Michio Kurihara (栗原ミチオ), born November 23, 1961 in Tokyo, is widely regarded as the premier guitarist of the Japanese underground psychedelic scene. He's known for an extraordinarily wide tonal palette — from delicate, almost weightless lyricism to feedback-drenched fuzz storms, often compared to John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service. As one peer put it, he has "an uncanny ability to find the heart of a song." Here are his main projects and collaborations, roughly in chronological order.
** Onna and YBO² (early-to-mid 1980s) His recorded debut came in 1983 with Onna, the experimental project of erotic illustrator Keizo Miyanishi. He followed it with a stint in YBO², an avant-garde/no-wave-influenced band, in 1984. Favourite song: ‘Cortigiana dal velo’. A surreal beatbox-based ode to a woman, full of mystery. With the title mauled in.
White Heaven (1986–1991, later The Stars) Joining the You Ishihara-led White Heaven in 1986 is where his playing really blossomed. The group is often considered the most significant band of Japan's psychedelic revival — fusing New York no-wave, West Coast psychedelia, and Krautrock. Their 1991 debut LP Out is essential listening. (Try ‘Mandrax town’, an 11-minutes slow burner that gives you the full spectrum of his early guitar style) In 1999 he reunited with Ishihara and bassist Chiyo Kamekawa to form The Stars, essentially a continuation of White Heaven.
Ghost (1994–roughly the band's end in 2014) Led by Masaki Batoh, Ghost is the band that brought Kurihara international recognition through their releases on Drag City. He first collaborated in 1994 and officially joined in 1997. Ghost's sound is hard to pin down — ceremonial folk, prog, free-form psych, drone — and Kurihara's playing was central to their later, more expansive albums like Snuffbox Immanence (1999), Hypnotic Underworld (2004), and In Stormy Nights (2007). Favourite song: a cover of ‘Hazy paradise’ by dutch band earth and fire. It’s in ‘hypnotic underworld’, languorous and hummable.
Damon & Naomi (2000–ongoing) The American dream-pop duo (formerly of Galaxie 500) became long-term collaborators after Ghost opened their U.S. tour. Their 2000 album Damon & Naomi with Ghost led to Kurihara playing on subsequent Damon & Naomi tours and records — The Earth Is Blue (2005), Within These Walls (2007), and the lovely live album Damon & Naomi with Michio Kurihara: Song to the Siren – Live in San Sebastian (2008) are great entry points.
Boris (2006–ongoing) A natural pairing. His 2006 collaborative album with Boris, Rainbow, is one of his most celebrated records — a beautiful, soaring set that's quite different from Boris's heavier work. He also contributed to Boris's breakthrough Smile (2008) and Cloud Chamber, and has toured with them as an additional guitarist since 2007. There's a fresh release worth mentioning: a live album Live at U.F.O. CLUB came out in February 2026 as part of Rainbow's 20th anniversary, documenting a 2019 performance.
Solo: Sunset Notes (2005) His debut solo album is essential. It's a largely instrumental concept record — nine songs inspired by nine sunsets across the year — and the purest showcase of his guitar voice. Other notable collaborations He has also recorded with Yura Yura Teikoku (one of Japan's most influential psychedelic rock bands), Tenniscoats, Ai Aso (whose work he has produced and played on extensively), Cosmic Invention, Marble Sheep, Overhang Party, Hazama, and Ensemble Pearl (an instrumental supergroup with Boris's Atsuo and members of Sunn O))) and Earth). There's also a one-off EP, BXI (2010), with Ian Astbury of The Cult. Ensemble Pearl is what I would start with - an unmissable one-off project, and a relatively unknown dark ambient masterpiece. Then Boris with Michio Kurihara — Rainbow (the most accessible), then Sunset Notes (his solo voice), White Heaven's Out (his fiercest playing), and Ghost's Hypnotic Underworld (the cosmic side). Damon & Naomi's The Earth Is Blue is a beautiful softer counterpoint.
