SKiN GRAFT News for You's

B A L L P E E N ( ! ) B U L L E T I N S

updated: August 7th, 2011

NEW RELEASES:
KOREKYOJINN Tundra

CAMP SKiN GRAFT: Now Wave
Compilation

RUINS 1986-1992

- ALSO AVAILABLE NOW -

GAY BEAST
TO SMITHEREENS

GAY BEAST
ULTIMATE EDITION

GAY BEAST
DEBUT LP / CD

ARAB ON RADAR
LP

AIDS WOLF
ULTIMATE EDITION

AIDS WOLF
LP/CD

All titles available for ORDER at

IN THE NEWS:

KOREKYOJINN
vv - Tundra / SKiN GRAFT debut from
vv - Yoshida Tatsuya's power prog trio
CAMP SKiN GRAFT: NOW WAVE
vv - Reissue of the infamous compilation
vv - from the Golden Age of SKiN GRAFT Records
RUINS
vv - 1986-1992 / Essential collection of
vv - early Ruins tracks Back in Print
SEPTEMBER RELEASES
vv - SATANIZED "Technical Virginity" / PRE "Third Album
vv - KOENJIHYAKKEI "Live at Koenji High"
SKiN GRAFT catalog # 100
vv - Read the announcement below

Salütes Sound Seekers ( ! )

SKiN GRAFT's Ace Reporter, "Jazzy" Joe Romita here with another staggering summary of the frankly phenomenal feats fathered at the famed fount of flabbergast... the forever favored, far-from faddish, far-flung frontiersmen of the fashionable Fort SKiN GRAFT!!!!

Aloha Audio-holics!
Rue this day amigo’s, because here begins the Fifth Golden Age of SKiN GRAFT Records, and another lost opportunity for the meandering masses to lend us their ears. Yes, your nutty newscaster plainly predicts that in just a few short years, sound-scholars will look upon this date in SKiN GRAFT history as yet another peak in our unending series of summits. Fortunately you are here at the start of round five - and unlike the great unwashed and underprivileged, have an opportunity to get in on our latest and greatest, before the Smithsonian Institute makes it's move to gobble up our inventory to astound generations yet to come.

We begin this new era with three releases – two titanic titles resurrected – brought back from the out-of-print prison to more finely tune the ears of the new generation of SKiN GRAFT enthusiasts - and a third title, entirely new to these parts - a brilliant bit of off-beat bombast that packs plenty of skull blasting surprises around every turn - and wows in the celebrated SKiN GRAFT style.

All three releases have been manufactured at your demand utilizing the latest MOD-CD tech - and are now resting comfortably in our warehouse awaiting their new home. They haven't been neutered, but their vaccinations are up to date and the adoption papers are in order... - So lets hit it...!

ITEM!: First at bat is the SKiN GRAFT Records debut from Yoshida Tatsuya's (RUINS, KOENJIHYAKKEI) prog powerhouse KOREKYOJINN and their new album "Tundra"...

Yoshida Tatsuya has proven himself a major force many times over in Japan's contemporary music scene. He is the founder of Ruins and Koenjihyakkei, a member of Zeni Geva and has been cited as "[the] indisputable master drummer of the Japanese underground" by John Zorn. In KOREKYOJINN (alternately spelled Korekyojin), Yoshida joins Bondage Fruit's guitar wizard Kido Natsuki and Ground Zero's legendary bassist Nasuno Mitsuru to demonstrate the limitless potential of the “power trio”.

The band first formed in 1999, and while the style is recognizable to fans of Yoshida's other acts, Korekyojinn has carved out a sound all its own. The band dance on razors, are sharp as a tack - and their overwhelming ability, jettisons them into the outer limits - where progressive rock and contemporary jazz collide into a breathtaking, futuristic, hard rock funk. “Tundra” is Korekyojinn's latest, greatest and first release on Skin Graft Records

PRESS QUOTES:
o “...could school any number of modern "brutal prog" acts on how to string together 12 disparate sections into a 5-minute tune and not have it come out a) disorganized, b) disjointed or c) too fucking insane to listen to." - Pitchfork

o “12 out of 13. "Tundra" conjures up some mind bogglingly complex moments and some of the riffs sound shockingly difficult to play; their mathy prog sound is also backed by some really solid Classic Rock moments with chunky guitars giving a more meaty edge. This is hardly easy listening, however these are brilliantly played pieces, which you just can't turn off once you start listening. If you appreciate prog, math or even classic rock - or are just looking to hear something a bit different, Korekyojinn are sure to impress.” - Room Thirteen

o ”An essential collaboration between three of the best players on the Japanese progressive rock scene." - Prog Archives

KOREKYOJINN "Tundra" is shipping now and to give your ears a taste of what the future holds, you'll find a free MP3 of Swan Dive posted at our ever-enlightening AUDIO page. Visit the SKiN GRAFT Records PAYPAL SHOP and prepare to part with those pennies to score a hard copy delivered direct to your part of the world!

