Japanese, Japanoise, Psych, Noise, Krautrock, Progressive, Rock; CD - Ex Used condition
The album includes liner notes by Damo Suzuki (ex. Can). ‘Dream of Liquid’ was created for Mandog’s first UK tour held in June 2011 and mastered by Souichiro Nakamura, who mastered recordings by a number of artists such as Yura Yura Teikoku and Guitar Wolf. The line-up of the band for this album is Keiichi Miyashita (the founder of Mandog, Godman, Wabo-Chao), Akira Kikuchi (Kawaguchi Masami’s New Rock Syndicate) and Masataka Fujikake (Shibusashirazu, ex. Zeni Geva).
"the ensemble playing here veers from frenetic ecstasy, like a super-charged soft machine, to mournful synth-dressed marches which recall mid 70s giants of progressive searching like hatfield of the north and that other wyatt project matching mole. the guitar/synth/bass/drum set up nails each piece to the floor with retro stylings that also point to a future which can only be imagined whilst at the heights of humanist thinking." Rough Trade
Electronic, Experimental, Drone, Folk, Japanese, Japan, Psych, Masaki Batoh, Ghost; CD - Ex Used condition
Brain pulse music is made using a stereotypically goofy-looking contraption, one that features a wired headset and a readout monitor on a cart. If someone told me it was an object retrieved from Nikola Tesla's laboratory, I might believe them. Brain pulse music was initially conceived to treat patients with "congenital abnormality of the cerebral nervous system." It is generated via a device that consists of a headpiece, goggles, and a "motherboard." Brain waves are sent via radio to the computer, which translates them into wave pulses and then into sound. Batoh had a Brain pulse machine machine created for this project, which transformed from an experimental endeavor to a therapeutic one in the wake of the earthquake. The seven tracks on Brain pulse music were prayers and requiems, according to Batoh. Those words suggest a projected empathy to the victims; listening to Brain pulse music, though, it seems just as likely that the album was a vehicle through which Batoh and his collaborators coped with the devastation around them. Certainly it's difficult to imagine the discordant reeds of "Kumano Codex 1" or the morphing digital crevasses of "Aiki No Okami" being of much use to the injured or grieving, but I can absolutely imagine that long, meditative pieces here were salves for their creators.
Acid Mothers Temple, Psychedelic, Japanese, Japanoise, Noise, Experimental; CD - Ex Used condition
This newest solo outing from Kawabata Makoto is very different from most Acid Mothers Temple records, however. Eschewing guitars almost completely, this album features three long pieces of subtly shifting electronic drones and vocal loops. "I'm In Your Inner Most" is a psychedelic drone journey to the center of your mind. Makoto pushes the distortion on his electric organ, and fills out the texture with synthesizers, violins and a female vocal sample that randomly fades in and out of the mix. Not very easily digestible at first, upon repeated listenings you begin to sense the true cosmic transendence of his music. LaMonte Young's influence can be heard in the first track - a long, shape-shifting high-pitched squeal that cleanses the listener's mind of all thought, leaving only the rapturous sensation of sound. The second track begins with the same drone, but adds delightfully cosmic keyboard arpeggios and cyclical melodies. Even throughout the beautiful melodic sections, Makoto continues to push the noise and percussive distortion so that the listener remains in a completely trancelike state while investigating the astral worlds that the keyboards usher you through. Shades of Tangerine Dream and Terry Riley become apparent towards the end of this track, as the synthesizer loops take prominence. The third track "Oculation (remix version)" contains the same organ tones and repetitive synthesizers as the first two tracks, but adds some atonal guitar feedback into the mix. "I'm In Your Inner Most" is definitely an album that requires active listening to enjoy......
