Henry Rollins: The Column! Japanese Guitar Freaks From Outer Space

By Henry Rollins Thu., Apr. 12 2012 at 3:30 AM

[Look for your weekly fix from the one and only Henry Rollins right here on West Coast Sound every Thursday, and come back tomorrow for the awesomely annotated playlist for his Saturday KCRW broadcast.]

I am off the road for a few days, from the tour that never ends. One of the upsides is that I get a chance to listen to a few albums without the pressure of a show waiting for me. I have been making my choices carefully -- I don't have much time before I leave again.

To combat the confusion and depression that assault me when I come off the road in the middle of a tour, I seek the most oblivionated music possible. When it's the "way out there" that I seek, I go right to my stash of amazing music from Japan.

It's just my opinion, but some of the most mind-frying records I have ever heard have been made by Japanese artists. Sure, Jimi Hendrix will always be my favorite guitar player -- after all, I was raised with his music, and those sounds are burned deep into my mind. But picking up the baton and blasting fearlessly into the vast darkness of the unexplored regions of the cosmos are ultimate guitar freaks like Makoto Kawabata of the 10,000-light-years-from-home house band Acid Mothers Temple.

Thankfully, they release a record every few months, it seems. Their music escapes description, besides going from gentle cosmic shifts to the sound of complete volcanic guitar overload. Then there is Kawabata's immense catalog of solo releases, which run the gamut from gorgeous to completely mad. It all sounds good to me.

On a far more scorched plane, perhaps my favorite living guitar player is also from Japan, Keiji Haino. The recordings he made with Fushitsusha, his rock band (I use the term as a loose identifier because most rock music would be incinerated by wandering within 10 miles of this outfit), are some of the heaviest guitar records ever made. The massive sheets of hot steel that come from Haino's speakers on the Live 1 album are completely crushing.

Haino has released dozens of solo recordings that are so heavy, they are at times hard to get through. One of his earliest solo efforts, Watashi Dake, sounds like a man playing guitar while disemboweling himself. This is not easy listening and honestly, I cannot recommend these records, but damn, they work for me!

Perhaps one of the most interesting bands in Japanese music is Les Rallizes Dénudés, featuring the elusive guitarist Takashi Mizutani. To make things all the more confusing, challenging and frustrating, the band didn't really release any records, so what is available are live recordings put out by do-gooder labels that have come into possession of live source material. Some of the recordings come in at quite a cost.

Tags:

Acid Mothers Temple, Akira Kurosawa, Boris, Henry Rollins, Keiji Haino, Les Rallizes Dénudés, Makoto Kawabata, Phoenix, Takashi Mizutani

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Cbeagan

This particular column, Mr. Rollins, is full of valuable information and, to sum it up, makes me want to get my Japan on. I stumbled across the likes of Melt Banana and Shonen Knife when I was in college and had full reign of free music as a late night d.j. Some of the best finds were the ones that I could not translate. Thanks again for the recommendations. Take me to your leader.

Kennedy Kits

The end of this article reads like Henry put on his headphones and just decided to email the column in for the week.

Jennie Vasquez

My ignorance runs deep when it comes to all music so unless Henry has played it on his radio show, I have heard little music from Japan. The closest I get to any Japanese culture are frequent trips to Little Tokyo because I love it there and Hello Kitty. The only Japanese music I'm familiar with is Loudness from my teenage years and Arthur Nakane's One Man Band, a frequent sight in Little Tokyo. He's so entertaining to watch, he really makes people happy. He obviously loves what he is doing. So, I had to do some homework and thanks to youtube, I listened to some of the music. Wow, for such a reserved and polite culture, the music is intense, loud, and rocking. They play their instruments as if their lives depended on it. I was pleasantly surprised and even if it isn't your cup of tea, it is worth taking the time to listen as it is quite fascinating to listen to the sounds. These people can play, and play hard. I was kind of dragging today until I heard the music. It will really get you going but I recommend probably not listening to it right before bedtime if you plan on sleeping. This music left me you wired.

R Nowell

Great article, Henry. There is definitely something about Japanese guitar rock that is so extreme, so terrifyingly gone, it's irresistible once you've acquired a taste for it. Psycho Bass, by a band called Groundcover, is a current obsession. I'd recommend them if you're on the prowl for more music. Now, I have to go give this Phoenix label some of my money.

Paul Sivertsen

"One of his earliest solo efforts, Watashi Dake, sounds like a man playing guitar while disemboweling himself. This is not easy listening and honestly, I cannot recommend these records, but damn, they work for me!"

Man, that sounds right up my alley! I'd probably profoundly cherish an album (or a song, because really, how long can a disemboweled man play guitar before he dies?) of a guy actually doing that. A lot of the music I love the most are things I can't recommend to many people at all, but it's all pretty phenomenal to me. Thank you once again, Henry, for feeding my insatiable hunger for new, fantastic music and art!