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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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.

Download.

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!

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?

Download.

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).

Download.

Dendö Marionette - s/t 7" flexi (QP., 1981)

Legendary (and legendarily expensive) only release from über-cult group Dendö Marionette. I gotta say... this deserves the hype. Frozen・Edge reminds me of Red Exposure-era Chrome + Cabaret Voltaire at their fiercest - a cyber-punk anthem replete with electroid guitar solos and blurred vocals. Conciousness is comparable the sub-zero crawl of house favorite Motionless by Libido, and the incredibly woozy Walts (For Lautréament) starts off like a collaboration between The Gurdjieff and Taiji before settling down in ultra-dark industrial synth-pop territory. Amazing!

This rip was contributed (but not made) by bX-59cppw, who just recently upped the C.Memi + Neo Matisse 7" on his blog, which needs to be heard by everyone who follows Stalking Duppi!

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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!

Download.

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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Para-Phrase - SU-DE-NI!? 7" flexi (Beat Generation, 1981)

Tracklisting

Side A

SU-DE-NI!?

Great little single-sided flexi from this obscure Sapporo group. Very 'Tokyo Rockers' inspired (Friction, Lizard, etc). Nice!
If you like this, be sure to grab this live recording posted at the great Music Is A Better Noise blog.

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The Goónzees - s/t 7" flexi (Kuru Kuru, 1983)

Tracklisting

Side A

ぬるぬる (This is a Love Song)

Side B

うぞうむぞう

Here's one of the most obscure pieces in my collection. Mentions of this band on the web are scant, and this flexi was completely 'ungoogleable' when I bought it. Turned out to be a pretty good purchase though!
Very, very PIL-influenced cavernous post-punk racket with a fierce guitar sound referencing Neu!'s "Negativland" and dubby effects all over the place. Really great stuff. If anyone has more info on this band, I'd love to hear it.

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Sadato Group - s/t 7" flexi (Kang-Gung, 1984)

Tracklisting

Side A

Kafesho

Side B

Gohon Gahon

Rather odd cosmic free-rock nuttiness from this mostly-Japanese group led by Swiss-born-Iranian-living-then-in-Tokyo-but-now-in-New-York multi-instrumentalist Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (Sadato seems to have been his Japanese name). Zappa and free-jazz seem to be the major touchstones here. Wild stuff!

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3F=C - と・ま・ど・い 7" flexi (R.B.F., 1984)

Tracklisting

Side A

りんご (Ringo, trans. "Apple")

ばなな (Banana)

へび (Hebi, trans. "Snake")

とろっこ (Torokko, trans. "Wagon")

ときめき (Tokimeki, trans. "Crush")

Here's the sole 7" from 3F=C, a girl-girl duo consisting of Noriko on bass and Sumiko (also in the band Kyah) on guitar. The two craft a breed of bare-bones pop songs that reminds me of the UK DIY scene and its offspring, namely Young Marble Giants, etc. Each song is great, but "Tokimeki" really tops it, sounding to me like what might play in '50s-style diners on the sunken isle of Atlantis. This was actually one of the first "indies" items I obtained, and it's still one of my all-time favorites!

Enjoy!

Download.

P.T.A's - New Songs 7" flexi (Cragale, 1981)

Tracklisting

Side A
Ishizue
Nagai Owakare

Side B
3 - K

Here's the first release from this gender-balanced group on the excellent and diverse Cragale imprint. Skeletal and motorik post-punk grooves with eerie, wispy melodies above and woozy abstract rustlings threatening to blow the supports. Sinister, edge-of-your-seat stuff -- and their best recording, I say!

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