Arcane Candy

As far as CD music length goes, Keiji Haino never rips you off. Here’s another 73-minute pile-up of really long hair blast. Japan’s father of sonic hurt feelings teams up with an outfit of young upstarts on nine tracks marked with Haino’s recently developing penchant for increasingly lengthy titles. The most smirk-inducing one is “Offer it All Up, Our Madness, That Will be Crushed on This Land That Has Come to Be Called Chaos Unzipped.” A deep red cover with black, silhouetted amp skyscrapers looming ominously foreshadows the sourness and heavy feel of this CD, which is comprised largely of rock band instrument feedback carnivals. Some sections of subtle “rocking” can be found buried in the debris, with others not rolling at all—just coalescing billows of overblown amp hassle.

A couple of exceptions include track one, in which a nice, long, throbbing, electronic sruthi box drone with low-moaned vocals–sounding alot like the So, Black Is Myself CD–eventually unfolds until Haino’s screaming and Boris’ smashing drums, percussion and feedbacking drone guitars kick in. Track six, as well, features a similar effect from Boris with Haino wailing away on an ethnic oboe. The main man then switches over to his patented guitar roar on the last three tracks, with the eye-of-Jupiter-storm thickness of number nine, especially, sure to be best-loved by everyone down at the office.

Label: Inoxia Catalog Number: IXCD-0002 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 9 Total Time: 72:40 Country: Japan Released: 1998 Related Artists: Fushitsusha More: Forced Exposure, Official, Poison Pie, PSF, Wikipedia

This is a follow-up to The 21st Century Hard-y Guide-y Man CD on PSF. Instead of four really long tracks of viscous hurdy gurdy drone as before, this time there’s only one ridiculously long one, punchin’ in at 72 minutes. But, it’s a nice long one. A slowly ringing, pulsing, hovering sound-glacier effortlessly finds and devines its way into an hour and more of your living section. Some subtly piercing vocals occasionally float in and out, as well. All in all, one can basically consider this CD another deep notch carved into the big-banging Keiji Haino CD shelf, which isn’t too shy about taking up more and more space in my bedroom.

Label: Tokuma Catalog Number: TKCF 77023 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 1 Total Time: 72:28 Country: Japan Released: 1998 Related Artists: Fushitsusha More: Forced Exposure, Official, Poison Pie, PSF, Wikipedia

Musica Transonic shares members with High Rise, Acid Mother’s Temple and Ruins, so I guess you know what that means: volume and feedback grit that really hurt the VU meter’s feelings. When I first heard of this collaboration, I was a bit concerned it might turn out to be a long slab of undecipherable noise density. Boy, was I wrong.

This CD is a pleasant surprise, as it’s only 32 minutes long and broken up into seven tracks. With Haino leading the way on vocals and guitars, there is actually quite a bit of dynamic (non-garden) variety. Lots of sudden time changes and shifts of attention occur—from the expected thick sound bushes to more subdued sections of hearable guitar milkweed and actual singing. With Nanjo Asahito from High Rise on bass, Kawabata Makoto from the awesome Acid Mother’s Temple and Toho Sara on guitar, and hyper drumming by Yoshida Tatsuya from Ruins. As usual for the PSF label, the cover artwork is amazing and features dozens of small, shooting stars swirling out from a black vortex right toward your face.

Label: PSF Catalog Number: PSFD-98 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 7 Total Time: 32:17 Country: Japan Released: 1998 Related Artists: Fushitsusha More: Forced Exposure, Official, Poison Pie, Wikipedia

This is a sequel to the first Haino / Mazzacane volume that came out on Persona Non Grata / Father Yod in 1995. This ’un here was recorded ’bout when that last ’un came out, on April 11, 1995 at the Cooler in New York, and the varicose vein it flows through is quite similar. Vol. 2 is even nicer than it’s dad, actually, as it was recorded and mastered louder and clearer with more intertwined heart / mind / wrist / finger activity from the dynamic duo. The packaging–a mini-LP gatefold jacket with an insert and non-CD-damaging (if you’re careful) paper inner sleeve–is somewhat friendlier, as well.

Label: Menlo Park Catalog Number: 7005 Format: LP, CD Packaging: LP jacket, mini-LP jacket Tracks: 2 Total Time: 27:50 Country: United States Released: 1997 Related Artists: Fushitsusha More: Forced Exposure, Official, Poison Pie, PSF, Wikipedia

This is Haino’s first release from our fine feathered friends to the North: the Canadians. It also happens to be his most “empty” effort so far—one lifelong, 68-minute track of mystery electronic drone. At the 15-minute mark, low-pitched percussive knocks show up, followed by some pretty damaged rudra vina work about 12 minutes later and earliest-morning gargling vocals 10 minutes after that. These are among Haino’s lowest and most unusual vocals ever. In fact, it doesn’t even sound like him. An additional higher, louder drone joins in at the 48 minute mark accompanied by matching high-pitched vocal wails three minutes later. Some barely audible breaking glass signals “the end is near” as the sound fades away. The all-black cover is printed on nicely textured paper with a faint image of Haino near the bottom.

