June 21, 2017
Watashi dake? - Keiji Haino
Watashi dake? - Keiji Haino - (Black Editions, BE000LP, June 16, 2017, lp, discogs.com link,
label link)
One of the various functions of the Poison Pie Publishing House, at best peripherally related to its primary mission (whatever that may be), is the hosting, since 1995, of An Unofficial Keiji Haino Website. It began as an opportunity for some of the PPPH staff to learn HTML in order to interact with the budding internet of the time. In imitation of the various discographies created by Patrice Roussel, the unofficial Haino site sought to compile a complete discography of the officially released recordings of Haino. (As of the date of this writing, the discography contains 236 entries.) The site also served as a portal for an English-speaking audience to the music of Haino. Over the past two decades, maintaining the site has continued to be a source of enjoyment for the staff of the PPPH in many ways. They continue to explore the evolution of Haino's music. They also interact with many like-minded individuals from around the world interested in Haino's music.
The label, Black Editions, has obtained the rights to the catalogue of the Tokyo-based record label, PSF Records. Once upon a time, PSF stood for Psychedelic Speed Freaks, though this is not a particularly useful insight into the music of Haino, who is very open in his anti-drug and anti-alcohol stance. Nevertheless, many seminal albums by Haino (and others of the Japanese experimental underground) were released on PSF. Black Editions is reissuing selected recordings from the PSF catalogue. The first such reissue is Watashi Dake?, a solo performance by Haino featuring guitar and voice.
Watashi Dake? translates as Only Me?. Musically, it stands as a document on its own merits. It exists without precedent and seems utterly uninfluenced by mainstream musical trends of the year of its original release, 1981. From this point of view, the album is timeless; there is no sense of the music being dated. However, taken in the context of Haino's extensive repertoire, this album is significant as the first release that showcases his mature musical vision. (There are earlier recordings, for example a guest appearance on two tracks of the album Magical Power recorded by Magical Power Mako in 1973, but on Watashi Dake? Haino is in full control of the musical output.) The guitar is rhythmic (at times) but not melodic. The vocals range from frantic to melodic. Haino's signature style of the blending of melody and dissonance is on full display. The total effect is sonorously pleasing to those with an ear for such things.
As is often stated in music reviews by the staff of the PPPH, part of the appeal, in addition to the purely sonic aspect, of music that falls in the broad category of non-idiomatic improvisation is the philosophical motivation of the artist who created it. Haino is no exception. To get a glimpse of this philosophy, Black Editions has published, to coincide with the reissue, an interview with Haino from January, 2017, conducted by Mr. Takeshi Goda, dealing with topics from the era in which Watashi Dake? was generated. The link to the full interview is here. In this review, we cite only a short quote.
One thing I'd say is that people now, including you, they draw up a kind of plan whenever they plan to do something. I want to do this, or I want to do that. But, you know, wanting to do this or wanting to do that really means that there's nothing you want to do. Really wanting to do something is a power that cannot be stopped, it isn't limited by whether there is a place to play. That's how I felt then and how I still feel. That means that if I had received no offers after Minor closed, I might no longer be playing music in front of people. I'm confident that my love of music wouldn't have changed, so I might just have been listening to records and collecting them. I never had an urgency about performing. If I wasn't getting invited to perform, it wouldn't get me down. It was nothing new - no one invited Lost Aaraaff to play either. But kids now, if they don't get invited to play regularly they start to get anxious, I think. "Oh? No one wants to hear me play?" The wavelength of that process is really short for them. Listen to me, acting all hardcore, so uncool. But for me not getting asked to play was just normal. That's how I felt.
The lyrics too are a minimalist delight. They express themes present through-out Haino's career, though they do not possess the sophisticated lyricism that would develop in some of his later work. (One thinks fondly of, for example, A Death Never to be Complete, released sixteen years later in 1997.) To illustrate, we reproduce the translation of I want to return.
I want to return to that place from whence I came
To that time when there was neither
Form nor color
I want to return to that place from whence I came
To that time when there was neither
Form nor color
The esthetic of Black Editions is one shared by Haino, with a meticulous attention to detail. The packaging is quite intentionally deluxe. As a testament to their mania, the staff of the PPPH handled their copy of the release with gloves so as not to stain the fine black paper with the oil of their fingerprints. The various inserts include Japanese and English translations (courtesy of Alan Cummings) of the lyrics. There is also an inserted black folder with additional photograph and paper paraphernalia as well. Fetishists will not be disappointed.
Watashi Dake? was originally released on vinyl in 1981 on the label, Pinakotheca. It was reissued on cd by PSF records in 1993. The digital reissue included three extra tracks, one of which was nearly a half hour in length. Happily, the Black Editions reissue includes a Bandcamp download code which contains all of the material included in the original lp and cd reissue.
Black Editions has plans to release additional recordings from the PSF catalogue. The landmark live albums of Fushitsusha, known alternately as Live (or PSF 3/4) and Live II (or PSF 15/16) are reputedly soon to follow, receiving the same deluxe treatment as 2xlp and 4xlp(!) versions.
