10 Classic Kurihara Cuts
By Austin Powell, Fri., July 23, 2010
"Mandrax Town," White Heaven, Out (1991)
Imagine Crazy Horse trampling through an Akira Kurosawa downpour, complete with a six-minute comedown.
"Go Grace Go" b/w
"Lord of Nothing Pt. 1,"
Loud Machine 5000 (1992)
A rare 7-inch from onetime members of Marble Sheep offers a two-part Motor City riot that the included mail-order catalog champions as "great psycho punk."
"A Red Sky in the Morning," Há-Zá-Má (1995)
Japanese Deadheads set controls for the heart of the sun on this nine-minute improvised jam, which finds Kurihara at his most spacious and elliptical.
"Crevice," You Ishihara, Passivité (1997)
Amphetamine blues explosion triggers a cleaving Kurihara freak-out, sounding like a lost artifact from the psychedelic era.
"Snuffbox Immanence," Ghost,
Snuffbox Immanence (1999)
The epic centerpiece to Ghost's Houses of the Holy unfolds behind leader Masaki Batoh's pastoral folk narrative.
"House of Glass," Damon & Naomi, The Earth Is Blue (2005)
Evocative and exacting, Kurihara's brushstrokes of fuzz guitar accentuate this refined pop ode, swelling with an evening tide of organ and drums.
"Ice Blues," the Stars, Perfect Place to Hideaway (2005)
The Stars' "Sister Ray," with Kurihara and You Ishihara in an antagonistic 10-minute stop-start exchange of White Light/White Heat.
"Sweet No. 1," Boris With Michio Kurihara, Rainbow (2007)
Amplifier worship set to a Bo Diddley beat, a shower of sparks and dueling wah-wah fury unlike anything else in their respective catalogs.
"Angel," Wata, "She's So Heavy" 7-inch (2007)
Boris' first lady of Japanese psych rekindles the seductive allure of Masashi Kitamura's "Angel" in the same eloquent fashion as the accompanying 60-page photo album.
