Sunday, September 13, 2009

Kousokuya ( 光束夜 ) - 1st [1990 reissue] (2003)

| Psychedelic Rock | Stoner Rock | Noise Rock |

Kousokuya is a japanese underground Psychedelic-Noise rock band. Founded by the legendary guitarist Jutok Kaneko in the late 1970s, Kousokuya has been compared to Fushitsusha (Keiji Haino's legendary band) and Les Rallizes Dénudés, and though they had been underrated in front of those bigger bands, now they're regarded as one of the most important bands at that time. Jutok guitar may not sound as aggressive or mad as Keiji Haino's, but his psychedelic-er approach and high improvisation has helped defining the Tokyo underground scene (and his style influenced most of the later bands, like High Rise).

Their first album (self-titled, but commonly called '1st') was recorded live on a studio during 1989-1990, and though it don't sound as aggressive and raw as their Live records, it holds the band's characteristic psychedelic improvised sound. Kaneko and Mick's vocals are singed highly and out of tune, the guitars are full of feedback, the bass holds a strong and repetitive line, but inconstant as it must, and the drums are highly experimental, full of hypnotic changes and rushes. And of course, Kaneko's guitar screams lots of solos during almost the whole songs, and his style has a unique sound, where he jump notes or change the tune, but without losing the essence or breaking the song.As recording engineer Honda Shigeto puts in the awkwardly-translated liner notes, "every single note was clear, it shrunk all the distance with its power."

Kaneko passed away on January 24th, 2007.

Catalog: 1990: RNM0001 (Ray Night Music) | 2003: PSFD-132 (P.S.F. Records)
Album overview on Dusted Reviews
On Last.fm
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