PLANNED RELEASE DATE: March 20, 2026

Comes as black vinyl, limited to 200 copies.

The remastered 35th-anniversary edition of 'FOLK MUSIC' was released on May 11, 2022, and sold out in less than a month. 
With Jun’s (GRIM) blessing, a second edition was subsequently announced for pre-sale with a release date of October 15, 2022.

Although many of you pre-ordered this edition - along with several other announced GRIM re-issues - I was unfortunately forced to cancel those pre-sales (I have faced increasing health issues) and with Jun’s agreement, we put the project on hold indefinitely...

Now, with the help of our friends at Infinite Fog Productions, this second edition will finally see the light of day! The release date is set for March 20, 2026, and pre-sales start now.
Steinklang have limited number of copies available. 

Issued as 
100 copies as black / white vinyl - Steinklang copies are sold out
200 copies as black vinyl

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Originally released in 1986, Folk Music stands as one of the most uncompromising statements to emerge from the Japanese industrial underground. Created by Jun Konagaya after the dissolution of White Hospital, the album marked the beginning of Grim as a singular and fully autonomous project.

The title should be taken seriously. Konagaya pursued a raw, direct expression - music stripped of refinement, rooted in instinct rather than virtuosity. In that sense, Folk Music is less about genre and more about essence.

What distinguishes Folk Music from many contemporaneous power electronics releases is its structural range. Moments of stark organ and guitar compositions interrupt the density, introducing melodic fragments that feel austere rather than sentimental. The contrast does not soften the record; it expands its emotional spectrum.

Influenced by the early extremity of SPK and Whitehouse, Konagaya developed a sound built from metallic percussion, distorted bass pressure, detuned organ textures and heavily processed vocals. The physicality of the recording is central: rhythm is hammered rather than programmed, tones feel unstable, and silence carries as much weight as noise.

Four decades later, the album remains a crucial document of 1980s Japanese experimental music - disciplined, severe and unmistakably individual.