Hijokaidan
Last Recording Album

The quintessential noise group: active since the late seventies, they were and are a reference point in the scene worldwide. Just think that Incapacitants are part of their ranks, and Merzbow has also participated as a drummer. The group, led by Jojo Hiroshige, creates its sound using guitar, drums, vocals, and electronic instruments, like any other rock group. In reality, here we witness the subversion of rock: throughout their career, Hijokaidan has never offered lyrics and music, we witness a disintegration of such concepts, it seems like facing an entity whose motive is to unleash a destructive will. Jojo's guitar is saturated, distorted, you don't hear notes—everything is confused, Junko's voice (his wife) is a continuous and very high-pitched scream, the drums do not propose a sensible rhythm, and Mikawa and Kosakai complete the offering with continuous assaults based on electronic noises and feedback. The amalgamation created is unique, we witness the collapse not only of rock music but also of electronic music, there is no form, there is only the formless without even going through a phase of deformation. Rather than identifying them with the collapse of Music, I would prefer to identify them with the collapse itself. A difficult, excessive group, but never gratuitous, whose covers often reveal an almost poetic side (I would say in apparent contrast with the violence of the sound), and this one is no exception, I find it beautiful.
The work in question presents five tracks, of which I note "Astounding Guitar, Amazing Noise" that begins with a rhythmic sound that then introduces us to an orgy of feedback and "Hijokaidan The Fifth" with occasionally insane, frenetic drumming. The recording is of excellent quality and allows us to follow the development of every single sound distinctly, just like a prism that allows us to distinguish light in its components.