Karuna Khyal - Alomoni 1985

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4...according to our Ant on Thu 01 Oct, 2009.

Hailing from deep within the Japanese underground Karuna Khyal's 'Alomoni 1985' album is considered to be way ahead of its time and apparently was highly influential. I'd never actually heard of it until this morning. I guess I should do my homework... Originally released in 1976, Phoenix Records have reissued it in re-mastered form on CD in an edition of 1000 copies with replica sleeve and insert. One minute these guys are doing some warped blues and then mutating into a freaky Captain Beefheart inspired number. I've made little headway into the album and already there is tons to absorb. This was ranked highly in Julian Cope's Japrock Sampler and also influenced Nurse With Wound. If that doesn't sell it to you then I give up. Totally out there!!! I'm gonna take this baby home for further investigation :)

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Karuna Khyal's album Alomoni 1985, originally released on Voice Records around 1976, is widely acknowledged as years ahead of its time, preceding other Japanese underground experimental outfits such as Fushitsusha and White Heaven by almost 20 years. The band's musical influences are, if anything, more Germanic than Japanese, with long, hypnotic free-form rock passages, a heavy use of tape loops, electronics, environmental sounds, distortion and backwards tapes underpinning some manic harmonica-playing on some gut-wrenching blues dirges. Can, Faust and Guru Guru clearly had an influence on the band, as did Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu. Not much is known about the band's line-up, although it is widely thought there was some crossover in personnel with Brast Burn, another significant outfit of the same era which exerted such influence over newer participants in the Japanese psych scene as well as Nurse With Wound. At No.19 in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler publication, this is a true hidden treasure buried deep in time -- unearthed and digitally-remastered by Phoenix Records. Package includes a replica of the original full-color insert in a numbered limited edition of 1,000 copies only, housed in a unique card wallet.

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