ITEM!: For once, words fail your naughty newscaster. The single most requested title from SKiN GRAFT's beefy back catalog has finally returned to print! Our 50th release - featuring a host of stars and plenty of rare and exclusive tracks, CAMP SKIN GRAFT: NOW WAVE is back, more irrelevant than ever. Forget the long, here's the short of it...

This long unavailable, critically-acclaimed compilation was the first attempt to arrive at an audio definition of the “SKiN GRAFT Records” sound. File under: No Wave, Electronic, Jazz, Rock, Noise, Progressive Rock, Free Jazz, Abstract, Fringe Metal, Space Rock, Punk, Avantgarde, Glitch, Art Rock, Hardcore, Outer Jazz-Rock - - or as they say over in the new world: “Now Wave”.

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TRACK LISTING:
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ACT ONE:
The Browns: My Name In Italics
U.S. Maple: Missouri Twist
The Flying Luttenbachers: Demonic Velocities
Lake Of Dracula: Plague Of Frogs
Yona-Kit: Skeleton King
You Fantastic!: Riddler 5
UFO Or Die: Zombie Tube
Zeek Sheck: The Beeper Gets Digested
Chuck Falzone, Telepath: You're Just Too Scared Boy
Shakuhachi Surprise: Nande
Melt-Banana: Zoo, No Vacancy

SCENE TWO:
Strangulated Beatoffs: Satan's Pool Party
Monitor Radio: Insouciance
Colossamite: Bewilderbeast
Flossie and the Unicorns: Chewing Gum
Shorty: Mitzy Lodge
ZZZZZ: One Two, May
Cheer-Accident: Filet Of Nod
Denison Kimball Trio: Framed
Ruins: Hydromasgroningem
Akaten: Latham's Snipe
Omoide Hatoba: Pikadom

STRIKE THREE:
Last of SG's (Scissor Girls): Bye To Bags
Mount Shasta: S171
Dazzling Killmen: Windshear
Quintron: Bug Attack
Bobby Conn: 69 Annee Erotique
Nood Ham: Tokyo Santa
Tortured Machine: Flash Fire
Space Streakings: F.O.J.K.
Zeni Geva: Terminal HZ
F-Stein: Mighty Fuckin' Robots
Brise-Glace: Likeness

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PRESS QUOTES:
--------------------------------------
o “Every few years, a definitive compilation album comes out that helps define true avant garde - this is it." - Ink 19

o “Skin Graft picked up the torch when Amphetamine Reptile went m.i.a., releasing some essential noise rock and fucked up punk records. In an effort to give us, the listening public, a sampling of all the ruckus they favored, the label put together this compilation which spreads the spectrum of their aesthetic. You got your art damaged rock, your freakout jazz, your unabashed noise, your droning metal, your hardcore, your punk, your space jams, and most everything in between." - Shiney Grey Monotone

o ”The greatest WTF?! compilation ever put to disc. Essential!" - Runny Noise

The free MP3's of US MAPLE: Missouri Twist and CHUCK FALZONE, TELEPATH: You're Just Too Scared, Boy (posted at the AUDIO page) are just a teaser of the delights that await inside CAMP SKiN GRAFT: NOW WAVE. To order, jump to the SKiN GRAFT Records PAYPAL SHOP and get clicking.

ITEM!: Its kind of ironic, despite the fact that some of the cuts on our third August 2011 release date back 25 years (though given a 21st century polish), no one in their right mind would argue that RUINS "1986-1992" is anything but required listening for any foward-listening, New Music enthusiast. Here's the inside story..

Japan's drum(s) and bass duo RUINS are renowned around the globe for their mindbendingly fast and complex hyper-progressive rock onslaught. Ruins are masters of quick-change, stop/start tempos, time-signatures and textures. Hardcore, psych, speed metal, art rock, funk- all are elements incorporated into their music, but what comes out is irrefutably original. Unquestionably RUINS.

