Black Editions present the first vinyl reissue of KEIJI HAINO's stunning debut album Watashi Dake?, originally released in 1981. This first ever edition released outside of Japan features the artist's originally intended metallic gold and silver jacket artwork.
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 1920s blues and medieval music—yet is unlike anything ever committed to record before or since. Produced in close cooperation with Keiji Haino and legendary photographer GIN SATOH.
Coupled with starkly minimal packaging, featuring the now iconic cover photographs by Gin Satoh, the album is a startling and fully realized artistic statement. Housed in custom printed deluxe Stoughton tip-on jackets, including black on black inserts, extras, and hand-colored finishes. Includes download code.
