Last week saw the passing of Hideo Ikeezumi (生悦住英夫), founder of the legendary P.S.F. Records label from Tokyo. Combining the heavy acid of Japan’s psych rock underground (the label’s name actually came from the first release, Psychedelic Speed Freaks, by acid power trio High Rise) with free improvisation, the depth of darkness, and avant garde poetry, the label went on to have a gigantic effect on every single person it touched. Legends from the label like Keiji Haino and Kaoru Abe continue to influence improvisers the world over.
The Modern Music record store around which the label was based closed in March 2014, and with the passing of Ikeezumi it seems like the P.S.F. tale has finally come to a close. This week I tell a bit of the story and play some of my favourite music from the label in tribute.
email // globalunderground@o94.at
twitter // @tristan_bath
Playlist:
- White Heaven – Silver Current (from “Tokyo Flashback 2”, 1992)
- Motoharu Yoshizawa, Takehisa Kosugi, Haruna Miyake – Untitled (3) (from “Angels Have Passed”, 1992)
- Go Hirano – Dream (from “Reflection of Dreams”, 1995)
- Fushitsusha – Code (from “Without losing” aka PSF 3/4, 1989)
- Ghost – Second Time Around (from “Second Time Around”, 1992)
- Shizuka – 血まみれの華 Bloodspattered Blossom (from “Heavenly Persona”, 1994)
- Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. – Third Eye of Whole World (from “Pataphysical Freak Out MU!!”, 1999)
- Motoharu Yoshizawa – Part 6 (from “From the Faraway Nearby”, 1991)
- Michio Kadotani – (Beside Me) (from “Rotating Telepathies”, 1991)
- Chie Mukai – Kokyu Improvisations (from “Kokyu Improvisations”, 1990)
- Kan Mikami – Egg (from “Touge No Syounin (Merchant On The Pass)”, 1997)
- High Rise – Psychedelic Speed Freaks (from “Psychedelic Speed Freaks ’84-’85” Compilation, 1997)
- Kim Doo Soo – Deja-Entendu (from “10 Days Butterfly”, 2007)
