Ambient / Minimal / Drone

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伶楽舎 Reigakusha - Gagaku Suites (2LP)伶楽舎 Reigakusha - Gagaku Suites (2LP)
伶楽舎 Reigakusha - Gagaku Suites (2LP)Black Sweat Records
¥6,149

Gagaku is the oldest of the Japanese performing arts, with a history more than a thousand years old. The term refers to Japanese classical music and dance, traditionally performed by families of musicians linked to the ancient Imperial court, and later passed down in Buddhist temple ceremonies and Shinto shrines. Shiba Sukeyasu, founder and director of the Reigakusha ensemble, descends from the Koma clan, whose origins date back to the end of the 10th century. The recordings partly reflect repertoires borrowed from Chinese music between the 5th and 9th centuries. The incredible variety of timbres of the instruments greatly amplifies our exotic imagination: the eternal breath of the flutes (ryuteki and hichiriki) creates a sort of suspension of time, together with the hypnotic and hallucinatory atmosphere of the mouth organs (shō). The meditative tone of the string instruments (bika and koto) that punctuate the voids and silences is impressive, as is the enigmatic percussion section, with the tolling of the gong (shōko) and the calibrated beats of the drums (taiko and kakko).

Klaus Wiese - Uranus (LP)Klaus Wiese - Uranus (LP)
Klaus Wiese - Uranus (LP)Black Sweat Records
¥4,092

In the late 1980s, Klaus Wiese (Popol Vuh) deepened his connection with Tibetan culture. The result is a series of works solely dedicated to the universal purity of the Singing Bowls. Uranus, perhaps the most rigorous of these, is an intense meditation on the trans-personal sphere of the VI chackra. The music becomes like a single harmonic chant, the reflection of a constant flow of divine light, which transforms the psyche and dilates the secret passages of the heart. In the galaxy of pure sound, the accumulated overtones offer the intrepid listener the access to a prismatic, fluoriscence-rich consciousness. The ego thus becomes the sonorous composer of itself, of the vital circle flooded with beneficial acoustic vibrations. In this sense, Uranus, originally published on tape (Aquamarin Verlag/1988), also marks a parallel with the same research by Henry Wolff & Nancy Hennings or Nada Himalaya's Deuter. CD edition co-released with Aquamarin Verlag.

Klaus Wiese - Uranus (CD)Klaus Wiese - Uranus (CD)
Klaus Wiese - Uranus (CD)Black Sweat Records
¥3,196

In the late 1980s, Klaus Wiese (Popol Vuh) deepened his connection with Tibetan culture. The result is a series of works solely dedicated to the universal purity of the Singing Bowls. Uranus, perhaps the most rigorous of these, is an intense meditation on the trans-personal sphere of the VI chackra. The music becomes like a single harmonic chant, the reflection of a constant flow of divine light, which transforms the psyche and dilates the secret passages of the heart. In the galaxy of pure sound, the accumulated overtones offer the intrepid listener the access to a prismatic, fluoriscence-rich consciousness. The ego thus becomes the sonorous composer of itself, of the vital circle flooded with beneficial acoustic vibrations. In this sense, Uranus, originally published on tape (Aquamarin Verlag/1988), also marks a parallel with the same research by Henry Wolff & Nancy Hennings or Nada Himalaya's Deuter. CD edition co-released with Aquamarin Verlag.

Walter Maioli - Caverne Sonore (LP)Walter Maioli - Caverne Sonore (LP)
Walter Maioli - Caverne Sonore (LP)Black Sweat Records
¥4,092
The explorer Walter Maioli makes his most amazing adventure, the journey to the center of the Earth. Retracing the exploits of the Platonic demiurge, he identifies in the cave the deepest meaning of myth. Primordial sounds, not shadows, are at the center of this magical path straddling geology and Paleolithic polyphony. The recordings between 1985 and 2002 capture the sonic imperceptibility of the great subterranean womb, investigate the secret dialogue between the trickling of pond waters and the faint percussive reverberation of stalactites and stalagtites. Rocky sediments are played as tubular organs, glockenspiels, xylophones or stone marimbas. Crystalline timbral variations and subtle microtonal passages recall the chimes of Tibetan gongs and bells, of the scales of Java and Bali. Amidst muffled pauses and silences, trills and rings, echoes and tremolos, hisses and pops of vibration, Maioli builds his most imaginative niche of sound, a magnetic and telluric chant that is pure symphony and archetypal synaesthesia. Co-produced with Holidays Records.

