Come On Feel the Noise

Re-uploaded by request  08/19/2024

 

 

This started out being about some Japanese angels in heavy syrup, then it took on a noisy life of its own & became much more. Away we go…

In 1989, Mineko Itakura ran into Mine Nakao at a house party in Osaka, Japan, where Hanadensha (Boredoms bass player Hira Hiyashi's new project) played a gig for Japanese independent label Alchemy Records. The two musicians shared a love for psychedelic rock, so the following year, with the help of Alchemy chairman Jojo Hiroshigea, the all-female rock trio ensemble Angel' in Heavy Syrup formed with Mine – guitar & vocals, Mineko – bass & vocals, & Yoko Mandrake - drums.

Basically Jojo & Alchemy Records were the leaders in the Japanese noise music scene, so Angel' in Heavy Syrup, with their gracefully meditative psychedelic progressive rock style was an odd duck. They released their debut album Angel' in Heavy Syrup in 1991. Since there was a good market for their sound in the US, the album was released on Subterranean Records the following year.

Yoko was replaced by Tomoko Takaku on drums (as well as percussion & flute) with a second guitarist Fusao Toda added to augment the band's loud fuzzy guitar-based sound before recording their second album Angel' in Heavy Syrup II in 1993. The new quartet was a smooth, united band, with a new tighter-yet-improvised, mind-expanding, heavy guitar sound elevated by Mineko's angelic vocals. Each successive album was better than the last, but just before Angel' in Heavy Syrup IV (with Naoko Otani – drums) was released in 1999, Tomoko quit the band. Without a steady drummer, the band went into indefinite hibernation.

Angel' in Heavy Syrup – Angel' in Heavy Syrup, Subterranean Records SUB 74-2, 1992.
all decryption codes in comments

Tracklist –

S.G.E. (Space Giant Eye)

きっと逢えるよ (I’m Sure to Meet You)

僕と観光バスに乗ってみませんか (Why Don’t You Take a Sight-seeing Bus with Me)

Underground Railroad

My Dream

Crazy Blues

 

 

 

 

Angel' in Heavy Syrup – II, Alchemy Records ARCD055, 1993.

Tracklist –

Introduction I – Naked Sky High

Crazy Blues

きっと逢えるよ (Kitto Aeru Yo)

Introduction II

I Got You Babe (Sonny & Cher cover)

 

 

 

 

Angel' in Heavy Syrup – III, Alchemy Records ARCD072, 1995.

Tracklist –

Breath of Life

花と夢 (Flower & Dream)

Thirsty Land

僕だけが... (Bokudake-ga)

Water Mind

 

 

 

 

Angel' in Heavy Syrup – IV, Monotremata Records MONOCD04, 1999.

Tracklist –

First Love

Space Conquest

A Series of Water Mind ~ Rubens & the Cathedral

Voyage

Fate

 

 

& two bonus live sets…

Angel' in Heavy Syrup - Live at an Unknown Location

Tracklist –

Underground Railway

S.G.E.

I Got You, Babe

I'm Sure to Meet You!

Naked Sky High

Breath of Life, part 1

Breath of Life, part 2

Breath of Life, part 3

Flower & Dream/Thirst

Introduction I

Naked Sky High reprise

 

 

 

 

Angel' in Heavy Syrup - Live at Kilowatt, San Francisco, 1993.

58 minute set, no separate tracks or tracklist (HELP!!!)

These from friendly visitor Mike...
0:00 Breath of Life
12:00 Flower and Dream
17:36 Thirsty Land
24:54 (unknown - this is either a cover I don't recognize or an original that was never released on an album)
30:10 Crazy Blues
40:54 Bokudake Ga
44:36 Introduction I/Naked Sky High
52:18 Water Mind

 

 

 
 

Here the story jumps to Takushi Yamazaki. Takushi is the manager of Jojo Hiroshige's Alchemy Records  music store.

Takushi 'Maso' Yamazaki has been a busy Japanoise boy. He has been in, at one time or another: Acid Eater; Acid Maso Temple; Andromelos; Bustmonster; Christine 23 Onna; Eb.ersonna; Flying Testicle; Gokurakuji; Kinkakuji; Masomania; & South Saturn Delta while playing with artists as far-flung as Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock, Aube, Merzbow, Jojo, Solmania, Boris, YBO2, K.K. Null, Blixa Bargeld, & The Stars.

Takushi became interested in the idea of noise music when he first heard the sounds of destruction on television as a child. His first exposure to real Japanese noise music was in 1984 by way of Hanatarash's debut LP.  Maso has stated that he was not overly impressed by the LP. Around that same time (also 1984) he discovered L.S.D., an album under the Nord moniker by Hiroshi Oikawa (Oikawa had been a member of Nord with Satoshi Katayama until 1983, when the duo split…both former members continued using the Nord name). Yamazaki's interest in noise grew rapidly from that point onward. He began searching out & ingesting all the noise releases he could find in the underground music stores in & around Osaka.

By 1987, Maso was ready for action. He stopped listening to other noise projects altogether & concentrated on his own unique take on Noise, drawing heavily from the psychedelic music scene of the 60s & 70s while sonically little resembling these influences (Maso had always had an intense interest in films by Alexandro Jodorowski [ like The Holy Mountain, Sante Sangre, & El Topo]  & claims he wished he had worked with American musician Captain Beefheart). He began his own project Masonna [マゾンナ] (sometimes written as the acronym M.A.S.O.N.N.A. which supposedly stands for Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé or "Miss Bloody Anne, or Our Aureoled Nymphomania". It has also been claimed that the name is a pun on pop singer Madonna, being a composite of maso - Japanese for masochist & onna - Japanese for woman alluding again to the fetishistic ‘bloody Anne’. Masonna is one of the best-known Japanese noise projects, right up there with Merzbow.

