Japanese

For fans of Sean McCann's Recital works to Yusaku Arai ”a two”. Collabolation album of ambient master Ulla & Japanese Experimental musician Ultrafog.

I've just released a collaboration CD album under the name of my Agencement with Masami Akita's Merzbow, which was recorded in autumn 2024.

I hadn't been in contact with him for a very long time, but we were recontacted and considered for a collaborative project for a few years, and we finally did it this time.
We also did the cover artwork for each side.

This is not a digital-only release, so please pick up the CD and listen to it.

"Best New Reissue" - Pitchfork (May 6, 2023) Legendary debut album by Junko Tange, originally issued by Osaka’s Vanity Records in 1979. Dadaesque recitations and sparse guitar, piano and electronic meanderings combine for a beguiling, hypnotic dreamworld. Officially licensed from the custodians of Yuzuru Agi's Vanity Records archives, this edition has been fully remastered from new transfers of the original analog tapes by Stephan Mathieu.

Pedro Vian and Merzbow Present Their First Collaboration: "Inside Richard Serra Sculptures"

Pedro Vian and Merzbow release their first joint work, an unbounded expression of creativity and experimentation. Over the album's forty-minute duration, listeners can experience a blend of field recordings made by Pedro Vian at the DIA Beacon Foundation, specifically inside Richard Serra's sculptures. These recordings are interwoven with the ambient percussion and melodies characteristic of Vian's work, alongside the piercing and sharp frequencies produced by Merzbow, one of the most acclaimed artists in the global noise scene.

"Inside Richard Serra Sculptures" is both a complex and spontaneous piece, an abstract journey into the unconscious that may be difficult to grasp for closed minds. This work stands as a masterpiece of contemporary expressionism, merging ambient sound and noise in a way that challenges and redefines the boundaries of sound art.

The collaboration between Vian and Merzbow is notable not only for its innovation but also for its ability to transport listeners to a space where sound becomes an immersive and visceral experience. The use of Richard Serra's sculptures as a source of inspiration and sonic material adds a unique dimension to the project, emphasizing the interaction between physical space and musical creation.

"Inside Richard Serra Sculptures" is now available on all digital platforms, promising to be an essential reference for lovers of experimental art and avant-garde music. 

This stunning double black vinyl reissue in an astonish gatefold cover mirrors the original artwork, beautifully designed by Masami Akita himself, ensuring that the visual component is as striking as the auditory experience. The design work by Masahiko Ohno further enhances the presentation, making this release not just a collection of sounds but a holistic sensory experience. With the expertise of James Plotkin in mastering, this vinyl edition promises to deliver the album’s complex soundscapes with unparalleled fidelity, honoring the original legacy while unfurling new layers of depth for exploration.

Merzbow is a Japanese noise legend who advocates and practices ahimsa and continues to experiment with alternative expressions that go beyond the boundaries of "noise". This is a rare cassette album released in 2010 by Gift Tapes, a prestigious American drone label that also produces works by Panabrite and Pulse Emitter.

WRWTFWW Records presents the Pitstop Box, compiling all 24 tracks from Japanese house music pioneer Shinichiro Yokota's two acclaimed albums Do It Again and Again (2016) and I Know You Like It (2019). The collection, available on vinyl for the first time ever, is presented as six 45rpm-cut 12" housed in a superb slipcase box set created by Lopetz, designer, illustrator, typographer, and co-founder of Swiss graphic design studio Büro Destruct. Included as bonuses are two sticker sheets. Previously only available on CD in Japan via cult electronic label Far East Recording, Shinichiro Yokota's album discography finally gets a long overdue vinyl release. With a production style drawing from a rich blend of funk, hip hop, electronic, and Japanese influences, Yokota's music is loved for its simplicity, its hypnotic quality, and, most importantly, its soul -- homegrown '90s soulful melodic club music -- pure love! The Pitstop Box, full of dancefloor treasures and sprinkled with downtempo gems, not only defines Yokota's personal journey but also resonates as an essential contribution to the house genre and Japanese music in general. It includes his house hits, a cover of "Simoon" by Haruomi Hosono's Logic System, and a collaboration with his longtime partner and electronic music hero Soichi Terada. Shinichiro Yokota began his musical history in Tokyo, inspired by electronic music giants such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kraftwerk. He co-founded Far East Recording with the great Soichi Terada (who also worked with WRWTFWW for the Omodaka compilation) in 1990. After releasing the now highly sought after Far East Recording album with Terada in 1992, he took a hiatus from music and, most notably, brought his passion for sports cars to the next level by launching Night Pager, a company he started with his wife, specializing in tuning sports cars and modifying limiters for competition racers. It's this side of Yokota's life which has inspired the design of the Pitstop Box. He triumphantly came back to music with the album Do It Again and Again in 2016, consisting of unreleased '90s recordings as well as new material, and followed it up with I Know You Like It in 2019. His work has influenced generations of producers, and has expanded Japanese house music's reach on the global stage. Experience it on vinyl now.<br></p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 472px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1877909175/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=333333/artwork=none/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="https://wrwtfww.com/album/pitstop-box">Pitstop Box by Shinichiro Yokota</a></iframe>

