Player Piano : "On the edge of the flame"

(Art Union Corporation, 1991)

1- Freddie #1(0:37)
2- So-Sukan (1:52)
3- KanKanGakugaku (3:59)
4- Ai (4:07)
5- Berlin (3:14)
6- Naked (3:46)
7- Ushiro-no-Shomen (4:04)
8- Freddie #2 (0:28)

Player Piano :

Kato Hideki: voice, Turner fretless bass, Steinberger bass, double bass (6), computer programming (2-7)
Otomo Yoshihide: turntables, guitar
Makio: Sonor drums, guitar (2), stick bass (5), computer programming (1, 8)
Michiaki Tanaka: talking drum (4)

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Peril

(Dr Jim's/Survival)

1/ Kiken
2/ Exchange Rate
3/ Gold
4/ Peril
5/ Lurch
6/ Accidently Hoddle St
7/ Rotor Syndrome
8/ 50 - 144
9/ Free-Rock
10/ Left of Centre

Peril :

Tony Buck : drums, samples, machines
Kato Hideki : bass, voice
Otomo Yoshihide : turntables, guitar, tapes
Michael Sheridan : guitar

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Now's the Time Workshop, Vol. 2

(Fun House, 1991)

1- Movin' In (Masahiko Osaka) (4:19)
2- Mil Dew (Johnny Griffin) (3:07)
3- Firework (Tomonao Hara) (6:31)
4- Trail of Troy (Toshihiro Akamatsu) (4:28)
5- Triton (Toshihiro Akamatsu) (4:07)
6- Melancholic Grace (Toshihiro Akamatsu) (6:08)
7- I Think So (Yoichi Murata) (4:11)
8- Vain Mind (Yoichi Murata) (4:43)
9- Oh! Edo (Yoichi Murata) (3:42)
10- Beyond Zion (Yoshihiko Katori) (3:57)
11- Le Voyant (Yoshihiko Katori) (9:32)
12- Last Words (Yoshihide Otomo) (3:50)
13- Terminal-Zero 1 (Yoshihide Otomo/Eye Yamatsuka) (0:47)
14- Terminal-Zero 2 (Yoshihide Otomo/Eye Yamatsuka) (1:10)
15- Terminal-Zero 3 (Yoshihide Otomo/Eye Yamatsuka) (1:06)
16- Autumn Story (3:42)
17- Lam Cheng-Ying (3:53)

musicians :

Yutaka Shiina Quintet (1-3) :

Yutaka Shiina: piano
Joh Yamada: alto sax
Tomonao Hara: trumpet
Tomoyuki Shima: bass
Masahiko Osaka: drums
Toshihiro Akamatsu "A-Project" and Duet with Kazuhiko Michishita (4-6):
Toshihiro Akamatsu: vibraphone, keyboards
Yoshihiro Arita: banjo
Masaaki Imaizumi: piano
Yasushi Sugiyama: keyboards
Vagaboneds Suzuki: bass
Takemi Uemori: drums
Kazuhiko Michishita: guitar

Yoichi Murata Trad (7-9) :

Yoichi Murata: trombone
Eric Miyashiro: trumpet
Masakuni Takeno: tenor sax, soprano sax
Yoko Kanno: keyboards
Vagaboneds Suzuki: bass
Yasuo Sano: drums

Yoshihiko Katori Orchestra (10, 11) :

Yoshihiko Katori: vibraphone, piano
Akihiko Toyama: 1st trumpet
Yuji Osada: 2nd trumpet
Mike Price: 3rd trumpet
Tomonao Hara: 4th trumpet
Yoichi Murata: 1st trombone
Haruki Sato: 2nd trombone
Masahiko Kitahara: 3rd trombone
Kan Nishida: 4th trombone
Osamu Yoshida: 1st alto sax, flute, soprano sax
Tatsuya Sato: 2nd tenor sax, soprano sax
Seiji Tada: 3rd alto sax, flute
Eiji Otogawa: 4th tenor sax, flute
Atsushi Tsuzurano: 5th baritone sax
Toshiki Nunokawa: guitar
Koichi Osamu: bass
Masahiko Osaka: drums

Yoshihide Otomo Ground-O (12-17) :

Yoshihide Otomo: guitar, turntables
Hideki Kato: bass
Masahiro Uemura: drums
Syuichi Chino: keyboards
Junji Hirose: sax
Michiaki Tanaka: percussion
Eye Yamatsuka: vocal
Syu-Kei: narration

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NB : THANX A LOT TO ROTKAPPCHEN FOR SHARING THIS VOLUME TWO (and sorry for the delay...)

