13.3.18

Masami Kawaguchi

1 I 25:59
2 II 26:30
3 III 4:24

Pleased to see Kawaguchi's blistering solo set surface from the archives. The bleak, lonesome root of enka runs through maxed out psychedelic guitar in surely one of the loudest sets ever played at the venue. Surprisingly delicate in parts, but it's obvious his work with Haino has had an ear splitting effect.

“Kawaguchi Masami's machine gun guitar, which stutters in a polyglot tongue drawing equally from Rory Gallagher, Jerry Garcia and Lou Reed.” – The Wire

"One of the greats of modern Japanese psychedelic rock, Masami Kawaguchi has been an influential figure in the Japanese underground scene for two decades. Known for bands such Miminokoto, LSD-March, Broomdusters, Los Doroncos and more recently with his New Rock Syndicate. Heʼs also a regular Keiji Haino collaborator in Aihiyo and more recently in Hardy Soul. Masami's voice is the true updating of the enka tradition: not the rehash or nostalgia, just the bleak lonesome heart which runs through enka core."

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Masami Kawaguchi / vocals, guitar
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Recorded live at Cafe OTO on Tuesday 13th March 2018 by Shaun Crook. Mixed and mastered by James Dunn. Artwork by Oli Barrett.

Available as 320k MP3 or 24bit FLAC



Tracklisting:

1. I - Through the Clouds - Melt - From Now On - Dan Dan - 25:59

2. In D - Dreams - Guitar - Carpet - 26:30

3. Why - 4:24

Masami Kawaguchi

In early 90's, Kawaguchi formed the band called Broom Dusters and started his music career in Tokyo underground music scene. He joined Haino Keiji's Aihiyo as a bassist in 1998. He formed the band called Miminokoto with Shimura Koji (ex. Acid Mothers Temple) and Nishimura Takuya iin 2000. He left Miminokoto and formed Kawaguchi Masami's New Rock Syndicate in 2006. Recently he plays with his band New Rock Syndicate, Haino Keiji’s The Hardy Rocks and also plays as solo and collaborates with many musicians including Penny Ikinger, Deniz Tek(Radio Birdman), Anla Courtis (Argentina), Mason Jones (US), Yohei Hasegawa(Korea) and more, from garage rock to free improvisation. 

HP: http://www6.plala.or.jp/Purifiva/index.html

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kawaguchimasami

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kawaguchimasami