Black Editions will reissue Watashi Dake? by legendary Japanese guitarist, vocalist and avant-garde icon Keiji Haino on June 16th. It is the inaugural release for the label, which will issue lost classics from the revered P.S.F. Records catalog in high quality, definitive editions. For the first time the album art will be presented in striking metallic gold and silver, as was originally intended by the artist.
This new edition of the album offers a chance to trace the evolution of an artist that has remained enigmatic while building a truly staggering discography of solo releases, collaborations, and work with bands including Fushitsusha, Vajra, Lost Aaraaff, and most recently Nazoranai with Oren Ambarchi and Stephen O'Malley.
Today Fushitsusha has also announced their first US dates since 2001:
July 19th and 20th in New York at Pioneer Works, presented by Blank Forms
July 22th in Los Angeles at Zebulon presented by Black Editions
Back Cover - Photo Credit – Gin Satoh
On the album:
Over the last 50 years, few musicians or performers have created as monumental and uncompromising a body of work as that of Keiji Haino. Through a vast number of recordings and performances, Haino has staked out a ground all his own—creating a language of unparalleled intensity that defies any simple classification. For all this, his 1981 debut album Watashi Dake? has remained enigmatic. Originally released in a small edition by the legendary Pinakothecalabel, the album was heard by only a select few in Japan at the time of its release and far fewer overseas. Original vinyl copies became impossibly rare and highly sought after the world over.
Watashi Dake? presents a haunting vision. Stark vocals, whispered and screamed, punctuate dark silences. Intricate and sharp guitar figures interweave, repeat and stretch, trance-like, emerging from dark recesses. Written and composed by Haino on the spot, Watashi Dake? conjures a vision of deep spiritual depths that distantly evokes 1920s blues and medieval music, yet is unlike anything ever committed to record before or since. Coupled with starkly minimal packaging featuring the now-iconic cover photographs by legendary photographer Gin Satoh, the album is a startling and fully realized artistic statement.
Produced in close cooperation with Keiji Haino, as well as Gin Satoh, Black Editions is proud to make this masterpiece of underground music its inaugural release. Reissued on LP for the very first time, it is also the first-ever edition to feature the originally intended metallic gold and silver artwork. The release also presents the first-ever translation of the lyrics and titles by Alan Cummings.
Each LP includes a digital download with an extended bonus live track from the same era.
Pre-order Watashi Dake? from Black Editions: http://www.theblackeditions.com/
Front Cover - Photo Credit – Gin Satoh
Keiji Haino – Watashi Dake?
(Black Editions – June 16th)
1. My Refuge
2. The Disallowed
3. Rise from the Dead
4. Lay It Open
5. Bring to an End
6. I Can’t Do It Properly
7. More More More
8. Even if I Break Through
9. Falling Apart
10. Try To Come This Far
11. Though I Want To Laugh
12. I Want To Return
13. Devotion (bonus live performance, download only)