Urashima

HIJOKAIDAN - Modern

"Urashima present the first ever vinyl reissue of Kansai based noise band Hijokaidan's Modern, originally released in 1989 on CD. Resting at a fascinating juncture between space-harsh progressive, impro and noise, it was years ahead of its time when it first appeared becoming one of the great holy grails of Japan noise. Creatively thrilling -- filled with emotive highs and lows -- it's a crucial piece in the puzzle of Japan's wild and wonderful history of noise music. The core of the band revolves around the trio Jojo HiroshigheJunko, and Toshiji Mikawa with sporadically the participation of various artists both for live performances and for studio recordings. On this vinyl shows up in the classic three-person line-up leading the way to one of the best reissues among offerings of their incredible discography. Modern double-vinyl LP, carving out uncharted territory between Faust and mid-70s Soft Machine, pushed improvisation into a near undefinable realm. The sound of Hijokaidan subverts and deconstructs; hits you, not like an avalanche, but like a prolonged electrical discharge on neuromuscular receptors: the most visceral and buried side of the noise is hidden in Jojo's pick-ups, in Junko's voice and in the extraordinary as well as exceptional object of Toshiji called "the Mikawa". Across the four sides of vinyl, comprising a sole one works, Hijokaidan stretches out, laying down cycling fuzz rhythms and guitar feedback lines that channel the modalism of John Coltrane and hypnotic psychedelia, before embarking upon scream excursions into the outer realms. Incorporating a playful, pop sensibility, without sacrificing its temperaments of violence and extremism, takes on a terrific vision of organized sound; a notion of the avant-garde which falls far closer to its inception as a structured music, than were it has often historically strayed. Fully remastered for vinyl by Nobuki Nishiyama. Gatefold sleeve with photos formerly featured on the CD, with the iconic group photo reprinted inside the gatefold; edition of 299." - Urashima.
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After nearly a decade of false starts, multiple game plans veering off the rails, and a handful of shattered hopes and/or dreams, the odyssey is finally complete—the new Fusetron site is here.

This is the first phase of a multipart rollout that will span the next few months: the currently browsable stock includes miscellaneous new releases from the past 8+ months (we have a lot of catching up to do), plus approximately a third of our backstock. Note that we’ve reduced/slashed prices on many titles and will continue to do so in order to make room for new stock. We’ll also be expanding / tweaking / improving / debugging the site itself (for example, we still have work to do on the automated international postage system, not to mention the inevitable inventory discrepancies that come with transferring an ancient and massive database to a new system).

Over the next few months, as we take inventory, clean house, and delve into our storage, we will be uploading thousands of additional items, gradually, on a near-daily basis. This will include the majority of the LPs, as well as many titles, in all formats, once thought long-gone. Many currently “sold out” items are likely to resurface.

Finally, once our general backstock is up (probably in the next two or three months) we’ll begin making our extensive stockpile of rarities available online for the first time: tons of random out-of-print titles, "deadstock," warehouse finds, secondhand collectibles, etc., accumulated over the past few decades.

Frequent/returning customers will be getting early access to these items. Details to follow on how this will work (a priority mailing list? a 'frequent flyer'-like program?), but it will not be based on dollars spent. We want to reward those who consistently support us, especially in the discogs marketplace era (to those who show up trying to poach five copies of a one-off rarity, and nothing else, ever… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).

So—we suggest you take some time to dig through the site—even we’ve been surprised by what’s been turning up, and there’s much more to come.
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