Massively anticipated deluxe 5xLP reissue of one of the most legendary of samizdat recordings from mythic Japanese underground group Les Rallizes Denudes. Originally released on the mysterious Univive label, Phoenix have stepped into the breach and re-packaged it at an affordable price complete with a glossy box and an insert with liner notes from the Spanish author Moshe Idel. Name after the Dylan bootleg that launched the whole under-the-counter-culture industry, Great White Wonder is a career-spanning overview of primo Rallizes material, stretching from 1974-1980. Disk 1: Meiji Gakuin University, Tokyo, 13/7/74. Disk 2: Shibuya Adan, Tokyo, 1.10.75. Disk 3: Maison Franco-Japonaise, Tokyo, 22.7.77. Bonus Disk: Kanagawa University, 7.11.80. The ‘74 set is a real lip-curling/punk-primitive ride, with some metal-filing guitar cut with ginchy ballads and wild soloing that’s as wayward as Matthew Valentine culminating in a Sweet Sister Ray-style mind-meld version of “The Last One”. The ‘75 disc has a slightly stronger taste of acid, with a heavy delay-damaged sound, a classic track-listing and endless strung-out vocal/guitar forevers. Totally classic. As anyone with a mainline to the true sound of the underground will tell you, 1977 was of course *the* year of the Rallizes (forget The Pistols!) and the 77 set is pure nada-blues destructo-rock with a gorgeous ballroom-dissolving-in-space sound that is perfectly wasted and defined by euphoric solos from Mizutani. This set also includes the entirety of the ‘bonus’ CD that came with initial copies of the Univie release, a 1980 set that is pure Exploding Plastic Inevitable. The ultimate document of the ultimate Japanese underground group, but in an edition of 1000 copies it won’t be around forever. Highly recommended! 

Much-anticipated reissue of this legendary Rallizes compilation put together by guitarist/vocalist Mizutani himself, originally as the soundtrack source to the Rallizes movie. Previously very briefly available via the Japanese Univive label, it's the closest we'll ever come to Mizutani fully articulating his own particular vision for Rallizes and of course it is as gloriously fucked and impossible to fully grasp as you might have hoped. Coming across like something between Sonic Youth's Sonic Death cassette, the most fucked-up Grateful Dead boot and Dean Benedetti's recordings of Charlie Parker's improvised solos, the fidelity moves from sub-Dead C nada-fi through to truly sublime endless hi-fi jams. The material seems to have been chosen on the strength of Mizutani's soloing alone and as such some of his most mind-flaying six string moves are secreted in here as well as radical headcharges through all of the group's key material. Limited/numbered edition of 1000 copies, already completely sold out at source. Vinyl version due soon: with alla these Rallizes sets selling out on release email us to be added to the reserve list if you want to make sure that you don’t miss out. Highly recommended!

Necessary CD reissue of a particularly inspired side from Tenjo Sajiki, the Japanese avant guerrilla theatre company founded by legendary poet/film maker/counter-cultural provocateur Shuji Terayama that existed contemporaneously to first wave avantists like Flower Travellin' Band, Keiji Haino's Lost Aaraaff and Les Rallizes Denudes and that featured dusted acid/rock/folk/avant moves composed and executed by the young wunderkind JA Caesar. Alan Cummings rates this particular one as a real early peak for Caesar's music. Written for a series of foreign performances in 1971 - Nancy, Rotterdam, Belgrade, Zagreb and other areas of the Balkans - Caesar is rumoured to have composed and recorded all of the music for Jashumon/Heresy in the space of a few hours the night before the troupe left. This particular recording is drawn from the only Japanese performance of the play, January 1972 in Tokyo. Released at the time on a now very rare side by Victor, the music is fairly astounding throughout and for the most part defies any attempt at pithy generic description but the piece include flashes of huge, organ-led marches supported by clouds of choral song and throat-shredding death/folk vocals, brief episodes of forlorn traditional breath lost in a thin soup of electronics and gongs, massed acid chants ala Ya Ho Wha 13 and bursts of modal guitar psych. As featured in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler. Numbered edition of 1000 copies. Highly recommended.

