I was talking with couple Finnish friends about
Nord, while listening to Abstract Moon CDR (2003). One said not having checked out old Nord stuff thinking it wouldn't be noisy enough. Other just had not heard any. It seems, that despite its long age, Nord is one of those Japanese bands that many have somehow missed out. Be it that early stuff is so old, or that when they did the comeback, it was more CDR stuff. Repressings have been small print runs too. 80's vinyl were 100-300 copies. CDR's probably utterly limited. One of more famous works, Electronic Initiation CD on K2's Kinky Musik Institute, was also merely 300 copies back in the 90's. So no wonder Nord is a bit lesser known.
Discogs info says:
Nord is a Japanese noise project, originally form in 1979 by Satoshi Katayama and Hiroshi Oikawa. This lineup released a self-titled LP on Pinakotheca in 1980. The duo split in 1983 and both members continued to use the name Nord.
Oikawa put out several releases on L∴S∴D∴ Records, but didn't play live. He ceased activities in the late 80s.
Katayama continued as a duo with new member Makoto Ito. Ito left in 2003 and was replaced by Hiroshi Hasegawa (Astro). Hasegawa left in 2006 and Nord became Katayama's solo projectI think Oikawa's version of Nord was even more towards kraut/Kosmische sound. Most notable 2nd and 3rd LP's.
They were also not part of the most famous Japanese noise compilations of the 90's. You can find Nord on DEDICATION II (artware) and COME AGAIN 2, but that's about it. When Japanese noise peaked in west, Nord seemed to be on operating slowly at those days. According to website that documents the activity, there was still multiple live gigs during the 90's:
Old website seems to basically cover Satoshi Katayama's version of Nord, and ignores 2nd and 3rd LP.
http://www2.odn.ne.jp/astro/nord.htmlNoisextra covered
Nord – Electronic Initiation CDhttps://www.noisextra.com/2020/06/24/nord-electronic-initiation/It is kind of odd episode, when there are several things that I always thought was known by everybody. Like that Nord is primarily live recording unit, and their releases are pretty much always live music. It seems so clear when listening, or perhaps it is illusion of knowing it is live recordings? This CD is odd. 300 copies done sooo many years ago and you can still grab it for dirt cheap prices. While almost similar size LP editions from decade earlier goes for hundreds... and have been already even bootlegged.
Some of the material is hard to get. Others are still moderately priced.
Fans of old school industrial-noise may want to check NORD debut album that came as early as 1981:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEdGeO6wBi8Oikawa's 1984 recordings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id-1XE5OHJgCome Again 2:
https://youtu.be/Z20UCNRHeFk?t=1490(which seems to be common for this comp, that it is actually collage made out of Nord live material!)
4 minutes long 1983 live clip, from Journey Into Pain compilation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_ZYpvdxi0wnot that much at the youtube...
Nord – Abstract Moon CDR from 2003 I was listening yesterday, is surprisingly similar to even this 1983 clip. Mixture of ritualistic physical sounds and kosmische oscillations from Astro/CCCC's Hasegawa who was in line-up at the time. Long one hour track, that keeps slowly evolving noisier. Published on label of Thirdorgan and luckily this soon 20 year old CDR still works perfect. It is not very common to see this type of project that has been around for over 40 years, and somehow manage to remain so deep in the underground that despite worshipped by many devotees and contemporaries, remains quite overlooked within genre?
If not buying any stuff from them, links above will give a bit of idea what you may be missing.
