★Showboat
Woman At 23 Hour - Love In
Identical and deluxe reissue of this deliriously mega-rare and hardly known Itoh Kiyoko record. Normally if you want to score a copy of the original vinyl you are required to donate most of your vital organs to some yakuza-typed black marketer, but luckily enough, this one here is easier to attain without ripping out a lung or a liver to pound off. The CD is housed in an eye-popping foldout jacket. It was the final album Itoh recorded in 1971 and on this effort she got backed up by again a bunch…
The Tropics
2nd CD reissue from Showboat of this classic Japanese underground folk-rock album, originally released by RCA Japan in 1971. Great mini-LP gatefold packaging, but very few made and not long for this world. The Tropics was Minami Masato's first record on which he got assisted by Mizutani Takeshi of the Rallizes Denudes, his only appearance on record ever. Minami Masato was one of Japan's first beatnik hippie scum singers, who before venturing into the music world, spent some time in Mexico where …
Hirocosmos
Top quality eye-popping reissue housed in hard cover mini-LP style gatefold sleeve complete with obi and liners of this rare 3rd album by psychedelic maverick Hiro Yanagida. Another totally vanished and ear bleedingly rare gem out of Japan's psychedelic history, this was Hiro Yanagida's (ex Apryl Fool, Food Brain, Sato Masahiko & Soundbreakers, Floral, etc) second solo album released in 1973. Original copies hardly ever surface anymore so this reissue is more than a welcome feast. The music is a…
Hiro Yanagida 1971 (2nd Album)
Second Yanagida Hiro album, with Kimio Mizutani at the helm, swirling acid leads, heavy psych moves with at one point even an acidic Elvis joining the trip. Originally released in 1971. Deluxe gatefold sleeve packaging.Keyboard player and prime mover Hiro Yanagida began his musical life in Ground Sounds outfit The Floral, before founding the considerably cooler Apryl Fool in 1968. However, Yanagida is best known for his contributions to the so-called ‘Super Session’ period of 1970-72, during whi…
Saraba Hakobune
Another rarity is this original soundtrack album to Terayama Shuji's last movie with music by JA Seazer (Tenjo Sajiki, JA Caesar). Released in 1984, it was Terayama's last completed movie and Seazer's last contribution to his visionary and reactionary world. Saraba Habobune's soundtrack is just stunningly beautiful, far removed from Seazer's trademark bombastic scores. Instead it ventures into more pastoral and almost meditative psychedelic realms filled with traditional string plucking, eerie f…
Den'en Ni Shisu
Deluxe first reissue of this 1974 J.A. Ceasar-performed theatrical underground classic. A nice example of the recent flood of late 1960's-early 1970's psych reissues from Japan that are in the more fluxus/theatrical vein. The period saw political upheaval and protesting amidst much of the country's students and youth; and while the underground movements weren't as widespread as say those in the USA, the pockets of artistic institutions that responded to political causes (like the decimation of n…
Hatsukoi Jigoku Hen
Top notch and bang up identical reissue job; gatefold mini-LP style sleeve complete with inserts and obi. This was originally a private pressing on Terayama Shuji's own Tenjosajiki label. The disc is a soundtrack to his like-named movie, of which the title can be roughly translated as 'Volume of First Love Hell.' Psychedelic insanity, spoken word insertions and has included great vocal participations by sublime vocalist Carmen Maki of Blues Creation. Great disc that rarely surfaces with everythi…
Sho o Suteyo, Machi e Deyou
Reissued in 2003 by Show Boat/Sky Station - SWAX-62, the English title for this album is: Throw Away The Books, Let's Go Out on the Street and is subtitled: A High-Teen Symphony. There is a film soundtrack of the same title, but this recording contains entirely different material from the soundtrack. This album is based live recording of Tenjo Sajiki's 7th performance Sho o Suteyo ,Machi e Deyou at Asagaya Kokaido in October 1970. To add some studio workings, the performance was reconstructed an…
Catch-Wave
Takehisa Kosugi is without doubt one of the most important and influential figures of the Japanese avant-garde still performing. Over the years he has worked with everyone from John Cage to Sonic Youth as well as being an active member of the Fluxus group and starting his own performance units Group Ongaku and the Taj Mahal Travellers. His album Catch-Wave, originally released in 1975, features on side A 'an excerpt from a meta-media solo improvisation' utilizing heavily-processed violin, voice,…