We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Peculiar

by Kentaro Hayashi

/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Shipping from 8th April 2021.

    I'll make a better mock up of these once I have the records. Order with confidence.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Peculiar via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £19 GBP or more 

    You own this  

     

  • Digital Album
    Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £5 GBP  or more

    You own this

     

  • Full Digital Discography Full Digital Discography

    Get all 296 OPAL releases available on Bandcamp and save 70%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Suffocating Repetition, Land of Hidden Variables, A Known Absence, Body Double, Velvet Room, Cychotic, I - V, Flowers Emerge from Every Step She Takes, and 288 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      £433.95 GBP (70% OFF)

    You own this

     

1.
Gargouille 09:14
2.
Vakuum 03:21
3.
Peculiar 03:16
4.
Octagon 05:13
5.
Odyssey 05:08
6.
Arrowhead 05:20
7.
Anabiosis 03:24
8.
Basilica 04:55
9.
10.

about

Osaka based mastering engineer Kentaro Hayashi debuts on Opal Tapes with this 2 x 12” recorded alongside Yasuyuki Nakamura, with additional remix duties from Merzbow and Jim O’Rourke. After opening with a nine-minute concrete style piece, Hayashi channels the addition/subtraction strategies of Vainqueur’s Chain Reaction outings on ‘Vakuum’, inciting laments for bass-heavy soundsystems and grotty live music venues. It works wonders in covid-era isolation too however, setting up nicely for the shuffling techno paranoia of ‘Peculiar’ and the brooding, understated cut ‘Odyssey’. Building on the original CD release, Kentaro and Stephen Bishop draw for two extra cuts, notably ‘Arrowhead’, a ridiculously compelling mutant DnB/jungle spin-off that blends walls of noise, crow squawks, sub-aquatic FX and sharp breaks.

From this writer’s perspective, the general atmosphere is one that seems to incorporate varying strands of UK club culture across the past three decades, taking elements from the hardcore continuum and the starker moments of early dubstep and fusing them with a brutalist approach to sound design that fits in line with the heyday of Japanese noise. Whilst raw and chaotic, the tracks fit together to convey an extremely acute sense of purpose, Hayashi seemingly aware of how each piece of the album holds together. O’Rourke deconstructs ‘Vakuum’, twisting stems of the original into glitch-laden vortex, whilst Merzbow brings us back to the opening cut, doubling up on the intensity and bringing proceedings to a close. Hayashi has been quietly working away behind the scenes at Slowdown (スローダウンRECORDS) over the past year, responsible for technical assistance on a slew of Merzbow CDs and a blink and you’ll miss it Vanity records demo compilation. In late 2020 he released Peculiar as a small-run CD for the Remodel label, a drop in the ocean of the ever-expansive Japanese noise scene. The album seemed grounded in the shadows of its home country with no proper distribution - globally impenetrable by less than a select few in the know fans. With its finger on the pulse, Opal Tapes now welcomes these microworlds of dark and beautiful sound structures to the fold with worldwide distribution on the vinyl edition. Some heavy, heavy frequencies on this one!

- Fergus Clark

credits

released April 2, 2021

OPAL214

Written : Kentaro Hayashi
#7 Remix : Jim O’Rourke
#8 Remix : Merzbow

Produced : Yasuyuki Nakamura / Studio Warp / Slow Down Records
Special Thanks : Agi Yuzuru, Nose Iseo, Shin Akiyama

Cover photography: Danae Kristene Charlebois

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

OPAL

ANY ITEMS LOST, DAMAGED OR STOLEN WHILE IN TRANSIT CANNOT BE ACCOUNTED FOR BY THE LABEL .
ALL ITEMS ARE SENT BY SURFACE ECONOMY MAIL INTERNATIONALLY AND BY ROYAL MAIL IN THE UK.

contact / help

Contact OPAL

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account