• Mastered by Andy Baldwin at Metropolis Studios, London, UK
• Compiled & Designed by Kay Suzuki
• Liner notes by Anton Spice & Kay Suzuki
• All photographs by Mike Nogami: © 2023 Mike Nogami
• Coordinated by Ken Hidaka & Kay Suzuki
• Vinyl LP with 4 page insert, original artwork, photos

A counterculture movement united by an expansive, experimental, and deeply soulful sensibility, Japan’s rebel protest music challenged the status quo and changed the country’s music industry in the process.

The birth of Japan’s nascent acid folk scene was rooted in the messy and invigorating political climate of the late 1960s. It is a story of Dadaists, communists, pharmacists, and cult leaders, led by a young generation of upstart students, artists, and dreamers hellbent on turning their world upside down.

Born on the campuses of Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka, and centered around the newly formed independent label and left-wing stronghold URC, this uniquely Japanese form of folk expression provided an outlet for musicians who were tired of aping Western sounds and instead found ways to sing in Japanese and integrate traditional forms in new ways.

At the forefront of this movement was Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Haroumi Hosono, a polymath innovator whose band Happy End released the first Japanese language rock album, and whose influence would go on to be felt across Japanese music for decades. Alongside, and informed by the Kansai scene’s Takashi Nishioka and Happy End collaborator Ken Narita, they experimented with cadences and accents of the Japanese language to open the door for others to experiment with their own forms of psychedelic folk too.

Nippon Acid Folk 1970-1980 is pressed on 12” vinyl and represents the start of Time Capsule’s deep dive into Japan’s rich history of folk and psychedelic soul music.

TRACKLIST

1) Hiroki Tamaki - Kawa (River)
2) Happy End - Kaze Wo Atsumete (Gather the Wind)
3) Takashi Nishioka - Man In No Ki (The Crowded Tree)
4) Ken Narita - Gingatetsudo No Yoru (Night on the Galactic Railroad)
5) Hiroki Tamaki - Beautiful Song
6) Niningashi - Hitoribotchi (On My Own)
7) Tokedashita Galasubako - Anmari Fukasugite (Far Too Deep)
8) Hotaru (Firefly)