Label: Alien8 Catalog Number: ALIENCD3 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 1 Total Time: 67:28 Country: Canada Released: 1997 Related Artists: Fushitsusha More: Forced Exposure, Official, Poison Pie, PSF, Wikipedia

Sruthi Box is a rare three-inch CD given away by Japanese major label Tokuma at local record store chain Disk Union and PSF’s Modern Music shop to anyone who bought all four of the Keiji Haino / Fushitsusha-related Tokuma CDs released in April 1997 (Keeping on Breathing, Drawing Close, Attuning, A Death Never to Be Complete, The Time is Nigh) at the same time. It features Haino singing and playing sruthi box.

Label: Tokuma Catalog Number: PSJF-9704 Format: 3″CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 1 Total Time: 18:49 Country: Japan Released: 1997 Related Artists: Fushitsusha More: Forced Exposure, Official, Poison Pie, PSF, Wikipedia

On Drawing Close, Attuning, the father of guitar improvisation, Derek Bailey, lands in Haino World. He trades many plinks and plonks and juts and jolts with Haino as the two lurch forward and backward, circling in time—occasionally coalescing into a thick maelstrom of frenetic pick and strum fury. This is yet another good one, and—like the Fushitsusha CDs also on Tokuma–it’s astonishing to think that music this creative, untamed and deeply felt was released on a major label, no matter which continent.

Label: Tokuma Catalog Number: TKCF 77017 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 7 Total Time: 75:25 Country: Japan Released: 1997 Related Artists: Fushitsusha More: Forced Exposure, Official, Poison Pie, PSF, Wikipedia

For his umpteenth solo CD, Haino offers up yet another guitar and voice affair—again all recorded live with no overdubs. This time, we’re on a major label, but that sure hasn’t affected Haino’s approach at all, as this easily sounds like it could’ve came out on PSF years ago. Sometimes bent folk strums with gentle, beautiful vocals effortlessly merge into lengthy feedback juggernauts as other low-moaned words float pensively behind massive curtains of unruly amp sound-dust. Haino’s solo albums certainly don’t sound like anyone else’s solo albums, and while some of his other CDs feature one track drifting on for 45 minutes or more, Keeping On Breathing is 73 minutes long, nicely broken up into seven “shorter” tracks. I actually wouldn’t mind if this CD were half as long, as it does still tend to drag on a bit here and there.

Some choice words from “Wafting”: “I’m floating / wafting / much further down than before / a place where no one wants to go.” From “Here”: “Even saying there is nothing / is a lie / only saying that everything ‘is’ / is permitted.”

Label: Tokuma Catalog Number: TKCF 77016 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 7 Total Time: 73:02 Country: Japan Released: 1997 Related Artists: Fushitsusha More: Forced Exposure, Official, Poison Pie, PSF, Wikipedia

A set of duos for saxophone and vocals that sets the standard for improvisational chaos eruptions and all-acoustic shard exploration. Intricate voice / breath / horn interchanges that are sometimes thin as treacle, and at other times explode like pea soup ’n’ asphalt mixed together on the side of an Arizona highway in midsummer at noon. An extremely original work: I’ve never heard anything quite like this before and most likely won’t again.

Label: PSF Catalog Number: PSFD-79 Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 11 Total Time: 56:31 Country: Japan Released: 1996 Related Artists: Fushitsusha More: Forced Exposure, Official, Poison Pie, Wikipedia

I have no idea who or what Gerry Miles was, is or will be—other than the title of this very pleasant-sounding collaboration between Keiji Haino on vocals and percussion accompanied by Alan Licht on organ, Lucy Hamilton on bass clarinet and Melissa Weaver on piano and organ. I can’t really argue with the choice of instrumentation, especially considering the vein they’re goin’ for, which is very nice ’n’ hovering, moody, improvised chamber parade float of a very late-evening kind. All I have to say is climb in bed and close the curtains. Recorded at St. Peters Church in New York on Palm Sunday in 1995.

Label: Atavistic Catalog Number: ALP71CD Format: CD Packaging: Jewel case Tracks: 9 Total Time: 40:46 Country: United States Released: 1996 Related Artists: Fushitsusha More: Forced Exposure, Official, Poison Pie, PSF, Wikipedia