Keiji Haino Solo Album Poll -- I Said, This Is The Son Of Pollhilism

I'd say the following are essential listening for guitar-based Haino:
Watashi Dake --1981
Affection --1992
Beginning and end, interwoven --1994
A Challenge to Fate --1995
Keeping on breathing --1997
First let's remove the color!! --2002
Black Blues (soft version) --2004
Black Blues (violent version) --2004
Yaranai ga dekinai ni natte yuku (Won't becomes Can't) --2006

I love the two of his hurdy-gurdy ( Hard-y Guide-y Man) albums that I have, but haven't found his electronics explorations quite as interesting (for example So black is myself). The only side of Haino I don't know very well is the percussion stuff. A lot of people rate Tenshi No Gijinka, but I've yet to hear it.

If the box was a choice, I'd definitely vote for that...for me, it's a toss-up between Black Blues (electric) and Nijumu: Era Of Sad Wings. Aw hell, I'll go with Nijumu. It never gets enough love.

Affection! Although if it was Haino in general I'm quite partial to that Lost Aaraaff reissue that came out a while back.

I feel a strong emotional attachment to Execration that accept to acknowledge, because it was the first thing I ever heard by him and it sounds a lot like a solo set I saw him do at CBGB in 1989 or 1990. But I also really like Abandon all words at a stroke, so that prayer can come spilling out. I just recently got the two Black Blues discs and haven't really absorbed them yet.

WATASHI DAKE

If the box was a choice, I'd definitely vote for that...for me, it's a toss-up between Black Blues (electric) and Nijumu: Era Of Sad Wings. Aw hell, I'll go with Nijumu. It never gets enough love.
― Matt Weston, Friday, 15 May 2009 01:19 (Yesterday) Bookmark

You're mixing up the solo album Nijiumu with Haino's band Nijiumu, which released an album called Era Of Sad Wings. It's an easy mistake to make -- the guy is all over the place.

And, if you are referring to the Soul's True Love box, I didn't include it because only 2 of the 4 discs are Haino solo. I thought I'd restrict this to stand-alone solo releases.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Shit, totally missed that this was happening. Not been around here much lately. Now I have to make a spur of the moment choice.

P.S. - we should definitely do Fushitsusha next...

P.P.S. Sruthi Box and Koko should be on here, both are awesome beyond their highly limited means...

Affection.

I feel bad for voting without listening to them all through again, but time does not allow such an awesome endeavour.

"Abandon All Words..."

I'm sure to regret it later.

I voted for Execration That Accept To Acknowledge.

Not that I've heard anywhere near them all but Affection really ups that special brand of gothic Romanticism with enough meaty chunks of no wave guitar.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

There we go. I guess a wee PSF order is needed, as Affection is one of the few that I don't have yet (having held off ordering the relatively easy to get ones unless they happened to come my way in preference of hunting out the harder to find ones when money allowed). Time for gaps to be filled.

Fair result. I would have put Watashi Dake? above Affection myself, but the latter is a good one. Recorded live on New Year's eve 1991, IIRC.

It's worth getting for the cover alone, of course:

http://poisonpie.com/sounds/haino/images/psf_23.jpg

Correction: recorded 30th December 1991.

I think we should definitely do a Fushitsusha one (maybe in a week or so to give some extra thinking time), so get your listening and decision making on the go Haino fans...

I'll happily start it unless Duke wants to, of course.

Haino has some wonderful album covers and photographs. The dark, almost all black, mysterious aesthetic just adds to (and/or is part of) the draw. Affection has a beautiful photo there.

Surprised by the turn out here. I've seen Haino live a number of times, and he's just phenomenal performer, but I've found the recordings a disappointment. I'll have to give them another chance, working from this.

Quite a few of his solo albums are live performances, such as Affection, and are presented as such (ie one single "track" on CD, which can be annoying, but that's a different discussion).

If you're interested in a recording that does a good job of reflecting the power of his live performances, I would suggest "A Challenge To Fate". It consists of various pieces from different gigs, and covers the range of his styles, from guitar madness to vocal craziness to plaintive songs. It might not be easily available, but if you want, I can organise a copy for you.

i have this too http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=22509

The Haino collaborative discography is a whole different kettle of fish in terms of mind-melting size...

That archive one with Sitaar Tahl that pfunk mentions is great though. As are the two relatively recent collaborations with Tatsuya Yoshida. All more than worth tracking down. 'Hauenfiomiume' and 'Uhrfasudhasdd' ended up being one of my top picks of last year. Quite different for Haino (cut ups, crazy proggyness), but wonderful.

uh... isn't it Sitaar Tah! or have i been wrong about this for years now.

Yes, it is. I just c+p'd from boomkat.

Just ordered the following from PSF, thanks to some US $'s earned to my paypal account:

PSFD-7
Keiji Haino / Nijiumu $18

PSFD-23
Keiji Haino / Affection $18

PSFD-38
Keiji Haino / Watashi-Dake? $18

PSFD-8014
Keiji Haino / To start with, let's remove the colour! $18

PSFD-8020
Keiji Haino / Uchu ni Karamitsuiteru Waga Itami $18

PSFD-8021
Keiji Haino / Konokehai fujirareteru hajimarini $18

Can't wait for this bunch to arrive. I'd always held off on the PSF ones, as they're relatively straight forward to get hold of compared to some of the others.

hey the best two won!

