Keiji Haino + Fushitsusha
Fushitsusha at the Table of the Elements Yttrium Festival in Chicago, Illinois, November 1996.
Hmm, I didn’t know that anyone was allowed to construct an entire sound-realm of their very own that is fascinatingly bent, absolutely one-of-kind and deeply personal. Since the early 1970s, Tokyo Japan’s Keiji Haino has been busy doing precisely that. Outfitting himself all in black with matching waist-length hair plus bangs and permanent sunglasses, Haino’s youthful hormones first exploded with Lost Aaraaff, which was a really crazed, free jazz-inspired trio who pushed out truckloads of piano, drums and shrill, screaming, hyperventilating vocals back in 1971. After dissolving that group, Haino started up another one in 1978 called Fushitsusha. Although it has lapsed in and out of various stages of existence for 20 years, this band has worked consistently to explode galaxy class improv-rock heaviness since the release of their debut 2-LP in 1989.
Other more recent ensembles count Haino as a member, too: the Japanese folk blues and noise improv of Vajra, with Mikami Kan and Toshiaki Ishizuka; the free-flowing, dark improv of Black Stage; and Aihiyo, who play skewed versions of traditional Japanese pop songs. As if that weren’t enough, an ever-growing molten lava flow of his solo and collaboration CDs has been flooding hundreds of bedrooms since the early ’90s, along with live appearances around the world, solidifying Keiji Haino as the premier name in experimental subtlety and your blatant hearing loss. Follow the links below to view categories that function as a veritable “buyer’s guide” of all known official output by Japan’s dark “star.” Thanks for listening.
Aihiyo
Fushitsusha
Keiji Haino
Knead
Lost Aaraaff
Nijiumu
Sanhedolin
Vajra
Note: This article originally appeared in Arcane Candy Issue 1 in the year 2000.
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