From Daisuke Hinata, Grammy nominated artist/composer/producer and member of Japanese ambient, environmental, synthpop band INTERIOR.

Daisuke Hinata - Tarzanland (1989)

First Vinyl Release Ever.

Comfy Environmental Music for a Cozy Life and the Heartwarming Companionship of Beloved Pets.

Like Steve Winwood on the Synclavier and Steely Dan on the MPC60.
Or Like John Hughes Meets Japanese Ambient.

*Music You've Never Heard Anywhere Else Before*</p><iframe style="border: 0; width: 350px; height: 373px;" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1275567063/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=333333/artwork=none/transparent=true/" seamless><a href="https://wrwtfww.com/album/tarzanland">Tarzanland by Daisuke Hinata</a></iframe>

Another favorite from the Haromi Hosono canon. This was the score for the first animated adaptation of The Tale of Genji, a sprawling piece of 11th century literature written by noblewoman Shikibu Murasaki, considered by many to be the first modern novel in recorded history. (Isao Tomita later write his own symphonic adaptation of the story.) The anime was directed by Gisaburō Sugii, and while it only covers a small part of the epic storyline, the score is highly ambitious.

Unlike much of Hosono’s catalogue, here synthesizer mostly acts as an atmospheric texture and instead puts traditional Japanese instruments, particularly koto, flute, and drums, front and center. What’s really astounding about this soundtrack is the layering of instruments, piling them up until they become unfamiliar: droves of fingerpicked strings sound like a hive of insects, waves of gentle hand percussion feel like the swells of inhales and exhales, processed flute suggests the shrieking wind. Despite a pervasive mysteriousness, and even ominousness, this is unmistakably gorgeous music, and structured in such a way that it will appeal to fans of more conventional synthetic ambient music–but retains a feverish futurist-classical elegance all its own.

Originally released in 1982, Kakashi is another high water mark in the 80s Japanese underground. This album, which has gathered cult status in recent years, is the project of musical visionary Yasuaki Shimizu, and considered to be a highlight of his solo career. Shimizu was the bandleader of Mariah, who also saw their album Utakata No Hibi reissued by Palto Flats in 2015. Kakashi offers a similar blend of saxophone experimentations, jazz fusion and ambient dub excursions.

Eight years removed from his celebrated self-titled debut album, Motion Graphics (a.k.a. NYC electronic artist Joe Williams) has returned with a brand-new release, Glossolalia. A transcontinental collaboration with Japanese artist Utena Kobayashi, the record—which also features remixes from Portland ambient/new age duo Visible Cloaks and Japanese electronic music veteran Kuniyuki Takahashi—explores a delicate strain of ambient pop, its nuanced contours reflecting Williams’ unique ability to wield production technology in a way that feels not just poignant, but deeply human.

I don't care if it doesn't sell well, but let's make a record that has a whiff of culture. I want you to do jazz by Japanese people for Japanese people. With these words from the director, Hiroshi Matsumoto decided to record “Megalopolis”. The concept was “Tokyo. Inspired by the rapidly transforming Tokyo he saw from the plane, he set to work. Matsumoto, Hideo Ichikawa, Kunimitsu Inaba, and Motohiko Hino set up in a circle so that they could see each other's faces and movements. The four musicians recorded “A Day in the City,” a large suite-like piece; “Nostalgia,” which depicts a longing for the lost; “Megalopolis,” an exhilarating and exhilarating bird's-eye view of the city; “Serenade,” which is steeped in bittersweet ennui; and “Urban Irritability,” which seems to cut deep into the heart of a city. This is a masterpiece that depicts a huge city and its inhabitants with keen sensitivity and creativity. The original was released as one of the Victor “Jazz in Japan” series.

