GRIM - Amaterasu

Unplayed original copies of the first Grim release, from 1985. Numbered (hand-stamped) edition of 1000, with a 12-page b&w booklet. Self-released by Jun Konagaya as the third release on his Eskimo label following the much sought-after LP and 7" by the legendary White Hospital (Konagaya and Tomo Kuwahara) from a year prior-- though the label here is confusingly also listed as G.A. Propaganda, actually just a one-off offshoot of Eskimo. This material was included on the recent Vinyl-on-Demand box set and the earlier CD compilation released on Haang Niap (run by mems. of Kito Mizukumi Rouber, Keiji Hainos Nijiumu project, etc). Konagaya plays "percussion, pulse, bass, organ, voice."

"In Grim, Konagaya took the noise/junk techniques of industrial music as his core methodology, but what made his sound unique were the elements of ethnic music and folklore and the shamanic sensibility that oozed from within. In 1985 he released a three-track 7" single with the title Amaterasu, the sun goddess of ancient Japanese myth. The record was superlative, from the combination of metal percussion, feedback and electronic noise shrouding his roaring agit-prop vocalizations, to the way that the monstrous fairytale of the title track destroyed time and space." - from the liners to the "Folk Songs for An Obscure Race" comp on Haang Niap.

"GRIM is an absolutely amazing, almost skizophrenic and obscure power-electronics and noise-one-man project of Jun Konagaya. Juns sound change its mood and athmosphere in seconds. From extreme harsh and hard power electronic noise-walls to ingenious folk-songs and tunes as you know it from Charles Manson. In the very early 80s Jun formed White Hospital together with Tomosada Kuwabara. They released one album called "Holocaust" in 1984 and split. At that time Jun had already released the "Vital-¢‚Ǩ-ì Tape with his project GRIM. Kuwuhara moved on to form Vasilisk while Jun continued as GRIM releasing one Lp, 12" and 7-¢‚Ǩ-ì as well as contributing to several compilations during the 80s." - Vinyl-on-Demand.