NORD (japan) appreciation!

Started by FreakAnimalFinland, February 23, 2021, 08:34:45 AM

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FreakAnimalFinland

I was talking with couple Finnish friends about Nord, while listening to Abstract Moon CDR (2003). One said not having checked out old Nord stuff thinking it wouldn't be noisy enough. Other just had not heard any. It seems, that despite its long age, Nord is one of those Japanese bands that many have somehow missed out. Be it that early stuff is so old, or that when they did the comeback, it was more CDR stuff. Repressings have been small print runs too. 80's vinyl were 100-300 copies. CDR's probably utterly limited. One of more famous works, Electronic Initiation CD on K2's Kinky Musik Institute, was also merely 300 copies back in the 90's. So no wonder Nord is a bit lesser known.

Discogs info says:
Nord is a Japanese noise project, originally form in 1979 by Satoshi Katayama and Hiroshi Oikawa. This lineup released a self-titled LP on Pinakotheca in 1980. The duo split in 1983 and both members continued to use the name Nord.

Oikawa put out several releases on L∴S∴D∴ Records, but didn't play live. He ceased activities in the late 80s.

Katayama continued as a duo with new member Makoto Ito. Ito left in 2003 and was replaced by Hiroshi Hasegawa (Astro). Hasegawa left in 2006 and Nord became Katayama's solo project


I think Oikawa's version of Nord was even more towards kraut/Kosmische sound. Most notable 2nd and 3rd LP's.

They were also not part of the most famous Japanese noise compilations of the 90's. You can find Nord on DEDICATION II (artware) and COME AGAIN 2, but that's about it. When Japanese noise peaked in west, Nord seemed to be on operating slowly at those days. According to website that documents the activity, there was still multiple live gigs during the 90's:

Old website seems to basically cover Satoshi Katayama's version of Nord, and ignores 2nd and 3rd LP.
http://www2.odn.ne.jp/astro/nord.html

Noisextra covered Nord – Electronic Initiation CD
https://www.noisextra.com/2020/06/24/nord-electronic-initiation/
It is kind of odd episode, when there are several things that I always thought was known by everybody. Like that Nord is primarily live recording unit, and their releases are pretty much always live music. It seems so clear when listening, or perhaps it is illusion of knowing it is live recordings? This CD is odd. 300 copies done sooo many years ago and you can still grab it for dirt cheap prices. While almost similar size LP editions from decade earlier goes for hundreds... and have been already even bootlegged.

Some of the material is hard to get. Others are still moderately priced.

Fans of old school industrial-noise may want to check NORD debut album that came as early as 1981:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEdGeO6wBi8

Oikawa's 1984 recordings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id-1XE5OHJg

Come Again 2:
https://youtu.be/Z20UCNRHeFk?t=1490
(which seems to be common for this comp, that it is actually collage made out of Nord live material!)

4 minutes long 1983 live clip, from Journey Into Pain compilation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_ZYpvdxi0w

not that much at the youtube...

Nord – Abstract Moon CDR from 2003 I was listening yesterday, is surprisingly similar to even this 1983 clip. Mixture of ritualistic physical sounds and kosmische oscillations from Astro/CCCC's Hasegawa who was in line-up at the time. Long one hour track, that keeps slowly evolving noisier. Published on label of Thirdorgan and luckily this soon 20 year old CDR still works perfect. It is not very common to see this type of project that has been around for over 40 years, and somehow manage to remain so deep in the underground that despite worshipped by many devotees and contemporaries, remains quite overlooked within genre?

If not buying any stuff from them, links above will give a bit of idea what you may be missing.

E-mail: fanimal +a+ cfprod,com
MAGAZINE: http://www.special-interests.net
LABEL / DISTRIBUTION: FREAK ANIMAL http://www.nhfastore.net

Andrew McIntosh

"LSD" and "Ego Trip" remain firm personal favourites for minimalist, abstract, hard-edged synthesiser spirals.
Shikata ga nai.

venture

they put out a tape a few years ago on Haang Niap. it's still available for purchase

impulse manslaughter

The Nord LP's are still on my wantlist. Great but hard to find. Right now i only have the 2CD version of the first LP on Art Into Life with a lot of bonus material on the second disc.

teenagelightning

Nord is great and under appreciated. I have heard they were one of genocide organ's main influences.

Grübelschlinge

Great stuff!! NORD - live materials 1980-1993 TAPE on Vanilla is long overview as title suggests. Like it really much.

acsenger

I only have a couple of their releases and they're all great: the first album (I have the double CD reissue), the bootleg LP versions of LSD, Ego Trip and NG Tapes, the Live Materials 1980-1993 tape and the Electronic Initiation CD. It's interesting how different the LPs are from the rest of their output (that I know anyway), since they were made by Hiroshi Oikawa alone. They're obsessive, minimalistic pulsing synth works (with some guitar parts occasionally) that aren't noise, but aren't musical either in the traditional sense. I love the track on LSD with the Jefferson Airplane song: while the idea of this rock song playing simultaneously with pulsing minimal synth might sound like it wouldn't work out well, but it does.

Apparently the same bootleg label that reissued the LPs from the '80s was going to reissue the Psycotron - 1 4x cassette, but it looks like that won't be happening after all. I wish their '80s stuff got reissued.

acsenger

Has anyone heard this CD: https://www.discogs.com/ITO-Inner-Trance-Organ-NORD/release/5863268? It was made by Makoto Ito, an ex-member of Nord in the '80s. The title also references Nord. I haven't done a search yet for samples, but I assume I won't find anything.