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Keiji Haino & The Hardy Rocks CD/LP You’re Either Standing Facing Me Or Next To Me – P-Vine

Keiji Haino is an internationally acclaimed musician who made his debut in 1970 as vocalist for the avant-garde rock band Lost Arraf, formed Non-Lost in 1978 and since then has worked in a variety of forms, including with and without blotting, Aisu Kyou, Vajra and Sanhedrin, in addition to his solo career.

The long-awaited studio album by the rock band HAINO KEIJI & THE HARDY ROCKS, formed in 2016 by Haino, who has always pursued the ‘now’, together with young talented musicians including Masami Kawaguchi (Kawaguchi Masami’s New Rock Syndicate).
The recording was done at GOK SOUND, a well-known analogue recording studio, with Yoshiaki Kondo, the band’s highly trusted engineer.
Haino has developed a clear concept of being a vocalist and singing his own origins in rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, soul, jazz and even Japanese songs in English, and has been actively performing live, and in 2021 a live recording was released by a UK label for distribution to good acclaim.
The Rolling Stones, The Doors, Bob Dylan, The Who and other classic songs are thoroughly deconstructed and reconstructed to expose the “true nature” of the songs for the ultimate in real rock.
Its impact will appeal to a wide range of rock fans of all generations.

CD $26

LP with obi $36

非常階段 × 戸川純 = 戸川階段

Hijokaidan x Jun Togawa = Togawa Kaidan  LP Alegori

Translucent red 180g Hi-Res audiophile record made in Japan
△Includes a 78x42cm fold-out poster + full English lyrics (revised by Jun Togawa herself) + Download code (FLAC + MP3) with bonus tracks / Limited to 500 copies worldwide.

$20

Lily 2LP “O Genki Desu Ka” – Japan Blues

Lily’s early life runs parallel to an untold story of post-war Japan, that of the marginalised hafu – children of half Japanese / half foreign parents. Likely to be a target, a vessel for the bitterness, from the humiliation of the American Occupation, to the buried guilt of Japan’s own atrocities, enacted on their Asian neighbours. Her troubled formative years – an absent father, and losing her mother in her teens – possibly contributed to the development of the bluesy edge of her vocal style, or maybe it was the smoke from the jazz bar her mother ran.

As with many outsiders of the 60s and early 70s, she turned up in Tokyo’s Shinjuku, a famed spot for many a writer, actor, artist and musician. It was here that her songs first aired and she was swiftly booked to record her music. With a groove set in stone by her Bye-Bye Session Band – later including Ryuichi Sakamoto and jazz keyboardist Hiroshi Sato – this selection covers her 70s period, with strong seams of soul, funk, touches of folk- and space-rock, and her signature (in Japan) heartbreaking ballads.

Compiled by Howard Williams, with fold out liner notes insert, written by Lily’s original producer, Yukiji Teramoto and  translated by Alan Cummings, with the photography of Jin Tamura.

$35

Makoto Kawashima CD “Homo Sacer” P.S.F records 2015

First album (since re-released on vinyl by black Editions) and last CD on the legendary P.S.F records label

$22

Otomo Yoshihide – Makoto Kawashima CD Duo – Homo sacer

Fantastic meeting between 2 generations

$18

Makoto Kawashima CDR Circle – Curve $15

Makoto Kawashima CDR Solo- Unification

$15

Ochibonoame CD “Syuyukan” – Homo Sacer

Second release

$19

Ochibonoame CD “Ochibonoame” – Homo Sacer

Ochibonoame is trio with Makoto Kawashima, Louis Inage & Naoto Yamagishi

Fantastic first meeting, free and it leaves me breathless !

$19

Daisaku Yoshino CD/LP “Lamp Manufacturing Factory” Super Fuji

Daisaku Yoshino’s early work “Yoshino Daisaku Lamp Manufacturing Factory” (independently released in 1974), which has continued to perform live mainly in Yokohama since the early 70’s, later became popular mainly in Europe as a masterpiece of acid folk. high and well known. Expressing a philosophical world of poetry reminiscent of modern poetry with straight American rock, dynamic and thirsty country rock, and acid-folk techniques, they were evaluated as “Jacks Meets Sunset Band”. Hideyuki Tanigawa of the legendary rock band “Oh! Morning Band”, who overwhelmed Tokyo bands at the 70’s Yokohama guitarist Takashi Asayama and Noon Hibiya’s rock festival and was highly praised by Makoto Kubota.