Masonna's discography is extensive. Maso released a number of limited-edition cassettes soon after starting Masonna. His first label release was the home recorded Masonna Vs. Bananarama on Vanilla records in 1989, followed shortly by the 31-minute two-song EP Shinsen Na Clitoris (Vanilla, 1990), the 31 track Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Aureole ( Alchemy 1993), the 33-minute single-song Super Compact Disc (Alchemy, 1995), & many, many more until he basically retired the Masonna name around 1999 (he did release the Midi Creative Shock Rock (another 31 track wonder) in 2002.

Masonna - Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé, 

Alchemy Records ARCD057, 1993.

Tracklist –

Tracks 1 – 30 Untitled

Track 31 - Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé

 

 

 

 

Masonna – Super Compact Disc, Alchemy Records ARCD073, 1995.

Tracklist –

Super Compact Disc (one 33:31 minute track)

 

 

 

 

Masonna – Sonic Devil, Pinch A Loaf Productions PAL15, 1997.

Single sided 12" 45 (Side 1 clear vinyl – Side 2 drizzled paint design)

Side 1 –

8 Untitled songs

 

 

 

 

Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé – Frequency L.S.D., 

Alien8 Recordings ALIENCD007, 1998.

Tracklist –

14 Untitled Tracks

 

 

 

 

Yamazaki was forced to temporarily cease Masonna activities due to ill health & this allowed him to concentrate more fully on Space Machine.

 

Yamazaki's project Space Machine, that debuted with Cosmos from Diode Ladder Filter (Alchemy, 2001), was devoted to old-fashioned cosmic music for analog synthesizers. From around 1998 Maso had started to incorporate trippy, spacey electronic elements into Masonna performances. In order to better pursue these elements as a whole, he utilized Space Machine, his self-labeled "analog electronic cosmic sound project". For as long as he had been performing under the Masonna moniker, Yamazaki had been an ardent fan of early electronic music from the 50s & 60s. In order to research the impact that electronic sounds had upon the spiritual lineage audible in 60s US & Brit psychedelic music & also 70s Krautrock, Yamazaki began collecting analog synthesizers & vintage electronic equipment. He continuously experimented with these instruments in his home studio, & while groping towards an understanding of their scope & range, he discovered a new direction for his own music, a direction different from his noise work as Masonna.

Space Machine – Cosmos from Diode Ladder Filter, Alchemy Records ARCD132, 2001.

Tracklist –

11 Untitled tracks

 

 

 

 

 

However, by 1995 Maso had teamed up with guitarist Fusao Toda from Angel' in Heavy Syrup & began recording as Christine 23 Onna. The duo seemingly payed homage to 70s German electronic rock & 60s exploitation psych, a long way from Masonna's usual noise chaos, but still a really noisy sound for their chosen influences. They released three works (1996s Space Age Batchelor Pad Psychedelic Music, 2000s Shiny Crystal Planet [a heavy blast of modern electro-noise psych with a retro edge, featuring raw electronics & guitar with breakbeat drums, dense but surprisingly varied & textured] & 2001s Acid Eater).

 

Christine 23 Onna – Shiny Crystal Planet, Alchemy Records ARCD119, 2000.

Tracklist –

Drive to Crystal Planet

Cosmic Jungle

Christine Hop #1

Christine Hop #2

Insect Voice

Mondo Nude Mode

Groovy Spacy '70

Hypnosis

Under Cover of Darkness

Pulse on Pulse

Moon Over

New Dawn on Crystal Planet

 

 

 

 

Christine 23 Onna – Acid Eater, Midi Creative CXCA1106, 2002.

Tracklist –

Fantastico

Acid Now!

The Last Hunter

Acid Eater

Planet Unknown

Space Mondo Topless

Love Galactic

Top of Spot

Wild Private

Erotopia (The Climax)

 

 

 

 

 

By that time Maso & Toda had started getting support with their music from Miyaji Kensaku & Akiba Shinichiro. This gave Maso a chance to expand what had been an instrumental project by adding his vocals. Their style shifted more toward noise influenced 60s garage with brutal fuzz & organ. On April 1 2005, Christine 23 Onna officially became Acid Eater (named after C23O's last album). Acid Eater featured Takushi - vocals, synthesizers, & effects, Fusao - guitarist, Miyaji - organ & bass keyboards, & Akiba - drums.

Acid Eater - Virulent Fuzz Punk A.C.I.D., Time Bomb Records Bomb88, 2007.

Side A –

Eye

Nothing Can Bring Me Down

A.C.I.D.

Question of Temperature

Drive to C.P.

No Friend of Mine

Side B –

No! No! No!

LSD

Confessions of a Psycho Cat

Never Alone

Top of Spot

Free

 

 

 

 

Acid Eater – Dirty 7" EP, Hello from the Gutter HFTG006, 2008.

Side A –

Dirty

I Gotta Move (Kinks cover)

Side B –

Susie's Gone (Acid Hell mix)

 

 

 

 

Acid Eater – Black Fuzz on Wheels, Time Bomb Records BOMBCD96, 2010.

Tracklist –

Yes, Motion

Oh Baby’s No

Road to Ecstasy

Well

Feel the Beat (Crime cover)

Love Has No Time (Miracle Workers cover)

Get Down

Follow Me

Searching for Love (The Tidal Waves cover)

Dirty

 

 

 

Enjoy,

NØ