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Gigi Masin & Giuseppe Caprioli - Moltitudine in labirinto (Clear Vinyl LP)
Gigi Masin & Giuseppe Caprioli - Moltitudine in labirinto (Clear Vinyl LP)13 (SILENTES)
¥4,451
Valuable vinyl reissue for this historic four-handed work by Gigi Masin and Giuseppe Caprioli. The concept of multitude combined with the figure/symbol of the labyrinth suggests orders of thought relating to the multiple states of being that inhabit the dark labyrinths of the soul, the hidden regions of the human psyche. All in Multitude In Labyrinth leads us to look for keys to understanding the ultimate meaning of a test as enigmatic as it is powerful. A congeries of paramusical phenomena in continuous evolution, expression of an internal feeling strongly concentrated on itself, disguised in the plastic flow of sound events that evolve on the gravitational maps of low-frequency drones, of the changing waveforms and of the elliptical-circular loops warped with scientific skill in the electronic workshop used for this purpose. A cinematic symphony in nine movements that direct the listening towards the frontiers of unexplored parallel worlds, ready to recreate the infinite maze of aural multitudes that materialize, dissolve and regenerate impulse after impulse for the duration of the work. Music whose remote echo makes us think of the harmony of the spheres that governs the mechanics of the cosmos and of being.

小林泉美 IZUMI "Mimi" KOBAYASHI - Choice Cuts 1978-1983 (LP)小林泉美 IZUMI "Mimi" KOBAYASHI - Choice Cuts 1978-1983 (LP)
小林泉美 IZUMI "Mimi" KOBAYASHI - Choice Cuts 1978-1983 (LP)Time Capsule
¥4,973
Irrepressible, off-the-wall and utterly unique - the late ‘70s/early ‘80s Latin jazz-funk and leftfield electronic boogie of Japanese composer and pianist Izumi ‘Mimi’ Kobayashi collected for the first time. (🇯🇵👇) A luminous soul with an indefatigable love for music, few artists have had careers as varied and successful as Izumi ‘Mimi’ Kobayashi. One of Japan’s leading jazz-funk pianists, she wrote and recorded cult albums with fusion legends at home and abroad. Obsessed with new electronic instruments, she penned some of the country’s most well-known TV themes and pioneered the use of drum machines in anime soundtracks. 💫 A star in Japan, she moved to Europe to record global hits with Depeche Mode and Swing Out Sister, toured the world with the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra and made beats with Attica Blues’ Tony Nwachukwu. Now based in London, Mimi currently fronts Tokyo Riddim Band - the intergenerational live Japanese Reggae outfit born from Time Capsule’s acclaimed 2023 compilation of the same name - playing live shows and releasing a trio of recordings made at Prince Fatty’s studio. Choice Cuts 1978-1983 collects eight recordings from four of Mimi’s first five albums – Sea Flight (1978) recorded with her group Flying Mimi Band, and Coconuts High (1981), Nuts Nuts Nuts (1982) and Tropicana (1983) under her own name. The compilation opens with a syncopated electro-funk cover of Sergio Mendes’ iconic ‘Mas Que Nada’ (Tropicana) and the crisp and stripped back techno-pop of ‘Coffee Rumba’ (Nuts Nuts Nuts) with a keyboard bass line that would have made Stevie Wonder weep. Alongside the off-beat synth jam ‘Quiet Explosion’ (Nuts Nuts Nuts) and piano samba of ‘Espresso’ (Tropicana), there’s space for two low slung soul-jazz numbers, ‘Naze’ and ‘Angel Sky’, from Sea Flight (1978) that recall the collaborations between Herbie Hancock and Kimiko Kasai. But it is around the two tracks from Mimi’s 1981 album Coconuts High that this compilation revolves (and from whose cover shoot it borrows). Released on legendary guitarist Takanaka’s Kitty Records label, Coconuts High was recorded in LA with a backing band of jazz fusion icons, including Alex Acuña, Abraham Laborial, Harvey Mason and the Tower of Power horns. A riot of playful Latin-tinged jazz, funk and fusion with the off-beat spirit of Kid Creole & and the Coconuts, the album became a cult hit, attracting huge sums on the resale market. Here it’s the sultry, Minnie Riperton-esque ‘Crazy Love’, with its addictive groove and bittersweet melodies that makes the cut, alongside the steel drum-infused carnivalesque bounce of ‘Palm St’. Capturing a highly creative and prolific moment in Mimi’s career, Choice Cuts 1978-1983 will introduce the idiosyncratic energy and playful verve of this under-the-radar pioneer to a wider audience for the first time. Welcome to the world of Izumi ‘Mimi’ Kobayashi. Once you enter, you won’t want to leave.

