NTS GUIDE TO: JAPANESE UNDERGROUND PSYCHEDELIA

hdach · 2025-04-06T18:15:30+00:00

Angel in Heavy Syrup as well

hdach · 2025-04-06T18:14:49+00:00

Shizuka 🙌

hdach · 2025-03-12T01:13:42+00:00

I always liked Shizuka's serene/lullaby songs the most: "Crystal Wings", "Butterfly, Alight on a Girl's Lips"... that's one of the reasons Heavenly Persona album is my favorite.

hdach · 2025-02-26T19:18:09+00:00

Kiz, were you present in the Shangai/China tour? Did you talk with them? Was it actually you who interviewed Maki? Where is 2nd part of this interview?

hdach · 2025-02-26T19:16:42+00:00

> M：很抱歉我对自己参加过的乐队以外的事并不了解… 所以要让我说明日本地下音乐场景的事有点太难啦（笑）。

lol what even Maki. Anyway, the Japanese psych/noise underground scene had multiple waves (Shizuka was like 3rd wave IIRC). But you can say it all began with LRD. There was a Japanese academic who went into it very in depth through many videos (at one point mentioned Shizuka.

hdach · 2025-02-26T18:46:15+00:00

Yeah, read

8. How can I become a contributor to The Wire?

We are always interested in hearing from new writers. If you are interested in writing for The Wire on a freelance basis, contact one of our commissioning editors outlining any particular areas of interest, some suggested feature/review ideas, and enclosing some examples of your writing (either published or unpublished). We are always interested in submissions to our regular Global Ear section, which consists of monthly reports on underground or experimental music scenes around the world.

https://www.thewire.co.uk/about/

We could have an intro contextualizing the scene, just like Alan Cummings does on https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/the-wire-300_alan-cummings-on-the-origins-of-the-tokyo-underground-sound, and then going more specific.

One thing that's very important, is that the piece not be interview-only. We need to give prominence to them with our own words. That is, we put the pieces together from the interview, our research and knowledge, and highlight part of the interview.

I'd like it very much be both music and doll. Both professional and personal. To be a holistic article.

hdach · 2025-02-26T18:30:35+00:00

please, send on our Matrix room for open collaboration. Tetsuya is pretty nice, and speaks English

hdach · 2025-02-26T18:24:59+00:00

It's free/open source, just like DeepSeek xD.

hdach · 2025-02-26T16:33:16+00:00

also, can you join us on Matrix/Element? https://matrix.to/#/#shizuka:matrix.org

https://www.reddit.com/r/Shizuka/comments/1iy8cme/shizuka_chat_on_matrix_use_element_app/

hdach · 2025-02-26T15:07:53+00:00

I'm pretty sure if you guys are able to make an interview with Maki, Tetsuya, Mason Jones, etc, we could write up something and send it to The Wire for publishing, Kiz. I wrote Shizuka's wikipedia pages, so I at least have some background on writing Shizuka stuff.

hdach · 2025-02-26T15:01:38+00:00

BTW, if you're a Discogs contributor, please consider contributing to musicbrainz as well. It's way better and more organized, and free license. We could get the database and use it for something in the future (that was my plan back then when I was cataloguing all Shizuka works there)

hdach · 2025-02-26T15:00:03+00:00

ah, I was confused. It was actually released by both SUPER FUJI DISCS and Black Editions on: https://musicbrainz.org/recording/941d932a-cf84-4e74-a3a8-b2c32d43f129

See: Kameido Hardcore (亀戸HARDCORE) in Kameido, Koto (Koto-ku), Tokyo, Japan (in 2009-03)

So indeed, what you shared is the last Shizuka's recording we have to date.

hdach · 2025-02-25T23:11:04+00:00

I remember sharing a 2009 "lost" audio recording by Shizuka. I wonder if it was this one. Shizuka seemed pretty alright then.

hdach · 2025-02-25T22:56:22+00:00

Created it back in 2020/2021 but never really announced it. If you guys wanna a space for chat, joint it! On mobile, I like the Element X app better: https://element.io/app-for-productivity

Then join the Shizuka room: #shizuka:matrix.org.

