Geinoh Yamashirogumi Osorezan / Doh No Kembai

Now for some Japanese psyche and experimental music of the mid 1970s. Do not expect any lush pop harmonies from this music collective formed in 1974 which was at least active up to the early 90s. Geinoh Yamashirogumi approach psychedelic music with from a rather krautish point of view and their first album from 1976 about which I write this review is rather a collage of strange noises, screams, a few rhythms patterns and wide open structures that seem to be borrowed from late 1960s psyched out free jazz. And you can bet, this is an ever flowing freak out but definitely an intense and mind bending experience. I recall German oddities like Organisation (pre Kraftwerk), Faust and others but there is another aspect in the music that is more difficult to trace down. Funk and jazz rock with a breathtakingly smouldering atmosphere you would rather expect from English groups emerging from the Canterbury scene like Soft Machine or some of the rather jazz oriented Italian progressive acts. But all in all Geinoh Yamashirogumi find an even more radical way to express their feelings and make their inner visions manifest in sound despite a sweet smoothness coming with these rocking jazz elements. Oh dear, this is definitely far from being ordinary. Choirs with typical Japanese chants add some wicked exotic tinges to the whole musical picture. If you dig progressive, krautish psychedelic jazz rock, this is exactly what you are looking for. The whole album is divided into two parts of which „Osorazan“ comes closest to rock music while „Doh no kembai“ seems to be a live performance of a stage play by this music and theatre collective based nearly entirely on vocals. Open minded lovers of truly progressive music from the 1970s will go nuts.