Bedouin Ascent - Science, Art And Ritual (30th Anniversary Edition) (Bloody Mary Vinyl 3LP)Bedouin Ascent - Science, Art And Ritual (30th Anniversary Edition) (Bloody Mary Vinyl 3LP)
Bedouin Ascent - Science, Art And Ritual (30th Anniversary Edition) (Bloody Mary Vinyl 3LP)Lapsus Records
¥5,957
'Science, Art And Ritual' is a story of ‘process'. Growing up in Harrow (a then quiet suburb of London) in the 70’s and 80’s from the age of about 10, Kingsuk Biswas aka Bedouin Ascent's ears opened up to sound as he scanned the airwaves. The undeniable righteousness of 80’s dub via David Rodigan’s Roots Rockers shows was the first prominent influence he received, and with punk roots —and his burgeoning record collection— became exposed to the breathless post punk experimentation that followed in the early 80’s sweeping up free jazz, noise, dub and much more. Throughout though, he maintained his fascination with Indian Classical music which was a mainstay in his parent’s house and spoke with the same infinite space as Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures', and King Tubby’s Studio dispatches. Through those teens he assembled and de-assembled, knocking about with fellow travellers —punk bands, garage, space rock, noise. Something was happening. On-U Sound, ECM, Factory Records kept him plugged in and sane. At that time Kingsuk's core studio setup revolved around his vintage Gretsch, Fender Jazz, Moog, TR-606 and rudimentary FX. He added congas, folk instruments, pipes, hand percussion, gongs, and jammed out shards of funk, noise, jazz fusion, electro and ambience into his hungry Tascam Portastudio. By 1987 these had morphed into what we’d now refer to broadly as techno, but the genre didn't exist beyond the reverberating walls of his bedsit, and he hadn’t yet plugged into the global conversation. 'Science, Art And Ritual' was released in 1994 by Rising High Records and was presented as Bedouin Ascent's debut album, although 'Music for Particles' (released in 1995, again on Rising High) was recorded even before —'SAR' sessions span from 1992-1993, whereas 'Music for Particles' were earlier from 1989-1992, with some older 4-track references from about 1986 too. Weaved in throughout the album are subconscious references to music that Kingsuk heard in the past that still remained within sight as companions. The opening track "Ancient Ocean III", referencing the extinct ocean Tethis, unapologetically channels Tackhead, Colourbox, Mantronix and Lee Perry. The style was also deliberately juxtaposed to the prevailing sound in techno at the time, which had locked onto a rigid form of symmetrical kicks and light snare drums. Elsewhere 80’s soul and funk are frozen and captured in fragile glass lattices. Electric pianos resound throughout, such as in "He Is She", probably a half-memory of 70’s MOR radio from childhood sleepy night drives. A duel between kick drums from three generations of Roland drum machines —TR-808, TR-707 and R-8— is a central theme in "Transition-R", all in conversation, calling and responding. These were not just machines to Bedouin Ascent, but part of an extended family, with heart and soul. Three decades after seeing the light, Lapsus is proud to present a special 30th anniversary reissue of this left-field techno gem in a repackaged and redesigned edition. All pressed on a deluxe 3LP marbled vinyl and including a limited lithographic insert print of the original album cover. All tracks have been restored and remastered directly from the original DAT tapes, and the album also features previously unreleased tracks such as "In the Clouds" and "Thru Water" —regularly performed live at that time and produced in the same period as the album sessions in 1993. 'Science, Art And Ritual’ may refer to esoteric traditions in Indian philosophy, but equally embodies the collision of the science, the art and the ritual that is at the core of being immersed in a deep musical journey.

Luke Sanger - Dew Point Harmonics (LP)Luke Sanger - Dew Point Harmonics (LP)
Luke Sanger - Dew Point Harmonics (LP)Balmat
¥4,148
Balmat began our journey in 2021 with the release of Luke Sanger’s Languid Gongue. Now, three years later, we turn an important corner as the Norfolk musician rejoins us with Dew Point Harmonics, the first repeat appearance on the label. Sanger’s new album feels like a natural extension of his inaugural record for Balmat: It’s a bewitching collection of esoteric synth sketches that slips unpredictably between consonant repetition, poignant melodies, and gnarled bursts of noise that catch in the ear like burrs in hiking socks. That natural metaphor is perhaps not accidental. Despite having been composed on Sanger’s diverse array of hardware and self-written software, many of the tracks were first conceived while Sanger was hiking in a particularly wild and isolated section of the Norfolk coast. The field recording that opens the album, on “6am Beach Walk,” was taken on one of his many early-morning walks there, in which he and his dog might go for miles without seeing another soul. The album’s title was inspired by the overnight condensation covering the long marram grass in the dunes, glistening in the early light (and drenching everything coming in contact with it) before evaporating in the morning sun. Indeed, the concept of dew point—the temperature at which water vapor condenses into a liquid—feels like the perfect metaphor for Sanger’s music, in which foggy ambience is distilled into glistening quicksilver orbs, transient spheres of perfection eventually absorbed back into the atmosphere. A shapeshifting collection of richly detailed and deeply expressive electronic miniatures, Dew Point Harmonics is both a testament to the mysteries of transformation and an invitation to get lost in the wilderness of your own imagination.

