Japanese Art Pop Greats Koenjihyakkei Revamp Classic Album

Nivraym will be available on vinyl for the first time

February 10, 2023February 10, 2023 Ron Hart 0 Comments Japan, Koenjihyakkei, Mark Fischer, Nivraym, SKiN GRAFT Records, Tatsuya Yoshida

Koenjihyakkei (Image: SKiN GRAFT Records)

Japanese avant-pop greats KOENJIHYAKKEI’s masterful third album, Nivraym, has been revamped and made available on vinyl for the very first time on February 17th.

Years after its original 2001 release, band leader Tatsuya Yoshida and the current Koenjihyakkei line-up returned to the Nivraym master recordings and began remixing adding overdubs, re-recorded drum tracks and additional retouches.

“After years of working with Tatsuya’s [other band] Ruins, we released Koenjihyakkei’s fourth album Angherr Shisspa in 2005,” comments Mark Fischer, the founder and CEO of SKiN GRAFT Records. “Then we brought their first, second and third albums out internationally.

Koenjihyakkei Nivraym, SKiN GRAFT Records 2001/2023

“In 2018, Koenjhyakkei returned to great acclaim with album number five Dhorimviskha, which we followed up with a vinyl release of Angherr Shisspa. Now we’re bringing back the third album under the title Nivraym (Revisited). It’s received an extensive overhaul since its original Japanese release. When the 2023 version is compared to the 2001 original, it is a huge difference.”

For its first ever vinyl release, the album has also been re-sequenced for this revolutionary revisitation. This is the band’s purest work of what is called Zeuhl music, the kind of fusion of genres that fans of Frank Zappa, Mr. Bungle and Boredoms will no doubt dig.

Watch the band in action below.