Japanese, Japanoise, Noise, Psych, Experimental, Rock; CD - Ex Used condition
In its original form this album dates back to the early days of Melt Banana, seeing an initial release in 1994 on British cassette label Chocolate Monk. This reissue is of the 1999 A-Zap edition and In typical Melt Banana fashion it crams 32 tracks into a brisk 28 minutes, exhibiting a sense of efficiency only previously found in Napalm Death's catalogue. The first side of the original cassette was occupied by a live recording made at an improvisation festival in 1992, while the second side was recorded to a multitrack cassette recorder in 1994. This is about as raw as the band have ever sounded: you can hear their raucous beginnings and their characteristically playful approach to blowing your ears off first finding its feet on this album. Punk rock has never sounded like so much fun - this is an absolute blast.
Japanese, Japanoise, Grind, Psych, Experimental, Noise; CD - Ex Used condition
Melt-Banana have absolutely no time for attention spans and neither do I. Their music is at once an entity unto itself and bizarrely essential to music as a whole, likely because there has always been an unspoken demand for hysterically overenergetic ultra-distorted music in the backs of minds of various hyperactive earth-dwelling consumers of music, none of whom have been completely satisfied by the earnestness and overbearing sincerity that runs through the majority of heavy music. Very few bands have it in their craft to be heavy and fun in mutual excess, yet Melt-Banana have made a prolific career out of it and are quite comfortably in their third decade as I type. They’ve always been an abundantly heavy band without any of the scornful misanthropy, politicised sharpness and/or meatheaded obnoxiousness that tends to come with the package. That said, Charlie is without a shadow of a doubt their most aggressive album. After the more scatterbrained, underproduced antics of their previous outings, the girls and boys of MxBx seemed to feel it was time to raise their game on this one; the production is arguably the finest of their whole career, the songs are developed into disarmingly coherent structures, the noise is kept up at absolute fucking maximum from start to finish, and (unusually) many of the songs are laden with an off-hand sense of brutality that adds a different flavour to their trademark goofiness.
Japanese, Japanoise, Rock, Noise, Boris, Merzbow, Southern Lord, Live; Limited Edition Double CD - EX Used condition
Rock Dream is not just the best album Boris ever made, but also one of the finest live albums you will ever hear. Rock Dream was recorded in Tokyo in 2006, one year after the band had just reached its peak in popularity with Pink. Masami Akita (Merzbow) adapts to the environment perfectly. For this one night he’s just the fourth member of Boris. Merzbow’s material has such an incredible presence on his records, but in a collaborative setting he consistently proves to be keenly aware in his supportive roles. Akita never makes a collaboration about him and works his waves of noise and scree to fit his partners. He adds layers of extra haze to the heavy openers “Feedbacker” and “Black Out,” but then focuses his instrument to make the razor edged rush of “Pink” and “Woman on the Screen” sound better than they do in the studio. His versatility becomes clear on Boris’ gentler and prettier tracks, “Rainbow,” and “Flower Sun Rain” (a PYG cover and later a highlight off of 2008’s uneven Smile). “Rainbow” is like a breath of fresh air after the three opening tracks. The song is built on its bass line and Wata’s gentle vocals, which were a rare treat back when “Rainbow” came out. Akita recognizes this and pulls back to allow the spaciousness to develop, creating subtle menacing textures and briefly swooping in with noise. When he adds his spacey laser sounds (trust me there’s not a better way to describe it) into the PYG cover it perfectly blends with the acid soaked bliss, and wisely stays in a supporting role even as the rest of the band builds the song into a massive climax.
Japanese, Japanoise, Acid Mothers Temple, Experimental, Psych, Noise; CD - Ex Used condition
A one time collaboration between the core members of Acid Mothers Temple and the Japanese duo, Afrirampo - Oni-guitar & vocals and Pika-drums & vocals. Best described as 'experimental tribal'. I mean, this CD is out-there. Title track "We Are Acid Mothers Afrirampo" (27:41) is highly experimental, trippy with plenty of freaked-out guitar playing. "The Exorcist Of Love" (12:00) is even weirder than the first cut. I mean - what are these guy ON? Really! "The Man From The Magic Mountain" (16:40) features some good whirlwind sound effects and almost jazz-like arrangements. Even though this effort is pretty strange, I'm giving it a four-star rating because to me, it sounds like all players here are putting in over-time to busting their butts to record this title.
