群 / Gu-N (An'archives盤LP／オレンジ帯)
金田秀信、高橋幾郎、コサカイフミオ、長久保隆一、澤田守秀の5人による、1994年結成の即興ノイズ／アヴァンギャルドユニット群（Gu-N）による、94年と98年録音の未発表音源のアナログLPが、フランスのAn'archivesよりリリース!!! 3種類ある帯カラーの内、今回入荷分はオレンジ帯バージョンです（サブ画像参照）。 <a href="https://anarchiveslabel.bandcamp.com/album/gu-n">Gu-N by Gu-N</a> Formed in 1994 by Hidenobu Kaneda (Yuragi), alongside Fumio Kosakai (Incapacitants, Hijokaidan, C.C.C.C.), Ikuro Takahashi (Fushitsusha, Kousokuya, LSD March), Ryuichi Nagakubo (C.C.C.C., Yuragi), and Morihide Sawada (Yura Yura Teikoku, Marble Sheep), Gu-N played regularly at Plan-B in Tokyo, but released little during their relatively short time together. Hazy and hypnotic, their laminar improvisations, four of which appear on this untitled album, are compelling, oneiric visions for the ear. In his liner notes for the album, Michel Henritzi writes that these Gu-N recordings situate the group within a broader trajectory of free improvisation and collective sound within Japan – Taj Mahal Travellers, East Bionic Symphonia, Marginal Consort, each of whom sprung, in many ways, from the radical vision and creativity of Takehisa Kosugi. But there's a unique spirit here that aligns Gu-N with these predecessors, while also marking out singular territory. Kosakai's background in noise, via his participation in Hijokaidan and Incapacitants, can be heard in the unrelenting oscillations and heavyweight drones that purr throughout each of these four tracks. Both Kosakai and Nagakubo were members of C.C.C.C., perhaps the clearest precursors to Gu-N in their psychedelic density, though Gu-N trade in C.C.C.C.'s volcanic energy for a more tempered, sensuous exploration of tone and time. There's also a brutish element to Gu-N's improvisations – see the saturated spectrum, rumbling and phasing throughout the album, and the crushing, almost Amon Düül-esque drum tattoos that Takahashi pounds out on the second track (recorded in 1998), punctuating the music from deep inside its hallucinatory murk. Elsewhere, as on the third track (one of three recorded in 1994), Kosakai's cello scrapes out armfuls of buzz-tone as Sawada's bouzouki trills out, elastic and vibrant, across spindrift electronics and lung-spun winds. What's most impressive here, though, is the way each player, formidable musicians in their own right, defers to the might of the communal and the collective. The quintet broke up in 1998, leaving behind scant recorded evidence – just one, self-titled CD, on Pataphysique, released in 1995. This LP is a most welcome addition to the small but blissful body of recorded work made public by this mysterious quintet of spirit channelers. （An'archives） Hidenobu Kaneda guitar, electronics, voice, percussion, keyboards etc Morihide Sawada percussion, electronics, bouzouki etc Fumio Kosakai guitar, handmade instruments, electronics etc Ryuichi Nagakubo bass, keyboards, voice etc Ikuro Takahashi electronics, voice etc A1, B1 et B2 were recorded on August 7, 1994 at Plan B A2 on May 3, 1998 at Rinky Dink Studio Mastered by Taku Unami Format：LP Label：An'archives (FRA)
