*european manufactured 180 gram lp housed in a stoughton
old-style jacket with j-card style obi. limited edition of 1000. we have a friend who works for a high-end publicly-traded
kids clothing maker up in manhattan, and last month they had her attend a seminar on forecasting trends for the next two years.
and what did their high-priced european haruspex predict? that the dominating look for next year’s lines will be…freak
folk. for real. In fact, it’s happening right now – even as we speak, beardos are shambling down the runways in milan
and paris. and if in a few months time you see little kids running around looking like amish grad students, you’ll understand.
but that’s just the transatlantic axis. what about japan? japan’s fashion scene is so wildly on-another-planet, it
can’t even be inserted into a rational framework or timetable – are they a day ahead of us, or ten years?
in order
to stay ahead of the curve, the next tequila sunrise release will be a new lp, empty rubious red, by japanese avant-pysch
artists lsd march. for those of you already living a couple of years ahead of the rest of us, you will know that this will
be the fifth full length by this band, and that it was originally released in 2006 on their own white elephant imprint (a
longer version of empty rubious red was reissued later that year as a limited edition cd on the incredible archive label),
both versions sold out in about a minute.
It’s actually more like a solo outing by lsdm front-man shinsuke michishita
(on voice, guitar, bass and percussion), accompanied on two tracks by legendary drummer ikuro takahashi (high rise, fushitsusha,
tamio shiraishi, kosokuya, che-shizu, maher shalal hash baz, nagisa ni te, etc). most of the songs here are intimate, in-your-inner-ear
ballads, hypnagogic and melancholic, achy hangovers from the third velvets LP – sorrowful birds on the last tree in the universe,
thinking themselves into being, then forgetting themselves, then remembering again. except for the title track, that is –
an 8-minute doppler-effect trance that gets you wasted on polonium 210, sets the dials of the kabbalah for the heart of the
sun, and clicks “send.”
we could describe the overall sound here as late night psych. It’s a pretty hackneyed
term at this point, but try to remember how it used to be a downright poetic handle for the genre, conjuring those sleepless
hours between 3 and 5 a.m. when the acid-drenched mind emits showers of sparks into the abyss. Light fuse and get away!
we don’t know what sorts of children’s clothing we’ll see when trend analysts start recommending late night psych as
the compass for designers, but it’s bound to be interesting. just remember, when you see saucer-eyed tots on the deck of a
starship with their heads plugged into andromeda, you heard it here first.
REVIEWS
KEITH FULLERTON WHITMAN/MIMAROGLU MUSIC SALES
truly lovely vinyl edition
of this modern-psych chesnut, first released on the tiny white elephant label before being reissued by archive last year &
finding its way into many western homes/consciousnesses (including mine, where it has remained as my favorite late-night driving
record for a good year now...) before going out of print in like 2 weeks...
highly recommended if the whisper/scream
paradox of such acts as jacks, white heaven, overhang party, les rallizes denudes, et.al. share head-space in that cramped
noggin of yours.
DAVID KEENAN/VOLCANIC TONGUE
Deluxe vinyl reissue of this great side featuring European manufactured
180 gram LP housed in a heavy Stoughton old-style sleeve with j-card style obi. Limited edition of 1000 copies: Japan's LSD-March,
current heirs to that country's post-Rallizes void-gobbling crown. Empty Rubious Red reconciles a bunch of strains that have
been orbiting their back catalogue for a while now, combining pale, Velvets-style dead flower blues with the kind of clipped,
evocatively staggered guitar dunt pioneered by Jutok Kaneko of Kousokuya as well as long, nerve-shredding passages of fully
illuminated electric guitar immolation that push post-Hendrix rock logic a few stones closer to the sun. Highly recommended:
this looks, feels and sounds immense.
SCOTT MOU/OTHER MISIC
Originally released on the Japanese White Elephant
label in 2006 (and long since gone), LSD March's Empty Rubious Red sees domestic, although limited, release thanks to Tequila
Sunrise. Not the full on psych explosion as on some of their previous works, most of these tracks are intimate, not unlike
Les Rallizes Denudes' more quiet moments, or Velvet Underground, except for the title track which is mindblowing trance-psych
at its very best. Limited to 800 copies outside Japan, you'd do yourself a favor by snapping this up quickly.
EDWIN
POUNCEY/THE WIRE
this reissue of lsd march mainman shinsuke michishita’s solo album offers a third chance for those
who missed out. accompanied by drummer ikuro takahashi, whose previous work includes appearances with high rise, fushitsusha,
kosokuya, che-shizu and maher shalal hash baz, ‘empty rubious red’ is an elegant set of lightly strummed songs. the first
side is quietly meditational and strongly folk inspired, but michishita plugs in on the B side.the title track is an escalating
bout of psychedelic interplay with takahashi that builds into a deranged free for all before falling back into his more minimalistic,
laid back style. this unexpected burst of energy elevates the project into another dimension, the slow songs taking on a greater
sense of purpose when fitted around the album’s signature song.
MICHAEL CRUMSHO/DUSTED MAGAZINE
Originally
re-released in digital form on the Archive label, Tequila Sunrise here re-presents LSD-March's Empty Rubious Red for those
who missed out on the shiny plastic version. Those expecting more of the group's current take on Les Rallizes Denude's styled
speaker-crush and distorted balladry are in a for a pleasant surprise here, as this LP, save for the six-string-cum-drum-blast
of the two versions of the title track, is on the unabashedly mellow tip. Main man Shinsuke Michishita handles pretty much
everything on his own here, turning in wistful pieces like "As Many Stars in the Sky" that pair delicate guitars with his
breathy vocals. He adds slight percussion and forlorn harmonica to "The Present Is a Storm," and comes to a graceful close
with "I Only Have Hands for You." Throughout both tracks, Michishita deals in sparse, subtly melancholic territory, forming
a nice overall contrast to the brown-outs for which his group have become revered. Definitely a bit of a switch, but worth
seeking out for quiet time. Edition of 800 copies in tip-on sleeves with printed obi strip.
AQUARIUS RECORDS
Super deluxe, and of course ultra limited vinyl version of the now out of print Empty Rubious Red cd released on aRCHIVE a
while back. Thick vinyl, gorgeous sleeves, even an obi! Limited to 1000 copies, only 800 in the US, pressed on 180 gram vinyl
and so so nice.
The last time we listed a limited edition cd by Japan's LSD-march, we sold out of it in about,
oh, two seconds. That was the Live cd that came our way (and went). Then we listed the cd version of Empty Rubious Red, which
lasted only slightly longer. Why is everybody so grabby with the LSD-march? Is it because of the cool packaging? Is it because
they seem to always be limited? Maybe... but of course it's also 'cause if you love heavy duty distorto guitar psych in the
vein of cult '70s Japanese heroes Les Rallizes Denudes. And you do get that here on the dronily intense, trippy title track,
in spades. But for much of the rest of the album you also get the kinder, gentler side of LSD-march, with Shinsuke Michishita
handling vocals and guitar and bass and percussion and whistling (yes, there's some whistling!) all by himself, joined by
drummer Ikuro Takahashi on just two of the tracks. It's quite intimate, really, maybe even romantic -- these are love songs,
aren't they? The lyrics are in Japanese but the titles "I Have Been Saving My Love For You" and "I Only Have Hands For Hold
You" (sic) sure sound like love songs. Dunno about "Nude And Bizarre" though. A gorgeous late night listen, echoey and emotional.
Spacious, slow, drowsy. Melancholic, melodic. Compared to the destructive, amped-up attack of that Live album, the beautiful
balladry here is like night and day... a mistily overcast day with rays of sun glinting between the clouds.