Moon On The Water - Moon On The Water (LP)
Moon On The Water - Moon On The Water (LP)Black Sweat Records
¥3,998

fully remastered from the original tapes** A mysterious sound aurora on the magical paths of the infinite universe of percussion, originally released in 1985 and then almost completley lost. Moon On The Water were a trio of percussionists based in Italy - David Searcy and Jonathan Scully, both American tympani players in the Scala Philarmonic Orchestra, with the legendary Italian jazz drummer Tiziano Tononi, who worked with everyone from Roberto Musci, to Muhal Richard Abrams, Pierre Favre (who later joined the group), Andrew Cyrille, Barre Phillips, and Steve Lacy. Drawing on a diversity of experience, joined collectively by a unified love of rhythm and sound, they assembled a percussion record of the highest order - an unclassifiable work which should be legendary, and leaves you confounded that it’s not.

Within the history of efforts dedicated to percussion, Moon On The Water’s debut stands apart. A singular work, made remarkable by the diversity and range of its sonorities and structures. The scope of its ambition is startling. Utilizing the full intellect, experience, and talent of its creators, it employs field recording against a stunning array of instrumentation - seemingly everything from which rhythm and resonant tone could be drawn. The result renders a remarkable effect. From the delicate pulse of nature, deep resonances and carefully placed tone, intricate structures and tempos as slow as they go, across its movements the album rewrites how composition for percussion should be understood, before giving way to consuming and ecstatic rhythms which reference the Brazilian tradition of Batucada, various trance and ritual traditions of Africa, and drum solos from Free Jazz and Rock. This is as good as percussion records get. A lost marvel - accessible while distinctly avant-garde. The throbbing pulse of creative joy, distilled onto two sides of wax.

Ecstatic elements of Japan ambient minimalism dialogue with contemporary music solutions (Varèse, Ligeti), in the stream of a harmonious fusion of ancient and modern. It’s a propitiatory ceremony of supernatural things that open portals of blissfulness, tribal and shamanic darkness, timeless jungles. Between amazon fires and African safaris, we float in the Asian rivers of meditation, lost in water games, echoes of caves and rocks in the night, synergies of frogs, birds, snakes, marimbas, chimes, gongs, and tubular woods.

The album also includes one of the sickest percussion jam we’ve heard from 1980’s Italy: the mystically-named In the Land of the Boo - Bam. Exploring a wide range of percussions, from mallet instruments to drums, the band tightly builds a hypnotic jam with a strong Mediterranean feeling, maybe partly provided by the «Tullio de Piscopo-esque» drumming pattern. As the song goes by, the vibe gets more and more shamanic, often changing directions before climaxing in an epic final. True uplifting trance music!

上村洋一 Yoichi Kamimura - Waterforest (LP+DL)上村洋一 Yoichi Kamimura - Waterforest (LP+DL)
上村洋一 Yoichi Kamimura - Waterforest (LP+DL)hakari contemporary
¥5,500