Surburbia, Punk, Heavy Metal, Satanism, Social Issue, Youth Culture; Paperback Book - Good Used condition (Ex Library book, has library stickers, external and internal)
Teenage Wasteland provides memorable portraits of "rock and roll kids" and shrewd analyses of their interests in heavy metal music and Satanism. A powerful indictment of the often manipulative media coverage of youth crises and so-called alternative programs designed to help "troubled" teens, Teenage Wasteland draws new conclusions and presents solid reasons to admire the resilience of suburbia's dead end kids. "The best book on contemporary youth culture."―Rolling Stone
Punk, Underground, Comic, Adults Only, Australian; Large Scale Paperback Book - New
COLLECTED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ONE VOLUME, HIGH VOLTAGE PUBLISHING PRESENTS A SELECTION OF DONNY RATS WORK GATHERED FROM THE LAST TWENTY YEARS. INCLUDING OBSCURE AND LONG FORGOTTEN MINI COMIX, FANZINES, MAIL ART, GIG FLYER'S, ONE OFFS AND D. RATS OWN NOTORIOUS PUBLICATIONS: HUMAN DOGPOUND, DEVIL WORSHIP AND DNA.
Specs: 160 pages printed on thick 200gsm paper • 230mm x 295mm
PLUS BONUS LIMITED EDITION STUFF: (see images)
1. Compilation CD with selected tracks from D. Rat's music career.
2. D. Rat Mini Poster for you to frame.
BE ADVISED: THIS BOOK CONTAINS ADULT MATERIAL AND IS NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN
Art, Street Art, Graphic Design, Skateboarding, Punk, Graffiti; Paperback Book - Ex Used condition
Berlin based graphic designer SUPERBLAST was immersed in the world of punk rock and skateboarding when he discovered graffiti in 1990 and quickly became addicted to the energy and vitality of the street art underground. As a logical evolution of writing with spraypaint, he started a career as graphic designer in 1999. While studying graphic design, he freelanced for several urban brands, had solo and collective art shows. In 2004 he honed his skills in the beautiful craft of creating letters, by attending lessons in Fontdesign from the world-famous Luc(as) de Groot. His unique iconic style and use of color in illustrations, lettering and wall pieces lead him to projects with some of the most interesting and innovative artists and companies in his field. Most notable are his collaborations with Playstation Portable, Ecko Unltd, Volkl Skateboards, Montana Cans, and many more. SUPERBLAST has designed clothing, graphics, magazine ads, and skateboard decks. Neo Utopia The Art & Work of Superblast is a fascinating career retrospective from a pioneer of the European graffiti world. Included is a personal selection of graphic design work, graffiti, illustration, ad campaigns, logo design, typography and related art of the past 17 years as well as sketches and full color photos of work in progress. 160 pages
Torture, Violence, Execution, Medievel, Grusome, Disturbing; Hardcover Book - VG+ Used condition (small tear in rear spine)
Erik Ruhling assembles an unmatched array of torture tools invented exclusively for the infliction of pain and the ending of life, each carefully researched with an accompanying full color, highly detailed rendering. This beautifully presented book features classics like the Iron Maiden and the Guillotine, as well as more rarified connoisseur's fare such as the Scavenger's Daughter and the Ear Chopper. And if the Tongue Tearer is not to your taste, there's always the Breast Ripper or the Drunkard's Cloak.
Japanese, Violent, Unearthed Films, Takashi Miike, Prequel, Gore; DVD - New
Masato Tanno's 1-ICHI is the live action prequel to Takashi Miike's 'Ichi The Killer'. In it, we get to witness the teenage roots of Ichi's manic-depressive beginnings and the origins of his monster-sized kicks. Tanno serves up Ichi's psychological, as well as physical beatings. It has plenty of violence as well as some scenes that will make you shiver. This one follows Ichi in his High school days.
