The OZ Tapes

Nothing more intriguing to true musical archaeologists than a band that only existed ephemerally. Singer/guitarist Takashi Mizutani maintained radical leftist politics and a radical approach to his art: he never released any studio recordings and only one private press live album (a heavily-edited 1973 performance called OZ DAYS LIVE). If you wanted to experience Les Rallizes Dénudés’s heavy psych majesty, you needed to catch them in person. Difficult when Mizutani died in 2019! It’s honestly a miracle this official release exists. A beautifully intact document of the entire OZ show, this features 85 minutes of barely contained feedback-driven jams (i.e. “The Last One”) interspersed with some of the most achingly beautiful acid folk produced that decade (“Memory is Far Away/記憶は遠い”). It’s a find well worth digging up.