- Track 1 presents the soundtrack of the 4.1-channel sound installation "Waterforest," unveiled in Kamimura’s solo exhibition at Hakari Contemporary, Kyoto, in the summer of 2025. Woven from sounds of water and ice, together with the natural environments that surround them, the work gathers voices of landscapes recorded across the world. Tracks 2–6 offer a series of unadorned field recordings selected and finely shaped from "Waterforest." - Exhibition Statement Hakari Contemporary is pleased to present "Waterforest," a solo exhibition by Yoichi Kamimura. Kamimura explores ways of perceiving landscapes through vision and hearing, combining environmental field recordings with visual elements such as drawings, text, and light. He creates sound installations, paintings, video works, and performances that have been presented in Japan as well as internationally. This exhibition focuses on soundscapes constructed mainly from field recordings Kamimura makes around the world during his residencies and travels. Key works include sound installations based on his experience of Shiretoko’s drift ice, Icelandic glaciers, the Amazon rainforest, Iguaçu (the world’s largest waterfall), springs in the Swiss Alps, the Lake Biwa Canal that flows beneath Kyoto, and ocean sounds recorded across the globe on nights that full and new moons occur. Alongside a low-frequency soundscape of flowing water that resonates throughout the space, a forest-like installation of images related to water—captured in the course of Kamimura’s journeys—is also presented. The exhibition is inspired by a sea of clouds Kamimura saw from a boat on the Amazon River. Known as the “Flying River,” this natural phenomenon occurs when large amounts of moisture evaporate from the rainforest, rise into the sky, form enormous clouds, and return as rain, symbolizing the Amazon’s ecological cycle. At the same time, this cycle of ‘water’ and ‘forest’ represents a natural process that effortlessly crosses the many boundaries created by human beings. In recent years, Kamimura has traveled through regions experiencing war and conflict, and has witnessed first-hand the escalation of violence and tensions arising from opposing opinions and emotions. Even when people appear to share an ‘anti-war’ stance, differences in individual backgrounds often lead to subtle divisions that are hard to reconcile. As a metaphor for overcoming such disconnection, Kamimura returns to the image of the majestic “Flying River” he saw in the Amazon. By linking the meanings of ‘water’ and ‘forest’ together in the title Waterforest, he seeks to express not opposition or division but connectivity and circulation, through the universal sensory awareness he has cultivated in different natural environments. Joining the exhibition as guest curator is Seiha Kurosawa, who previously co-organized the 2021 exhibition "Floating Between Tropical and Glacial Zones" with Kamimura—an exhibition that linked field research in the Brazilian Amazon and Shiretoko, Hokkaido, to explore new perspectives regarding the environment. Over several years, Kamimura and Kurosawa have continued a dialogue about emerging ecological thought which is also reflected in this exhibition. We hope you will take this opportunity to experience Kamimura’s latest work, which moves fluidly while aspiring towards a more universal and planetary perspective. - Drawing chiefly upon his field recordings, Yoichi Kamimura experiments with methods that draw upon sight, hearing, and other senses to perceive different scenes. His extensive body of work includes sound installations, paintings, video works, sound performances, and audio works - unveiled in venues both within Japan and abroad. With his field recording practice, Kamimura acts as an observer to the amorphous relationship between humankind and nature. Kamimura composes his sound installations by creating highly-immersive soundscapes, many of which draw upon our own biology to create unique sensory experiences. www.yoichikamimura.com

John McGuire - Double String Trios (CD)John McGuire - Double String Trios (CD)
John McGuire - Double String Trios (CD)Unseen Worlds
¥1,976

John McGuire's Double String Trios presents three major late works for two string trios, composed between 2012 and 2021. His musical roots lie in the electronic studios of postwar Cologne, shaped through studies with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Krzysztof Penderecki, and grounded in the traditions of European serialism. Working with synthesizers capable of generating up to 1,800 pulses per second, McGuire developed a beautifully harmonious, crystalline music, shaped by the ear into a world of flowing continuities between one point and the next. Transferred to stringed instruments, that world becomes infinitely more complex-suffused with the richness and impurities of human players and their acoustic technologies. Conceived as two facing string trios in antiphonal dialogue, the music links studio spatial thinking with older split-ensemble traditions, unfolding through Fibonacci proportions, rotating tempi, shifting meters, and continual harmonic transposition.

Rod Modell - Grotto of The Sun (CD)
Rod Modell - Grotto of The Sun (CD)13 (SILENTES)
¥2,462

Winding through cavernous passages of sound, Rod Modell builds a patient, tactile world shaped by low-end pulsations, drifting electronics and finely observed environmental detail. Gurgling currents, rustling textures and crystalline drips move in and out of focus, giving way to heavier sound masses before opening onto unexpectedly calm, almost soothing spaces.

What appears abstract at first gradually reveals a strong emotional pull. Modell’s control of dynamics and pacing allows small shifts in tone and texture to carry real weight, with moments of darkness offset by sudden glimmers of light and stillness. Electronic spirals rise and dissolve, while quieter passages create a sense of suspension, as if time has briefly slowed.

The result is a deeply considered listening experience that rewards attention. Every nuance feels deliberate, each detail contributing to a broader sense of tension, release and atmosphere. Rather than overwhelming, the music draws the listener inward, balancing restraint and drama in a way that feels both immersive and quietly affecting.

Rod Modell - Frequencies In The Fog (CD)
Rod Modell - Frequencies In The Fog (CD)13 (SILENTES)
¥2,462

Rod Modell returns with Frequencies In The Fog, a deeply immersive work built from minimal structures, patient motion and finely judged restraint. Pads, discreet electronic details and slow, enveloping bass lines form the core, while distant, treated voices and subtle textural creaks surface like echoes caught in mist.

The music unfolds in gentle cycles, where circular movement alternates with moments of liquid stasis and near-silence. Sounds appear and recede without warning, revealing fleeting impressions of place before dissolving again into a shifting haze. There is a sense of suspension throughout — as if the listener is drifting through intangible terrain, guided more by atmosphere than direction.

As with much of Modell’s work, the power lies in the details: the careful balance between density and space, the tension between motion and stillness, and the way each element feels inseparable from the whole. Frequencies In The Fog invites deep listening, rewarding patience with a quietly absorbing journey through blurred environments and half-remembered forms.