LP $39

or 2CD $29 deluxe edition

Shin Otowa LP/CD “Wasuregatami” Super Fuji

“Wasuregatami” is an independently produced album (1974) by Makoto Otowa, a singer-songwriter who is known for providing the lyrics to Kubota Makoto’s first solo album “Machiboke” (1973). It can be said that this work is a pair album with “Machiboke” with the same lyrics and different songs at the beginning and end of the B side. Starting with Makoto Kubota, who made full use of the 12-string guitar and contributed to the overall sound so much that it could be said that she was the producer, Hiroma Fujita, who creates a fantastic space with a slide guitar, and Takashi Onzo, who has a calm and breezy bass. The members of the Yuyake Band, such as , will play the entire performance, and although they are simple, they will expand the world of Otowa’s songs richly and greatly, inviting our consciousness to the world that spreads far beyond “the other side”, but It gives you amazing peace of mind.

LP (comes in a nice tip on jacket) $39 or CD $22

Art Zyklus CD A group of Experimental Music – Edition Omega Point

In the mid 1960’s, there was a collective of contemporary musicians in Osaka, called Art Zyklus. Because Hajime Yamashita, one of the core members, had sold a part of his privately stored sound source over the Internet, the whole picture of amazing and completely unknown activities was revealed. The release compiled works created by Art Zyklus as well as Yamashita. Worth mentioning is that ‘Music for Electric Metronomes’ by Toshi Ichiyanagi was premiered in Japan. Apart from that, the fact that Yamashita founded his own electronic music studio was unprecedented at the time. Also, it was revolutionary that he generously showed his knowledge of electronic music by playing on an electronic device such as a self-built theremin, when performing a concert.

CD $20

Special ltd edition with poster & bonus CDR $42

Toshi Ichiyanagi CD A pianist – Edition Omega Point

The composer Toshi Ichiyanagi is, needless to say, also a pianist. We have collected recordings of h
is performances demonstrating his superb skills and ability. “Music for Piano No. 8,” on which he is
 accompanied by Sumihisa Arima, a frequent collaborator, on electronic devices, is particularly note
worthy. His cool-headed improvisation in the gallery reminds us of David Tudor, with whom he shares
a deep resonance as a pianist. A rare recording of Sylvano Bussotti’s “Five Piano Pieces for David T
udor,” which was written specifically for Tudor, has also been recovered !

CD $20

Special Edition with bonus CDR $35

Toshi Ichiyanagi CD Computer Space – Edition Omega Point

Premiere release! Two sound compositions discovered at Toshi Ichiyanagi’s home in 2018 to be released for the first time! One is an unknown early work created on a computer and the other is material for an experimental short film by Toshio Matsumoto. Particularly, the former piece was revolutionary. the quirky sound he made on the computer at the time was unheard of especially because a computer could only create simple sounds then. Moreover, it also includes an unknown electronic ambient piece reminiscent of a bird tweeting as well as a reissued version of an accompanying single of a mythical self-published book, which inspired Yoji Kuri’s animation work known as “Tragedy on G string”!  

Computer Space (1970)
There is a piece called “Music for Living Space” (1969), which recreated human spoken words. It is an electronic music piece that Ichiyanagi produced almost solely with a computer. “Computer Space” is created in the same era, therefore it was impossible to create a complexed sound. However, echoes and rapid pitch changes are heard in the middle of the recording (there is also voice like sounds intermixed). Since similar phrases are repeating, it is considered that he created various short phrases to edit on an analogue tape then bind them together.  Sound materials for “Metastasis” (1971) It is considered as sound material for a short film by an experimental filmmaker, Toshio Matsumoto. The discovered sound material is only 30 seconds long, which contains two different electronics sounds. The (b) sound repeats more often as a part of minimalistic pattern to create a work of about 10 minutes. Using a fade-in/fade-out arrangement made me think it might have some special intention?  title and year unknown These works archived in Sogetsu Foundation contain electronic sounds which are considered to be created by changing tones of real bird tweets. The sound repeats itself in a straightforward manner, while changing its foam somewhat. Originally, there are many pieces that last for 1 or 2 minutes. For this CD, some of them were strung together. A piece using parts of popular music that was created for Expo’70 Takara Beautilion contains similar sounds to that. Ichiyanagi also contributed another ambient music composition played on another floor of the building, however it is not included to this CD, according to the artist.  For String #2 + Stanzas (Both in 1961, Simultaneous performance) This piece is the music used in the film however it is originally a recording of a public performance at Sogetsu Art Center and edited to a few minutes shorter. The original sound material was included in an accompanying single of a book, “Yabunirami-No-Concert”, which Yoji Kuri self-published in 1966 before he created an animation. This book contains 10 pages of a series of ink drawings, which is completely different from “Tragedy on G string”. This CD has a reissued version of the original sound material. The time could be between 1961 and 1964 when Ono was in Japan. It is considered that Kenji Kobayashi was on Violin and Ichiyanagi was on Piano in an internal rendition style were together with Yoko Ono on vocal.

$20