Monthly Archives: February 2018

Kawaguchi Masami’s New Rock Syndicate

Masami Kawaguchi’s New Rock Syndicate

LP Now

Label : An’archives

Réf : [An’12]

ltd to 275, comes in a  heavy old style silkscreened jacket with obi (dark blue or brick red), postcard & inserts

printed by Alan Sherry

liner notes by Jon Dale

release date :  March 3 , 2018

NOW is the third album by Kawaguchi Masami’s New Rock Syndicate, after Cat Vs. Frog (Palindrome, 2007) and The Psychedelic Sounds Of New Rock Syndicate (8mm, 2011). Expanding on the terrain covered on both those earlier albums, and a string of self-released and limited-edition CD-Rs, it’s a glorious set of psychedelic garage rock, with lacunae for acid-spiked instrumentals (“Intermission”, written by drummer Yamamoto Koichiro), languid blues interludes (“Blues In Haze”) and narcotic melancholy a la third-album Velvet Underground (the gorgeous “The Sound Of The Bell”).

It’s also Kawaguchi’s first major release since his solo album for Anthony Guerra’s Black Petal imprint, The Mad Guitar Sings. Much like that record, NOW has Kawaguchi playing loose and wild with rock and the blues (but not ‘blues-rock’), only this time, his blazing guitar is roaring over the fluid, deeply connected rhythm machine of Yamamoto and bass player Kikuchi Akira. Recorded in 2016, to mark the tenth anniversary of the New Rock Syndicate, it’s the consummate example of Kawaguchi’s vision of what rock music could – and should – do.

Kawaguchi already has a storied history, a player deep in the folds of the Japanese underground, having already lead Broomdusters and Miminokoto, while also contributing to LSD March, Los Doroncos, and Plugged Ear (with Fukuoka Rinji of Overhang Party). For some, he’s perhaps best known for his bass playing in Haino Keiji’s covers group, Aihiyo, as well as cutting some taut shapes on guitar in Haino’s recent blues gang, Hardy Soul. NOW is further steeped in Japanese underground music history, with a guest appearance on two songs by Maki Miura of Shizuka and Fushitsusha.

Wild and free, NOW is played for joy and kicks, led by an absolutely fierce guitarist, at the peak of his craft, letting his mad guitar sing – and sting.

Jon Dale

SOLD OUT

NRS front  

NRS back   DSCN8652

NRS red

UH (T. Hashimoto – Shizuo Uchida) CD

UH

Takayuki Hashimoto + Shizuo Uchida

CD ltd to 250

Free Wind Mood series

Label : An’archives

Réf : [An’13]

7 inch silkscreened jacket with obi (drak blue or grey), insert and postcard

Printed by Alan Sherry

Liner notes by Michel Henritzi

release date : March 3, 2018

UH is the duo of  Takayuki Hashimoto  (alto saxophone, harmonica) and Shizuo Uchida (bass), both have recorded for the legendary P.S.F. records and play also together in Kito Mizukumi Rouber.

Hashimoto is one half of Osaka-based Japanese free improv duo.es – aka dot.es and and has already played with many musicians such T.Mikawa, Gunjogacrayon, John Duncan, Tetuzi Akiyama…

Shizuo Uchida is now quite a familiar name for years as he was a long-term member of Haino’s Nijiumu medieval dream-drone unit and now for more than 2 decades. He’s also been involved in many projects such Hasegawa-Shizuo , Le Son De L’os,  Kito Mizukumi Rouber, L’Extase Métallique and many more.

*

On ne connait rien ou presque de la musique japonaise, de ses traditions, de ses bruits et de ses silences. Quelques images qu’on entretient comme vérités, il en va de même de tout clichés qui nous tiennent comme références, maigre savoir. Ce disque est résolument décalé des modes qui se jouent dans l’underground, aussi un autre monde étrange de traditions fantasmées surgit là avec force.

 Cet enregistrement est un disque de silence, de silence dévorant, qui engloutie les sons joués par ces deux musiciens, Ma qui appelle la note vibrante, laisse entrevoir une sublime mélodie.

Shizuo Uchida à la basse acoustique, Takayuki Hashimoto au sax alto. Musique comme dessinée dans l’air, points et lignes, tracés existentiels sur la feuille blanche du live, on songe à des applats blancs tachés, striés de quelques signes habités. Takayuki Hashimoto glisse ses décompositions free entre les grilles silencieuses de Shizuo Uchida, improvisant avec leurs ombres evanescantes, furtives, fluides. Le sax devient harmonica, avec un foutu pathos illuminé, la basse violoncelle en pleurs.

« Un soir, j’ai assis la Beauté sur mes genoux. – Et je l’ai trouvée amère. – Et je l’ai injuriée » écrivait Arthur Rimbaud. La définition du free c’est peut-être ca. Uchida et Hashimoto nous offre un disque fragile et émouvant, la beauté disparaitra dans le silence et notre âme brûlera.

*

Little is known about Japanese music, its traditions, its noises, and its silences. Some images are maintained as truths; so are all clichés that stick to us like references, thin knowledge. This record is resolutely offbeat with regards the trends in underground music, and a new strange world of fantasized traditions asserts itself with strength here. This release is a record of silence, a devouring silence engulfing the sounds played by these two musicians, Ma calling the vibrant note, unveiling a sublime melody.

Shizuo Uchida on acoustic bass, Takayuki Hashimoto on alto sax.

Music drawn into thin air, dots and lines, existential traces on the white sheet of the live performance; one is reminded of a white gessoed canvas, stained and striped with some haunted signs. Takayuki Hashimoto infuses his free decompositions between the silent grids of Shizuo Uchida, improvising with their evanescent, furtive, fluid shades. The sax turns into harmonica, with a bloody illuminated pathos, and the bass turns into cello, in tears.

Rimbaud wrote « One evening I sat Beauty on my knees – And I found her bitter – And I reviled her ». This might be the definition of free. Uchida and Hashimoto present us with a fragile and moving record, where beauty will vanish into silence, and our soul will burn.

Michel Henritzi

Thanks to Jean Noël and Jon Dale for their help with the english version

Pricing

10 EUR

France : 13 EUR en lettre

All destinations : 15 EUR including airmail

Paypal : clerouley[at]free[dot]fr

front001 UH back

UH Cd grey vs001