Gigi Masin -  Implodendo in una accecante oscurità Pt. 2 (Clear Vinyl LP)Gigi Masin -  Implodendo in una accecante oscurità Pt. 2 (Clear Vinyl LP)
Gigi Masin - Implodendo in una accecante oscurità Pt. 2 (Clear Vinyl LP)13 (SILENTES)
¥5,496

*200 copies limited edition* Renowned Italian ambient composer Gigi Masin returns with his latest immersive creation, Imploding in a Blinding Darkness, Pt. 2. This new release deepens the evocative soundscapes and emotional textures that define his groundbreaking work. Blending ethereal melodies with rich ambient layers, Masin invites listeners on an intimate journey into mystery and introspection. The album continues the exploration initiated in the first part, delivering a captivating fusion of warmth and shadow. Each track unfolds like a meditative reflection, gracefully balancing light and darkness through seamlessly crafted synths and organic sounds. Imploding in a Blinding Darkness, Pt. 2 confirms Gigi Masin’s place as a visionary artist in contemporary ambient music, offering a profound listening experience that resonates deeply with both longtime fans and newcomers.

Gigi Masin -  Implodendo in una accecante oscurità Pt. 1 (Clear Vinyl LP)Gigi Masin -  Implodendo in una accecante oscurità Pt. 1 (Clear Vinyl LP)
Gigi Masin - Implodendo in una accecante oscurità Pt. 1 (Clear Vinyl LP)13 (SILENTES)
¥5,496

*200 copies limited edition* Italian ambient pioneer Gigi Masin returns with his captivating new album, Implodendo In Una Accecante Oscurità, Pt. 1. The title, which translates to "Imploding in a Blinding Darkness", hints at the immersive sonic journey within—a delicate balance between light and shadow, stillness and movement. This record showcases Masin’s signature blend of ethereal melodies and textures, weaving intricate soundscapes that echo the vastness of inner emotional landscapes. With subtle synths, gentle piano, and mesmerizing atmospheres, it invites listeners to dive deep into a reflective and transformative experience. Recognized for his influence on the ambient and electronic music scenes worldwide, Masin continues to push boundaries, crafting soundtracks that resonate with both intimacy and expansiveness. Implodendo In Una Accecante Oscurità, Pt. 1 is a profound meditation on emotion and space, perfect for introspective moments and immersive listening.

吉村弘 Hiroshi Yoshimura - Flora 1987 (Transparent Magenta Vinyl 2LP)
吉村弘 Hiroshi Yoshimura - Flora 1987 (Transparent Magenta Vinyl 2LP)Temporal Drift
¥5,674

Flora is an album that is listened to perpetually,
Passed on from one listener to another,
And the charm of the sound- and music-loving figure 
known as Hiroshi Yoshimura,
Just might come drifting through.
Like the scent of a small flower.
—Junichi Konuma

Announcing the worldwide reissue of Flora, Hiroshi Yoshimura’s underrated work originally recorded and completed in 1987 and first released on CD in 2006, three years after his passing in 2003.

Flora is chronologically and stylistically a follow-up to Hiroshi Yoshimura’s acclaimed 1986 works Green and Surround, wherein Yoshimura continues to play with the ambience of sound and the sound of ambience, underscoring his mastery in the field of environmental music. Listening to Flora is like taking a stroll in a park, absorbing the colors and textures of the natural environment—flowers, insects, the swaying of the leaves—as Yoshimura often did at his beloved Edo-era park near his home in Tokyo. As Junichi Konuma describes in his liner notes, Yoshimura’s music “only begins to emerge as it exists at the intersection of passive and active.” Yoshimura's approach to sound and melody invites the listener to hear the intricacies of the music with intent, while simultaneously allowing the aural textures to exist as part of the background of our everyday life.

This reissue marks the first time the album will be available on vinyl (2LP, 45 rpm) and cassette, and includes liner notes written by music scholar Junichi Konuma and remastered audio by Grammy-nominated engineer John Baldwin. Reissue design and layout was handled by Tiffanie Tran. 

