Magical Power Mako / Time Unit - Music From Heaven / The Clap & Ko-ten 7" flexi (Marquee Moon, 1981)

Choice grooves from Japan's long-running psych-maverick (essentially a preview for his album of the same name, released by Marquee Moon a year later), backed with similarly anachronistic prog jams from the obscure group Time Unit.

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Lost / Kaleidoscope - お前は呪文を唱へる / Darkness 7" flexi (Marquee Moon, 1981)

More goth and prog (but not quite goth-prog this time) on the Marquee Moon flexi-disc label.
Do any of you readers know more about Lost? Their track here is super creepy and excellent, really hits my buttons in the 'random effects' department, too. Jazz-prog band Kaleidoscope is equally obscure, so any info on these groups would be much appreciated!

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Libido / Pneuma - Motionless / 滅びの塔 7" flexi (Marquee Moon, 1981)

The third Marquee Moon flexi just might be my favorite. Libido's Motionless is simply one of the most deliciously sub-zero minimal-synth tracks ever. Pair that with Pneuma's cosmic cyber-noir vibes and you've got a real winner.

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Gilles de Rais / Phaidia - Sanatorium / 楽園 7" flexi (Marquee Moon, 1981)

Double dose of gothy weirdness here, featuring Gilles de Rais, an earlier incarnation of Stalking Duppi favorites Pale Cocoon, and Phaidia, a group notable for featuring the octopoidal drumming talents of Yoshida Tatsuya.
Gilles de Rais really take the proverbial cake here with a stunning gothic synth track. The stuttering, glorpy breakdown really solidifies this for me as a masterpiece. Now to find their single on Aspirin Records...
Phaidia... wow, goth-prog! Just the sort of spaghetti-sandwich combo I thought not plausible turns out to be pretty cool!

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Katra Turana - Mortera in the Moonlight 7" flexi (Marquee Moon, 1981)

I don't know much about the Marquee Moon magazine itself (if there is any info online, it is most certainly buried beneath a world's weight in references to Television's classic LP), but, like Yuzuri Agi's Rock Magazine, some of their early issues included some pretty killer flexi-discs (nine total, if I'm not mistaken) documenting Japan's growing underground scene. I'll be sharing these in (hopefully) rapid-fire succession over the next few days.

First up is Katra Turana's Mortera in the Moonlight. The debut missive from this band of pirouetting mischief makers finds them fully formed at birth, able to conjure up their wonderfully wobbly carousel atmosphere with ease. Head spinning!

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