GENERAL SPEECH label LPs: DEEF, LAST SURVIVORS, LEGION OF PARASITES etc
DANSE MACABRE S/T
Forming out of the ashes of the legendary Japanese punk band Zouo, Danse Macabre are their equally cult, and spiritual successor walking a path filled with even more haunting darkness. Somewhat akin to the journey Danzig took as he shifted from the sounds of the Misfits, to the embrace of something more somber and evil with Samhain, Cherry leaves behind his vocal duties in Zouo and sets sail for darker waters. That journey is one which brings the listener to an environment which feels appropriately filled with fog, ill winds, and motorcycle exhaust, just the place for Danse Macabre to remind you of earthly nightmares, and to think about death. All of their earliest material from 1988-1990 is tastefully remastered here for both analogue and digital
EXCREMENT S/T
A short lived raw hardcore band from Sapporo City, fusing local influences like Deef and LSD with the noisy sounds of bands like Gai and Confuse. At times it feels like a bridge could be drawn to raw crust bands like Gloom or Frigora, but Excrement stays just rooted enough in noisy 80s hardcore to keep from a total overlap with that style. Still, Excrement would certainly appeal to both fans of 80s hardcore, and the more full tilt 90s Japanese raw crust sound as well. Fully remastered, with a significant improvement over the original recordings, and includes an unreleased track
IGNORANTES Demo Buena Onda
The first in a series of reissues. Ignorantes started in Chile over 10 years ago, and during that time their sound has grown to feel more and more timeless. Credited with reinvigorating punk in South America, kicking off the rejuvenation worldwide of catchy pogo punk that is raw, but loses none of the danceability. A modern classic taking equal influence from UK greats like Chaos UK, Chaotic Dischord, and Disorder, Japanese punk like Gai and Swankys, and South American classics like Pestes or Mutantex from Colombia, but always maintaining their original blueprint
VARIOUS – Miniatures
An archive of underground DIY sounds from over 50 different Japanese artists dating 1979-1981. Inspired by the U.K. compilation album of the same name released in 1980 by Morgan Fisher, a one time member of Mott The Hoople, which featured “miniature” works by an incredibly diverse group of 50 cutting edge artists from Half Japanese and The Residents, to Robert Fripp of King Crimson and Dave Vanian of the Damned. This version of “Miniatures” was curated and released by cult teen punk band Die Öwan in 1981. Feeling inspired, they wanted to create their own version with current and cutting edge Japanese artists. Unable to find 50 artists suitable for the compilation, they took it upon themselves to fabricate multiple different bands to flesh out the album in its entirety. Musically you’ll find punk, post punk, electronic, early industrial, and experimental avant garde sounds on this record. Due to the nature of this project, many of the bands are found ONLY on this compilation. An incredible time capsule of urgent creativity, and a great snapshot into the diversity of Die Öwan’s “XA Record” label
LEGION OF PARASITES Undesirable Guests 12” EP
Long overdue official reissue of one of the most absolutely raging UK hardcore punk records. The first 12″ from 1984 by this cult band took the ferocity, and raw sound of bands like Discharge, Disorder, and Chaos UK, and blended it with the current anarcho-punk sound, a style that continued to gain traction with excellent bands like Anti-System, A.O.A., or S.A.S. High quality, no frills, 45rpm pressing with artwork and mastering that is faithful to the original. This reissue finally makes a full lyric sheet available as well, which is made from various promo materials the band sent out with letters during the ‘80s
DEEF Real Control
Documenting the band’s final era, when hardcore gigs in Sapporo were banned, and still had to be organized in private recording studios with seating. Before bands like Gai and Confuse existed on the opposite end of Japan, Real Control shows Deef diving into a totally raw and abrasive hardcore style, issuing a challenge for bands to leave the typical sounds of their peers in the dust, and replace it with something more fitting of the anger and frustration of cold war era, and if you weren’t going to, their opening salvo chanting the mantra “We Kill All Punk Rock Heroes” proved that they would. Real Control contains the second tape in its entirety, as well as their unreleased 1983 session recorded live at Studio Puff, which shows the band at their rawest, most unhinged, and most furiously hardcore, and at the time, more raw than most any band on the planet. The audio has been specifically remastered for vinyl and sourced from the original master tapes. The LP includes a booklet with color photos, flyers, and liner notes and history in both English and Japanese
