Amongst The Tombstones

As a glazed maraschino on the Pengo cake:

... here's Rob Nuuja's domestic confessional ... a CDr released on Carbon Records in 2001 ... and now feel free to visit his Bandcamp page!

Plays Sad Songs For Gurls

Oh and I meant to say: To Live And Shave In L.A. 1975 are Pengo by another name (perhaps with a bit of Tom Smith thrown in) and their CDr is available on the TLASILA bandcamp as PWYC.

Pengo - Climbs The Holy Mountain

"The performance consisted of a live musical accompaniment to the first 31 minutes of Alejandro Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain." I fine meeting of minds ... if only they had accompanied the entire film ...

Recorded live on Thursday, July the 22nd, 1999 at the Bug Jar in Rochester, New York.

CD released on Carbon Records in 2000.

Climbs The Holy Mountain

va - In Memoriam Gilles Deleuze

French philosopher Gilles Deleuze died on November 4th, 1995. This double-disc tribute was published, rather appropriately, by Mille Plateaux (a label whose name itself is a tribute to Deleuze) in 1996. It features a mix of abstract noise and more techno-adjacent music by Achim Wollschied, Ralf Wehowsky, Zoviet France, Alec Empire, Mouse on Mars, Fetisch Park, Beequeen, Du, Christophe Charles, Gas, Atom Heart, Chris & Cosey, and many more.

disc 1
disc 2

Pengo - A Nervous Splendor

Perfectly titled missive from the Pengo people ... (almost) freak folk with an unmistakable undercurrent of horror and joy ... and then they dismantle a Ugandan dictatorship. Class!

LP jointly released on Haoma Recordings, Carbon Records and Breathmint in 2002.

A Nervous Splendor

Pengo - Moving Gelatin In A Translucent World

The first track is 19 minutes of full-on live Pengo splendour. The second track "Chemical Prediction" is recorded in the studio. I really get what Caligari says about Pengo's live stuff being more psychedelic ... but abstract? Have a word with your dealer ... buy better drugs! The third track is another live recording and it's a truly joyous noise assault. Pengo? Best band in the world? Damn right!

CDr released on Audiobot in 2004.

Moving Gelatin In A Translucent World

Pengo - Counterfeit Memories

If you haven't already heard this then you really need to. You may have realised that I am quite fond of superlatives when it comes to the music I love. So which shall I use today? Hhmmmm ... let me think for a minute ... ah, got it! I'll use all of them.

Recorded in 2005 but we had to wait two years for it to be released on LP by Nashazphone in 2007.

Counterfeit Memories

Pengo - Beaten Back To Infancy

Once upon a time, this was an impulse buy when I was shopping with Greh. I hadn't heard of Pengo until then and it kick-started a new love affair.

3" CDr released on Chondritic Sound in 2005. Released in a numbered edition of 133 ... mine's number 067.

Beaten Back To Infancy

Pengo - Fragrant Wounds

You've probably already come to the conclusion that we love this ...

Double CDr released on the always excellent Chocolate Monk in 2008.

Fragrant

Wounds

Pengo - Born Without A Face

Absolutely extraordinary live performance captured who knows where and released on Hippie Overdose in 2007.

Born Without A Face

Pengo - Damaged Casket

This starts off with an enticing little number only to be followed by a Dutch radio interview that sounds as though it was excruciating until the Pengo people rework it into a sound where acid fears to tread.

CDr released on Hippie Overdose in 2005 in an edition of 50.

Bingo. Bingo? Pengo? Pen Go? Pengo.

Pengo - Cosmology of the Broken Saints

Self-released CDR from 2006, two long tracks recorded live in Minnesota and Tennessee.

Pengo - Cosmology of the Broken Saints

Pengo - Live From Lexington

Jason Finkbeiner, John Schoen and Rob Nuuja with a guest appearance from C. Spencer Yeh of Burning Star Core etc ...

Originally released as a C40 on Gods Of Tundra, it was reissued the same year on John Schoen's Hippie Overdose.

Live From Lexington

If you're interested, here's a couple of audience recorded gigs:

Live @ Bug Jar (01-12-2002)

Live @ La Sala Rossa, Montreal, Canada (12-08-2005)

Pengo - Blood In The Vacuum Cleaner

My favorite Pengo album, expansive psychedelic blast released in 2006 as (what else?) a limited CDR from the band's own Hippie Overdose label.

Pengo - Blood In The Vacuum Cleaner

Hair Police & Pengo - Virus Thoughts

Cavernous murk and gently strangled guitars from two groups of lovely people.

Single-sided LP released on Mike Connelly's mighty Gods Of Tundra in 2006.

Virus Thoughts

Pengo - Alchemy & Bullshit

Outstanding collection of live and studio recordings by this powerful, yet consistently under-rated, Rochester NY psych/noise quartet. If you already like the rockish improv of No-Neck Blues Band or Sunburned Hand of the Man, the shimmering ecstatic yowl of Vibracathedral Orchestra or the fevered punk noise of Hair Police, then Pengo really ought to be on your sonic radar (sonar?). This double CDR set from Carbon Records is an ideal introduction. It came out in 2005, but includes music recorded from 2001 to 2004 with guest appearances from Ed Wilcox (Temple of Bon Matin) and Dave Cross (Coffee).

disc 1
disc 2

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