Chie Mukai & Yoshinori Motoki - 10 Minutes Free Improvisation Festival

Released as a cassette by Cacoon in 1983, this is one of the earliest recordings of kokyu player Chie Mukai, just a handful of years after her appearance on the legendary East Bionic Symphonia LP. Here, she is joined by guitarist Yoshinori Motoki. 

free

Read more...

Chie Mukai & Rinji Fukuoka - L'energie De L'existence

 

A 2003 CD by two legends. Chie Mukai is the vocalist/kokyu player and leader of the band Ché-SHIZU. Fukuoka is the singer/guitarist for the breathtaking psych band Overhang Party and their successor Majutsu no Niwa. This duo album finds Fukuoka playing cello, piano and drums while Mukai sings and plays piano as well as her signature instrument, kokyo. Released on Turtles' Dream, which was a sub-label of Michel Henritzi's short-lived but excellent A Bruit Secret label. 

crazy to l'exist

Read more...

Ché-SHIZU - Glimmering Star

 

1999 LP of live Che-SHIZU, reissued on CD by Alchemy with extra tracks in 2015. 

Ché-SHIZU - Glimmering Star

Read more...

Ché-SHIZU - Nazareth

 

Stunning live album by Chie Mukai's Che-SHIZU, with recordings made around Tokyo from 1983 through 1992. Some guests include a young Hiroshi Hasegawa (CCCC, Astro) on drums, Masami Shinoda (A-Musik) and Masayoshi Urabe on sax, Shinji Shibayama (Nagasa Ni Te, Idiot O'Clock) on drums. Released as a CD by PSF in 1993.

Ché-SHIZU - Nazareth

Read more...

Ché-SHIZU - Live 1996 水晶

Live recordings around Tokyo. Mukai is joined by Koma Keita (Inu, Up-Maker) on guitar and Ikuro Takahashi (Fushitsusha, Kokoukuya, Overhang Party) on drums while Takuya Nishimura sticks around on bass duties.  

Ché-SHIZU - Live 1996 水晶

Read more...

Ché-SHIZU - 約束はできない (I Can't Promise)

 

Debut LP by Chie Mukai's astounding acid/psych/folk/post-punk, first released on LP in 1984 and reissued on CD by Alchemy in 2001, though it might have fit right into what Rough Trade were doing as the same time. Mukai's kokyu rules this album, a sound not typically (ever?) heard in music like this. She's joined by the legendary Tori Kudo (Noise, Maher Shalal Hash Baz) on guitar and piano and Takuya Nishimura (Miminokoto) plays bass. 

I Can't Promise

Read more...