Rod Modell & Taka Noda - Glow World (CS)Rod Modell & Taka Noda - Glow World (CS)
Rod Modell & Taka Noda - Glow World (CS)13 (SILENTES)
¥2,469
"GLOW WORLD is Rod Modell's new project resulting from his collaboration with Taka Noda. The duo delivers what could be an example of perfect elegance and musical refinement, but the resulting sounds are once again dirtied, ruined and ravaged by a noise capable of deafening us, sounds that come from afar, that seem to fade away but suddenly illuminate the world around us, which lands on us and which no longer belongs to us, leaving us lost in an infinite melancholy. GLOW WORLD is a work characterized by buoyant ambient sounds from which delicate rhythmic textures emerge, and never speeding up they run along the routes of an electronic music that surely knows how to be as minimal and suffused as it is distressing. Touches of piano, slow pulsations of bass lines and constantly disturbed sounds that nevertheless almost lull the listener into listening to this timeless music, perfect for letting go, observing time inexorably slipping out of our hands forever. Sounds that are timeless, it was said. Rod Modell and Taka Noda are visionaries, and GLOW WORLD is a rare gem. Simply another masterpiece."

Akio Suzuki - KA I KI (LP+DL)
Akio Suzuki - KA I KI (LP+DL)Experimental Rooms
¥4,180

A site-specific sound piece created by Akio Suzuki, a master of sound art, with a transcendent echo space.

Since the 1960s, Akio Suzuki, a pioneer of sound art, has focused on "listening" and has visited numerous echo spaces such as caves, tunnels, palaces, and oil tanks in search of places of resonance, calling himself an "echo man." This work is a record of the master's being led to a 40-second otherworldly world of reverberation inside the embankment of Uchinokura Dam, located deep in the mountains of Shibata City, Niigata, and recording without an audience. Stones, bamboo, sponges, hand mirrors, combs, cardboard, glass bottles, and his own voice. Everyday objects and bodies are instantly transformed into "sound instruments," and performances are performed in various ways, such as hitting, rolling, rubbing, spinning, blowing, and pulling, and an acoustic sound piece is created with the unique reverb effect of natural reflections in a huge concrete space without any electrical amplification. The scene transforms into both micro and macro scenes, evoking us, the audience, the infinite universe. 

Harry Bertoia - Mechanization I & II (LP)Harry Bertoia - Mechanization I & II (LP)
Harry Bertoia - Mechanization I & II (LP)Sonambient
¥5,649
On this new LP Harry Bertoia shows why he may have been the first industrial musician. Bertoia often referred to his sound sculptures as a "collaboration with industry" and on this new LP Bertoia is intentionally creating heavy, rhythmic music he described as "mechanized," "mechanical" and "factory like." This first edition is packaged in a full color sleeve with metallic inks. Mastered by Tom Eaton at Sounds & Substance. Recorded in 1971, percussion and repetition emulate the pounding rhythms of machinery on this unique pair of conceptual Bertoia compositions. Bertoia utilizes innovative performance techniques to create new sounds unheard in his ouevre. Even in the busy factory of Bertoia's mind, distant stillness rises up as Bertoia exhibits the massive amount of control he possesses over his many looming sculptures. "Mechanization" is just one of the many sonic directions Bertoia took while composing and recording between the late 1950's and his death in 1978. He documented all of his ideas and directions in notes accompanying the hundreds of tapes discovered in his barn.

Joanne Robertson & Dean Blunt - Backstage Raver (LP)
Joanne Robertson & Dean Blunt - Backstage Raver (LP)World Music
¥7,684
*per customer 1 copy. The dreamlike encounter between Dean Blunt's experimental refraction and Joanne Robertson's dreamy vocals is a dream come true. A dreamlike encounter between Dean Blunt's refractive experimentalism and Robertson's dreamy vocals, this dream-pop/shoegaze album is a graceful, introspective soundscape that blends lo-fi, experimental, and ambient music in a genre-defying style.
Naoki Zushi - Phenomenal Luciferin (2LP)Naoki Zushi - Phenomenal Luciferin (2LP)
Naoki Zushi - Phenomenal Luciferin (2LP)World Of Echo
¥6,978

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!

