Today’s show covers 46 years of Japanese psychedelic music, LIVE! As you probably know, I love Japanese psychedelia. It is my all-time favorite music. There’s so much great psychedelia that has–and continues to–come out of Japan that I could just play Japanese psychedelia for two hours every show, AND every show would still be awesome! With that said, it was super hard to choose what to put on today’s list and what had to get cut (I started with over 9 hours of music in the playlist and whittled it down to 1 hour 51 minutes). I really dig the “old school” Japanese heavy psychedelia from the ’90s, so this list is a bit heavy in that era. I only touch on the early psych legends by including Blues Creation and Les Rallizes Dènudés, but Flower Travellin’ Band, Far East Family Band, The Jacks, People, J.A. Caesar, etc. are all super worth checking out live (and studio, of course!). They put on amazing live shows.
Let’s begin.
Lost Aaraaff . Untitled . Untitled . 1970/1991 . P.S.F. Records
Blues Creation . Live . Nightmare . 1971/2008 . Lion Records
Les Rallizes Dènudés . Rivista Archives Disc 3 ’77 Live – Le Mars 1977 à Tachikawa – Most Violence Version . 夜、暗殺者の夜 [Night, Night of the Assassin] . 1977/2011 . Rivista
Gaseneta . Sooner or Later . 父ちゃんのポーが聞こえる [You Can Hear the Voice of Poe] . 1978/1991 . P.S.F. Records
光束夜 [Kousokuya | Light Night] . First Live 1979 Kichijoji Minor . 1979/2006 . P.S.F. Records
High Rise . Live . Pop Sicle . 1994 . P.S.F. Records
Shizuka . Tokyo Underground ’95 . Heavenly Persona . 1995/2000 . Last Visible Dog
Leningrad Psychedelic Blues Machine . Dark Star . Wood Stock Monster II (Free Jazz Version) . 1995 . La Musica Records [LA-054]
Mainliner . Psychedelic Atmosphere Beatnik Tour Disc 2 Live in Paris 1996 . Tsukisasaru . 1996 . La Musica [LA-055]
LSD March . 1997 – 2001 at Mushroom . 漏刻の炎 . 2001 . Gyuune Cassette
Marble Sheep . Circle/Marble Sheep Surface/Marble Zone 2 . Marble Zone 2: Good Old Marble Sheep pt. 1 . 1998 . Captain Trip Records
Ohkami No Jikan . Psychedelic Atmosphere Beatnik Live ’99 . Koko . 1999 . La Musica
みみのこと . ライブ [Miminokoto . Live] . Tottemo . 2003 . Last Visible Dog
Kawaguchi Masami’s New Rock Syndicate (with Anla Courtis) . Live in Japan 2007 . (Theme from) New Rock Syndicate . 2008 . Sloow Tapes
Sundays & Cybele . Enter the Time Mirror . Saint Song . 2017 . Sky Lantern Records
[OK, yeah, check out Julian Cope’s Japrock Sampler – it’s worth the read.]