Tenko : "At the top of MT. Brocken"

(Recrec, 1993)

1- Blue heat
2- Moonlight waltz
3- If I...
4- A piece of silence
5- Dressed in memories
6- Bolero hyperbolic
7- Dodo
8- Water hours
9- The sands just sigh
10- Cardiogram
11- There play children in the flowering meadow
12- Interwoven
13- Temptation
14- At the top of MT. Brocken
15- A crack in a lie
16- An irregular attack
17- Drifting
18- The last angel

musicians :

Tenko : vocal, guitar
Yukihiro Issou : nho-kan (3, 9, 12)
Tsuneo Imahori : guitar (2, 5, 6, 10, 14)
Swoowoong Lim : spring noise (1)
Kazutoki Umezu : sax, clarinet (8, 13, 14)
Wataru Ohkuma : piano, vocal, clarinet (6, 10, 11)
Yoshihide Otomo : turntables, guitar, tape, voice (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17)
Hideki Kato : bass (3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 14, 18)
Kyoko Kuroda : piano (2, 12, 14)
Kenichi Takeda : taisho-koto (4, 11, 17)
Motoharu Yoshizawa : bass (3, 4, 12)
Tatsuya Yoshida : drums, voice (3, 6, 12, 14, 16)

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Good stuff !*#' (work in progress)

Hi,

I'd like to mention some excellent musical blogs with a few links towards other great records from Japan :

Yoshisaburo"Sabu" Toyozumi Unit : "The masterpiece" on inconstantsol : HERE

Kazutoki "Kappo" Umezu "Bamboo Village" on inconstantsol : HERE

Bidziliba (first record under the name Biziriba) on mutantsounds : HERE

Luna Park ensemble (with Wataru Ohkuma) on mutantsounds : HERE

Junji Hirose + Otomo Yoshihide ("Silanganan Ingay" lp) on mutantsounds : HERE

Live Under The Sky (Seiichi Yamamoto) : mutantsounds : HERE

Kazutoki Umezu "Pandora's Cocktail" on what'sinmyipod : HERE

Kazutoki Umezu "Eclecticism" on what'sinmyipod : HERE

Tipographica "God says I can't dance" on luckypsychichut : HERE

Doctor Umezu band "Eight Eyes and Eight Ears" on luckypsychichut : HERE

Kazutoki Umezu "First deserter" on luckypsychichut : HERE

Michihiro Sato "Rodan" on luckypsychichut : HERE

Dragon Blue (Tenko) "Hades park" on sector2814 : HERE

Altered States (with Otomo Yoshihide) "Lithuania & Estonia live" on sector2814 : HERE or on microphonesinthetrees : HERE

Tipographica "God Says I Can't Dance", "The Man Who Does Not Nod" (live) and "Floating opera" on lamusicaescultura : HERE

Kido Natsuki "Disco space baby !" on mutantsounds : HERE

Demi Semi Quaver "I" (with Katsui Yuji) on mutantsounds : HERE

Demi Semi Quaver "II" on sector2814 : HERE

Base Of Fiction "Kakusenjo No Ongaku" on mutantsounds : HERE

O.N.T.J. (with Hoppy Kamiyama) "Jose" on mutantsounds : HERE

Kazutoki Umezu + Tom Cora "Abandon" on wfmu : HERE

Rovo + Date Course Pentagon Royal Garden on mutantsounds : HERE

Tenko : "Dragon Blue"

(Sound Factory, 1993)

1- Magic (4:34)
2- Where's Missing (2:41)
3- Bolero Hyperbolic (3:26)
4- Shi-ru-si (3:54)
5- Storm (8:50)
6- Say No (2:03)
7- Passing through the Night (5:03)
8- Happy End (5:49)
9- Kaguya (5:23)

musicians :

Tenko: vocal
Tsuneo Imahori: guitar
Hideki Kato: bass
Tatsuya Yoshida: drums, voice
Otomo Yoshihide: turntables, guitar

live recording at Crocodile in Tokyo on March 5, 1992

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Electric Sun

(God Mountain, 1994)

1- Horizon (1:34)
2- The Count (5:45)
3- Life Insurance (4:04)
4- Rough (0:30)
5- Marmots (8:42)
6- I Fell Down (2:04)
7- Milk (3:37)
8- Earth in the Stew with Motherhood (3:58)
9- Fuzzy (0:59)
10- Magic Hands (16:52)
11- She (2:04)
12- Unplugged (2:41)

Electric Sun :

John King: guitars, vox, H-H
Hoppy Kamiyama: keyboards, sample, guitars, gram-pot
Yoshihide Otomo: turntable, guitars, shagg-drum
Hideki Kato: bass, metal, guitar
Hideo Yamaki: drums, bass
Yoichi Murata: trombone, kick

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Bass Army - "Karada wa Oto o Dasu Mono"

(Trigram, 1994)