Following the success of the 'Tokyo Glow' and 'Funk Tide' sets, Wewantsounds once again teams up with Tokyo-based DJ Notoya for a breezy selection of Funk and Boogie recorded in Japan for King Records in the 70s and 80s. Most tracks here are making their debut on vinyl outside of Japan and the album, like its predecessors, has been designed by Optigram's Manuel Sepulveda and is annotated by DJ Notoya. The audio has been newly mastered in Tokyo by King Records and remastered for vinyl by Colorsound in Paris.

- New Addition in the Wewantsounds Japanese Music Compilation series
- Compiled and annotated in Tokyo by DJ Notoya
- Unique access to King Records' vault
- Most tracks Making their Debut Outside of Japan
- Artwork by Optigram's Manuel Sepulveda

Tracklist
A1 BUZZ - Garasumado ガラス窓 2.35 (1974)
A2 Mami Ayukawa - Sabita Gambler 錆びたギャンブラー 3.53 (1987)
A3 Johnny Yoshinaga - The Rain 雨 5.47 (1978)
A4 Keiko Toda – Fade In 溶明 4.15 (1983)
A5 Koji Kobayashi - Bokura no Date 僕らのデート 3.08 (1978)

B6 Yuko Imai – Hotel Twilight 4.49 (1988)
B7 Kumiko Sawada – Your Love’s Away ユア・ラブズ・アウェイ 4.23 (1979)
B8 Masatoshi Kanno - Day By Day デイ・バイ・デイ 3.32 (1976)
B9 Yuji Mitsuya – After Five At Café-Bar 4.49 (1984)
B10 Fujimaru Band - Paper machine 2.29 (1977)

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of one of Japan's most coveted albums of the 70s, "Mangekyou" by singer-songwriter Yoshiko Sai. Produced in 1975 by Master musician Yuji Ohno, the album features Yoshiko Sai's superbly crafted songs and crystal clear voice over Ohno's lush, funky sound and breezy arrangements. A strong buzz has been growing around the album over the years and original copies now change hands for large sums of money. This is the first time "Mangekyou" is available outside of Japan, featuring remastered audio, original artwork and a 4 page insert including new liner notes by Paul Bowler.

Another masterpiece from the golden age of jazz-rock by Takeshi Inomata, a master drummer who has always been breaking new ground with an eye on the times. This is a so-called instructional record produced as part of the “Method” series, but its musicality is funky and groovy, as if to provoke the listener. The band leads Sound Limited, a famous group that played a role in the development of jazz rock in Japan, and pushes the boundaries of groove with their ever-changing stick work. The band's diverse selection of songs, from covers such as “Runaway Child” and “Smack Water Jack,” to “Sleeper” and “Seven Four,” composed by Norio Maeda, a close friend who also arranges for the band, and the drum solo “Drum Concert,” which is overwhelmingly powerful, is filled with seamless grooves. The album is filled with a high-density groove. Another masterpiece from the golden age of rock. This is a so-called instructional record produced as one of the “Method” series, but the musicality of the record is so funky and groovy that it seems to provoke the listener. Leading the Sound Limited, a famous group that played a role in the development of jazz-rock in Japan, the band pushes the limits of groove with its ever-changing stick work. The band's diverse selection of songs, from covers of “Runaway Child” and “Smack Water Jack,” to arrangements of “Sleeper” and “Seven Four” by Norio Maeda, a close friend, and the overwhelmingly powerful drum solo “Drum Concert,” were filled with a seamless, high-density groove. The album is filled with a high-density groove.

The trio is made up of three trios and one vocalist: Yosuke Yamashita Trio, Itaru Oki Trio, Yuji Ohno Trio, and Kimiko Kasai, Trio by Trio Plus One. The original was released as one of the Victor “Jazz in Japan” series. Just by looking at the lineup of musicians, one can feel an extraordinary atmosphere in this special work. Yamashita, who was leading the scene as the darling of the times, and Oki, who came to Tokyo from Osaka in the mid-1960s and attracted a great deal of attention. Oki, who moved to Tokyo from Osaka in the mid-1960s and attracted much attention, and Ohno, whose supple musicality covered a wide range of genres from modern jazz to new jazz. And Kasai, who is just now blossoming. It goes without saying that each of their performances is powerful and attractive, but it is important to note that this album contains a performance by a seven-piece band consisting of the Oki Trio, Ohno Trio, and Kasai, which has never been recorded before or since.