On "1986-1992", we unearth the band's earliest material, much of which is long out of print, never heard by the bands' "western audiences". Ruins founder Yoshida Tatsuya has extensively remixed and remastered 23 songs from the bands first seven years; including their debut 7", the cut from the NG II compilation, tracks from the first 12" EP, selections from their debut LP, and remixed "best of" tracks from the Stonehenge and Burning Stone LP's. This is the essential slice of Ruins for the longtime fan or virgin eared enthusiast!.

o The opener wastes no time in burning down all bridges to sanity: "Outburn" is at once the greatest-ever hardcore punk song not to protest anything or even feature real words in the lyrics, and a public service announcement for ADD awareness. The main riff is as stubbornly assured as anything Bad Brains put to wax, and the lest you get bored during it's eight seconds, another wild-ass riff is there to take its place, and again and again. - Pitchfork

o “Fiendish and crazed, Ruins explore string-popping ideas only to degenerate into complex whirlpools of distortion, then regroup into a new version of their original idea with surprising grace. Ruins grow on you like a cancerous cell, and are killer. - CMJ

o ”(RUINS) wed histrionic vocals like Magma's Christian Vander in a tourettic fit to seething hardcore re-interpretations of Udu Wudu-era Magma's motion, dicing up time signatures like a musical hibachi chef on Benzedrine. The peaks of gibbering lunacy Ruins occasionally achieve beggar disbelief... a definite A- ticket ride. - Alternative Press

MP3's of Outburn from RUINS' debut seven inch and Praha In Spring (a remix from the Burning Stone LP) are available for free downloading at the AUDIO page! Then visit the SKiN GRAFT Records PAYPAL SHOP and get clicking to ensure delivery of the digital disc, manufactured at your demand, to your palatial playground, pronto!

All titles available for ORDER at

COMING IN SEPTEMBER:

SATANIZED
TECHNICAL VIRGINITY

KOENJIHYAKKEI
LIVE DVD

PRE
THIRD ALBUM

ITEM!: We're not through with you yet! Better start mowing a few extra lawns to scrape together some more scratch, because late in September, SKiN GRAFT will drop ANOTHER THREE RELEASES to send your head in a tailspin. Watch this space for announcements on SATANIZED "Technical Virginity", PRE "Third Album and KOENJIHYAKKEI "Live at Koenji High" DVD! - Who says this isn't the SKiN GRAFT age of market-flooding flabbergast???

ITEM!: SKiN GRAFT's discriminating fanbase is nothing if not astute. When haunting their local record shops for our wares, legions of SG completionists have checklist in hand, ready to tick off the catalog numbers as our way-out wonders are procured. But in our kooky, mixed-up way of doing business, titles are not always issued in the order they are numbered. See, September will bring up the last of the catalog # 90's, as PRE's "Third Album" arrives with catalog # 97, while we began the year with GAY BEAST "To Smithereens" at catalog #101. !!??!! All year long, speculation has been running rampant on just when SKiN GRAFT number 100 would drop - and what artist it would showcase.

Well - hang on to your jimmy hats, kimosabbees - we've got an announcement to make...

SKiN GRAFT Records is proud to announce that our 100th release will be the debut album from RUINS ALONE. Formed by drummer / vocalist Yoshida Tatsuya in 1985, RUINS played two rehearsals as a drum and bass duo before attempting to add a guitarist to fill out their sound. After a handful of rehearsals as a trio, the band abandoned the guitar and chose to jettison forward as a two piece. For nearly 20 years, Yoshida would remain the guiding force behind the band, while RUINS' bass duties would change hands four times.

Kawamoto Hideki '85-'87
Kimoto Kazuyoshi '87-'90
Masuda Ryuichi '91-'94
Sasaki Hisashi '95-'04

The visceral energy of RUINS early years are chronicled on the "1986-1992" collection (see item above) and document the evolution of RUINS hardcore progressive rock sound. In 1995 bassist Sasaki Hisahi joined Yoshida, and the new duo made their debut on the "Refusal Fossil" album. Countless tours and numerous recordings would follow. "Tzomborgha" released in 2002 by Ipecac Records would be their last full length album - in 2004 Hisahi retired from the band.

In 2005, RUINS unveiled one last song, "Gwodhunqa", for a SKiN GRAFT / RELAPSE Records co-release - a split 7" and comic set with the band HIGH ON FIRE. In the summer of that year, Yoshida took on the task of performing the music of RUINS solo, while performing with a different guest bass player in each city, embarking on the "Bassist Wanted Tour".

