Klara Circus - Angel Orphan / Boku No Katamuki 7" flexi (Nagomu, 1987)

Side A

Angel Orphan

Side B
Boku no Katamuki

As promised, here's some more from the Nagomu label. This is is more along the off-kilter twee folk naïvete axis of Nagomu groups.

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Mamoru Fujieda - Radiated Falling 7" flexi (Marquee Moon, 1982)

Fujieda is a post-minimalist composer who studied under Morton Feldman. Radiated Falling, perhaps his most well-known piece, is an electronically manipulated recording of one of Fujieda's piano-based works.

This concludes the Marquee Moon flexi series. Hope you enjoyed them!

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Aquapolis - Eldorado 7" flexi (Marquee Moon, 1982)

Instrumental prog jams. I don't even know if this band is Japanese. Completely obscure.

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Heiner Goebbels & Alfred Harth - I Don't Bend, I Never Turn Round 7" flexi (Marquee Moon, 1982)

Really fantastic track here from forward-thinking improv duo Goebbels & Harth that I don't think appeared on any of their albums (feel free to correct me). Wonderfully wobbly and off balance from the start, just gets better as it goes along.

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Sema - S. Minor Ghosts 7" flexi (Marquee Moon, 1982)

Dark experimental composition from Robert Haigh in his Sema days. I believe this track comes from his Theme From Hunger LP, and the actual title is S.S. Minor Ghosts. Though not Japanese music, this seems to be the most collectible of the Marquee Moon flexis.

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NON baNd - s/t 10" (Telegraph, 1982)

Side A

Duncan Dancin'
Ghetto
Wild Child (Can't Stand It)

Side B
Solar
Dance Song
あわのうた~Bap Pang

Fun and funky new-wave/no-wave duo. They're still around if I'm not mistaken!

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Takami - ー天使行ーY. De Noir Ⅱ LP (LLE, 1983)

Side A

最后の夢
イノセント
雨あがりの街（わたしは手に鈴をもって）

Side B
現身のエーリス
あなただけの・・・・そして,わたしだけの
天使行　Ⅱ
夕暮れ

Super zonked out and mind-warping expedition from the duo of cosmic chanteuse Takami and post-kosmische explorer Pneuma. Pretty wild stuff, with some of the longer tracks consisting solely of Takami's baleful moans. Other bits sound sort of Nico-ish and medieval.

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P.T.A's - Young Vernacular 10" (Cragale, 1984)

Side A

Takin' My Vice

Side B
To and Fro
Obsession

Here's P.T.A's 3rd release on Cragale. Far more similar to the mid-80's new-wave rock sound on Tiger / Fukumen Toshi than the brittle krautpunk of their first 7", but still pretty fun.
I promised I'd post this for a reader... ages ago! Hope it's everything you dreamed.

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Pale Cocoon - 繭 cassette + Toy Box flexi (Pafe, 1984)

Side A

Sora
Shunmin
Musoukyoku
Mizutamari
Onshitsu
Kumoatsume

Side B
Toy Box
Laboratory Under the Blue Sky
Room=Manhole
Automatic Doll
Microscorp
FLALORM

I'm extremely pleased to share with you the one and only full length by ultra-cult Stalking Duppi maximum seal of approval group PALE COCOON! This tape follows the Secret Sounds 10" pretty closely in sound, in fact a few of these songs are alternate versions of those tunes. Dark dream-pop oscillating between eerie and elated... and constantly defying comparison.

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Also available for download now is the flyer/flexi that accompanied the 黄金時代 picture 7" that I poster earlier. The song is an alternate version (my favorite version!) of Toy Box, different from that which appears on the 繭 tape.

Download.

bonus video time!

Both of today's downloads were contributed by loyal readers. You know who you are... thanks a bunch!

Various Artists - "Green Tape" cassette (Caligari, 198?)

Side A
Shimizu Akemi - Kakera
Takahiro Yamazaki - (untitled)
Isan Sozokunin - Seiji-e
Tolcaderro - (untitled)

Side B
Kumio Kurachi - 5ji No Siren
Yoshiyuki Sugawa - Sugar Wire Flesh
UMO - Rocking Horse
40318 - Lapse

Fantastically odd little tape here on the ultra-obscure Caligari cassette label.
Kakera, by Shimizu Akemi, would fit right in on the Vanity Music box set... sounds a bit like Tolerance. Takahiro Yamazaki's track sounds like casio drums being played with a TV in the background. Isan Sozokunin (who are also on the Paris Tokyo cassette) play a little stumbling punk song. Tolcaderro (who are on Red Tape, a Swiss cassette released in conjunction with Caligari) play a harmonica and broken machine duet. Kumio Kurachi's track is a real stand out, sounding also very Vanity-esque. This might be the same Kumio Kurachi that appears on the Lost Vow CD compilation. Sugar Wire Flesh... where to begin? This is probably the most brain-damaged track I have on any album. Without beans?? UMO follows up with a pleasant piano number before the tape is ended with a nice industrial noise track from international tape scene contributor 40318.
Quite possibly the most baffling and obscure item in my collection. Enjoy!!

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Mariah - うたかたの日々 2x12" (Better Days, 1983)

Side A

そこから...
視線

Side B
花が咲いたら

Side C
不自由な鼠
空に舞うまぼろし

Side D
心臓の扉
少年

This is a perfect record for the start of summer. Mariah was the brainchild of Yasuaki Shimizu, whose confounding IQ-179 LP I posted earlier. While that album was very much in the schizophrenic vein of Wha-Ha-Ha, the Mariah stuff is more pop-progish and palatable. I've actually seen them compared to Toto... which, to my chagrin, I can actually kinda understand. Rich, warm, percussive... kinda pseudo-African at some times, in a kinda Byrne & Eno sense. Lyrics sung in Japanese and Armenian (!), which makes for a pretty cool lyric book. An absolutely wonderful record from beginning to end... highly recommended!!