Jonny Nash -  Point Of Entry (LP)Jonny Nash -  Point Of Entry (LP)
Jonny Nash - Point Of Entry (LP)MELODY AS TRUTH
¥4,267

Melody As Truth founder Jonny Nash returns to action with his first solo album in four years. Point of Entry, the Gaussian Curve member’s sixth solo set, builds on Nash’s recent forays into folk traditions (2020’s Poe, made in collaboration with Teguh Permana, and 2021’s Suzanne Kraft co-production A Heart So White), while delivering a clear musical evolution. Over the course of eleven mesmerising tracks, Nash points the compass gently inwards, casting aside any conceptual frameworks in favour of exploring an imaginative and idealised “personal folk music” that combines elements of traditional acoustic music with the producer’s richly immersive interpretation of ambient, a sound he has been developing for well over a decade. The album was created using a stream of consciousness approach to writing and recording, with Nash utilising his favoured instrument – the guitar, often doused in atmospheric effects – as a starting point. Throughout, his delicate and evocative playing takes centre stage, its melodic lines and finger-picked refrains painting aural images that resonate with positive yet contemplative energy. From the smudged acid-folk bliss of ‘Theories’ and ‘Eternal Life’, to the layered acoustic guitars of ‘All I Ever Needed’ and the delay-soaked, Durutti Column-esque ‘Light From Three Sides’, a wide variety of musical textures weave their way throughout the album. Point of Entry is much more than a mere ‘guitar album’ – it draws on a rich and diverse palette to achieve its purpose. The delicate saxophone work of ambient-jazz contemporary Joseph Shabason swells on ‘Ditto’ and ‘Light From Three Sides’. Cascading piano lines ripple through the crystal clear sonic waters of ‘Face of Another’, whilst echoes of Nash’s work with Gigi Masin and Young Marco as Gaussian Curve appear in the dancing synth sequences of ‘Ditto’ and ‘Golden Hour’. Nash’s reverb-laden voice also appears for the first time since 2016’s critically acclaimed Exit Strategies, used delicately throughout the album to conjure up a world of dusk and golden light. Combining the delicate human touch and naivety of earlier Melody As Truth releases with widened scope and vision, Point Of Entry is arguably Nash’s most complete work to date – an album that’s as much a statement of his “personal folk” vision as a future ambient classic.

The Thinking Of The World Began Pounding In Our Ears The Moment We Hit Shore (LP)The Thinking Of The World Began Pounding In Our Ears The Moment We Hit Shore (LP)
The Thinking Of The World Began Pounding In Our Ears The Moment We Hit Shore (LP)STROOM.tv
¥5,198

The Thinking of the World Began Pounding in Our Ears the Moment We Hit Shore is a studio-constructed album developed as a project rather than a band.

Created by Florian TM Zeisig between 2022 and 2025, the record draws on sessions and material contributed by a small group of collaborators. Recordings were gathered across different contexts and brought together through an extended studio process, with writing, production, arrangement, and assembly treated as a continuous activity.

The album took shape gradually through selection, editing, and re-placement of material over time. Individual pieces were revisited, reshaped, and recontextualized until they formed a unified body of work.

Contributions to the project include work by Mari Rubio (More Eaze), Róisín Berkeley, Don Lyons, Cal Fish, K, Seán Being, and JQ. All tracks were produced, written, arranged, and mixed by Florian TM Zeisig, with co-songwriting contributions noted per track.

Carlos Niño & Friends - Bubble Bath for Giants (LP)Carlos Niño & Friends - Bubble Bath for Giants (LP)
Carlos Niño & Friends - Bubble Bath for Giants (LP)CNF
¥6,287

Carlos Niño, the Los Angeles–based musician known for his work with Build An Ark and numerous collaborations, performs an extensive array of instruments and sound-making objects on Bubble Bath for Giants—including bells, bowls, chimes, various drums, gongs, metal and wooden keyboards, plant leaf bundles, shakers, and his own voice—while also shaping the album’s overall sound design.

Ø - Olento (2LP)Ø - Olento (2LP)
Ø - Olento (2LP)Sähkö Recordings
¥5,223

2024 Repress. Essential stuff from Finnish legend, Mika Vaino ( Ø, Pan Sonic ++ + +).
One for the headphone amp / hi fi sound system crew.

Minimal & reduced nordic techno and electronics - Mika Vaino's second album from 1996 - only released on vinyl for the first time in 2019.

Nailah Hunter & Alia - The Pavilion of Dreams (CS+DL)Nailah Hunter & Alia - The Pavilion of Dreams (CS+DL)
Nailah Hunter & Alia - The Pavilion of Dreams (CS+DL)Leaving Records
¥2,498

Acclaimed Californian harpist Nailah Hunter unites with debuting theremin player Alia Mohamed for a hauntingly minimalist performance of Harold Budd's "The Pavilion of Dreams". The rendition concept was initially conceived and performed by the two musicians for the Nov 3rd 2024 edition of Leaving Records' seminal outdoor community concert series Listen to Music Outside in the Daylight Under a Tree in Los Angeles California. Nailah Hunter writes: "It was such a blissful experience getting to play in the golden light of the park that afternoon with Alia. We’d been exploring this piece together for a few years prior to the performance. The uniquely curious and misty quality of the piece is what initially drew me in and the bold and imaginative changes voiced in the harp part are what kept me coming back for more. It felt euphoric to finally get to share our sonic vision with folks we knew already appreciated the original work."

