Solmania ‎– Highdrophobia LP NEW UFO or Die Hijokaidan Edition of 199

$

30

First time reissue, originally released in 1986. Solmania is a Japanese noise music project founded in 1984 by Masahiko Ohno. The hallmark of this amazing artist, who builds his experimental electric guitars from spare parts, is his freakish ability to use the stringed instrument by generating absolutely unique sounds, both in his live performances and recordings. The guitars used by Masahiko Ohno are multi-neck guitars and harp guitars and take on extremely bizarre shapes, using unconventional body shapes, extra-necks, strings, and pickups in unusual places, and various extraneous gadgets such as mics or tweets. Pushing far beyond expectations of free improvisation, Solmania weaves blistering passages that incorporate touchstones from progressive, punk, metal, noise, and drone, into more intricate movements of dystopian avant-gardism, culminating as a strikingly forward-thinking expanse of sonic creativity that pushing toward uncharted ground. Still, in all this, his advanced technical and interpretive skills are always evident, and his sense of lyricism in all music, quite profound. Traveling through the winding and jagged grooves of modified noise guitar, you come across Highdrophobia. Recorded and mixed in September 1986 and released the following month on cassette on Fatagaga Tapes FTC-08 in an extremely limited edition, this rare gem finally rears its ugly head in a new analog version on 12" vinyl. With his stunning modified guitar, Solmania uses tape, radio, metal, turntable, and vocals to create three incredible sound tracks of wild noise madness, offering the listener an excellent overview of his music's development. From side A single session, with its gumtree-shaking shimmer and mottled chords, through to the wildly sophisticated free noise sculpting of side B, divided into two tracks, where a horse-galloping guitar figure transform and uplift it from standard to something deeply original. A sublime, noisy effort of left field DIY minimalism constructed from recurring guitar pieces, vocal and a peppering of diverse object as turntables, radio and invisible effects, Highdrophobia illuminates a hidden but remarkable legacy of a great performer at the begin of his creativity and consciousness in the mid of the '80s. A masterpiece of guitar drone, its dense harmonics and overtones induce trance-like states, providing one of the most creatively thrilling, immersive experiences. New artwork by the artist himself; reverse cardboard sleeve plus 12" insert; edition of 199.
SHIPPING / ORDER INFORMATION: Orders with a value of $30 or less: $6.00 per order: USPS Media Mail (includes tracking).  Orders with a value of $30 or greater: $6.50: USPS Media Mail (includes tracking, insurance). In either case, if you paid multiple shipping charges when checking out, all overage will be refunded to you! 
Some items may have a mandatory service based on value or type of item (for example: USPS Priority). Examples: high value and non-media items. 
All packages ship media mail unless requested by the buyer to ship another method (the difference for upgrading will be covered by the buyer). Orders are shipped out twice per week, but not on set days - it just depends on the volume. You will not see tracking info posted until the package is ready to go out the door (from which point they get dropped off that night or the following day depending on when they're being worked on).
SHIPPING and PACKAGING (updated 7/12/23): Shipping is a flat $6 per order (apologies on the $4.50-5.50 referenced on the listings - these will slowly be changed). Orders over $50 include insurance. Orders over $100 ship for free. All packages ship media mail unless requested by the buyer to ship another method (the difference for upgrading will be covered by the buyer). Orders are shipped out twice per week, but not on set days - it just depends on the volume. You will not see tracking info posted until the package is ready to go out the door (from which point they get dropped off that night or the following day depending on when they're being worked on). Records that are shrink-wrapped will ship sealed unless otherwise requested by the buyer. Records that are in poly-sleeves or resealable sleeves will be removed from the jacket to prevent damage. For LPs, we use brand new mailers, Bags Unlimited's standard- design heavy duty mailers. Please note we do not do refunds for minor wear that occurs during transit (corner dings, seam split on a sealed record, etc). The orders are packed with quality supplies and a lot of care, but once in awhile we all get packages that get have been roughly handled along the way. If you're preferring your order to be packed a specific way, just send over a message and we can sort it out!
TRACKING ISSUES (updated 7/12/23): All packages are dropped off at the Phoenix, AZ hub. The benefit of this is it will save a couple of days of transit (as all AZ mail is processed through the hub before leaving state). The disadvantage is that they are not consistent in doing a receival scan. With many packages, your first scan may not pop up until it arrives at another distribution center (sometimes with a phantom AZ scan minutes before it). Some packages are making it to buyers across the country in three days, some are sitting for a month on end in various USPS black holes (Phoenix Annex, Jersey City, Bell Gardens - if you ever look at tracking info, these names are surely familiar to you)! Because of this very abnormal and sporadic delay, orders will need to be considered "in transit" for the duration of the time that USPS indicates the order is still "in transit" which is an annoyance that requires patience from everyone involved.
CONDITION (updated 07/12/23): Almost all of the records for sale are NEW. Although there's been records made new without being sealed for decades, some people are convinced that all records come sealed - of course they do not, but as a precaution it's being disclosed. (Believe it or not I have had PayPal claims come through because of a record being "new" but not sealed). When the records are NEW, but not sealed, the record is not removed from the inner sleeve to inspect for quality. The first time it is pulled out will be when the buyer pulls it out. This is important to note as increasingly, new records frequently come with light surface marks, finger prints - etc - doesn't matter if it's DIY release or a professionally packaged-at-the-plant release, these things are packaged by hand. If you're unhappy with the quality of a NEW release, the suggestion will be to contact the label that released it. There is always the potential for minor wear to the corners to occur during shipping even though the Bags Unlimited mailers are heavy duty and nice. If a release arrives from a distributor with observable wear, it will be noted in the listing.