Lasse Marhaug - Provoke (LP)Lasse Marhaug - Provoke (LP)
Lasse Marhaug - Provoke (LP)Smalltown Supersound
¥4,389
Lasse Marhaug has for 35 years been one of Norway’s most prolific and active sound and visual artists. As a producer, studio engineer, curator, photographer, designer, filmmaker, composer, improviser, self-publisher and writer Marhaug has worked across a wide range of formats. Collaborators include artists like Joe McPhee, Merzbow, Jenny Hval, Okkyung Lee, Jim O’Rourke, Paal Nilssen-Love, Kevin Drumm and many more. Despite being involved in hundreds of releases Marhaug’s solo albums are more rare efforts, and ‘Provoke’ marks the fifth album on Smalltown Supersound, a 25 year long collaboration that started in the late 1990s. ‘Provoke’ is the follow up to 2021’s ‘Context', and is the first solo recordings Marhaug has recorded since he moved back to his native home in the Arctic, northern Norway. Marhaug states that moving north again has given him a sharper focus and that the album could be seen as a meditation on how growing up in this rural environment shaped his aesthetics and approach to sound, music and form. While it can be a harsh and cold climate, northern Norway also offers, he says, an ever-changing palette of light and is an incredible landscape. While the music is largely electroni, ‘Provoke’ also features sounds recorded outside in the winter, which the final track’s ‘Minus 14’ title is perhaps a giveaway. The album took a year to record and was mixed during the two-month’s Polar night season, a time where the sun does not cross the horizon. The title ‘Provoke’ is like ‘Context’ an ambiguous word play. It means everything and nothing at the same time. Does noise music provoke anymore? Did it ever? What are its subversive qualities? One reference is the 1970’s Japanese photography magazine of the same name, an experimental small-press publication that with artists like Koji Taki, Daido Moriyama and Yutaka Takanashi at the forefront set out to subvert and find a new language for photography. The difference between photography in Tokyo in 1970 and electronic music the Arctic in 2024 is of course huge, but the radical attitude to form certainly shares common ground. Marhaug still does not consider himself a musician, but rather a visual artist that got sidetracked by the possibilities of sound. Musically ‘Provoke’ follows up where ‘Context’ left off, with an elegant mix of angular electronic juxtapositions and horizontal lines. Marhaug is now working with a stronger emphasis on pulse and rhythmic constructions, as well as more tonal and (almost) melodic elements. This clarity and sense of design makes the music come across as more defined and luminous. The music is less of a dense layer of fog, yet Marhaug manages to create a feeling of great depth and three-dimensional space. ‘Provoke’ is a journey through the elements, rippling time space and displacing gravity, but also grounded and earthbound. Music both as architecture and landscape, sound that describes light. ‘Provoke’ feels like a landmark and high point in Marhaug’s already extensive catalogue.

Dawuna - Naya (LP)
Dawuna - Naya (LP)Sun Royalle
¥4,389
To dwell within a land that's meant for many men not my tone, I must pay attention to the least-paid-attention-to
R.N.A. Organism - R.N.A.O Meets P.O.P.O (LP)R.N.A. Organism - R.N.A.O Meets P.O.P.O (LP)
R.N.A. Organism - R.N.A.O Meets P.O.P.O (LP)Mesh-Key
¥5,989
A key document of the late ’70s experimental music scene in Kansai, Japan, R.N.A. Organism’s R.N.A.O Meets P.O.P.O (first released by legendary Osaka label Vanity Records in 1980) is a hallucinatory trip of dubby bass, churning guitars, sputtering rhythm boxes, twisted vocals and unidentifiable sound effects. With the vinyl out of print for decades now, Mesh-Key is honored to present this deluxe, fully authorized reissue, sourced from the miraculously well-preserved, original reel-to-reel tapes. Carefully remastered by Stephan Mathieu, this album has never sounded better.
Stuart Dempster - Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel (2LP)
Stuart Dempster - Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel (2LP)Important Records
¥7,947
Stuart Dempster created Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel in the same cistern where the legendary Deep Listening album was recorded. Reverberating with powerful, deep tones, this double LP is intended as a companion to the acclaimed Oliveros/Dempster/Panaiotis album Deep Listening. Underground Overlays From The Cistern Chapel is one of the deepest drone albums ever recorded. Nine trombones, didjeridu and Tibetan bells fill the massive two million gallon cistern with dense sonic reverberations that are both haunting and healing. Packaged in a heavy duty paper sleeve printed with metallic gold ink to match the Deep Listening design.
Family Ravine - (I’ll) waltz in and act like (I) own the place (CS)Family Ravine - (I’ll) waltz in and act like (I) own the place (CS)
Family Ravine - (I’ll) waltz in and act like (I) own the place (CS)Death Is Not The End
¥2,683
K.W. Cahill records and plays acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, karimba, melodica and an AM/FM portable radio on March 2024 time. Mastered by James A. Toth in Toronto. Synchronicity, or plain trying to find connections, or maybe spirits in muted gathering, or fuck it, it’s ghosts getting stirred up and they need to be released. These (ghosts) are mingling and hanging around, peripherally present, lingering and floating off. The (ghosts’ll) waltz in and act like (they) own the place. (I’m) ultimately just trying to get to a zone to let the (ghost) melodies speak, let the wood and metal resonate and ring, playing all the parts that sit in shadow, shapes and notes and patterns, overtones, emotions, hanging by a thread. (I’ll) waltz in and act like (I) own the place.