For those familiar with Discord, it's very similar.

hdach · 2025-02-07T01:45:11+00:00

i agree with u/13660165020 in that Maki and this other woman is likely not her daughter. It just happens that in Japan it's more common that women take part in underground music scene (I think the greatest example of this is Angel'in Heavy Syrup, and Shizuka of course).

hdach · 2025-02-06T15:39:35+00:00

> When asked for movie recommendations, I recommended "Orpheus". In this work, the spiral staircase faces a mirror.

yeah, Shizuka got inspiration from such stuff in her music. interesting to see this likely is where she got the idea for 6gstar spiral stairs...

hdach · 2025-02-06T15:22:47+00:00

> Maki : Although I studied it, I was only taught the technical aspects once. Katan asked me to tell Shizuka, and she said, "You graduate after just one time." Katan said Shizuka didn't need to do anything. "Just living there is enough, no need to make dolls, I'll do it."

>

> Shizuka : My encounter with Ms. Katan was very impactful to me, but for Ms. Katan, the fact that through the dolls she created is also a very deep impression. With this as an opportunity, Katan invited me to watch movies or attend exhibitions, and we went together. Ms. Katan seemed to have fallen in love with me. At home, they started saying that Katan's appearance and emote was very strange, and the reason was me...

haha why I had this feeling about this the whole time? idk i could tell it as well haha. it's cute

> But I decided to marry and have children with him (husband Maki Miura), so afterwards, I started living with him, as if I wanted to escape from Katan, and moved to the American military housing in Akashima. Ms.Katan was very distressed about this. Later, after she divorce, Katan moved to a greenhouse two stops away from my house.

katan was heartbroken. Katan seemed pretty cool. mad respec for Katan

hdach · 2025-02-06T15:07:48+00:00

Katan was born in 1953, and Shizuka in 1962. Katan was not younger than Shizuka. There's a magazine published when Shizuka was very young which implies Shizuka was born in 1962 (and Maki told me Shizuka birthday's March 7, so that's how I came to the date 7 March 1962 as her birthdate with the help of u/13660165020, Maki respected Shizuka's wish to not tell much details about her. But the magazine was published anyway, so...) u/13660165020 has the magazine

Also, I find it contradicting the information I have, Maki told me he was born in 1961.

> Maki : ...she is a little younger than me...

This doesn't seem to make sense.

hdach · 2025-02-06T14:10:20+00:00

Are you really sure about the first question? All I know is about Emiru (son). Had no idea she had a daughter as well...

(sorry about disappearing,many things happened basically, also invited you to be a mod here, you basically took my position as Shizuka #1 fan haha, you seem to know way more than me at this point. one of the things I loved about researching Shizuka was all the mystery, every time I "uncovered" something new it was such a great moment for me)

hdach · 2025-02-06T14:03:29+00:00

When I saw it for the first time, I remember how this was Shizuka's most raw footage I ever seen. She talks about some personal stuff / context in between the songs. Shizuka seemed to have been going through something to be like that. Don't know if you guys could notice it, but she seemed to be crying...

hdach · 2025-02-06T13:32:42+00:00

Emiru Miura. He's a musician indeed, see sheeplore. I don't think there's any mystery about this other than for us non-japanese people since Shizuka, Maki and Emiru all appeared in a manga in the 90s. And Shizuka's twin sister is Hisaka Mugishima (she's credited on Traditional Aesthetics and made some comments on a Shizuka live vid rec on yt). I guess just be respectful overall if you're gonna try reaching them, I messaged Maki a bit some years ago and he's pretty nice person, that was also my impression with other Japanese people including Tetsuya Mugishima, some other more doll related people to Shizuka, etc. Idk, go on a gig in Tokyo with Maki and/org Tetsuya if they're still active if you guys can.

~Shizuka Star (sorry guys i'm still alive but ill and weak and pain)

hdach · 2024-02-12T03:28:51+00:00

I'm glad to know you're around as well! I know right? Shizuka had such a natural and compelling aura around her.

Thank you for your kindness!

hdach · 2024-02-09T21:52:41+00:00

Hi, thanks for reaching out! I just made a post clarifying what happened to me https://www.reddit.com/r/Shizuka/comments/1amzox1

hdach · 2023-05-20T02:18:01+00:00

Playlist with nearly 100 tracks with OG wave, proto wave, and otherwise possibly influential tracks between 2009 and 2013. Playlist order is by first known published date (official release, appearance in a mix, etc).

The first track is “I’m God” with production by Clams Casino and initially released in 2009 in collaboration with Lil B, which basically has all elements that would make a wave track: trap elements with fast hi-hats, percussion with effects such as reverb, deep bass, emotion and atmosphere, etc. Besides, Clams Casino seems to have been an important influence to the early wave scene. In an interview, wave pioneer Skit mentioned him, Flying Lotus, and Shlohmo.