From this point on, Yoshida would continue RUINS as a one-man act, touring as RUINS Alone and, with bassist Sasaki Hisahi, issuing remixed & remastered editions of their albums "Vrresto", Pallaschtom" and "Refusal Fossil". During this time, Yoshida also re-energized his other bands, KOENJIHYAKKEI and KOREKYOJINN - - and RUINS Alone was chosen by Matt Groening to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties in May 2010 in Minehead, England.

It's been nearly 10 years since the last RUINS album was released. Now, having traveled the world time and time again, refining RUINS for the 21st century, Yoshida is ready to release the debut album from RUINS Alone, featuring all new compositions, as well as new recordings of classic RUINS songs sporting new arrangements.

Skin Graft Records 100th release, RUINS ALONE will be available this Holiday Season as a 12' Vinyl LP, Compact Disc and as a Digital Download.

Excel-sore!

"JAZZY" JOE ROMITA

MORE NEW NEWS:

updated: July 11th, 2011

AIDS WOLF SUMMER TOUR: EUROPEphoto courtesy of Joe Perez / Impose

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDERS NOW:

KOREKYOJINN
TUNDRA

CAMP SKiN GRAFT
NOW WAVE

RUINS
1986-1992

IN THE NEWS:

HELLO LARRYS!

- Newscaster Jazzy Joe Romita here with you with a flash update on THREE ITEMS now up for pre-orders in the SKiN GRAFT Shop and the scoop on AIDS WOLF's impending EURO TOUR!

ITEM!: Yes indeedy - we've got three new items up and at 'em in the SKiN GRAFT Records Shop ready and awaiting your pre-orders! Yep - it's the SKiN GRAFT Records debut from Yoshida Tatsuya's (RUINS, KOENJIHYAKKEI) prog powerhouse KOREKYOJINN with their new album "Tundra", and a pair of mooch-o requested reissues of two abso-smurfly essential collections: RUINS "1986-1992" and the CAMP SKiN GRAFT "Now Wave" compilation! All three of these dynamic digital discs will be released into the wild on August 9th, 2011!

On KOREKYOJINN "Tundra", Yoshida joins Bondage Fruit's guitar wizard Kido Natsuki and Ground Zero's legendary bassist Nasuno Mitsuru to demonstrate the limitless potential of the “power trio”. You'll find plenty more on the band in the May 16th update below.

CAMP SKIN GRAFT: NOW WAVE features exclusive tracks from some of your favorite SKiN GRAFT artists like Chuck Falzone, Telepath, The Browns, Monitor Radio, Nood Ham, the Torture(d) Machine and F'Stein alongside lesser known artists like Melt-Banana, Brise-Glace (Jim O'Rourke), Zeni Geva, Dazzling Killmen, Bobby Conn, The Flying Luttenbachers, Cheer- Accident, The Scissor Girls, Quintron, Ruins, UFO Or Die (aka Eye and Yoshimi of Boredoms), U.S. Maple The Denison Kimball Trio, Omoide Hatoba and many more!

On RUINS "1986-1992", we unearth the band's earliest material, much of which is long out of print, and went unheard by the bands' "western audiences". "1986-1992" includes RUINS debut 7", the cut from the NG II compilation, tracks from the first 12" EP, selections from their debut LP, and remixed "best of" tracks from the Stonehenge and Burning Stone LP's.

We'll have more info in the next update timed to coincide with the album's releases, but in the meantime - - surely, a song is worth a good thousand words, so rather than overload your eyeballs with Jazzy's meandering mumbles, we invite you to stuff your ears with no less than FIVE preview MP3s from the aforementioned releases at our ever-intriguing AUDIO page!

Sold? Then visit the SKiN GRAFT Records PAYPAL SHOP and get clicking to ensure early delivery to your humble asylum!.

ITEM!: Ah beautiful Europe, one of our wondrous world's seven continents, the second smallest by surface area, and the birthplace of "Western Culture". As Jazzy was preparing to scribe this next item he came across this blurb that waxed poetic about an idealized European Union.

In order to make a "more perfect" European Union, it has been suggested that...

the cooks should be French
the police English
the mechanics German
the lovers Italian
and the bankers Swiss...

