1976 WL promo Osamu Kitajima 喜多嶋修 “Benzaiten” on Island Records.

Yeah, to me this is about as essential as JP psych-prog gets, mainly because it’s also funky, super-percussive, has killer organ, sounds like a World Blaxploitation King Crimson Tokyo Afrobeat Talking Heads demo, grooves, boogies, and would have made every single baked Pink Floyd-mad teenaged friend of my youth lose their minds over how much better it does everything that the Pinks aspired to, at least in terms of post-Syd ethnographics. So, yeah, genre-wise it’s all over the place. Which is a massive compliment! Osamu Kitajima (who also goes by the hilarious alias Justin Heathcliff) apparently plays all the instruments as well as HEAVY percussion and loops, and you have to give up endless love for the dude’s chops and way-ahead-of-its time conception. Now, as everyone knows, Benzaiten is a Japanese Buddhist/Shinto goddess of everything that flows. Which includes rhymes and rhythm and groovy bass, but also water, music, eloquence, and knowledge. Benzaiten is an offshoot of the Hindu goddess Saraswati, and is one of the Seven Lucky Gods, not the least of which because it’s almost always depicted holding a (Rock Joint) biwa, which is essential a lute. Basically, this music is Ancient Japan alchemically forged into groove. And it rules.