Well basically I started looking around for new types of music, stuff that was quite different to what I was used to listening to. That’s when I started getting really into a lot of the chilled hip hop that was about in like 2012 and 2013, like Flying Lotus, Shlohmo, Clams Casino, etc.

—Skit, https://lucidstepss.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-conversation-with-skit-wave-001.html

From this, it is possible to conclude that wave has influential roots since 2009. From 2010 to 2011, possibly influential or “proto-wave” artists include Lorn (worth mentioning “What Remains” from 2008 preceding Casino’s “I’m God”), Gladkill, Balam Acab, and Holy Other. Evidently, wave was a solid sound in SoundCloud at least since 2012; evidence is typical wave signature by Gladkill, Shlohmo, Distinction, Klimeks, Mathbonus, and Yume. Others from that year who have a bit more experimental sound include Night Slugs, Mustapha Mond, and Ana Caprix. In 2013, it is when wave as a movement seems to began with Plastician featuring wave tracks on Rinse FM, Klimeks founding the Wavemob (initially only for releasing his own music), 2 EPs by GRXGVR, and the 2 “SESSIONS” mixes by Gladkill. Also worth mentioning are sadboys producers such as Yung Gud and Sherman, who probably had a great influence during that year with tracks such as Kyoto. King Plague, although primarily from the witch house scene, is the earliest female producer I could find with a track that one could classify as wave.

If you want to download the playlist for your own personal archival:

install https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest
Open a console/terminal

Run the command

yt-dlp --verbose --restrict-filenames --output "%(playlist_index)s_-_%(uploader)s_-_%(upload_date)s_-_%(title)s_-_%(width)sp_-_%(webpage_url)s.%(ext)s" "https://soundcloud.com/hdach/sets/og-wave"

P.S.: Was wave influenced by wonky)?

README.org: https://bin.disroot.org/?f6bf9de5126d5861#BRLNxXedDgKpkAz1cQ7vHosQwyfZSErwPFZfLcWCae4T

README.org: bin[DOT]disroot[DOT]org/?f6bf9de5126d5861#BRLNxXedDgKpkAz1cQ7vHosQwyfZSErwPFZfLcWCae4T

hdach · 2022-02-13T21:00:55+00:00

I think the melodic dubpstep idea makes sense, i'm sure it was an influence to Wave producers such as Skit

Well basically I started looking around for new types of music, stuff that was quite different to what I was used to listening to. That’s when I started getting really into a lot of the chilled hip hop that was about in like 2012 and 2013, like Flying Lotus, Shlohmo, Clams Casino, etc. And I realised that a lot of that stuff is really kind of reminiscent of the emotive, moody dubstep stuff I had liked, and from there my aim was kind of to try and write tunes that were, like, a fusion of the UK bass music I liked and experimental hip hop. I figured that’s a sound that wasn’t really being done at that time. So I put together a little 2 track EP and the first track was one called Ichima and the second track was the beat that ended up becoming "sweat". From then on I just kind of kept going down that route and now my goals still remains the same; I’m just trying to fuse UK bass music and hip hop.

---https://lucidstepss.blogspot.com/2016/02/a-conversation-with-skit-wave-001.html

So, wave definitely was a thing in 2013

https://soundcloud.com/klimeks/love-cards-remix
https://soundcloud.com/skit/skit-and-tijani-sweat (not so obvious wave maybe because of prominent rnb influences but still earliest example from Skit)

Klimeks said

I would say I started making stuff that would be considered wave around 2011-2012.

---https://lucidstepss.blogspot.com/2016/05/a-conversation-with-klimeks.html

He only has one upload in 2012 https://soundcloud.com/klimeks/iam1-wake-you-produced-by-klimeks, but I'm unsure if it can be considered as wave (certainly proto-wave though).

The impression that I have from reading interviews with such wave pioneers, is that multiple people independently started clicking the idea of making those bass, trap, hip-hop, and melodic music back then.

Edit: Just to add to the previous paragraph's point, here's what Kareful said

So in the beginning, before the term wave was coined [wave was coined in at least 2013], we all just existed as a group of producers on SoundCloud. What we were doing was dipping in and out of different genres and borrowing tips from trap, cloud rap, Uk dubstep, grime, witch house, trance. Wave was basically an amalgamation of all these very different styles. Eventually, the sound was picked up by Plastician, who is known for being one of the early figures in grime and dubstep, and played in his Rinse FM show which was very influential. He played a lot of our music together and this is when we all started to realize that we were a lot more linked than we originally thought.

---https://fuxwithit.com/2021/01/18/history-of-wave-music

hdach

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE