Masonna LP “Freak” Urashima
299 copies + A3 size poster, in process of stocking** “Cascades of electronic noise, a psychedelic touch and vocal belching mixed together constitute the ingredients of Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé, the double-barreled name for Masonna. Maso Yamazaki founded his project in 1987, with a charismatic and glamorous personality who become a cult figure in the “Japanoise” scene. Predating the era of digital domination, there was a time where artist-run labels putting out primarily, if not exclusively, tapes were legion: Toshiji Mikawa’s own Pariah Tapes, Masami Akita’s ZSF Produkt, Koji Tano’s MSBR Records, Masaya Nakahara’s My Fiance’s Lifework Productions, Akifumi Nakajima’s G.R.O.S.S., Kimihide Kusafuka’s Kinky Musik Institute, Hiroshi Hasegawa’s Endorphine Factory, Hiroshi Hashimoto’s SSSM and Maso Yamazaki’s Coquette are just a few examples from Japan alone. Masonna’s abundant productions on his own legendary and astonishing label were presented in very limited edition, sometime totally confidential (one sole copy), and reflect his predilection for ’60s psychedelic music revisited in its own very peculiar way. Maso Yamazaki transforms his voice into noise, feeding the microphone back through a process of extreme distortion. His shouts became clipped bursts of overloaded sound, doubled and extended by a delay that displaced the sounds into stuttered blasts of static. These vocal sounds fuse into a rattling background of harsh metallic fuzz, which was created by frantically shaking a highly amplified box filled with coins.
Freak is an ultra-rare cassette originally released in 1995 by Coquette in an edition of 36 copies in a special gold paper and now return for the first time in a flabbergasting vinyl format fully remastered!
This mature work is very brash, earsplitting and mad. The distortion and effects on the vocals are top notch, they in combination with his awesome screaming create a complete audio assault. Sometimes pleading sobs are heard. And they are all, regularly, philologically broken, retouched, stiffened. And they mingle in the vortex. Or at most they come back to be slaughtered a little more only to be thrown back again, finally in the centrifuge. Everything is scraped, fast and beautiful and focuses an electrically overcharged universe, punctuating the thrilling and vocal sonorous power with some quite moments and brief interruptions, conferring a very particular dynamic to this work.
Originally released as single side tape C30, this vinyl edition divided into two parts of about fifteen minutes each is limited to 299 copies and comes with A3 size poster with Masonna in “action pose”. Freak is an absolutely astounding piece of work by one of the great pioneers of extreme noise from Japan! This is bound to be a revelation for anyone and it can’t be missed!
$26
Merzbow 2 LP “Rainbow Electronics” Urashima
299 copies with gatefold cover that faithfully reproduces the original art work plus a 12″ size insert** Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita was born in Tokyo in 1979. Inspired by dadaism and surrealism, Akita took the name for his project from German artist Kurt Schwitters’s pre-war architectural assemblage The Cathedral of Erotic Misery or Merzbau. Working in his home, he quickly gained notoriety as a purveyor of a musical genre composed solely of pure, unadulterated noise.
Originally released on CD in 1990 by Alchemy Records as part of the Good Alchemy Series, Rainbow Electronics marks the pinnacle of Merzbow’s late 80’s noise phase. Selected and transformed from about 21 hours tape of primitive raw material recorded during three years (1987-1990) in 14 fragments lasting about 74 minutes, this monumental work is an aural trip through a cold plotted universe of intergalactic space ships and golden celestial bodies. Remastered in December 2019 and split into four parts directly by the artist for the double vinyl version it opens up with a slow, kind of creepy tempo, reaching from dirty harsh noise flows coupled with eerie reverbed screeches and scrapes of iron objects. Noise and blasts come from every angle, and all you can do is sit and take it. Then continues with solid drumbeats briefly emerging from the static and disappearing just as quickly, again long stretches of subdued electronic drones buzzing along sleepily and the occasional sudden shift of noise into something more violent, though it all happens kind of slowly and gradually. A truly mesmerizing and immersive body of sound and its intense finish is something of pure artform.
“I don’t need a lot of words about Merzbow. All you have to do is immerse yourself in the sound.” translated from Japanese liner notes of Alchemy Records CD by Toshiji Mikawa.
Double vinyl comes in only 299 copies with gatefold cover that faithfully reproduces the original art work plus a 12″ size insert. If you looking for a great starter title by Merzbow, an amazing piece of art, or something to get high to, this double LP is perfect!
SOLD OUT
Incapacitants LP “Incapacitants” Urashima
Ltd 299, with 12” size insert. Includes extensive notes by Toshiji Mikawa in Japanese with translation by Kato David Hopkins in English.** It’s a great moment for reissues of ambitious, historical gestures of the noise from Japan. One after the other, these artifacts have emerged from the shadows, entirely rewriting what so many of us thought we knew. Now, at long last, before us rest another piece in the puzzle – the first ever release of one of the most sought-after artifacts from the 80s noise scene – Incapacitants’ first cassette, recorded in 1981 by Toshiji Mikawa and never been released until now, reemerging in a new fully remastered edition by Andrea Marutti on vinyl format.
Few projects can claim the seminal importance of the Incapacitants on worldwide noise scene. The group was formed in 1981 in Osaka, as the solo project of Toshiji Mikawa, a member of the amazing noise group Hijokaidan. Later Mikawa moved to Tokyo, where he joined with Fumio Kosakai, also an occasional member of Hijokaidan, as well as a former member of C.C.C.C., to make Incapacitants a duo. They’ve been making some of the most unremittingly ear-shattering racket for decades as Incapacitants, one of the most significant noise outfits to emerge from the groundbreaking Japanese scene in the early 1980s, and still one of the most radical and powerful. They’ve consistently been responsible for some of the most complex, chaotic, loud, and downright fun releases in the genre.
The cassette consists of a long track on side A titled Fulfilled Promise that starts slowly and gradually transforms into a crackling volcano and then comes the bursts and the outflow of lava, always controlled. While side B is a collection of small noise gem, furrows that precede the intensity and the noisy purity that will characterize all the production of the Incapacitants, titled Plague. The two sides of the tape are very different from each other, but they contain the same exciting, terrifying, hypnotic and fascinating soul – there’s very little air to breathe here!
‘’Listening to such artless performances and recordings is a bit embarrassing but, at the risk of flattering myself, I think it has some degree of interest. It’s from almost forty years ago, but I hope you’ll enjoy the very first recordings under the name Incapacitants.’’ translated from Japanese liner notes by Toshiji Mikawa.
The vinyl edition faithfully reproduces the order and duration of the tracks recorded on tape and is released in just 299 copies with 12” size insert. Includes extensive notes by Toshiji Mikawa in Japanese with translation by Kato David Hopkins in English. It’s a must-have not only for Incapacitants fans!
$26
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