I'm sorta partial to 'I Said This Is the Son of Nihilism,' 'Affection,' and 'Saying I Love You I Continue to Curse Myself.' But they're all worth a listen at least. Haino never ceases to amaze me with the ability to project his essence through any instrument or device he touches. Hurdy-gurdy, theremin, percussion, what-have-you. He come through.

nicely said, IS. only time ive seen keiji live (in a duo w/ tony conrad) the most fearsome instr he played was the theremin, so loud it made the soles of my feet vibrate, seriously! those hurdy-gurdy albs on PSF, especially the first one, are fuckin' central pieces of the totality of the expression - nobody seems to get DEEPER into a zone (of silence/stillness/loudness/intensity) than haino

Thanks WF. I've never had the pleasure of seeing him live, but I keep hoping.

I agree with you about the hurdy-gurdy things and the one on sruthi (struti? tuti-fruiti?) box is also an amazing drone piece with plenty of interesting dynamic decorations. I think it was called 'Koko.' The main one I continue to have trouble with is the disc he did with classical guitar. Somehow it doesn't grab me like some of the others. Not bad mind you, but prolly the last Haino I'd pick to listen to at any given time.

those hurdy-gurdy albs on PSF, especially the first one, are fuckin' central pieces of the totality of the expression

^^^^^^^^

The hurdy-gurdy albums are incredible.

Keiji Haino is reported to have formed an R&B covers group, who performed at his annual end of year show in Tokyo. The five piece group, Hardy Soul, with Haino on vocals and guitar, performed a set including covers of "When A Man Loves A Woman", "Lucille", "Land Of 1000 Dances", "In The Midnight Hour" and more.

http://thewire.co.uk/news/28326/keiji-haino-forms-rnb-group_performs-little-richard_wilson-pickett-covers

Hah this almost trumps the Jandek interview news. What a nutty day of weirdo music news.

There's a YouTube clip of the "R&B" group. It bears the same resemblance to R&B that Aihiyo (his last cover band) bore to rock 'n' roll. It kinda sounds like Les Rallizes, actually.

Cool, will try to go check it out. Still bizarre news. "Hardy Soul"!

IIRC Haino talked abt his love for Wilson Pickett in an old Wire Invisible Jukebox

definitely liking that youtube clip. anyone know what it's a cover of?

https://twitter.com/frozenreeds/status/594954906001416192/photo/1

http://i4.minus.com/ifuF7Ov9yF8yt.jpg

he's doing a dj set on nts today:

https://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/keiji-haino-21st-may-2019

Thanks for the perfectly timed tip! Listening now and it's a very promising start.

That was excellent. Do NTS release playlists for these?

if the dj gives them the playlist, they normally add it to the webpage when the show gets uploaded (usually 1-2 days after initial broadcast)

Fingers crossed then. Thanks.

The Meaning of Blackness is a typically awkward English title, but it’s a fine, varied solo live album and honestly one of the best Haino-related releases I’ve heard in more than a decade (I’m not as much of a connoisseur as others itt, however). Oh, and it comes with a new version of ‘Koko’.

The Meaning of Blackness is a typically awkward English title

Give the man a break, he managed to not make it a novella-length title this time! ;)

You weren't wrong btw! This is one of the best of his 00s output (though I've not heard all of them, admittedly), been really enjoying this one lately.

The version of "Koko" is on YouTube and it's amazing. I might need to buy this record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QloLYsK5v9A

Otm, it's amazing.

Give the man a break, he managed to not make it a novella-length title this time! ;)

I don't know if it's the full title or a two-line poem but for the album's Bandcamp page he couldn't resist the call of elongation:

The Meaning of Blackness More Decorous than Duty
Having become faster than everything A smile that was never birthed into the light

Congratulations, I played myself lol

Hearing Haino in English (about 6 minutes into the first track) was genuinely shocking.

Haino is 69 today. Feel like now's the time to talk about all three times I saw him perform.

The first was two days before Christmas 1991 at CBGB. Haino played a solo guitar set on a bill that also included OLD and UFO Or Die. John Zorn put it together, and at the end of Haino's set he came out and they performed a duo that was skull-crackingly loud. His guitar sounded like a thunderstorm, and all Zorn could do to pierce the wall was screech at the very top of the alto's range.

A couple of years later, maybe 1995, I went to the Knitting Factory and saw him do a solo percussion show. He started out doing soft, ritualistic stuff with tiny gongs, like some kind of monk or something, but by the end he was screaming and leaping into the wall with a tambourine in each hand and pieces of tambourine were flying across the room.

In 2000 I went to Tonic to see what was billed as a solo set, using electronics and hurdy-gurdy, to be followed by a Fushitsusha performance. It turned into a seamless three-hour experience that was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen/heard. There was theremin. There was hurdy-gurdy. There were half-hour slabs of unbelievably loud doomprov. He even played a song I recognized from one of the first two Fushitsusha live albums!

I love Haino. Long may he roar.

Affection is truly beautiful.