Hijokaidan

Hijokaidan (非常階段, lit. "emergency stairway") is a Japanese noise and free improvisation group with a revolving lineup that has ranged from two members to as many as fourteen in its early days. The group is the project of guitarist Yoshiyuki "Jojo" Hiroshige (Japanese; 広重嘉之, JOJO広重) its one constant member, who is head & owner of the Osaka-based Alchemy Records. Other regulars include Jojo's wife Junko and Toshiji Mikawa (also of Incapacitants). The group began at the very end of the 1970s as a performance art-based group whose anarchic shows would often involve destruction of venues and audio equipment, food and garbage being thrown around, and on-stage urination. As the group's lineup changed over time, their focus became less performance-based and more musically based, fine-tuning their sound into a dense wall of white noise created by each member making as much of a racket as humanly possible.

Partial discography

• Zoroku no Kibyo (1981)
• King of Noise (1985)
• Limited Edition (1987)
• Modern (1989)
• Romance (1991)
• Windom (1991)
• The Neverending Story of King of Noise Compilation (1992)
• Tapes Compilation (1994)
• Noise From Trading Cards (1997)
• Ferocity of Practical Life EP (1997)
• Unlimited Edition (2000)
• The Last Recording Album (2004)
• The Lord of the Noise (retrospective CD and DVD) (2004)

External links

• The Hijokaidan Story