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Metro Farce - Barizanveaux LP (Kitchen, 1983)

Side A

密室で眠れ
mon dieu Mongolian
漂白都市
Wizard In My Pocket
梟たちの夜

Side B
なしくずしオペラ
Pendulum
Hospital
蒼い残り火

Here's an album that has drawn some online curiosity, if only for the fact that it was released on the same label as Variété and MLD. Kitchen also released the previously posted Voice 10", which this is far closer to in sound. Fun and often silly new-wave in the same territory as Hikashu, P-Model and Uchouten, probably most recommendable to fans of Nagomu Records material.

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extremely goofy bonus video!

Commune - Will/I Can't Believe 7" (Autonomy, 1979)

Side A
Will

Side B
I Can't Believe

Skritch-scratchy post-punk trio from Osaka, 2 members of which would later form Aunt Sally with vocalist Phew. Pretty fun single with punk-funk rhythms and constipated vocals (thanks to nattliga_toner for that apt description).

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+Alpha - s/t 7" (self-released, 198?)

Plunky, bass-heavy post-punky stuff from this rather mysterious group. It's becoming interesting to me just how "default" this sorta sound seems to have been in Japan in the early 80s. Did Japan have the highest concentration of bands with groovy basslines and constantly discordant guitar in the world? The almost punkish and sing-songy vocals set this one apart from the pack, and track 2 features the return of crazy vocal modulation!

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Libido - 低く飛んでゆく 7" (LLE, 1986)

I can really only assume that this is the same group that recorded the fantastic song Motionless, as this 7", recorded some 6 years later, bears extremely little resemblance to the frostbitten darkwave present on their split with Pneuma. This sounds more like... ? My overwhelming ignorance of late 80's rock music leaves me without a comparison, positive or negative. Readers?

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Geil - I'm 7" (Taiyo, 1986)

Strangely (for me at least) quite enjoyable goth-rock with androgynous vocals (courtesy of "Alice") that remind me of a drunk woman named Stephanie that used to come in my shop and tell me about all her Sex Pistols posters. This, coupled with the fact that Stay sounds like what I've always thought pretend-English would sound like, makes for a fun listen. Oh, and what kind of title is I'm??

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sh - 深き森から 7" (Zero, 1983)

Very strange and haunting 7" from the quite reliable Zero label. This may be the first appearance of Kumiko Suyama, whose songs on international compilations such as SNX and Assemblée Générale 5 have piqued the interests of a few blog-dwellers. Save for the piano on side b, this 7" is somewhat far removed from her other work, which, while not 'upbeat' per se, is typically more folksy and pastoral. The dark, icy atmosphere and Phew-like incantations may be explained by liner notes: "Inspired by John Duncan".

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Quasimode - 真昼 [Jeux De Vertige] LP (Di-Stance, 1986)

Brilliant avant-chamber stumble and stomp from this mysterious group. A fascinating album that seems to combine the cosmic whisper of Takami's Tenshi-Kou and the decadent europhilia of Kumiko Suyama and Sonoko, resulting in a creepy and markedly Duppi-like brew. Fitting, considering that the two were compilation-mates on Yuzuru Agi's notoriously unobtainable Ego 02 / Critical Species - Individual Music Osaka 1985 cassette.

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Sodom - Material Flower 12" (Trans, 1986)

By request, here is Sodom's Material Flower single.
I can't say I'm a particularly big fan of this group after TV Murder, but Art of Lab (Night Version) has some really great vocals.

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Panasist - Hoshizora No Panasist / Dummy Robot 7" (Epic, 1980)

Indefatigable electro-doink-pop with heavy Famicom vibes. Very high in my personal canon.

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Room - Promotion Disk 7" flexi (Room, 1984)

Side A
[untitled]

Wonderfully odd and extremely obscure lil' 1-sided flexi gem. Sorta dark new-wave with female vocals, rhythm box and a very weird chorus that reminds me of Lizzi Bougatsos from Gang Gang Dance. Check it out and tell me if I'm crazy or not.
I'd love more information about this group. Did they release anything else?

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Chance Operation - Demo. Seat 7" flexi (self-released, 1980)

Side A
カスパ-.ハウザ-.ナウ

Side B
Receivin'

The very first Chance Operation record! Very simplistic and repetitive, even more stripped down than their later 12"s. Would possibly pair nicely with the P.T.A's New Songs 7".

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He Was - s/t 7" flexi (Kageroh, 1983)

By request, here's the sole known release from this mysterious tribal drone outfit. Released on Kageroh records (Viola Renea, Portray Heads, etc).

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Taiji - Endress World. Coincidence. Evanesce. 7" flexi (胎内レーベル, 1985)

Side A
Endress World
Coincidence
Evanesce

Killer one-sided flexi with three brief industrial-noise pieces. Released on the same label as Himegozen, and somewhat similar to some Sympathy Nervous stuff or the Gurdjieff 7" I posted a while back. Really nice... I hope to get some of their cassettes eventually.

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Noise - 天皇 LP (ALM, 1980)

Side A

死 (Der Tod)
水 (Wasser)

Side B
地球は青い (Die Erde Ist Blau)
天皇 (Tenno)
羊 (Schaf)

Legandary first recording of Tori and Reiko Kudo of Maher Shalal Hash Baz fame. The off-kilter methodology and stumbling attitude is still present, but here it's drenched in an abrasive and tape-hissy miasma. Somewhere between Suicide and Nico?

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