January 10, 2010

WHITE HOSPITAL - Holocaust 12" + We Wish You Are Merry X'mas (1984)


Originally limited to 300 copies, White Hospital's Holocaust MLP has already popped up at post-paranoia and The Thing On the Doorstep.  Konagaya Jun (Grim) and Kuwahara Tomo (Vasilisk) are the unusual duo behind this traditional folk/proto-power electronics/catholic mass from the early 80s. 


The album's first song, “Hymn of Heaven,” vacillates between an organ dirge, a Christian choir, and what sounds a bit like Alvin & the Chipmunks' "A Chipmunk Christmas." “Robotomy Operation” is straight-forward power electronics in the Whitehouse or SPK vein. “Body Flesh” is a tribal folk meditation, prefiguring both Konagaya's and Kuwahara's respective solo ventures, both of which included blending industrial with folk traditions. The rest of the album sounds like a pretty natural combination of these first three tracks, but overall it's harsh and surprisingly addictive Japanese industrial.

In addition and very similar in sound to Holocaust is the equally obscure and poorly translated "We Wish You Are Merry X'Mas" 7" EP.  Tribal industrial folk noise with music box chimes accompaniment.  These two records serve as White Hospital's discography.

白病院

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