Hijokaidan (非常階段), one of Japan’s most prominent noise groups really got into joint projects the last couple of years. These collaborations included some less surprising ones, like teaming up with fellow noise maestro Otomo Yoshihide, free jazz saxophonist Akira Sakata and ’80s avantgarde new wave icon Jun Togawa, but also included some more surprising choices, like virtual vocaloid singer Miku Hatsune and some teeny-girly idol groups such as Avandoned, You’ll Melt More! and BiS. And now, for the latest installment in this series, they joined up with an interesting figure from the late ’70s  /early ’80s: Yoko Hatanaka (畑中葉子), known for her sweet kayokyoku idol pop sound…

…and for her rather revealing album covers and her role in several pinku eigas (Japanese soft core porn):

The album, simply titled Hatanaka Kaidan was released last week and it contains some new compositions, alongside a couple of covers. The latter include their take on the above linked song by Yoko Hatakana, a few more by other singers from the same era and also… Cherry Bomb by The Runaways! And besides the tracks made with Ms. Hatanaka, it also includes some new Hijokaidan originals, one by the whole band and a couple of others by just some of its four members. So it sounds like a very interesting release, however so far there aren’t any videos or samples from the album, so all we have is this announcement video:

Hatanaka Kaidan  (畑中階段)
2016.12.14
01.畑中階段のテーマ (Hijokaidan x Yoko Hatanaka)
02.非情のライセンス (Hijokaidan x Yoko Hatanaka) – Original by 野際陽子 (Yōko Nogiwa)
03.Noise Daddy (Hijokaidan – JOJO広重, T.美川 (Jojo Hiroshige, T.Mikawa))
04.花がたみ (Hijokaidan x Yoko Hatanaka) – Original by 藤真利子 (Mariko Fuji)
05.Noise Acoustic (Hijokaidan – JUNKO, 岡野太 (Futoshi Okano))
06.もっと動いて (Hijokaidan x Yoko Hatanaka)
07.Noise Jazz (Hijokaidan – T.美川, 岡野太 (T.Mikawa, Futoshi Okano))
08.八月の濡れた砂 (Hijokaidan x Yoko Hatanaka) – Original by 石川セリ (Seri Ishikawa)
09.King And Queen Of Noise (Hijokaidan)
10.Cherry Bomb (Hijokaidan x Yoko Hatanaka) – Original by The Runaways
11.続・畑中階段のテーマ (Hijokaidan x Yoko Hatanaka)