Mind-blowing reissue of one of the all-time greatest Japanese underground artefacts, Far Out’s epic 1973 stone, Nihonjin. Far Out, led by Fumio Miyashita, would eventually morph into the kosmische synth outfit Far East Family Band but this proto-debut remains the most wailing, guitar-heavy statement of his career. The album consists of two long tracks ala the early Ash Ra Tempel albums, the 18 minute “Too Many People” and the 20 minute title track. “Too Many People” emerges from a void of delay and the sound of winds blowing through space to a triumphal phased keyboard intro that in turn gives way to a simple, descending guitar pattern and an aching lead vocal that is blown apart by some of the most ecstatic single note guitar histrionics of your lifetime. The effect is comparable to Funkadelic’s side-long Maggot Brain jam, with a clean fuzz sound exploding in arcs of tone over a crunching rhythm section. The title track brings in some sitar and heavier raga stylings and another beautifully bleak vocal over loose nod-out rhythms but the destination is still guitar oblivion, with more endless soloing to the point of destruction. A total classic, back in print. Packaged in a gatefold sleeve, this was in Julian Cope’s Japrocksampler Top 50. Highly recommended.

First ever remotely-available double LP edition of this classic album from the most mysterious and enigmatic Japanese underground group, Les Rallizes Denudes. Definitely the place to start for any Rallizes/Mizutani neophytes, Heavier Than A Death In The Family captures the monomaniacal quintessence of this amazing group, with simple two-note bass pulses propelling endless fuzz and space echo solos and delayed vocals through a fog of amplifier feedback. Features supremely ragged versions of a bunch of classic tracks: “People Can Choose”, “The Night Collectors”, “Enter The Mirror”, “Strung Out Deeper Than The Night”. One of the corner stones of the Japanese underground sound. Number 3 in Julian Cope’s Japrocksampler. Heavy duty sleeves pressed on 180g vinyl. Highly recommended.

Another unlikely vinyl reissue of a classic side from this legendary Japanese psych rock group. Blind Baby Has Its Mother Eyes is one of the most outrageously fucked-up visions of psychedelic excess to escape the prodigious gravity of the Japanese underground. Consisting of three long tracks, this is Rallizes at their most strung-out and extended. At points Mizutani’s fuzz and space echo soloing obliterate the group entirely, giving the album a White Light/White Heat style intensity. At other points his six string sounds closer to interstellar interference or pure white noise, buzzing all over the group like a fleet of plugged-in wasps. The vocals are languorous and supremely wasted, soaked in delay, while the group ride outrageous two-chord progressions straight into the sun. One of the best versions of their legendary show-closer, “The Last One”, too. Number twelve in Julian Cope’s Japrocksampler. Heavy duty sleeves pressed on 180g vinyl. Highly recommended.

Double LP reissue of this 1972 album from the legendary Speed, Glue & Shinki, Japan’s most dysfunctional power trio. Wrapped in a sleeve designed by Michihiro Kimura of Taj Mahal Travellers, this self-titled double album documents the group’s drug-addled implosion while expanding the thug-psych styles of their debut by bring in Moogs and aiming their third eyes towards the stars, with trippy electronics squelched under foot by mile high riffs and a rhythm section that is pure Frankenstein.