MUSIC

During the 1990s Shizuka self-released a series of four cassettes, barely heard by anyone outside of their inner circle. Culling together live recordings and home demos, these served as companions to the scant amount of proper Shizuka releases at the time (including the recently reissued Heavenly Persona). Concentric Circles is proud to present the third and most anomalous cassette from Shizuka, simply titled III, on vinyl for the first time in an edition of 500 copies. Formed by guitarist and singer Shizuka Miura, alongside husband Maki Miura, who’d previously played with both Les Rallizes Dénudés and Fushitsusha, the group known as Shizuka started in the early 90s with Jun Kosugi (also of Fushitsusha) on drums, and a revolving cast of bass players, including J.J. Junko, whose sole recorded appearance with the band is here on III. Devoid of any of their trademark noise and bombast, III feel distinct from their studio and live albums of the era, largely due to its fragility; haunted and spare, the songs revolve around Shizuka Miura’s gentle, unforced sighs, and Maki’s flickering, flinty guitar. The first side of the album features four songs – “For You,” “Lunatic Pearl,” “The Night When The Door Opens” and “To The Sky” – which will be well-known to Shizuka fans from previous recordings, but the drastically understated renditions here are particularly moving for their quietude and intimacy. The second half of III consists of a side-long duo session, just Shizuka and Maki Miura together at home, circling around the simplest two-chord motif for twenty minutes, Shizuka singing the most heavenly melody, strung through the sky of this lengthy improvisation. It’s an astonishingly beautiful performance, one that stills time through its becalmed repetition, pointing towards the endless forever. In this respect, it feels like an ultimate extension of Opal’s early recordings, Big Star’s 3rd or even Galaxie 500’s quietest moments. III lifts the darkness away, allowing for a softer, more gentle Shizuka to shine through, bringing with it a side to the band that most never knew existed. A lovely discovery if there ever was one.

An omnibus album "OZ DAYS LIVE" recorded in '73 at the live house "OZ" in Kichijoji, Tokyo, will be released as a 2LP analog set, plus previously unreleased material that was not recorded at the time. Officially approved by , which holds the legal rights to Les Rallizes Dénudés's sound sources, and remastered from the original analog tapes by Makoto Kubota. Includes booklet with liner notes by Minoru Tezuka (manager of OZ/ later manager of Rallizes's) and rare photos from that time. Comes with craft board sleeve and obi.

"With this I would like to make this the final chapter of my prayer (Lautreamont / Takashi Mizutani)"
Les Rallizes Denudes - Takashi Mizutani, and his words.
Photographs by original member Nakamura Nakamura and "Les Rallizes Denudes Poems" in three languages: Japanese, English, and French. Editorial commentary by philosopher Yoshihiko Ichida. Contribution by Soji Suzuki.
Flowers of Ibiscus.
Recorded in 1969 / Includes a CD with 20:19 of never-before-released sound recordings.

Few artists have left behind a legacy as enigmatic and captivating as Shizuka Miura. Amidst the Tokyo underground, she was a spectral figure, creating ghostly, childlike dolls and writing haunting, other-worldly songs. She formed Shizuka in 1992 with Maki Miura, known for his staggering guitar work in legendary groups Fushitsusha and Les Rallizes Dénudés. Their music bloomed with a fragile, yet explosive mystical power; an atmospheric alchemy of psychedelic rock, folk and noise with Shizuka’s ethereal vocals invoking loneliness, yearning and dark providence. Since her passing in 2010, the group has steadily gathered a cult following. Black Editions presents their sole studio album, 1994’s Heavenly Persona, a monumental, transcendent work originally issued by P.S.F. Japan on CD in 1994; Now newly remastered and in its first ever vinyl edition on double LP with a laser etched fourth side. Presented in a deluxe tip-on tri-fold jacket with ink pigment foil stamping, gloss film laminate finish and printed inner sleeves and mounted booklet. It includes her extensive, heart wrenching final interview, translated for the first time to English alongside high-resolution archival images.