Carlos Niño & Friends feat. Saul Williams -  Elysian Invocation / "Pollen on the Earth" (CS+DL)Carlos Niño & Friends feat. Saul Williams -  Elysian Invocation / "Pollen on the Earth" (CS+DL)
Carlos Niño & Friends feat. Saul Williams - Elysian Invocation / "Pollen on the Earth" (CS+DL)Leaving Records
¥2,754

Hear before you is an ecstatic new standalone 2-track EP. A simmering and evocative exploration in contemporary spiritual jazz, nature/space music, and spontaneous composition. Elysian Invocation / “Pollen on the Earth” is a soaring, life-affirming longform dialogue between a cast of stellar musicians, every artist in symbiosis with each other and the work’s organic beating heart. Made from guitar, drums, saxophone, synthesis, percussion, and the scorching, fluid Voice of Saul Williams, the pieces commune with many worlds, natural, cosmological, and humanmade, full of fire and full of vision. Elysian Invocation begins with a rising gale of percussion and interplaying melodic lines before Williams’ righteous calling becomes the focus, both dreamlike in its imagery and incendiary in its authenticity. As vocalist (the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra member) Maia the Artiste repeats our culture is burning / sound the alarm over a tempest of intense, expressive energy, we are drawn into the eye of a cleansing, regenerative storm. The piece was recorded at Leaving Records’ regular Listen to Music Outside in the Daylight Under a Tree live series in LA, here for a California wildfires fundraiser event on Saturday, February 8, 2025. “Pollen on the Earth” was recorded at the Earthstar Creation Center, in Venice, California in May 2025. The piece sees Niño and Williams in collaboration with LA indigenous group Aztlan Unearthed. It opens with mesoamerican percussion and flute in dialogue, a devotional and ancestral storytelling made magic by the sensitivity of their playing. Soon, birdsong, horns and wordless chants enter and the handdrum rhythms become more entrancing, carrying us on their movement. Saul Williams’ spoken word enters as the ceremony simmers down, rhythmic and lyrical in expressive baritone. The piece calls for awareness, care, activism, and courage, to truly be in tune with Earth and Spirit.

Luke Schneider - For Dancing In Quiet Light (LP)Luke Schneider - For Dancing In Quiet Light (LP)
Luke Schneider - For Dancing In Quiet Light (LP)Leaving Records
¥3,989

Luke Schneider’s new EP 'For Dancing in Quiet Light' finds the pedal steel guitarist further refining his singular ambient vocabulary—gentle, resonant, and quietly radiant. Following two releases on Third Man, this Leaving Records debut is inspired by the intersection of breath and movement, drawing influence from his rural Tennessee surroundings and Lou Reed’s little-known tai chi soundtrack Hudson River Wind Meditations. These compositions offer a delicate but emotionally resonant companion for both rhythmic physical motion and the subtle choreography of the inner self. The title track, built solely from pedal steel and carefully layered effects, sets the tone with its glowing textures and unhurried grace.

BlankFor.ms -  After The Town Was Swept Away (CS+DL)BlankFor.ms -  After The Town Was Swept Away (CS+DL)
BlankFor.ms - After The Town Was Swept Away (CS+DL)Leaving Records
¥2,287

