XM02 - Lamentation of Death cassette

 Some insight about this release from Daniel Sine:

"XM02 is a project consisting of Bobuo Sakai of (((amnesiA-Channel))), Haigan, and countless other projects, and myself, Daniel Sine of L’eclipse Nue, Le Chien Nu, Shroud Of Vapour, etc.

This is one of those things where I don’t really remember exactly what sparked the beginning of our collaborations, as it seemed to be a cosmically inevitable development. We were regularly on the same lineups, performed at many of the same venues, invited each other to our respective events, and so on. It is entirely possible that it could have been suggested by the master of Koiwa Bush Bash who was fond of pairing up musicians, but as those of you who know me can already attest, I have a very hazy memory.

I think that the first time I ever saw Bobuo perform was probably at Earthdom back when he was the vocalist of Sete Star Sept. I couldn’t tell you when that was, but if I had to guess, maybe it was 2006 or 2007. His voice has always astounded me! It is otherworldly!

“Lamentation Of Death” has literally been years in the making. Originally working under the title “Pieces,” after the 1982 horror film of the same name, this progress of this release has suffered numerous interruptions, inflicted upon the project by the unpredictable nature of life and the outside world.

This, our debut album, consists entirely of live performances. Most, if not all, of these particular performances were from when we were still simply calling ourselves (((amnesiA-Channel))) + L’eclipse Nue. I can’t recall if we ever had the intention of this being a long-running project or not, but it wasn’t until much later that we decided to come up with a project name. XM02 was decided by Bobuo, and I agreed to it.

“Lamentation Of Death” began as a “rough cut” of around 80 minutes of material, but we eventually whittled it down to around 57 minutes, selecting four particular performances. All four of these tracks were from 2014. Some of the excised performances were attempts (at least on my part) to repeat the same “song”, which meant using the same lyrics. So, besides making the album overly long, I felt that the inclusion of repeated “songs” was redundant.

When I listen to XM02, it is impossible for me to separate the material from the fond memories I have of our time together, such as having beer in a Chinese restaurant in Koenji, or taking the train back to Tokyo after performing at Fire Bird in Chiba.

I can’t speak for Bobuo in this regard, but being that this material is now close to seven years old (and my own project L’eclipse Nue was itself in a state of finding itself), when I listen to this material in 2021, there are many things that I would have done differently. I do wish that Bobuo and I could reunite so that I could have a second go at XM02. However, as this stands, listeners will be able to experience “Lamentation Of Death” for themselves and hear it for the first time, without the weight of sentimentality or self-doubt.

Deep gratitude is owed to Mutual Aid for allowing XM02’s “Lamentation Of Death” to finally be inflicted upon the world. Sam and Cam have been an important part of my new life back here in the USA."