The latest release from free saxophone/guitar/percussion actionist Masayoshi Urabe presents another couple of lungfuls of rock ‘n’ roll breathing with long passages of charged dead air punctuated by immolating roars and sad blue dirges that have as much to do with Don Dietrich, Lou Reed and Jojo Hiroshige as Albert Ayler, Kaoru Abe and Peter Brötzmann. This is some beautifully charged throat action: the first piece sounds like a distant cousin of the piece he performed at last year’s Instal fest in Glasgow and god knows that show twisted a bunch of ears out of shape for good. Urabe’s armoury here also includes metal chains, guitar and harmonica. Great cover shot too, with Urabe primed for a guerrilla assault. One of the most regularly fascinating of Tokyo’s next wave. Recommended.

A compilation that culls tracks from a series of ‘lecture concerts' that took place between September 2003 and February 2004 at Mesar Haus, Tokyo. Kicks off with a fantastically dense hurdy-gurdy drone from Keiji Haino and also features tracks from guitarist Kazuo Imai, pianist Junichiro Okuchi, shamisen master Michihiro Sato, turntablist Otomo Yoshihide and saxophonist Masayoshi Urabe.

New album from this Japanese saxophone outlaw, recorded live in August of 2007 in a converted saki brewery on the shores of Lake Biwa, with an orchestra of insects in attendance. This one has a massive depth of field to it, with blurry semi-audible environmental sounds positioned in various perspectives which Urabe by turns illuminates and obliterates. Some beautifully on-point playing here, running from tiny illuminated bubbles of breath through to gorgeous sunrise tones, with Urabe playing in a gentler and more straightforwardly gorgeous style than on previous releases. The second track features a guest appearance from Kiyoharu Kuwiyama of Kuwiyama-Kijima on metal-janks and cello, with Urabe switching to accordion, toy flute and harmonica. Recommended.

Original copies of Chie Mukai's OOP second solo album, released in 2000 in an edition of 300 copies that immediately sold out on issue. Comes in a gorgeous silkscreened sleeve with Alan Sherry’s usual classy style. Three tracks recorded live at Kid Ailack Art Hall in Tokyo by fellow provocateur Masayoshi Urabe, Mukai uses vocals, er-hu, kengali, rings and cymbals. The music is slow, spacious folk-trance with the knotty droning sonorities of the er-hu sounding like the folk music of a phantom planet. A very melancholy set that feels like a more tactile, primitive take on the endless tides of Takehisa Kosugi's legendary Catch Wave.