- but as the gag goes, when it all comes down...

the cooks will be English
the policemen German
the mechanics Portuguese
the lovers Swiss
and the bankers Greek

Ancient Greece takes the credit / blame as the seminal culture which provided the foundation of our modern Western civilization, and today, as Greece teeters on the verge of financial collapse, it is again leading the way - foreshadowing the fall of our centuries old Romantic Empire. Always forward thinking, SKiN GRAFT has long been striving to help bring about the end times in our own little way - and we're doing our part once again by submitting one of North America's most notorious exports for a two week-long rampage through the Old World.

Europe, Get ready for AIDS WOLF!

27.07.2011 Berlin (DE), Westgermany
28.07.2011 Nuernberg (DE), K4
29.07.2011 Kutna Hora (CZ), Creepy Teepee Festival
01.08.2011 Ljubljana (SI), Menza Pri Koritu
02.08.2011 Graz (AT), Postgarage
03.08.2011 Vienna (AT), Fluc
05.08.2011 Katowice (PL), Off Festival

For the uninformed...

AIDS Wolf was birthed into the heady days of Montreal’s millennial music scene. Yannick Desranleau (aka Hiroshima Thunder) and Chloe Lum began the band as a 4 piece in 2003. Unlike most of the local units finding fame out in the world beyond Quebec, AIDS Wolf pushed an abrasive, unforgiving and rather unwieldy sound around North America in a battered van. Alexander Moskos (aka the Kozz) joined in 2008.

Desranleau, Lum, and Moskos ditched the more typical rock quartet format to work in a novel trio format (drums, guitar through two amps and voice) augmented with (erstwhile forsaken) guitar effects and voice synthesis. AIDS Wolf has formalized its sound over its years into a tight construction relying on intentional dissonance, polyrhythms and disjunctive compositional forms.

The band takes its cues from “classic” New York No Wave, 90’s Midwestern No Wave, vegan cooking, 70’s proto-punk, Beefheartian modes, Ville-Marie school of white elephant architecture, Literature, www.crwflags.com, post-war continental modern composition and their unrivaled network of friends and acquaintances the world over. The band signed early on to the legendary American noise rock label Skin Graft Records who co-released their debut with Brooklyn’s Lovepump United. In addition to their two full-lengths, The Lovvers Lp and Cities of Glass, they have released countless collaborative and split lps, seven inches and cassettes. 2009 saw the band written about in Billboard Magazine, who, surprisingly, got it, opening for their heroes Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, touring all zones, working on other artistic endeavors (Lum and Desranleau’s art practice Seripop and duo Hamborghinni, Moskos’ Drainolith one man show ect) and generally just getting it done.

AIDS Wolf newest LP titled “March to the Sea” was recorded in Montreal with legendary Deaccelerationist David Bryant (ex Bliss) in his Griffntown studio. The album was recorded by the last quartet version of the band with Myles “Mountain Guitar” Broscoe on the wing.

Europe consider yourselves WARNED.

ITEM!: Okay - time to hang that head and heavy those hearts homefries, Jazzy's gotta hit the decks. But before you chew through that last bit of arm and cut yourselves loose, take a gander above for a peak at three more SKiN GRAFT masterworks waiting in the wings for a late September release ( ! ) - and be sure to check out the SKINGRAFT_Rex Twitter Feed (a widget is located near the top of the News Desk) for links to even more astounding announcements and perplexing pronouncements relating to our rollicking roster. Just recently we've posted reviews of the reborn YOWIE's latest live performances, pasted an interview with newly christened SKiN GRAFT recording artist SATANIZED, put up pics of Exceedingly Good Keex at work on the art for PRE's upcoming release - and there's plenty more where that came from!

Be sure to check back soon for more head battering, fireside chattering from your one and only beat-walkin', jive-talkin, reporter-extroidinaire: Jazzy Joe Romita! - - - Til then, keep the effete on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.

Excel-sore!

"JAZZY" JOE ROMITA

Click HERE for MORE new NEWS ( ! )

- ALSO AVAILABLE NOW -

GAY BEAST TO SMITHEREENS	GAY BEAST ULTIMATE EDITION	GAY BEAST DEBUT LP / CD

ARAB ON RADAR LP	AIDS WOLF ULTIMATE EDITION	AIDS WOLF LP/CD

COMING IN SEPTEMBER:

SATANIZED TECHNICAL VIRGINITY	KOENJIHYAKKEI LIVE DVD	PRE THIRD ALBUM

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDERS NOW:

KOREKYOJINN TUNDRA	CAMP SKiN GRAFT NOW WAVE	RUINS 1986-1992