Keiji Haino
 

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/500/14864315.jpg

Found out about him through Julian Cope's book, 'Japrocksampler'.
Anyway, he's a Japanese experimental musician born in 1952. He does solo work, but is also involved in quite a few bands. His main band is probably "Fushitsusha", who've been around since 1978 and continue to make music.
He has also collaborated with bands such as Boris and Faust.

Any more linkage?

Keiji Haino is a genius. Fushitsusha is glorious.

His best solo record is "わたしだけ？ (Watashi dake?)" in my opinion, and as far as Fushitsusha goes, "Untitled - PSF 3/4".

After a lot more listening... I'm not too keen on the guy. I mean, I want to like him, but his vocals sort of kill it. 'Watashi Dake?' was great the first time I heard it... sort of like a horror movie or Gyorgy Ligeti or something, I was in a way scared of what was going to happen next, but it was in a good way, ya dig? Second time... the effect sort of wore off somehow. And like I said, I kind of dislike his vocals in the long run; I like Fushitsusha's instrumentation, but when Keiji Haino comes in sounding like Kim Gordon being raped by a dinosaur... well... it's kind of annoying. Heard a couple of other solo albums, but they didn't really do anything for me.

Still, I might listen to some more of his stuff (moreso his collabs) just out of curiousity though.

Black Blues is one of his recent albums, and I have to say he's still got it. I downloaded both the soft/acoustic version and the violent/electric. I personally prefer the latter, but for those who wish to get into him... the soft version is a bit more accessible (and I use that word very lightly). In fact, it's fairly difficult to associate the word "accessible" with Keiji Haino...

Anyways, if your a fan of his then I strongly suggest you check it out

EDIT: Went ahead and downloaded Tenshi No Gijinka in the spur of the moment.

Really really like Watashi Dake

Fushitsusha is amazing. Just listening to 'Pathetique'.

saw this thread and put on THE TIME IS NIGH by Fu****susha - awesome stuff....

Yeah, this one really grew on me. There's an awesome sound of desperation in his voice.

"Even Now, I Still Think" is a really great extended drone/improvised track, too. Definitely not easy to get into him given the vastness of his catalog, though.

I got into him via his collab with Boris, 'Black: Implication Flooding', and while I agree that he's definitely not the most 'accessible' artist, I quite enjoy a lot of his albums. Watashi Dake is great, all of his collabs with Tatsuya Yoshia rock my world. 'I Said, This Is the Son of Nihilism' is awesome if you can handle a marathon listen -- track clocks in at just under an hour, and the first fifteen minutes or so are nothing but feedback, but it's an awesome album, all throughout.

I'd love to see him live some day, I hear he's pretty crazy on stage, on par with the likes of Masonna for just ridiculous stage antics.