What’s your favorite Japanese zeuhl band? Your answer should be Koenjihyakkei. It’s not? Well, let me convince you otherwise. Today, we are premiering their long-lost live video for “Fettim Paillu”, recorded in 2005, which comes as a bonus track for their upcoming and highly anticipated release of Angherr Shisspa (Revisited), out September 20 via Skin Graft Records. Are you hyped yet?
You definitely should be! Koenjihyakkei were founded in 1991 as a new project by the infamous Tatsuya Yoshida, most commonly known as part of the no less infamous noise/zeuhl outfit Ruins. Over the course of fourteen years, the band released four masterfully crafted full-length records and shaped the face of Japanese experimental music significantly, and after an ensuing thirteen-year break, the outfit landed right back on the radar of experimental music enthusiasts with the release of their fifth album Dhorimviskha. It saw them gathering a lot of praise from the established music press. Being a bunch of busy bees, Koenjihyakkei decided to revisit their fourth album Angherr Shisspa, adding some bonus track for a re-release in 2019.
Without further ado, let me unleash this rare and unseen material from the band’s live rendition of “Fettim Paillu” back in 2005:
Let your mind be hijacked for 537 seconds by this tasteful journey into experimental sounds. As usual, the band showcase their unusual approach to arrangement, song structure, rhythm, and melody to provide an intense and immersive extravanganza of a track, one that will lift the listener into otherworldly spheres. As is typical of this genre, Koenjihyakkei created their own language to write and sing their lyrics, which inevitably draws some similarities to Magma‘s Christian Vander and his defining conception of Kobaïan.
If you are interested in comparing this older recording to more contemporary ones, feel free to check out these two video from the Live at Koenji High DVD!
As mentioned before, Angherr Shisspa (Revisited) will be out on September 20 via Skin Graft Records. You are able to pre-order the album by following this link. Please make sure to check the band’s social media channels on Facebook and Bandcamp.