Necessary CD edition of this wild Japanese underground side put together by Yuya Uchida, soon-to-be founder of Flower Travelling Band . The whole project came together w/Uchida blown away by the new psychedelic sounds coming out of London and determined to bring the revolution to the Japanese underground. With that in mind he put together a group of instrumental killers w/vocalist Remi Aso and commissioned a cover snap of them all posing naked in a field. Challenge! became one of the founding documents of the new Japanese music, with massively zoned cover versions of tracks by Big Brother, Cream, Hendrix that sound like Royal Trux play Black Sabbath. It stands as one of the earliest transubstantiations of primo western rock into instant Japanese satori. 

Much-needed LP edition of Takehisa Kosugi of Taj Mahal Travellers mesmeric minimalist drone classic, Catch Wave. Recordings from 1974 that mix peaking vocals, zoned violin and a wall of oscillators to take Japanese psychedelic stylings through the roof. A seminal album and a central Japanese underground release. Highly recommended!

Numbered edition of 1000 copies CD reissue of this 1972 album from Flower Travelling Band, the follow-up to the psychedelic masterpiece Satori, recorded in Canada after they hooked up with Lighthouse and released on Atlantic. Made In Japan continues the cultic metal vibe of Satori with a high Gothic/Central European aspect that could almost be Necronomicon, complete with choirs of massed voices and the kind of monolithic amplifier violence that would reconcile Tony Iommi-style six string abuse w/Valkyrie stylings and oppressive downer ballads. 

Much-anticipated limited edition vinyl reissue of this legendary Rallizes compilation put together by guitarist/vocalist Mizutani himself, originally as the soundtrack source to the Rallizes movie. Previously very briefly available via the Japanese Univive label, it's the closest we'll ever come to Mizutani fully articulating his own particular vision for Rallizes and of course it is as gloriously fucked and impossible to fully grasp as you might have hoped. Coming across like something between Sonic Youth's Sonic Death cassette, the most fucked-up Grateful Dead boot and Dean Benedetti's recordings of Charlie Parker's improvised solos, the fidelity moves from sub-Dead C nada-fi through to truly sublime endless hi-fi jams. The material seems to have been chosen on the strength of Mizutani's soloing alone and as such some of his most mind-flaying six string moves are secreted in here as well as radical headcharges through all of the group's key material. Highly recommended!

Vinyl edition of the final album by Japanese Kosmische legends Far East Family Band. Recorded in Los Angeles in 1977 and released on the Californian All Ears label after the departure of Kitaro, Tenkujin steps back from the free-drone abyss that was Parallel World, focusing more on taut post-Harmonia/Cluster style electro hymnals cut up w/planets of progressive confusion, the usual heavy Floyd influence and a zoned new age style that would point the way to mainman Fumio Miyashita’s later career as a composer of ‘Healing Music’.

Necessary vinyl edition of this wild Japanese underground side put together by Yuya Uchida, soon-to-be founder of Flower Travelling Band . The whole project came together w/Uchida blown away by the new psychedelic sounds coming out of London and determined to bring the revolution to the Japanese underground. With that in mind he put together a group of instrumental killers w/vocalist Remi Aso and commissioned a cover snap of them all posing naked in a field. Challenge! became one of the founding documents of the new Japanese music, with massively zoned cover versions of tracks by Big Brother, Cream, Hendrix that sound like Royal Trux play Black Sabbath. It stands as one of the earliest transubstantiations of primo western rock into instant Japanese satori. 

Gorgeous repro reissue of this massively potent set, one of the cornerstones of any collection of celestially-sourced higher hand. Recorded live via a host of third eyes in August of 1974, this is the legendary Japanese free-form/psychedelic ensemble's masterpiece, two discs that pass in and out of corporeal form via huge doses of heavily-processed violin (played by Fluxus operative Takehisa Kosugi), starfields of percussion and wordless ritual chant. Hearing this one again this afternoon, it felt like a real slap around the head, as deep within the very fibre of its sound/process you can trace the source of so much modern tongue, from Double Leopards and Skaters through Throbbing Gristle, Vibracathedral Orchestra and onwards. As featured in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler. Highest possible recommendation!