Keiji Haino: Watashi Dake?
Keiji Haino’s classic debut album will be available on vinyl for the first time since 1981 and for the first time ever as originally intended by the artist—in a special gold and silver edition.
Over the last fifty years few musicians or performers have created as monumental and uncompromising a body of work as that of Keiji Haino. Through a vast number of recordings and performances Haino has staked out a ground all his own—creating a language of unparalleled intensity that defies any simple classification. For all this, his 1981 debut album "Watashi Dake?" has remained enigmatic. Originally released in a small edition by the legendary Pinakotheca label, the album was heard by only a select few in Japan and far fewer overseas. Original vinyl copies became impossibly rare and highly sought after the world over.
"Watashi Dake?" presents a haunting vision—stark vocals, whispered and screamed, punctuate dark silences. Intricate and sharp guitar figures interweave, repeat and stretch, trance-like, emerging from dark recesses. Written and composed on the spot—Haino’s vision is one of deep spiritual depths that distantly evokes 1920’s blues and medieval music—yet is unlike anything ever committed to record before or since. Coupled with starkly minimal packaging featuring the now iconic cover photographs by legendary photographer Gin Satoh, the album is a startling and fully realized artistic statement.
Produced in close cooperation with Keiji Haino as well as Gin Satoh, Black Editions is proud to make this masterpiece of underground music its inaugural release. Re-issued on LP for the very first time, it is also the first ever edition to feature the originally intended metallic gold and silver artwork. The release also presents the first ever translation of the lyrics and titles by Alan Cummings. Each album also includes a digital download with an extended bonus live track from that era.
This special edition was meticulously remastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters and cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Pressed to high quality vinyl at Record Technology Inc. (RTI) and housed in specially printed heavy Stoughton tip-on jackets with matte metallic gold and silver covers and black paper inserts.