Following "CITTA' '93," which has already been released worldwide to great acclaim, the performance at the Kichijoji Baus Theater on February 13, four days earlier, is now available as "BAUS '93. The performance, which was Raley's return to the stage after a five-year absence, is also known as a legendary performance. As in "CITTA '93," Makoto Kubota again put his heart and soul into mixing and mastering the 8-channel digital multitrack master, adding cassette recordings made at the venue and stereo outs from the tuning console. The result is a concert reconstructed by Makoto Kubota with a sound image that no one has ever heard before. The members of the band on that day were Takashi Mizutani (Vo, G), Katsuhiko Ishii (G), Kiyohiro Takada (B), and Toshiro Mimaki (Dr.) The lineup was different from the rhythm section at the concert four days later, and you can hear a performance with a different face from the previous "CITTA' '93". The first pressing of the CD will also include a DVD containing a video created by Akira Uji, who used to be in charge of visual direction for Raley's, based on a video he shot on the same day on stage. The commentary was written by Jennifer Lucy Allan, a writer for "The Wire" and "The Quietus" who also has a BBC radio show. In addition, Julian Cope, well-known as the author of "Jap Rock Sampler," the monstrous book that introduced the world to Japanese underground rock, including the Larrys, has made a special contribution.

Following "CITTA' '93," which has already been released worldwide to great acclaim, the performance at the Kichijoji Baus Theater on February 13, four days earlier, is now available as "BAUS '93. The performance, which was Raley's return to the stage after a five-year absence, is also known as a legendary performance. As in "CITTA '93," Makoto Kubota again put his heart and soul into mixing and mastering the 8-channel digital multitrack master, adding cassette recordings made at the venue and stereo outs from the tuning console. The result is a concert reconstructed by Makoto Kubota with a sound image that no one has ever heard before. The members of the band on that day were Takashi Mizutani (Vo, G), Katsuhiko Ishii (G), Kiyohiro Takada (B), and Toshiro Mimaki (Dr.) The lineup was different from the rhythm section at the concert four days later, and you can hear a performance with a different face from the previous "CITTA' '93". The first pressing of the CD will also include a DVD containing a video created by Akira Uji, who used to be in charge of visual direction for Raley's, based on a video he shot on the same day on stage. The commentary was written by Jennifer Lucy Allan, a writer for "The Wire" and "The Quietus" who also has a BBC radio show. In addition, Julian Cope, well-known as the author of "Jap Rock Sampler," the monstrous book that introduced the world to Japanese underground rock, including the Larrys, has made a special contribution.

Les Rallizes Dénudés, an album full of live performances at CLUB CITTA' in 1993 will be released as a 3-disc analog record!

After releasing three original albums in 1991, Les Rallizes Dénudés resumed their live performances in 1993, making their appearance in front of fans for the first time since 1988. Following the return live at the Baus Theater on February 13, the performance at CLUB CITTA 'held four days later on the 17th became one of the most notable performances in Les Rallizes Dénudés's history and is still legendary. It is said that the tremendous volume of the guitar, which surpassed the loud volume he had played in the past, shook the door of the venue, and the audience evacuated to the lobby.
The performance, which showed an amazing performance that shook all the senses of the audience, was recorded in its entirety with an 8-channel digital recorder.
In this work, based on the multi-track sound source that has been secretly stored for nearly 30 years, Makoto Kubota's soulful mixing, which has been reconstructed with the sound source recorded at the venue, is the result of the "something that surpasses the roaring sound" that resounded that night. ” is reproduced as an album work. You can experience the rally's sound that has never been heard before.

The members on the day were Takashi Mizutani (Vo, G), Katsuhiko Ishii (G), Yokai Takahashi (B), and Yukimichi Noma (Dr).
The jacket artwork features photographs taken by Takehiko Nakafuji.
Includes liner notes by Shinya Matsuyama.