In music, form is sometimes so intimately connected to experience as to speak meaning more compellingly than any word could. On After the Town was Swept Away, out September 5th on Leaving Records, BlankFor.ms, aka Tyler Gilmore, finds in rhythm a new vocabulary of self-collection. Confronting both grief and joy, its twelve tracks of tape loop manipulation festoon and murmur — the imperfect cyclicality of tape itself at once a metaphor for the record’s meditations on time, and the actual physical support shaping its sounds. Composed in the aftermath of two quickly succeeding life-changing events for the artist — the birth of his first child, Ellis, in November 2023, and the loss of his mother after a two-year battle with cancer in January 2024 —, the sounds of After the Town was Swept Away were born of unmaking and remaking. The composition process was mostly one of revision: early drum machine sketches were emptied out and degraded, whole songs restructured, tape loops stacked to digest a complex rhythmical biography. Rooted in early experiences in jazz and a long-held love of house and drum & bass, BlankFor.ms’ beat allegiances surface in ways that are never obvious, a vehicle for reinterpreting one’s times anew. Commanding such an articulate rhythmical language, the music of After the Town was Swept Away speaks thus in intense, affectionate, at times uneasy tones. We feel this deeply on lead single "Formed by the Slide". Against the offbeat loops of quietly loose, layered held-tone vocals — by composer, vocalist and friend of the artist, Ella Joy Meir —, rhythm emerges in noisier surges as if answering their achingly beautiful call. It is the sound of experience in its barest form: when life speaks, we respond as we can. After The Town Was Swept Away was born from love — not just in tender musing, but through actual, felt communion. This is true, for example, of the triptych titled after Kinship, the Highland Park yoga studio where, in 2024, experimentalist Colloboh hosted BlankFor.ms for an impromptu performance to a routine by yogi Meg Shoemaker, from which the three tracks were assembled. But the influence of others — both musical, as with jazz drummer Marcus Gilmore and pianist Jason Moran, with whom BlankFor.ms recently released a collaborative album, and more intimately personal — is felt throughout the whole record, bound together in rhythm. Could it be otherwise? Tape loops have a way of preserving and altering the past at once, marking and unmarking sounds and their sources. The beats on After the Town was Swept Away — pensively yet felicitously — come to terms with just that, their rethreaded rhythms making room for unexpected, unhoped for recollection — a way to survive the flood of experience.

Laraaji -  All In One Peace (3CS+BOX+DL)Laraaji -  All In One Peace (3CS+BOX+DL)
Laraaji - All In One Peace (3CS+BOX+DL)Leaving Records
¥5,284

Originally compiled & released in 2015 by Leaving Records & Laraaji, we proudly present (again), with humble gratitude, three re-issues of seminal works by new age musician, composer, and laughter meditation workshop leader Laraaji - recorded between 1978 and 1983. Although some excerpts of the material have been featured on various compilations, this was the first time in over 30 years that one can experience the uninterrupted duration of these cosmic etudes in their complete form. The added length creates an immersive environment of fresh, exploratory, experimental and healing sounds in which to dwell– these are the proper, entire experiences as intended by their creator.

1978’s Lotus Collage was recorded live in a Park Slope, Brooklyn living room during Laraaji’s busker years. The sounds consist of freestyle electric open tuned zither/harp, Ecstatic Rhythmic hammer percussion, and free flow open hand ethereal moods. This recording crucially predates Laraaji’s now mythological “discovery” by Brian Eno, and is significant as one of Laraaji’s first electric zither recordings. This early recording captures a youthful Laraaji at the outset of his musical journey, still ripe for discovery, exploration, and transcendence. 1981’s Unicorns in Paradise was performed on electric keyboard Casiotone MT-70, and once again features Laraaji’s iconic zither in a flowing atmospheric improvisation. Laraaji describes its sonic environs as “an ideal habitat in another dimension of timelessness.” Many years later, this description holds true as its vibrant sounds inspire sensual reflections of the excited imagination. The final re-issue consists of two parts. Its first side, “Trance Celestial,” is a glowing, amorphous survey of muted and malleable electric sounds. Its uncharacteristically dark atmospheres nevertheless still paint a surreal atmosphere for self-reflection. Much beauty and inner-wisdom can be found in the depths of its inward trajectory. In contrast, the title track is a guided meditation full of light and optimism. Its spoken word segments and patient arrangements illustrate a constructive framework for enjoying the whole of Laraaji’s extensive catalog.

Originally, these releases were hand-made and dubbed to cassette by Laraaji himself. Of the process, he says “I felt like I was distributing artwork. As a matter of fact, for some of the cassettes I actually did some extra handwork on the label, doing a screen print or magic marker to add some color. So there was a sense of how to be an industry homemade artist direct-to-consumer feeling in the early years. People would ask for cassette tapes of an issue that I had not mass produced. So, now and then I’ll run into somebody who has a cassette tape… I’ll look at it and say, ‘Oh Wow, hand-made label, J-card and HEART.'”

Available on both cassette and digital, these re-issues offer Laraaji’s early music in both its original form and a form that did not exist at the time of its recording. Regarding this parallel, Laraaji reflects, “Having the music move in dimensions I didn’t predict… It feels like an extended blessing.” 

Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes - Music for Saxofone and Bass Guitar (LP+DL)Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes - Music for Saxofone and Bass Guitar (LP+DL)
Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes - Music for Saxofone and Bass Guitar (LP+DL)Leaving Records
¥4,498
Meditations bestseller! Originally released as a self-pressed in 2018 in a limited edition of only 50 copies. A collaboration between L.A. saxophonist Sam Gendel, best known as the leader of the jazz trio Inga, and bassist Sam Wilkes, whose unique sound has been described as psychedelic, outsider and meditative, and Jon Hassell's Fourth World.This is a collaboration between Sam Gendel, a saxophonist from LA, and Sam Wilkes, a bassist from LA. You will be into a vortex of dope music. This is a work of confidence, in which a sophisticated jazz mind is incorporated into a unique and experimental sound full of the free spirit of the West Coast, and sublimated into a unique sound that is even meditative. The muffled soundscape with the perfect amount of salt makes the listener feel even better.

Green-House - Solar Editions (CS+DL)Green-House - Solar Editions (CS+DL)
Green-House - Solar Editions (CS+DL)Leaving Records
¥2,249
Green-House's latest EP is a collection of unheard & rare recordings from 2021 & 2022. Imaginary department stores, Wendy Carlos-infused virtual classical, soundscape slices and bonus tracks are all situated radiantly along the spectrum of Solar Editions.
Green-House - A Host for All Kinds of Life (CS+DL)Green-House - A Host for All Kinds of Life (CS+DL)
Green-House - A Host for All Kinds of Life (CS+DL)Leaving Records
¥2,249
In an era of rampant, man-made climate chaos, “solastalgia” (the longing and distress experienced by individuals as a response to environmental change/degradation) has emerged as a useful, semi-viral concept — a catch-all term for the pervasive sense that the world as we know it is far from well, and only growing less so. But, for many of us, a problem, a trap, an ineffable hollowness, exists at the very crux of this concept/premise: how can we mourn (or even sense the loss of) that which we have never known? Especially for lifelong urbanites estranged from nature, who nevertheless grasp the severity and complexity of the problem—how might they remember? How might they mourn? Perhaps indirectly—that is to say, in an exploratory and non-dogmatic fashion—Green-House, a project birthed by Olive Ardizoni and now officially a duo project featuring long-time collaborator and confidant, Michael Flanagan, seeks to address this gap in understanding. Six Songs for Invisible Gardens, the debut Green-House EP whose 2020 release coincided with the depths of Covid-19 “lockdown,” responded to the rampant heartsickness of human and plant life, especially in non-rural areas. The packaging of the cassette release famously included wildflower seeds for the listener to scatter. This gesture (at once simple and daring, especially when one considers the logistical element) exists as testament to the sincerity and seriousness of Ardizoni’s convictions. Music for Living Spaces, the first full-length Green-House LP, followed in 2021— a refinement of the formula that enshrined Six Songs as a cult, eco-ambient hit. Out October 13, 2023 on Leaving Records, they have returned with the LP A Host For All Kinds of Life, a third entry in a series of releases whose titles have incidentally all revolved around the “for” construction: an unofficial canon of offerings, or maybe rather instructions as to how the music contained therein might, could, and should operate in/on the listener’s life and “living space(s).” Decidedly the most expansive Green-House release — one need only consider the LP’s title and the kaleidoscopic, fractal cover art designed by Flanagan—A Host For All Kinds of Life troubles the very notion of “ambient music,” a category with whom Green-House has always existed in some degree of tension. What if a song’s seeming softness constitutes its biting edge? What if easeful, contemplative pleasure can radically alter our mindset? Our very role as worldly subjects? Drawing on the works of Lynn Margulis and our burgeoning understanding of the evolutionary role of biological mutualism (associations between species in which both species benefit), A Host For All Kinds of Life is a deeply entrenched and politically grounded song suite. And there are indeed discrete songs here, with defined structure, momentum, and sway; see the gilded, sixties-evoking melodic arabesque of the record’s ninth and penultimate track, “Everything is Okay” (which incidentally ends with the release’s only human voice—a tender message left for Ardizoni by their mother). In conversation, Ardizoni speaks often of the centrality of joy—that Green-House’s very existence can be traced to a conscious decision they made to not only choose joy as an act of rebellion, but to find that joy in whatever plant life they could access in their immediate environment. In this sense, all of Green-House’s releases (and A Host for All Kinds of Life especially) embody a radicality that may elude the casual or first-time listener. To choose, model, and express joy in an ailing world requires courage, a courage that must be jealously guarded and constantly replenished. A Host For all Kinds of Life encourages the listener to slow down, take stock, tune in to the more-than-human world around them, and gather their courage and joy in light of the uncertainty to come.

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