Interior” was formed by Daisuke Hinata and Hideki Nonaka, who were alumni of the Berkeley College of Music. Their first album “Interior” was released in 1982 on Haruomi Hosono's label, Yen Records. Their musical style of instrumental synth-pop with an emotional flavor based on “ambient music” and “environmental music” style is one of the most popular styles in the new age music scene in the U.S. Windham Hill Records, one of the leading new age music labels in the U.S., has also taken notice.

Heat is a surprise new double album from Shinichi Atobe for Demdike Stare. It follows on from 2017's From The Heart, It's A Start, A Work Of Art (DDS 023LP) and continues a run of highly enigmatic, acclaimed and completely unparalleled productions that follow their own timeless logic. There's no sonic fiction involved; this material really does just turn up on a CD sent by air mail from Japan to Manchester, sparse info, no messing, pure gold. What's that cover art about? It's probaby something to do with the balmy, slightly fucked, sun-stroked material within. "So Good, So Right", the ten-minute opener, will force you to forget about all the shit around you for a while. There are also several tracks called "Heat"; they're all killer. This music takes you elsewhere almost immediately; that fan on your desk is basically a summer breeze. In fact, this whole album is absurd, completely effortless, and a total classic. Find a more life-affirming electronic album in 2018, and there's an ice cream in the offing. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton, cover by Mat Thornton.

Shinichi Atobe’s fifth album for DDS, his first in two years. Deep and sublime, the classic Chain Reaction < > Chicago House vibe, but this time with a swarming Drexciyan undercurrent, somewhere between DJ Sprinkles, Dopplereffekt and The Other People Place, and yet still 100% Shinichi.

It’s odd working with an artist without ongoing dialogue; no context or an exchange of ideas. It’s all conjecture. Here's another CD of material in the post from Shinichi, two years more or less since the last one. No words except for the track titles. Oh, a photo this time.

‘Yes’, positivity, hope. But the album starts with a dystopian vision; something like Dopplereffekt’s sound-chemistry experiments, a tense builder. Big optimistic chasms open up, the Piano House euphoria of the title track, beautiful sunset closer 'Ocean 1’. But there’s a noticeable change too. 'Lake 2’ is more fraught sci-fi, 'Lake 3’ a sort of percussive Chain Reaction monster, 'Loop 1’, on a Drexciyan tip. 

It’s all coated in that weird - some people say infuriating - toppy production, witnessed this time in a more tempered and different formation courtesy of an amazing Rashad Becker master, all precise but loosely swung arrangements. Everything slow to unfurl but, also, everything in exactly the right place. (Boomkat)

Shinichi Atobe has managed to stay off the grid since he made an appearance on Basic Channel's Chain Reaction imprint back in 2001. He delivered the second-to-last 12" on the label and then disappeared without a trace, leaving behind a solitary record that's been selling for crazy money and a trail of speculation that has led some people to wonder whether the project was in fact the work of someone on the Basic Channel payroll. That killer Chain Reaction 12" has also been a longtime favorite of Demdike Stare, who have been trying to follow the trail and make contact with Atobe for some time, whoever he turned out to be. A lead from the Basic Channel office turned up an address in Japan and -- unbelievably -- an album full of archival and new material. Demdike painstakingly assembled and compiled the material for this debut album. And what a weird and brilliant album it is -- deploying a slow-churn opener that sounds like a syrupy Actress track, before working through a brilliantly sharp and tactile nine-minute piano house roller that sounds like DJ Sprinkles, then diving headlong into a heady, Vainqueur-inspired drone-world. It's a confounding album, full of odd little signatures that give the whole thing a timeless feeling completely detached from the zeitgeist, like a sound bubble from another era. This is only the second album release on Demdike Stare's DDS imprint, following the release of Nate Young's Regression Vol. 3 (Other Days) (DDS 007LP) in 2013. Who knows what they might turn up next? Mastered by Matt Colton at Alchemy.