■ Recorded songs:
Side A
1. The Night, Assassin's Night
2. Memory is Far Away

Side B
1. Deeper Than the Night
2. Eternally Now

Side C
1. White Awakening_1993
2. Bird Calls in the Dusk

Side D
1. Darkness Returns 2

Side E
1. The Last One_1993(Part 1)

Side F
1. The Last One_1993(Part 2)

Simultaneous purchase set of three original Les Rallizes Dénudés albums LPs with bonus 12-inch, available in limited quantities!

Special 12-inch for purchasing all three albums at the same time. 
The "Romance of Black Sorrow otherwise Fallin' Love With," which was cut from the analog LP of "MIZUTANI / Les Rallizes Dénudés" due to the recording time, and two bonus tracks from the reissue CD of "MIZUTANI / Les Rallizes Dénudés" will be included.
Two bonus tracks from the reissue CD of "'67-'69 STUDIO et LIVE" will be included.

FACE A 
1. 黒い悲しみのロマンセ otherwise Fallin’ Love With 
　Romance of the Black Pain otherwise Fallin’ Love With 

FACE AA 
1. Résonance 
2. Tobacco Road

An omnibus album "OZ DAYS LIVE" recorded in '73 at the live house "OZ" in Kichijoji, Tokyo, will be released as a 2LP analog set, plus previously unreleased material that was not recorded at the time. Officially approved by , which holds the legal rights to Les Rallizes Dénudés's sound sources, and remastered from the original analog tapes by Makoto Kubota. Includes booklet with liner notes by Minoru Tezuka (manager of OZ/ later manager of Rallizes's) and rare photos from that time. Comes with craft board sleeve and obi.

3LP edition. The long-awaited reissue of "'77 LIVE", recorded live in Tachikawa, Tokyo on March 12, 1977 by Les Rallizes Dénudés, after remastering by Makoto Kubota! The contents of the album are an overwhelming flood of sound and transformative improvisation, allowing the audience to relive the miraculous one-and-a-half hour live performance.

The omnibus album "OZ DAYS LIVE" recorded at the live house "OZ" in Kichijoji, Tokyo, in 1973, is now available on 3 CDs, including a bonus track from the same session by The Naked Larries, which was not recorded at the time, and over 40 minutes of previously unreleased material by Acid Seven, and an oral history book of several hours with people from "OZ". The special edition release includes a 100-page hardback book with an oral history comprising several hours of interviews with people involved in 'OZ'. Remastered from the original analogue tapes by Makoto Kubota.

Les Rallizes Dénudés' original album "'67-'69 STUDIO et LIVE", released in August 1991, has been reissued with vinyl LP! This is a valuable collection of sound sources from the early days of the band's activities, filled with the electric guitar feedback that would determine the direction of the band's later activities.

FACE A 
1. Smokin’ Cigarette Blues (Live Version) 
2. La Mal Rouge 
3. 眩 暈 otherwise My Conviction 
    Vertigo otherwise My Conviction 

FACE B 
1. Les Bulles de Savon 
    Soap Bubbles 
2. 記憶は遠い 
    Memory is far away 
3. 鳥の声 
    Bird calls in the dusk 
4. My Conviction (2nd. Version) 
5. The Last One _1969 (Live Version)

*The two bonus tracks "Résonance" and "Tobacco Road" on the CD reissue of the same title will not be included on the LP.

MIZUTANI / Les Rallizes Dénudés", has been remastered and reissued by Makoto Kubota, a participating member at the time!
Acoustic and introspective, this important work offers a glimpse into the personal side of Mizutani, the core of Naked Rallies.

Due to recording time constraints, "Black Sorrow Romance Otherwise Fallin' Love With," which is included at the end of the CD, was cut from the analog LP.
As a result, this record is composed of only the unique sound sources in the history of the Raleys, which were created by a chance encounter between Takashi Mizutani and Makoto Kubota in Kyoto, Japan in 1970.

This world-famous acid folk classic features performances by Matsutoya, Katsuo Ohno (PYG), Hiroki Komazawa (Honey Pai), Hiromasa Fujita (Sunset Band), Tsugitoshi Goto, Hiroshi Segawa in the chorus and Shin Otowa, who is currently undergoing a reevaluation. 1973 release.