Kousokuya are a Tokyo-based underground dark psychedelic rock group. They were formed in 1978 by guitarist Jutok Kaneko out of the ashes of an older group called Kokugaiso. The classic trio line-up that recorded the first album, and reformed in recent years was: Jutok Kaneko (guitar, vocals) Ikuro Takahashi (ex-High Rise, Fushitsusha) (drums) Mick (bass, vocals). Other members have included Hiroshi Yokoyama (synth, 1978-1979), Toshiko Watanabe (drums, 1979), Asahito Nanjo (bass, 1982-1983), Munehiro Narita (drums, 1982-1983), Atsushi Ishiguro (drums, 1983-84), Hibari Nagao (drums, 1994-1997), Emily (bass), Sachiko (vocals, synth, bass, 1995-2003) and Michinobu Matsubashi (drums, 2000-).
The group were heavily associated with the Minor scene in the late 70s and early 80s but released only a handful of recordings internationally, and scant more in their local Tokyo underground scene. As far as I am aware, Kousokuya only released one studio album in their 28 years as a trio with the rest of their output being live recordings. Even these were largely unavaiable outside of Japan until recently. This goes a long way to explaining why bands like High Rise, Mainliner, Fushitsusha et al are legendary and rightly lauded whilst Kousokuya slipped under the radar...
Kaneko passed away on January 24th 2007, but the group has since continued as a duo.
1990 - Kousokuya - 1st (2003 reissue) [p.s.f. records]
1995 - Kousokuya - Ray Night 1991-1992 Live [forced exposure]
1997 - Kousokuya & Masayoshi Urabe - The Dark Spot [p.s.f. records]
2001 - Kousokuya - Live Osaka 09.21.01 [bootleg]
光束夜 - Live 逆流虚空 (Live Gyakuryu Kokou) [p.s.f. records]
2006 - 光束夜 - First Live 1979 (Kichijoji Minor) [p.s.f. records]
2007 - 光束夜 - Echoes From Deep Underground [archive]
Echoes From Deep Underground cd
Echoes From Deep Underground dvd
2007 - Kousokuya - Ray Night [ray night music]
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