From The Heart, It's A Start, A Work Of Art has its origins in early 2000, before Chain Reaction released the legendary Ship-Scope 12" (later released by Demdike Stare in 2015, DDS 014EP). Three of the tracks here are taken from an acetate cut at Dubplates & Mastering at that time, but which wouldn't see the light of day until now, including another batch of tracks taken from original masters. Only five copies of that acetate were ever made, so this is the first time any of these tracks are available for public consumption, and they rank among the finest and most distinctive in either the Chain Reaction or Shinichi Atobe's vaults. The material is effectively some of the Japanese producer's earliest work, showcasing the sort of tender, feminine pressure that would bubble up on the Ship-Scope EP and later be revealed in his new productions, Butterfly Effect (DDS 010CD) and World yet, for many reasons, they would lay sunk in his archive for the next 17 years. The tracks taken from that acetate are labeled "First Plate 1-3" and really are quite remarkable, having taken on so much character and added weight over the years that the incidental crackle of surface noise imbues proceedings with an added dimension that's hard to fathom. It basically sounds like a lost transmission making its way from Paul-Lincke-Ufer at the turn of the millennium to a new, completely changed world all these years later. The patina of crackle lends a mist-on-bare skin feeling akin to summer garden parties at Berghain in the stepping "First Plate 1", and gives a foggier sort of depth perception to the hydraulic, Maurizian heft of "First Plate 2", but it's the submerged euphoria of "First Plate 3" that hits the hardest; a heady, bittersweet reminder of days gone by. The other four tracks are crisply transferred from master tapes, relinquishing a sublime, impossible to categorize house variant that recalls everything from DJ Sprinkles to Ron Trent, yet with that weird, timeless production tick that by now has become something of a signature for this most distinctive and hard to categorize producer. Buoyant dub house and techno with lush, gaseous synths and keys. Remastered by Matt Colton from original tapes and worn actetates -- grit included; Limited copies.

This film was produced for the feature film “Untamagiru” (1989, distributed by Parco) by Takamine Go, a film director from Ishigaki Island, Okinawa. The film expresses a warm and weary atmosphere and an open-minded spirit in a way that dares to stray from the melodies of traditional Ryukyuan folk songs. It is a work that could be described as strangely ambient music, depicting an imaginary Okinawa filled with aesthetic appeal. The piano version of the film's theme song “Untama Giru” (“Piano Music” 1999), “Mekaru's Room” and “Machibui Vortex” from the film “Dreamy Ryukyu: Vine Henry” directed by Tsuyoshi Takamine were added as new bonus tracks for this release. The album includes three additional bonus tracks.

HAPPY's "Ancient Moods Mahollova Mind" is their third full-length album in five years, and most of the songs were recorded in the members' home studio, which was built up during the pandemic disaster. As the album title suggests, the theme of the album is an ancient fascination and an exploration of the mind, and it has a new sound with an exotic atmosphere, as is typical of HAPPY's exploration of music that has never been heard before. In addition to their usual instruments, the members themselves play a variety of instruments such as the Taishogoto, lyre harp, bansuri, conga, and djembe, expanding their range of expression while maintaining the catchy approach of their previous works. Mastering was done by Timothy Stollenwerk, who has worked with Wooden Shjips and Drugdealer, and the depth and dimension of the sound has been increase.

