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Morio Agata LP Norimono Zukan – Mesh Key

Japanese folk-rock legend Morio Agata stunned fans with this way-outta-left-field dispatch – a synthesizer-laden, new-wave/post-punk classic. Originally released by Osaka’s Vanity Records in 1980 and back on vinyl for the first time in nearly 40 years, this fully authorized reissue has been newly remastered from the original analog tapes. In sturdy tip-on sleeve, with double-sided insert. Arguably the biggest left-turn of Agata’s early career, however, came in 1979, when legendary experimental label Vanity Records’ Yuzuru Agi paired Agata with major players from his label’s roster and the Osaka punk scene for an impromptu recording session. An impressive list of musicians took part (SAB, Yukio Fujimoto (Normal Brain), Masahiro Kitada (INU), Taiqui (Ultra Bide), Jun Shinoda (SS), Chie Mukai (Che-Shizu), and others) and even though they all came from different wings of the underground music scene, together they built an arresting, minimalistic bedrock of synthesized and acoustic sounds for Agata to work his magic over. The recording sesssions were tense and it took a while for the collective to find their footing. But the hard work paid off — Norimono Zukan is a masterpiece of ramshackle new wave and droning dirges, topped off with Agata’s unmistakeable croon, at times delicate, other times twisted. It’s a relatively short album, but a deep one, and Mesh-Key is honored to introduce it to a new generation of music fans. 

$27

Michel Henritzi – Matthias Preuss CD Memories – E-Klageto

Lted and numbere, 200 copies, jacket has different colors

Michel Henritzi is a guitar player (here, a lap steel guitar and effects) known from his work with the group Nox and Dustbreeders, a group on the fringe of noise and improvisation. I had not heard of saxophone player Mathias Preuß, who only has a few releases from recent years. Recorded at the studio La Cave 38 in Metz on April 30, 2022, the result is a sixty-two-minute, six-track CD. 

$10

Keiji Haino – Oren Ambarchi- Jim O’Rourke 2LP “Caught in the Dilemma…” Black Truffle

$30

Shizuka CD 妄想の楽園 | Paradise of Delusion

Offset 7 ” jacket with screened obi (dark blue or dark red)

Edition of 500

Release & shipping date : Nov 25th

Paradise Of Delusion, the first vinyl release of the music of Japan’s legendary psych-pop group Shizuka, originally appeared in June 2021. Long-awaited, the LP sold out almost immediately, and already changes hands for three-figure amounts. An’archives is pleased to announce a CD edition of Paradise Of Delusion, making this music accessible again to a wider audience. Drawn from a 2001 performance at Binspark, Nishi Ogikubo, Paradise Of Delusion is gorgeous and otherworldly.

Shizuka first came to wider attention at roughly the same time as their peers in the Japanese underground – during the early nineties, when people started to get wise to the surprisingly wide-ranging post-psychedelic sounds from the PSF label. But even by the standards of their closest peers, aesthetically speaking –Fushitsusha (with whom they shared two members, Maki Miura and Jun Kosugi), Kousokuya, Chè-SHIZU – Shizuka were mysterious.

Led by the late Shizuka herself, a guitarist, vocalist, song writer, and doll maker, with her husband Miura, a devastatingly powerful guitar slinger, their songs were potent and seductive. Shizuka’s slow iterations of simple chord changes, with her psalmic vocal melodies over the top, suggest an existential exhaustion, often torn asunder by a soaring surge of guitar from Miura. Think the happy-sad mood of the Velvets’ third album, or a more languid Les Rallizes Denudes. Whatever is happening here is relentlessly private, psychologically introverted in many ways, but opened out to the possibilities of both beauty and despair – two states that the music of Shizuka best captures.

14€

Guo Yongzhang LP Zhuizi Selections

Born in 1945, Guo Yongzhang is a true maestro of Henan Zhuizi, a traditional Chinese talking-singing art that has a history of over 100 years. Almost blind, he plays Zhuihu and Zhuibang to accompany his own singing. His vocal style is peculiar, resounding yet smooth, adopting various types of arias from traditional local operas such as Shandong Bangzi and Shandong Zaobang, and he always sings with deep feelings and great verve.

Originated in Henan, Zhuizi is included in the national intangible cultural heritage list and has been popular in Henan and its nearby regions. Its main accompaniment musical instrument is Zhuihu, a two-stringed bowed instrument made of wood, and secondly the Zhuibang, a wooden percussion played with foot tapping. Since Zhuihu has a wide diapason with a soft sound and relatively high volume, the performer can use it to imitate the voice of human and animals.

$49

BBB & BBB, Dan Lao, Li Daiguo CD+DVD Hu nian An Yu – Old Heaven Books 2020

老丹 Lao Dan – 笛子 Dizi / 萨克斯 Alto Saxophone / 杜杜克笛 Duduk / 鸭哨 Duck whistle / 人声 Voice
李带菓 Li Daiguo – 琵琶 Pipa / 预制钢琴 Prepared Piano / 塔布拉鼓 Tabla / 地鼓 Bass Drum / 人声 Voice

Fantastic and beautiful music from the Chinese scene and nifty packaging;

$20