I wanna share with you that one excellent (not to mention very industrious) individual by the name of Shinobu Goto was at The Ricecooker Shop a few days ago. Shinobu-san briefly appeared with that heavy, heavy progressive-hardcore monster ZENI GEVA (with KK NULL) and also HANATARASH (with EYE YAMATAKA of THE BOREDOMS)!

You don’t know ZENI GEVA? Well, do check this site: myspace.com/zenigeva. I love ZENI GEVA! Fukking ‘ell, there’s nothing like them and Steve Albini recorded 7 of their 12 albums, two were released in the US by Alternative Tentacles.

Shinobu-san is also good friends and collaborated with a lot of the big names in the Japanese post-everything noise/avant-rock scene. “When I was younger, I used to play “hardcore punk”… My old band also played with GAUZE around 20 years ago.. I saw THE STALIN when i was really young.. KK NULL i heard has got himself into the club scene… … Do you know Tatsuya Yoshida was with Null in YBO¬??… Caspar is very good, but his father casts too long a shadow..” – those were snippets of our conversation a few night ago when he came over the shop.

Shinobu-san is now 40-years old and still designing, playing and recording, with both solo (SCIENCE NONFICTION) and band projects (SHINOBU GOTO’S BIKE and BIG ORANGE, which is an ongoing psychedelic rock band since the 80s, also dubbed as legendary in the Hiroshima underground scene).

Most of his recent solo stuff seems to be more into the Japanese psychedelic-folk strain and also mashed-up laptop soundscaping, however his recent band project MOLOKO VELLOCET was described by himself as “New Wave”.

When we were hanging at out the shop he played us many of his tunes found on the various websites, also some yet to be released tunes from his iPod and I really like his spaced-out fukked-up psychedelic guitars, especially the one on a Velvet Underground tribute project he set up (see below)

Currently, the man is on a long holiday which has seen him travelling Southeast Asia meeting up with on-line friends he has never met. The man is today in Phuket, enjoying the sun. After all this relaxed mode, he’ll be back in his Hiroshima studio and work his arse off again.

Shinobu-san’s been working as the sound-engineer, producer and facilitator of a studio called HEART LORD STUDIO – and here he produces and also releases tonnes of CDs. One of his recent projects saw my personal favourite skronk-jazz saxophonista PETER BR?ñTZMANN and free-jazz drummer extraordinaire SHOJI HANO in the studio.

HEART LORD STUDIO has also been releasing a lot of recordings and that includes a SYD BARRETT (“Sydo Baretto’!) and a STIRLING MORRISON/VELVET UNDERGROUND tributes – both double CDs with tonnes of Japanese artists doing their audio worship.

Upcoming tributes by the studio includes DAVID BOWIE and TELEVISION!! I suggested to him about doing an IGGY POP/THE STOOGES tribute (rather selfishly, so my band can join in!).

Shinobu-san will be sending us the CDs to sell in the shop and also share with you guys! Personally, I can’t wait for them. These CDs will be pretty much limited, so to those interested, do book them early!

more about SHINOBU GOTO:

shinobugoto.jp | shinobugotossciencenonfiction |

HEART LORD STUDIO:

heartlordstudio.com | some videos from the studio

BTW: do check out this clip by Shinobu-san of Shoji Hano’s drumming at the Heart Lord Studio:

video copyright: creativecommons.org

ricenotes: Domo Arigato to Michael Cheah (Big-O) from sending Shinobu-san this way…