Rumors of Noizu: Hijokaidan and the Road to 2nd Damascus

by Kato David Hopkins

“My new book arrived from the printers today. It’s a kind of micro-history of the beginnings of Noizu culture in Japan, focusing, of course, on Hijokaidan. It is the seventh Public Bath Press offering.” – Kato David Hopkins

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

220 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Kurt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, light, and interesting read. Leaves some to be desired on the literary and editing front, but it provides a nice foil to Novak's more academic and exhaustive Japanoise book.

[Mason Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm certainly biased in reviewing this, since I know the author and the subject of the book, but I can still say honestly that I really enjoyed reading this story about the origins of Hijokaidan, one of Japan's most notorious noise bands (and one of the first). I knew much of the story but Hopkins -- the perfect person to chronicle this tale -- starts very early indeed, describing some of the very first experimental audio artists in Japan. In particular, this is perhaps one of the first books in English to delve deeply into the early Kansai (Osaka/Kyoto) scene, since Tokyo receives the bulk of the attention. The level of detail about the people, groups, and performances that catalyzed the scene and led to the formation of Hijokaidan and other bands is wonderful, and the stories are great fun. I could wish for more and clearer pictures, and an index would be invaluable, but it's a terrific book for anyone who's familiar with the Japanese experimental and noise scene and who wants to delve more deeply.

[Osku · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at the birth of noise in Japan and especially Hijokaidan. A thin-ish book of 220 pages and it took 70-80 pages before Jojo or Mikawa are even mentioned. If you want to read about early Japanese noise (other than Hijokaidan) then this is not really the book. This is more about the early underground music scene and how it all led to the birth of Hijokaidan and the early years of the band. I found it very interesting but the beginning was a bit too thorough for my taste.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decently researched, if not particularly well written. Hijokaidan enthusiasts may or may not be disappointed to learn that roughly the first half of the book is mostly scene-setting, only tangentially related to the eponymous noise giants. Still, there is such a lack of literature (at least as far as I’m aware) on this subject that it’s difficult not to recommend.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great noise group book.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riveting reading for the noise obsessive. Here’s hoping for a follow up volume covering the next few years of the wider scene as it develops.