A high-octane tour-de-force widely considered in Japan to be one of the all-time greatest punk records, 1981's Don’t Eat Food! remains shockingly unknown to the rest of the world. Led by literate but unhinged Machida Machizo, a magnetic stage presence who sang in a thick Osaka dialect that sounded like nothing else at the time, INU came from the same scene as Aunt Sally and took Japan by storm in the late '70s with their powerful live show. Their membership changed frequently but INU's final lineup -- the group that recorded Don’t Eat Food! -- was sharp as a knife, and the band's airtight debut still wows forty-plus years later. Excerpted from Syojiro Ishibashi's essay on INU: Unlike Tokyo — Japan’s economic and cultural center, where everything is consumed in a fashionable way, and even the tiniest subculture can turn a profit — Kansai’s cities (Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe) will forever live in the capital’s shadow. But this underdog dynamic informs the region’s rich, unique culture. Kansai folk are known for resenting Tokyo, but also for plainly and incisively sussing out the true nature of things with their singular aesthetic sensibilities and deeply ironic, humorous dispositions. It was in one of these “secondary” cities, Osaka, that Kou Machida (then known as Machizo Machida) formed INU (Japanese for “dog”) in 1979. INU’s original lineup was Machida (vocals), Naoto Hayashi (guitar), Takeshi Nishimori (drums), and Keisuke “Osho” Tanaka (bass). They were all 17 to 18 years old at the time. In the late ’70s, outdated music styles — blues covers sung in broken English and (mostly) original, acoustic folk tunes sung in Japanese — were all the rage in Kansai. There was a small group of bands in the area who’d been inspired by the global punk/new wave movement, but few could draw audiences larger than 20 to 30 people. They also didn’t have many places to play — few clubs welcomed their sort of music — so they frequently booked their own gigs on university campuses, which tended to be comparatively laid-back spaces. Around the same time, a dozen or so Tokyo bands — Friction, Lizard, Mirrors, Mr. Kite, S-Ken, etc. — began calling themselves Tokyo Rockers. Inspired by international punk/new wave, they got a lot of attention in Japan for championing a new style of music. Young Kansai musicians watched this movement with keen interest, but some saw Tokyo Rockers (with a couple of notable exceptions, like Friction) as simply more of the same old-fashioned rock ’n’ roll, and openly shunned them. These young musicians were determined to create a new type of music unlike anything that had come before. In ’78, bands from the Tokyo Rockers scene shared a bill with a handful of young Kansai groups at Kyoto University's Seibu Koudo Hall (incidentally, home to one of Japan’s few squats at the time). Later writing in his Outsider fanzine, a pre-INU Hayashi strongly criticized the Kansai bands on the lineup (SS, etc.) for being punk “in style only.” But Hayashi also wrote in Outsider that he wanted to “hear local bands channel the sound of the city,” and it was this desire that led him to support Kansai bands. As if in response to Hayashi’s entreaties and criticisms, Osaka’s INU (now including Hayashi) and Alcohol 42%, Kobe’s Aunt Sally (featuring Phew on vocals), and Kyoto’s SS and Ultra Bidé (featuring Hijokaidan’s Jojo Hiroshige on bass) — all creative young Kansai bands who’d been influenced by the worldwide punk/new wave movement — joined forces. Picking up on the sincerity behind Hayashi’s words, these bands welcomed the criticism. At the time, no one else took young bands seriously enough to offer a thoughtful analysis, and his earnest, critical voice was valuable to the scene. Dubbed the “Kansai No Wave” tour by Hayashi, these five bands performed around Tokyo in ’79 (playing five shows at four venues), and music fans throughout the country were soon taking note of the new Kansai scene and the creative groups from the region. INU made a particularly strong impression, not only for its aggressive stage show and witty, literate lyrics, but also for Machida’s intense personality. His provocative behavior toward audiences often got him into trouble, but his skirmishes only elevated the band’s profile. In March ’79, after the Tokyo tour, Hayashi left the band and was replaced by Keita Koma. With Koma in the group, INU pivoted away from the simplistic sound of their early years and became a bit more pop. In May of that same year, Naruko Nishikawa (bass) and Hiroshi Kitagawa (drums) joined the group, and in August, Masahiro Kitada replaced Koma on guitar. Shinichi Higashiura then replaced Kitagawa on drums. These musicians made up the final INU lineup — the same one that would record Don't Eat Food! In ’81, the major label Tokuma Japan released the band’s debut album, Don't Eat Food! Machida’s witty lyrics, delivered in the unique rhythm of the Kansai dialect, were already literate enough to foretell his future receipt of Japan’s top literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, in 2000. The title track actually dated to the Kusareomeko era of the group. Machida was 16 years old when he composed the lyrics to this song. INU rarely played outside of Tokyo or Kansai, so even though they quickly earned a reputation as an incredible live band, very few people had actually heard them. With the release of this album, however, both INU and Machida became quite well known throughout Japan. Three months after the release of Don't Eat Food!, INU disbanded. With its impactful cover art, memorable tunes, tight performances and provocative vocals, INU’s Don't Eat Food! is a legendary work, and one of the country’s most celebrated ‘80s punk albums. Highly influential even today, its presence continues to be felt well beyond the punk sphere. -Syojiro Ishibashi (F.M.N. Sound Factory)