Description

Em Records shines a light into the dark yet strangely uplifting world of Inryo-fuen’s early 80s wonderland: a surreal, adventurously analogue, positively negative realm of freedom. Following the Em release of Inryo-fuen’s enigmatic ”Ho-Aku”, ”Early Years 1980-82” collects the band’s earliest recordings, originally released on flexi disc and vinyl, here re-edited, remixed and remastered, available now on LP and CD. With enlightening notes by band member Jun Harada providing historical background and recording information, stressing their love of improvisation and their ongoing quest for liberation, this is a landmark release, offering a glimpse into a hitherto inaccessible netherworld of the Tokyo/Yokohama post-punk underground. The music here, all improvised, with many of the pieces recorded live, have an edge-of-the-world electricity, informed by the group’s fascination with the Surrealist idea of Automatic Writing. The launch point is a brutalist, knuckle-dragging Conrad/Faust thug-riff featuring the hectoring rants of a stage-invading student activist, dramatically melded with the music by the sound engineer. Inryo-fuen’s searching use of the basic rock instrumentation of drums, bass and guitar is augmented by synthesizer and, on one piece, acoustic instrumentation. No overdubs, no vocals. Only sound and freedom. With English and Japanese liner notes and photos.