1- Crossfire (3:17)
2- Karada wa Oto o Dasu Mono (4:09)
3- Infliction (2:26)
4- Politics of Hate (4:06)
5- Sneak Attack (3:21)
6- Himitsu Keisatsu / Sorekara (4:30)
7- Skirmish (3:00)
8- Implosion (4:18)
9- Vanishing Point (0:14)
10- National Front (2:55)
11- Uwatte Inai Koto ga Aru (6:33)
12- Ashes to Ashes (2:49)

Bass Army :

Kato Hideki: bass, voice, noise
Kazuyoshi Kimoto: bass, voice
Masahiro Uemura: drums, voice, bass

+ Otomo Yoshihide: turntables (2, 6)

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Makigami Koichi - "Koroshi no blues"

(Toshiba Emi, 1992)

1- Saizansu Mambo (3:43)

2- Onna o Wasurero (4:45)

3- Machiboke no Kissaten (3:49)

4- Akunin Shigan (4:35)

5- Sukiyaki Étoufée (6:28)

6- Yozora no Fue (3:52)

7- Tokyo no Yane no Shita (10:01)

8- Kaettekita Yopparai (3:46)

9- Utsuro (3:03)

10- Marianne (7:50)

11- Koroshi no Blues (3:06)

1- Lyrics by Tony Tani and Tetsuo Miyagawa Music by Tadaosa Ohno Arranged by Koji Ueno.
Koichi Makigami: vocal Nami Tokyo: vocal Jazzy Joyce: turntables Andrew Sterman: piccolo Steven Bernstein: trumpet Pablo Calogero: baritone sax Marcus Persiani: piano Guillermo Edghill: bass Papo Pepin: congas Joe Gonzales: bongos, guiro, cowbell Raul Paonessa: drums

2- Lyrics by Toshio Nomura Music by Toru Funamura.
Koichi Makigami: vocal John Patton: organ Marc Ribot: guitar Jeff Hirshfield: drums

3- Lyrics and music by Raymond Hattori Arranged by Robert Quine.
Koichi Makigami: vocal Robert Quine: guitar Matthew Sweet: bass Steve Shelley: drums

4- Lyrics by Kayako Honoo Music by Riichiro Manabe Arranged by John Zorn.
Koichi Makigami: vocal, devil chanting Andy Haas: didjeridu Anthony Coleman: sampler, organ David Shea: turntables Mark Dresser: bass James Pugliese: percussion Keiji Haino: devil chanting Yoshihide Otomo: devil chanting Hideki Kato: devil chanting

5- Lyrics by Rokusuke Ei Music by Hachidai Nakamura Arranged by Guy Klucevsek.
Koichi Makigami: vocal Guy Klucevsek: piano, accordion Mark Feldman: violin David Hofstra: bass Robert Previte: drums

6- Lyrics and music by Kuranosuke Hamaguchi.
Koichi Makigami: vocal Laura Seaton: violin Jane Scarpantoni: cello David Shea: turntables

7- Lyrics by Takao Saeki Music by Ryoichi Hattori Arranged by Joe Gallant.
Koichi Makigami: vocal Joe Gallant: 6-string bass Janet Axelrod: flute Phillip Johnston: soprano sax Walter Thompson: alto sax Louie Belogenis: tenor sax Dave Sewelson: baritone sax Frank London: trumpet Steven Bernstein: trumpet Jason Hwang: violin Margo Grib: violin, voice Michelle Kinney: cello Dawn Buckholz: cello Elizabeth Panzer: harp Ann Klein: guitar Vito Ricci: synthesizer, wrench guitar Tom Judson: accordion Evan Gallagher: piano, organ Skip Reed: vibes, percussion David Hofstra: bass Dickie Dworkin: drums

8- Lyrics by The Folk Parody Gang Music by Kazuhiko Kato Arranged by Yoshihide Otomo.
Koichi Makigami: vocal Marc Ribot: acoustic guitar, charango Kyoko Kuroda: piano, voice, chorus Nana Vasconcelos: Brazilian percussion Yoshihide Otomo: turntables, handmade guitar, chorus Hideki Kato: bass, chorus Suzuki: chorus Uemura: chorus

9- Lyrics and Music by Koichi Makigami Arranged by Koichi Makigami.
Koichi Makigami: vocal, vision, proteus, sound canvas, cornet Hideki Kato: bass Nicolas Collins: "Barney"

10- Lyrics by Yasuko Aisawa Music by Yoshio Hayakawa.
Koichi Makigami: vocal Keiji Haino: guitar, vocal Painkiller : John Zorn: alto sax, vocal Bill Laswell: bass Mick Harris: drums, vocal

11- Lyrics by Hachiro Guru Music by Kagehisa Kuzui.
Koichi Makigami: vocal Marc Ribot: guitar Yoshihide Otomo: sampler Hoppy Kamiyama: killer

Produced by John Zorn

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