Japanese Progressive Rock presented by DamoX

Another Japanese epic shoegazer I recommend today.


KATSUREI

In 1983, KATSUREI PENIS CASE NICHIYOBI NO SEINENTACHI appeared on stage in Nagoya, Japan, as a three-piece New Wave outfit around Koji SHISHIDO (guitar, voices). Although we can find some of their early punk rock essence in a live compilation 'Paradise K' (1986, reissued in 2010), their music style had been shifted into psychedelic one along with the times. With abbreviating their band's name to KATSUREI, they made a major debut with the first album 'Nail Franc' in 1989, which introspective down-tempo psychedelia has been much regarded in Japanese underground music scene. KATSUREI often change the members except the frontman Koji and still currently very unprolific but every album has their sensual original psychedelia certainly.

Anyway, their name KATSUREI means 'circumcision' in English.


Nail Franc (1989) - KATSUREI's major debut album
(And maybe the most LOOOOONG photo of all in this forum. )

Exactly, a pioneer of Japanese Shoegazers appearing too early to be approved all around Japan.

Throughout the whole album Nail Franc is KATSUREI's loud, down-tempo, sensual psychedelic movement (especially Koji SHISHIDO's fuzzy guitar sounds and sticky voices). First of all, look at every nook and corner of the sleeve, and you can find and feel their ghostly and somewhat sexual identity upon it. And without any suspicion the sound content should be more and more psychedelic than the sleeve. Quirky, perverse guitar fuzz, and reflective but a bit funny lyrics by Koji ... both are still drowning under the first track "Oboreppanashi (Still Drowning)". In "Kanashimi No Koibito Tachi (Lovers In Sorrow)" lonely and tragic Koji's voices are very impressive for us lonely people. A bit pop but echoic psychedelia can be here, and into our mind. Slimy, rice-cakey, and slightly delightful ballad "Mekakushi (Blindfold)" is maybe comfort for us but the next "Taiyo No Mannaka No Riff (Riff In The Core Of The Sun)" is the terrifically depressive masterpiece of psychedelia called KATSUREI. Takeharu HAYAKAWA's cello solo is very eerie, sorrowful, much effective for cryin' blue sound murder. Why not we call this song the sunrise of Japanese sensual psychedelic ... psensuadelic. Following the fifth pop blues number "Bara-Iro No Uchu (Rose-Coloured Universe)", the eponymous acoustic ballad can directly put lots of passive footprints on our mindground. Indeed not eccentric but certainly breaking our blood brain barrier as a solemn epitaph. With serious and palpable drumming, the last "Kimi No Shashin (Your Photograph)" can go over our head much flatly ... without any passion or enthusiasm.

Please enjoy a special and important (for Japanese psychedelic rock scene) Japanese original psychedelic progressive rock ... and do not stop.




Thank you for reading this blog.

お！出たねぇ、羅麗若。 アルバム1枚で解散したうえ、リリース年が80年代初めということで、リアルタイムにはさして、注目されはしませんでしたが、ホールズワース系のジャズ・ロック・バンドということでは、やはり、必聴の作品だと思いますよ。 残念、やはり、在庫ありというネットショップは、なしの模様。 気長に、再発待つしかないですかねぇ。

私が聞いたKoenjihyakkeiの最新最近、私は感銘を受けたと言って、そのまま排気いる。私は自分の古いレコード以降でのピックアップがあります。

snobb wrote: Listened to Lalena - really another great surprise from Japan! Even if album starts as an instrumental rock one, with plenty of energy and some heavy guitars,then it continues as jazz- rock fusion. And - what really attracted me - guys use funky groove, very unusual for Japanese fusion element. Great techniques nad some psychedelic flavour - yes, but funky groove - you can't hear it too often in Japanese prog! OK, there are some usual pop-fusion compositions, but in whole album isn't cheese.And there are free-form improvs in their music as well. And really nice musicianship level - college band? One more interesting new (at least for me) name from Japanese scene - thank you Keishiro-san!