DEEF Nou 脳
Deef, forming in 1979 in Sapporo City, Japan evolved from a school-age free jazz group into a raw hardcore band influenced by the global explosion of political punk and hardcore, as well as Japanese bands like The Stalin. During the early era, their Anti-Emperor gig series “Ten-Nou” was targeted by right wing groups, facilitating a change to the more clandestine “Nou-Ten” Gig, a phonetic play on words changing it’s meaning at face value. Keeping in mind their first cassette, 脳, was released before the Outsider Omnibus LP (GISM, Gauze, Comes, etc) when there were very few points of reference for DIY hardcore in Japan, the tracks on this LP show Deef pushing the envelope with the sound and intensity of their music comparative to their peers. This LP version of 脳 includes the first cassette in its entirety, tracks from the infamous, and almost non-existent Nouten Rockers omnibus from 1982, a completely unreleased studio EP session, and a furious live set from their earliest era, which shows some of the earliest influence of Discharge on Japanese hardcore. The audio has been specifically remastered for vinyl and sourced from the original master tapes. The LP includes a booklet with color and black and white photos, flyers, and liner notes and history in English/Japanese
DIE OWAN Owannabilism
Cult teenage Japanese punk group which existed from 1979-1983, and during that time managed to release the rarest punk record in Japan, operate their own cassette label, organize house shows, help launch the career of popular Japanese punk band Shonen Knife, and fascinate and inspire with their music, which is truly like any other. Over 40 years later, Die Öwan has the incredible ability to act as one of the most pure time machines capable of transporting the listener into a place where you can get a sense of what it must have been like to have been listening to and inspired by the evolution of underground music in the late 70s in real time. The concurrent explosion of punk, post punk, new wave, industrial, experimental, and avant garde music in the UK, Krautrock in Germany, Dub and Roots Reggae in Jamaica and the UK, was unlike any other. To Die Öwan, enjoying Crass, The Damned, Adverts, Wire, Metal Urbain, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, Neu!, Brian Eno, and Burning Spear was not only not unusual, it probably seemed obvious, as they were all pushing music forward. Öwannibalism compiles the best of their early releases “Die Station Für Die Öwan”, “Die Feeding Of Die Öwan”, and “Öwan 81”, as well as compilation tracks, and completely unreleased and unheard early tracks. The audio has been remastered from the band’s tapes specifically for vinyl, and the LP comes with a 6 page booklet featuring an interview with the band covering their history, their cassette label XA Record, early DIY music and influences in the Kansai region of Japan, with discussion of Kansai bands and labels like Aunt Sally, Hijokaidan, Unbalance Records, Vanity Records, etc, and early photos and flyers
DIE OWAN 美川憲一 (Mikawa Ken-Ichi)
Die Öwan’s final cassette release, 1983’s Mikawa Ken-Ichi, shows the band at their most focused, crafting a full on album’s worth of music in their trademark style of DIY experimental punk, bursting with their typical wide range of influences which focus heavily on the sounds of punk, experimental and industrial groups like Crass, Metal Urbain, Wire, Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, and countless others, while simultaneously sounding little like any of them. The audio has been remastered from the band’s tapes specifically for vinyl, and the LP comes with a 16 page booklet which reproduces the band’s own “Change 2500 Yen” fanzine, and includes a Japanese language chronology, photos, and more
THE LAST SURVIVORS 2001-2016
Legendary Tokyo raw punks, THE LAST SURVIVORS' early material finally collected in one place. The Last Survivors sent shock waves through the Japanese punk scene showing there was more than just punk, or just hardcore. The Last Survivors were RAW PUNK! The catchy sounds of UK82 and 70s punk fused with early raw HC from across the globe, particularly in Sweden and Finland. A flawless combination that inspired countless bands that followed. As Jacky Crust War says in the liner notes “There were some bands we couldn’t ignore. That was the one, The Last Survivors.”
This LP collects their 7″s on Crust War, Dan-Doh, and Pogo 77, as well as other rare tracks. Fully re-mastered for vinyl, and sounding better than ever. Liner notes by Jacky Crust War (Framtid), So (Hardcore Survives), and Sakurai (Centipede / The Addiction)