Cult Junk Cafe

About

Cult Junk Cafe was a Japanese experimental/noise-rock band active in the early-to-mid 1990s. It was established by several prominent members of the Tokyo underground scene with Michael Hartman on drums. Brent Gutzeit, Michael's friend and collaborator in a recently-formed TV Pow project, occasionally joined on bass. In 1995, the group released Cult Junk Cafe EP cassette, featuring live excerpts recorded by the band around Tokyo. It came out on Gentle Giant Records, an American independent label based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and operated by Thomas Deater (who knew Hartman and Gutzeit from a local drone/free improv band, Liminal); a full-length version of one of the tracks, "Jackson Stomp," also appeared on the label's first CD release, The Miracle Of Levitation compilation.

The band's only album was recorded in February 1996 at Naoki Kose's Gentle Giant Records in Tokyo, featuring special guest Otomo Yoshihide on most tracks. Cult Junk Cafe disbanded shortly after, as Hartman returned back to the States. Michael mixed the album at [url=https://discogs.com/label/456170]Western Sound Studio[/url] in Michigan with [url=https://discogs.com/artist/465173]Todd A. Carter[/url] (the third TV Pow member who also played in Liminal). The Cult Junk Cafe album came out the same year, the sophomore CD in Gentle Giant's catalog. The last known appearance by Cult Junk Cafe was on Ron Lessard's 1998 "concept" LP compilation, RRR 500 (Various 500 Lock-Grooves By 500 Artists); a 1.8-sec locked groove was likely sampled from one of the previously released tracks.

Cult Junk Cafe line-up
Kyota Yoshigami — guitar, DOD Buzz Box pedal
Yasuhiro Otani — guitar, ART SGX 2000 effects processor
Kazutaku Sakamoto — piano, Yamaha DX-7 synthesizer
Tsuguto Tsunoda — turntables, MiniDiscs, samples
Michael Hartman — drums
Guest members:
Otomo Yoshihide — handmade guitar, 6-string bass
Brent Gutzeit — bass
[url=https://discogs.com/artist/394760]Agata Ichiro[/url] — guitar