HAINO, KEIJI - Mazu Wa Iro O Nakuso Ka

(Translation: First Lets Remove the Color). "Gorgeous new bag of home-recorded mystery from Haino. Apparently recorded alone, late at night and at minimal volume, these latest recordings tremble with the same deep-welled emotional sensitivity and sense of veiled threat that animated classics like Watashi Dake?, Affection and Era of Sad Wings. With the trademark roar of his guitar held in check by necessity, Haino instead builds up a base of gently fractured looped riffs, over which he unfurls snaking, jagged ribbons of blue notes, layers of choral chant and whispered warnings. The atmosphere is replete with suggestions of medieval music, delta blues, and jazz - but glimpsed through a constantly shifting, dark and alien fog. The effect is entirely beautiful, managing to be impossibly touching, deeply meditative, and truly scary all at once. This is one that will suck the air out of the corners of your room late at night." -- Alan Cummings.