Wonderful comments thanks Slava-san!
The first track "Mosguito" (not mosquito eh? ... what does it mean?) completely immerses me always ... great tune!

Yeah cannot believe they were only an AMATEURISH COLLEGE band. (Furukawa Bros. were much closer to professional already, though.)

The must of all Japanese Psychedelic Rock world, let me say!



A Fukuoka-based psychedelic rock outfit SEMI ('Cicada' in English) were formed in 1990 by three promising players Kazuhiko KURIYAMA (bass), Koji MIZUTANI (drums), and Yasuhiro OKAZAKI (guitar). They have kept highly motivated to build up completely long, loud, improvised psychedelia on stage. That's why they have not released any albums a long while since their debut, but finally they released the eponymous album compiled with their four-hour (!) live material in 2000 via a Japanese independent label Oz Disc. Although their second album (and the first studio one) 'Maboroshi' was released in 2003, no suspicion a live stage should be their motherland really.


Semi (2000) - SEMI, their debut live compilation album (4CDs!)

We, Psychedelic Progressive Rock freaks, can say that SEMI have reached one of the peaks of Psychedelia Mountains, can't we?

Not simply loud nor fuzzy this Japanese psychedelic vanguard should be ... first of all, please try the first track. Yasuhiro's mellow, acoustic-flavoured, relaxing but somewhat cynical, distorted guitar solo is exactly the symbol as not only aggressively improvised but also well-arranged and refined psychic energizer. They should have gone away into the endless deep underground ... why can the audience stop their play, and why can we stop playing their album? No matter what happened, we should follow their unlimited passion play thoroughly.

And surprisingly they have colourful appearances - sometimes they can show loud, fuzzy improvisation full of feedback, with a Japanese common psychedelic progressive style, sometimes heavy, bluesy, sticky, dry-fruity riffs like Krautrock, and sometimes simple guitar shouts with a hard-edged rhythm section. It's very amazing the psychedelic world around them should be not only loud but actually QUIET, delightful ... their inner space might be unfathomably deep into mind-expanding core itself. Each player and instrument can be so unrivaled but mysteriously not so pretentious from others - yes, they can be well-balanced I wanna say. The three SEMI founders have never changed nor paused, and constructed the peak of Japanese Psychedelic Rock scene, not climbed up the peak already constructed by other artists.

Their four-hour live stage should not be too long for us freaks to enjoy without breathing - absolutely, we can see the novel milestone of Psychedelic Progressive Rock.




Thank you for reading this blog.

P.S. And the next recommendation will be SANJUU JINKAKU NO INU, maybe ...


Edited by DamoXt7942 - July 22 2010 at 03:29

A Person wrote: No matter how many times I see it, I always have to comment on Angherr Shisspa. Amazing album from the album cover to the last track.

英語で書かねばならないんだったら引退するかな。

DamoXt7942 wrote: CinemaZebra wrote: 私が聞いたKoenjihyakkeiの最新最近、私は感銘を受けたと言って、そのまま排気いる。私は自分の古いレコード以降でのピックアップがあります。 No need to translate into Japanese CinemaZebra. And Koenjihyakkei's newest album you've mentioned is this? Indeed lots of freaks around this one ...

Indeed. I recommend it if you don't already have it. Be prepared for insanity though.

honganji wrote: 英語で書かねばならないんだったら引退するかな。   まあ、フォーラムは覗きに来るかも知れないけれど、まあ、あとはrateyourmusicでぼつぼつとですかね。   それでは、Damoさんがんばってね～。影ながら応援いたします～。

Auuu, no way honganji-san! I miss you ...



You're a master of Japanese progressive rock for us. 

octopus-4 wrote: I wasn't aware of this post. I discover it only now that it's 20 pages long.  Is there anybody other than Angel in Heavy Syrup, Far East, Kimio Mizutani and Acid Mother's Temple that you can quickly suggest ? It would save me from reading all the 20 pages

First of all, let me recommend you SEMI.

http://www.myspace.com/psemi