Japanese noise music, historically heralded as the most radical (if not EXTREME) community of unbridled sound exploration, has always been steeped in a web of mystery per its lineage and location in both Japanese and arts culture. David Hopkins delivers a welcome psycho-geographic roadmap to the idiosyncrasies of this perverse and marginalized genre of wild fascination, where such infamous outliers as Hijokaidan, Merzbow, Hanatarash, and beyond exchange wholly unapologetic expressions of repression in conflict with liberation, and fetishism at play with obliteration. This is where it starts. The noizu story continues, read, and listen (if you dare!) - Thurston Moore