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Artist: AKIRA & COUNT BUFFALO, ISHIKAWA Title: Uganda: Afurikan Rokku no Yoake (Dawn Of African Rock) Format: CD Label: Tiliqua Country: Japan Price: $31.00 |
| "The start of a new series focusing on lost and obscure sonic treasures birthed out of the underbelly of Japans New Rock revolution during the period 1969-1978 is spearheaded by the long announced reissue of one of the rarest discs to seep out of that seedy, incestuous scene. Ishikawa Akira & Count Buffalos Uganda: Afurikan Rokku no Yoake originally saw the light of day on February 5th, 1972 on Toshiba Records as part of their 4 Channel Q.M. Sound series but quickly sank into the depths obscurity, making that only a handful of copies were actually sold while the remaining stock was withdrawn due to very depressing sales and eventually melted down and destroyed. The disc remained a well kept secret for all these years and only a small circle of die-hard music lovers have ever seen an actual original copy, making it these days one of the most treasured and hunted down Japanese rock artifacts. A couple of years ago a bootleg LP edition of the LP came out, sadly sounding quite mediocre but nevertheless rejuvenating a new awareness for the album. Still, rumors as to who were the actual performers on the album floated around freely since the group was simply listed as Count Buffalo with no detailed breakdown of who actually played on the album, and as a result, there has been much fevered speculation over the years. Therefore, Tiliqua Records thought it wise to release this sonic gem properly -- they hunted down the license, unraveled the legal entanglements, acquired access to the original mastertapes and subsequently also took on the quest to track down the actual players involved. So now, with this fully-authorized reissue, we can finally reveal the full line-up or the key players involved and add some insight into the records background, thanks to the kind participation of Ugandas composer, Mr. Muraoka Takeru. Musically speaking, Ishikawa Akira & Count Buffalos Uganda - Afurikan Rokku no Yoake is a vicious psychedelic whirlwind monster of a disc where primitive Afro-spiritual and tribal ethnic percussive blow-outs cross-pollinate with lysergic New Rock fuzz-a-delic dementia, stirring up enough dust and boulders like two-barreled guns coming out of the demon hole. Still, Uganda is more than just that, and although it is deceptively intense, it is simultaneously casual in feel yet meticulous in its musical detail and lyrical economy. And seen in retrospect, I can now proclaim that this album stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the best records of that golden era, and it was one of Japans 1970s underground scenes defining moments. In short. it is a totally lethal slide that does not fail to create an arresting listening experience. As is the case with all of Tiliqua Records releases, this one is also crafted out with meticulous care and eye for detail. The CD comes housed in a miniature version of the actual slim-cased LP box set, complete with obi and extensive 8-paged Japanese/ English liner notes, illustrated with some archival footage. One-time only, very limited press, housed in a sturdy hard card mini-LP styled slim box set-styled gatefold jacket. Digitally remastered from the original master tapes and graced with faithfully reproduced artwork (although slightly adapted for the single CD box set version) and obi. One-time limited press due to the nature of the box set jacket." - Tiliqua. |
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Artist: SKOGSBERG, JOAKIM Title: Jola Rota Format: CD Label: Tiliqua Country: Japan Price: $29.00 |
| "First time official reissue of one of Swedens greatest and sadly unknown psychedelic treasure is this sole album by Joakim Skogsberg out of 1971. Tiliqua acquired the exclusive rights to this gem and this reissue comes with a remastered sound taken directly from the original master tapes and with the kind assistance of Mr. Joakim Skogsberg himself. The album Jola Rota is about Joakim Skogsbergs love for the grandiose Swedish landscapes, which has put its imprint upon his songs. On Jola Rota Joakim single-handedly created a minimal psychedelic and acid folk masterpiece infused with incredible soundscapes of derailed fuzzed out violins, soaring guitars, rattling hand percussion, droning vocals and pulsating bass rhythms, complimented by Joakims