Yoshinori Motoki / Junji Hirose – Chi-Chi-Chi-Nngacah [LP] (1984, Cacoon)

 

'Chi-Chi-Chi-Nngacah' is a collaborative album by Japanese experimental musicians Yoshinori Motoki and Junji Hirose, released in 1984 on the Cacoon label. Issued as a vinyl LP, it comes out of Japan’s early-1980s underground scene, where free improvisation, avant-garde jazz, and noise-based experimentation often blurred together. Today, it’s mostly known among collectors and listeners drawn to obscure and exploratory Japanese records. 

The record is built around long, open-ended improvisations rather than songs in a traditional sense. The title piece, “Chi-Chi-Chi-Nngacah,” takes up most of one side of the LP and unfolds in several connected parts. Sounds shift constantly, sometimes sparse and fragile, sometimes dense and chaotic. Instead of clear melodies or steady rhythms, the focus stays on texture, interaction, and the energy of the moment. 

Yoshinori Motoki brings in a wide range of instruments and sound sources. These include reed-altered flutes, electric guitar, tapes, Casio-Tone keyboards, percussion, and toy instruments. His contributions move between playful, almost childlike sounds and rougher, more abrasive passages. Very little detailed information about Motoki is available, but this album places him clearly within Japan’s improvised and experimental circles of the time. 

Junji Hirose was already an important presence in Japanese free improvisation by this point. Starting out as a saxophonist, he later became known for using self-made and heavily modified instruments, along with found objects and unconventional noise sources. On this album, he works with junk materials, altered string instruments, percussion, and other nonstandard tools. His playing emphasizes physical sound and texture rather than technique in a conventional sense. 

The album feels less like a finished statement and more like a captured encounter between two curious and risk-taking performers. It reflects a period when Japanese experimental musicians were actively questioning what instruments, structure, and performance could be. For listeners interested in free improvisation, early Japanese noise, or raw avant-garde recordings, 'Chi-Chi-Chi-Nngacah' remains a striking and uncompromising document from that era. 

 

Label: Cacoon – CACOON-003 

Format: Vinyl, LP 

Country: Japan 

Released: 1984 

Style: Free Improvisation 

 

Tracklist: 

A1 Chi-Chi-Chi-Nngacah (Parts 1 - 3) 19:26 

A2 Solo I (To Motoki) 3:00 

B1 To Apeiron 3:01 

B2 IRc2 3:13 

B3 Facing The New Morning 6:35 

B4 Raise Your First! 7:34 

B5 Solo II (To Hirose) 2:33 

 

Notes:  

Recorded at :- 

Kid Ailack Art Hall, Tokyo, June 23, 1983 (Side A). 

Akasaka International Artist Center, Tokyo, December 11, 1982 (B1 to B2). 

Terpsichore, Tokyo, June 25, 1983 (B3 to B4). 

Takoyaki-Ya, January 12, 1984 (B5). 

 

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