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New album by Kafka's Ibiki, a three-piece band comprised of Jim O'Rourke, Eiko Ishibashi, and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto. Recorded live performance in Tokyo in 2023 by Joe Talia, the album was re-edited, mixed, and mastered by Jim O'Rourke.
Jim O’Rourke
Jim O’Rourke is a musician, composer and filmmaker whose borderless activity goes beyond the common labels Alternative, Post-rock, Experimental-pop, Film music, Free music, Jazz, Americana, Contemporary music and continues to defy classification.
Eiko Ishibashi
Eiko Ishibashi is a Japanese multi-instrumentalist whose work has ranged from acclaimed singer-songwriter albums to scores for film, television, theater and exhibitions to improvised music. She has collaborated with international artists such as Jim O’Rourke, Keiji
Haino, Charlemagne Palestine, Merzbow, Giovanni Di Domenico, Oren Ambarchi, and many others. Her own records have been released by Drag City, Black Truffle, and Editions Mego, amongst others.
Amongst her film scores is Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar-winning 2021 film “Drive My Car” for which she won the “Discovery of the Year” award at The World Soundtrack Awards and the “Best Original Music” award at the Asian Film Awards.
In 2023, she composed music for Hamaguchi’s latest film “Evil Does Not Exist” and also unveiled a new project named “GIFT”. The project features a silent film by Hamaguchi, which was specially created to accompany her live performance.
Tatsuhisa Yamamoto
Tatsuhisa Yamamoto is a drummer from Yamaguchi, Japan well known throughout the country for his work with a surprisingly wide range of musicians and theatre groups. He performed on the acclaimed Drag City records “The Dreams My Bones Dream” by Eiko Ishibashi, “Simple Songs” by Jim O’Rourke, and with several Japanese singers including Ichiko Aoba, UA, Kahimi Karie, Tavito Nanao, phew, Kenta Maeno, and Seiichi Yamamoto.
His wide interests have led him to be drummer of choice for Free Jazz legend Akira Sakata, as well as composer/performer in many restagings of Terayama Shuji’s works, film scores for NHK, and regular performances with artists as wide ranging as Keiji Haino, Oren Ambarchi, Giovanni Di Domenico and more. He has toured extensively throughout Europe in improvised music settings and with the theatre group Swanny. His 2020 release, ashioto on Black Truffle Records was selected as 2020’s Best Underground Record by MOJO Magazine.
This is the official reissue of the fantastic 1998 solo album by Naoki Toushi, a solitary guitarist who was an original member of the "King of Noise", JUKAI-KAIZEI, and also a member of the Japanese psychedelic rock band "Nagisa de". The latest mastering from the original mixed DAT master!
The next installment of MFM's popular multi-artist compilation Virtual Dreams: 'Virtual Dreams - Ambient Explorations In The House And Techno Age, Japan 1993-1999'. As with Part One, released in 2020, 'Virtual Dreams II' shines a light on house and techno-adjacent music that helped redefine the definition of ambient music during the 1990s.
The focus of Part One heavily fell on music from techno and house producers in Europe, eagerly exploring new soundtracks for chill-out rooms and re-imagining the potential future of club culture from new perspectives. For Part Two, we narrow the lens to focus on a unique time and place, namely Japan between 1993-1999. Despite missing out on the 'Acid House Fever', club culture was beginning to take shape in Japan during the early '90s. In contrast to the rest of the world, where ambient techno / IDM emerged as a by-product or response to the scene, 'listening techno', as it is known in Japan, was a central pillar of the culture right from the start.
'Virtual Dreams II' aims to shine a light on this unique moment in time where the thread of ambient music weaved its way through the music of an emerging club culture. This period saw the birth of many great Japanese techno labels such as Sublime Records, Transonic Records, Syzygy Records, Frogman Records, and Form@ Records, following in the late '90s. 'Virtual Dreams II' features ambient, chill-out, and intelligent techno from these leading labels alongside other lesser-known but equally influential imprints, as well as ambient deviations from Japanese house producers. Much of the music featured has only ever been released on CD.
'Virtual Dreams II' is compiled by Eiji Taniguchi and Jamie Tiller, who have worked closely together on previous Music From Memory releases such as 'Heisei No Oto' and 'Dream Dolphin - Gaia'. It is also the final project Jamie Tiller worked on before his tragic passing in 2023. Jamie had been researching, planning, and compiling this version of Virtual Dreams even before the first chapter was released, believing that there were many great tracks in Japan that fit the concept of the series. Knowing how much love and energy he put into compiling it gives it an extra special place in our hearts.
Compiled by Jamie Tiller and Eiji Taniguchi with artwork by Kenta Senekt, design by Steele Bonus and liner notes by Itaru W. Mita,
"There was a time when the strength of a musician's vision transcended all labels; here is a chance to dip into that pool again, and emerge not just refreshed, but alive again with the sense that we all can live in that world again, but most importantly raise the flag for excellence. Fantastic." --Jim O'Rourke
An unholy grail of near-mythical status is finally now available in the form of this first-ever reissue. Masahiko Sato composed this elusive, sensual, psychedelic free jazz score for the stunning 1973 Japanese witchcraft animation Belladonna of Sadness (Kanashimi no Belladonna) directed by Eiichi Yamamoto. Since the mid-2000s, Belladonna of Sadness has risen from the ashes and now shines brighter than ever. Now, on the eve of its third or fourth global DVD release in 2015, fans no longer have to settle for third-generation VHS telecine dubs or stuff their wish-lists into the hands of lucky friends visiting Tokyo. Belladonna has been used as nightclub projections by clued-up VJs and been restored by discerning feminist folk singers and improv bands while influencing illustrators, fashion designers, and other creative types along the way. Original copies of the soundtrack, however, are much less likely to rear their heads, with prices literally doubling each time the original stock copies swap hands among the same Italian dealers at central European record fairs. Italian soundtracks are expensive anyway, but this one, originally released by the Italian Cinevox label in 1975, has extra credentials. Finders Keepers Records and Sato himself agreed that this record should finally be liberated among those who know the magic words. With the decision to keep this album "strictly Sato," a track from the original release has been removed -- the main orchestral love theme by Asei Kobayashi and Mayumi Tachibana -- which in all honesty is very much detached from Sato's psychedelic soundtrack. Kept intact, however, are the songs sung and penned by Sato's wife at the time, Chinatsu Nakayama, including the track titled "TBFS," which only appears on the master tapes and never actually made it onto the theatrical cut of the film (though the theme is briefly alluded to, with different instrumentation, in a cut-scene available on the German DVD release). This reissue project also marks the beginning of a longer intended relationship between Finders Keepers and Masahiko Sato, exploring his recorded work in film music, jazz, and avant-garde composition.