jolor, a special singing style with roots in an ancient Swedish tradition of folk music. The album was for the most part recorded out in the woods, with a portable Nagra reel-to-reel tape recorder and a simple Philips cassette recorder. Upon completion it was suggested for the album to appear on Gump Records, a subsidiary of Metronome. The music was just too underground and weird to be in Metronomes register. Apart from Joakims original recordings, some overdubs and effects were done in the studio during the autumn of 1971. Some of the droning sounds on the record were recorded in a tiny closet in Kärrtorp; a suburb to Stockholm where Joakim was living at the time. The album was pressed into approximately 1000 copies and only about 300 to 400 copies were actually sold. The rest of them were melted down and used in the pressing of other Gump records, making Jola Rota a much rumored and sought after Swedish droned-out and mesmerizing psychedelic artifact. This edition Jola Rota comes housed in high quality sturdy hard card mini-LP styled gatefold sleeve. Original artwork is faithfully reproduced and previously unpublished archival pictures can be found within the liner notes and gatefold. The liner notes are by the hand of Adam Gustafsson. Digitally remastered from the original master tapes and graced with faithfully reproduced artwork and obi. One time only limited pressing."-Tiliqua |
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Artist: TAKAYANAGI, MASAYUKI Title: Independence - Tread On Sure Ground Format: CD Label: Tiliqua Country: Japan Price: $26.00 |
| "New release in Tiliqua Records ongoing Archival Series is this quintessential album by Takayanagi Masayuki. It was his debut recording as a leader with his newly erected unit The New Directions, a trio consisting out of bassist Yoshizawa and drummer Toyozumi "Sabu" Yoshisaburo. Recorded at the Teichiku Kaikan studios on 18 September 1969 (released in 1970), "Independence ⿿ Tread on Sure Ground," is largely regarded as the first true classic of Japanese free jazz. The group thrashes out an entirely new Japanese methodology for improvisation based on Takayanagis theories about progressive art. As Alan Cummings explains in his liner notes, the groups sonic outburst is pregnant with an urgent intensity similar to a violent rotating windstorm. "An electric guitar string is pinged with a sour and markedly unlovely resonance. It is left to fade away naturally, its dying whisper replaced with a wavering feedback tone that grows steadily in volume and thickness. Against the slow feedback wave, a sudden loud percussive crash, urgent staccato rolls across the toms, and the dry rasp of a rattle. A choppy, non-sequential series of chords from the guitar, still mouth-puckeringly bitter is set against the warmer resonance of an alternately bowed and plucked double bass. Each instrument sounds self-contained, like lunar bodies spinning on their own axes at different tempos, but locked together by unfathomably complex rules of motion. Additional percussive rattles and scrapes have been overdubbed to fill in the blank space. Tendrils of feedback snake in and out, like cosmic dust from some cataclysmic celestial event. The playing is exploratory and deliberate, technically adept and keenly judged, easily sustaining interest and motion across the tracks eleven minutes. Its sense of focused concentration is more akin to the European free improvisation of AMM or The Spontaneous Music Ensemble than the violent ecstasies of American fire music. - Alan Cummings ⿿ from the liner notes. The CD reissue includes also the bonus track ⿿Mass Projection which was originally issued on the compilation album Guitar Workshop (Teichiku, 1970). This CD is housed in a high quality mini-LP styled gatefold sleeve, completed with obi and extensive 4-paged illuminating liner notes by Alan Cummings. Original artwork is faithfully reproduced. One time only limited pressing." - Tiliqua. |
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Artist: TOMOKAWA, KAZUKI Title: Satoru Format: LP Label: Tiliqua Country: Japan Price: $36.00 |
