Hopefully having garnered some interest from the Japanese psych-ly inclined hordes, Black Editions are here probably more about the business of shedding light on the weirder and less legendary pieces.
Kev Nickells
221 posts
...these records, finally, are perhaps two sides of the Monk coin -- one a stretching and contortion of what was already there, one pinning Monk to the mast of improvised music and sailing off into the whorling void. Big up yourselves, everyone concerned.
It's kind of psychedelic music, if that wasn't principally rubbish. The reference for me is something like Les Rallizes Dénudés, thought that is also off. What LRD do is to take a basic doo-wop poppy structure in the rhythm section and have a guitar go waaaay into the red. Fushitsusha use that as a kind of springboard, and take out the predictable rhythm section. Where most rock music -- most music -- deals in clearly repetitious elements, pulses and such, Fushitsusha take whatever is repetitious and hide it.
...the whole is a -- dare I say -- pretty but disconcerting melange of electronic elements that veer between noise and rhythm. It's certainly not the kind of textural play of musique concrète or noise, but it's also not so sedate as to qualify as ambient music.
having seen it, this is definitely what I should've wanted, and you should too ..Absolutely fucking horrendous but compelling and gorgeous, beautifully and intricately set, sound is overbearing and violent like industrial concerts of yore.
This is a fairly legendary record in the world of crate digging. It goes for eye-watering amounts on Discogs, so a re-issue is very welcome. It's absolutely a weird record that everyone should hear. The reason people usually pick up on it is because it bears a resemblance to acid house.
...in summary: banging festival. I don't want to miss out on the important social stuff -- it was really heartening to see so many people as much interested in chatting to distant (and often online) pals as they were watching music. Largely the acts were new names on me (no surprise -- I don't follow this scene much) and all of them deserving of the larger stage.
There's a bit of a cultish collectorism about a lot of Japanese psych (certainly the record prices bear that out) but, annoyingly, the records are often outstanding.
It’s kind of amazing just how popular that KEXP performance is and, correspondingly, how much their first album goes for. UK shows are sold out already, so they’re very much a hot ticket in 2026 ..Angine de Poitrine do a bang-up job of investing some new life into the old rock beast.
...it's certainly singular and perhaps dry, but it's equally a showing of some breathtaking capacity for keeping the listener on their toes. He closes with some leaping and clattering that belie his seventy-three years -- Keiji Haino's not ready to stop hitting shit really fucking hard and long may he continue.
"Do we need Fall reissues" seems like the wrong question. We're getting them and they're going to be somewhere between glut and porcelain. Though it being the Fall you take the rough with the less rough. It's a wheat from the chuff review.
Truly, Slightly, Overflowing, Whereabout Of Good Will is a darkly foreboding and quite a tough listen, but it's oddly charming throughout. There's a lot of careful weighting to contributions and a good amount of careful listening and pivoting -- so far as musicianship goes it's a grand exemplar of a certain trend in often-quiet texture-based improvisation. Haino is a terrifying vocalist so having a whole set where he can go off vocally is a treat.
The clouds of complex microtonal chords in "I" could sit on their own, but there's enough clear, near-melodic notes floating through to make it distinctly composed. I say 'near-melodic' notes because while there's definitely lines that you'd maybe call monodic lines (that is, single notes), they're effervescent enough to never quite land like melody. If it's not clear, this is a lovely effect.
I’m Being Good are back with their somethingth album, and what a number something is. Difficult to describe IBG without reference to a bunch of ’90s bands, but for my money they’ve always had a wit and laconic element that’s missing from your Polvos and Truman’s Waters.
...it's a cracking year. There's a lot of trance. There's a dearth of too-slow cack. I think all the proper tropes of this century are in place. English is slipping from the position as language of choice for much of Europe, which doubtless reflects a belief in a new internationalism; or if nothing else, reflects the dogged incapacity of Europeans to imagine a world beyond liberal paralysis. It's got silly, it's got sad, it's got belters, it's got goths. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Happy gay Christmas, one and all.
So I've been doing these wee previews for a while and there's always a faint sense, tickling in my head, that the Eurovision a person sees in Eurovision week isn't necessarily the whole of the thing. Because of course most countries have qualifying competitions. [...] Buoyed by this, I thought I'd go whole hog this year and see what the other competitions had to offer.
His playing on Sidewalks In Motion bears a fair amount of resemblance -- a drummer that's worth listening to. Lots of big dynamics in paradiddles, ever-present and holding things down, but rarely bandstanding. A lot of skittering goes on, but never into the realm of free improv.
Mdou Moctar has, in the last decade or so, ripped through the consciousness of whatever we're calling underground music these days. First with the Music From Saharan Cellphones (very autotune, very drum machines) and later with his full band business occupying the rarely seen 'actually good' slot of contemporary psychedelic music. Difficult to say whether Moctar is psych -- I'd say not -- because I gather he's closer to Tuareg traditions than not, but perhaps psych is a broader church than I think of it as.