Yuzo Iwata - Daylight Moon LP (Siltbreeze, 2018)
"Daylight Moon is the second solo album from Yuzo Iwata, guitarist of the Tokyo underground music scene. It's his first outing since his debut, Drowning In The Sky, got the green light in 1999 on the legendary Org label. While Yuzo’s been living stateside for a couple of decades, his roots, style and fluidity harken back to the Kichijoji Minor days of the late seventies Tokyo underground scene. He also put in some time as a member of Tori Kudo’s Maher Shalal Hash Baz early on and there’s no one else in Philadelphia who can make that claim. His pedigree is legit. As is his playing. For fans of Kousokuya and Hallelujahs especially and PSF and Org label output overall. Limited re-pressing of 300." - Siltbreeze
"He’s been an ex-pat in the City of Brotherly Shove for decades, Japanese guitarist Yuzo Iwata carries an undeniably heavy rep, having played in groups in late ‘70s Tokyo and as a member of Tori Kudo’s Maher Shalal Hash Baz in its earliest cycles, and as Lax makes obvious, “there’s no one else in Philadelphia can make that claim.” For his first solo album since 1999, Iwata teams up with what I’d guess is a neighborhood band (guitarist Zachary Sulat, bassist Michael Heinzer, drummer Virginia Flemming) for a heady, informed session of Velvets-y chug and extended psych/cerebral wanders, with requisite sand dune crawl (“Border”) and disintegrating tape/blown limiter satisfaction (“Drone Beetle). It’s a music-first approach where nothing here goes over-the-top just to prove a point (though it does get loud), and that’s a welcome relief from the bombast of a lot of comparable psych records of our time; these are conversations being had through music, wordless understandings that engender more togetherness than most speeches ever could. Much of this conversation seems to begin and end with Iwata’s approach on guitar and improvisation, which like his path, is wholly unique to the region and his journey. This music sounds like shared friendships, experiences, and understandings that do not form overnight. There’s a level of trust here that is facilitated by the music, providing a depth that is completely earned." - Doug Mosurock (Still Single)