| "Limited LP set of 450 numbered copies and all but 50 copies stayed in Japan. We have the last of the 50 copies available from the label to sell for the USA market.⿿Satoru is Tomokawa Kazukis first ever LP release in over 20 years time and Tiliqua Records is proud to be able to release this sonic gem. ⿿Satoru was previously only available as part of the 13 CD Box set that PSF Records put out some years ago and has never been available outside of the set. Now ⿿Satoru is finally available apart from the illustrious box and is been rebirthed as an LP, housed in sturdy and heavy jacket adorned with Tomokawas artwork. Coming with the LP is a two-paged insert printed on high quality glossy paper. It contains liner notes penned down by Alan Cummings and Johan Wellens, notes that shed some clarity on Tomokawas universe, historical background, poetic qualities and the position he takes in within a long line of historical Japanese poets. In order to get a glimpse of the aural regions this album will steer into, this is an as close a comparison one can have using plain words. ⿿There is a raw immediacy to Tomokawas performances that effortlessly hurdles many linguistic barriers, speaking direct to the listeners nerves and emotions Tomokawas voice constantly storms against the confines of his own vaguely symbolist words, harshly screaming or melodically moaning, the emotional voltage that courses through his delivery constantly threatening to melt their neural circuitry. (AC) and ⿿Tomokawa succeeds in triggering apocalyptic waves of emotionalism through the tiniest gestures exhorted from his guttural howls and fevered guitar strummings. Keeping a razor-sharp balance between self-tormenting pained gloominess and soul-searching poetic lyricism he manages to create a tense and innovative acoustic music, sounding simultaneously ancient and contemporaneously authentic. And it is here that his especial strength resides, a music fully drenched in the past, yet so attuned to the present moment. His snarling howl and single syllable guttural moans seem to bridge time and space, epoch and eras; hermetic yowls recalling Enka crooners, circus sideshow barkers, carnival callers, Nikkatsu movie gangsters and soft-hearted balladeers, all embodied in the persona of Tomokawa Kazuki - From the liner notes. One time only press of 450 copies. |
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Artist: TREE PEOPLE, THE Title: s/t Format: CD Label: Tiliqua Country: Japan Price: $23.00 |
| "Tiliqua Records is psyched about being able to present a whole new audience and generation with the lysergic beauty of the Tree Peoples sole recorded artifact, a privately released acid folk gem out of 1979. In times when people are all getting excited about media-created scenes like ⿿New Weird America and ⿿Freak Folk, they seem to overlook the fact that such music was already being created decades ago. The Tree People is evidence of such a splash of creativity that sadly enough was doomed to disappear within the cracks of obscurity. Until now. Tiliqua was granted the opportunity to restore this gem and with the kind collaboration of Mr. Cohen of the Tree People, who provided me with the master tapes and a seemingly unlimited support, Tiliqua was able to prepare this reissue. To me, this album is one of the singular most beautiful gems to have crossed my path and words always fall short in an attempt to describe the aural sensation it unleashes. ⿿Upon listening today this hushed and intimate feeling still resonates through the music ⿿ the record possesses an extraordinarily potent atmosphere that still intoxicates the senses after so many years. Over a combustible backing dominated by shimmering strings, bone-shaking hand percussion rhythms, and quivering sensuous threads of eastern-toned flute playing, the group succeeded in concocting up a syncretic combination of meditative Indian raga, western folk stylings and idiosyncratic melodic ideas. The music breathes out intimacy and communicates with a rare directness - hooking you instantly with sheer aural bliss derived from the melody, from the flowing beat, from the sound of the words and syllables and of all those separate elements interacting with each other, rendered into a concentrated, gracious flow of lunar notes. The albums compositions have so many hidden qualities, all breathing out deep and affectionate sentiments that reveal, just like a lotus flower centered on the axis with its petals unfolding towards the circumference, a streamlined adhesion towards the groups own singular creed. Listen to it and you may feel like awakening from a deep slumber, your unconsciousness leaking away as aspects of reality slowly mix in with the rest of your already blurred mindset. First time ever official reissue, housed in a sturdy mini-LP styled gatefold sleeve." - Tiliqua. |