Some of the best psychedelic music is chaotic, exploding with impossible colors and disorienting you. Psychedelic music, at its core, after all, is supposed to mimic the effects of psychedelic drugs like LSD.
If that’s the case, then Joseph of Kirezi is onto something. The Tokyo-based psychedelic act was formed in 2012 and has been “roaming the outermost corners of the black-clad psychedelic underground” for years. The band recently released The Only Way Out is Through, the first volume of what the label We, Here, And Now! calls “psychedelic mayhem.”
The Bandcamp description of the album is so good that I will quote it often. The record is described as “a pounding tour de force of amp-destroying killer Fuzz Wah Sike Rock.” “If there was ever music to be played in that killer Sixties exploitation movie – in that biker club scene where everyone has been spiked with brown acid and the bad trip is coming on strong – then this music would be playing – a pounding and ferocious white noise psychedelic nightmare.”
The album’s two sides each comprise untitled instrumental tracks at least 16 minutes long, and, as the label says, we’re not dealing with any subtle intricacies. “Just the joy in the classic combination of excess volume and repetition – crushing levels of heaviness all enveloped in a white noise fury.”
The sounds are distorted, mean, and maybe enough to induce a headache, but very well worth your time. It’s harsh psych-rock, but that’s the intention. This isn’t the type of music you listen to on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Instead, this is what you play while speeding down the highway amid an epic bender and being chased by the county sheriff (not that we advocate that at The Third Eye, of course; we’re all responsible adults here).
We, Here, and Now! says the music takes cues from kindred spirits such as High Rise, The Stooges, Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, Amon Düül II, Spacemen 3, and The Heads – music for freaks in the know. “Prepare to vibrate as you TURN ON, TUNE IN, and FREAK OUT!” Truer words were never spoken.
The album is presented in physical form for the first time on vinyl and “full-on tape saturated sonic wipe-out your stereo.” Digital downloads of this insanity can be found on Joseph of Kirezi’s Bandcamp page. The release is a collaborative effort between We, Here, and Now! Recordings, Cardinal Fuzz, and Feeding Tube Records.
The Only Way Out is Through was initially released on August 1, 2018, by the band, which is a four-piece consisting of Goto on guitar, Kawana on guitar and synth, Hoshikawa on bass, and Ishido on drums. The re-released version via We, Here, and Now! dropped on August 11, 2023.
Don’t say we didn’t warn you: The Only Way Out is Through is a brutally heavy psychedelic cluster-fuck of noise, and you should shield your children from listening to this lest they become a freak like yourself. It’s a subversive biker-psychedelic rock that’ll piss off neighbors and get you kicked out of your apartment. But you may enjoy the dive into the dark side.
Support Joseph of Kirezi by finding them on Bandcamp or social media (Facebook, Twitter).
Support We, Here and Now! Records by finding them on Bandcamp or social media (Instagram).
Parting words: “If you’re going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it, or else you’re going to be locked up.” – Hunter S. Thompson
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