Ø (Mika Vainio) - Fermionit / Kulmamomentti (12")
Ø (Mika Vainio) - Fermionit / Kulmamomentti (12")Sähkö Recordings
¥3,157
A 12" outing for the Ø:'s excellent Fermionit + the unreleased Kulmamomentti coming in the form of edits from members of the sähkö recordings crew (Kaukolampi & Jimi Tenor). Huge Tip! Mika Vainio was recording a new Ø-album since 2014. He almost got it ready before his too early passing in 2017. Mika's girlfriend Rikke Lundgreen from Oslo has been going through Mika's notes, numerous versions and takes of the album tracks. Now the collection of the tracks is completed, there were two tracks that Mika thought should not be included the album. They make this release. The shoter track Kulmamomentti is edited slightly longer by Jimi Tenor and Timo Kaukolampi.Ø (Mika Vainio) - Fermionit / Kulmamomentti (12")
Tutu Ta - The Shrine (12")
Tutu Ta - The Shrine (12")Long Gone
¥2,768
Long Gone (Are The Old Traditions) is a label out of London . A label focused on DIY electronics, post punk, dub and techno from now and before. The first release is from West London artist, singer and songwriter Tutu Ta. A mini LP of out there, dubbed up, post punk mutations meeting old sounding industrial electronics following from his highly acclaimed debut album last year. Its already seen the light of day on soundsystems across the city and further afield as well as stations like NTS, Rinse & Tom Ravenscroft's BBC 6 New Music Fix.

Noémi Büchi - Does It Still Matter (LP)Noémi Büchi - Does It Still Matter (LP)
Noémi Büchi - Does It Still Matter (LP)-OUS
¥3,627
The new avant-garde isn’t about creating something that doesn’t yet exist, it’s about abandoning and confusing rigid genres. I want to open up, in order to both abolish and reconstruct the musical past.» — Noémi Büchi Noémi Büchi’s album ‘Does It Still Matter’ completes a series of releases whose titles - ‘Matière’, ‘Matter’, and ‘Does It Still Matter’ - place the physicality of music in the center of attention. Büchi’s specific sound structures and aesthetic choices question the state of materiality in a world that is becoming more and more fluid and intangible. From ‘Matière’ to ‘Matter’, Büchi subtly transferred from a focus on substance to questioning the enigmatic core of being, passing from a noun to a verb, and from a single word to an inquiry. ‘Does It Still Matter’ weighs in on the importance of questioning. Her pieces juxtapose multi-layered analog synthesizer textures, crystal clear sounds and almost brutalistic noises, while they unfold in compositional structures akin to pop songs. Driven by an orchestra of myriad parts, her music creates transcendent intonations that resonate deeply with the listeners’ bodies. A daring blend of complexity and accessibility are molded into captivating sound sculptures that challenge and intrigue listeners alike. Deviating from conventional time divisions, ’Does It Still Matter’ immerses listeners in a discordant succession of elements, and guides them towards an eternal present that erases the past with each new revelation, while maintaining it through recurring themes that serve as intimate memories. Büchi’s electronic maximalism questions our linear perception of time, offering a glimpse into a world where the past, present, and future converge into a singular moment. Her avant-garde approach rejects predictability, inviting listeners to immerse themselves fully in the present. Everything starts anew at any given instant. Each musical idea exists for one precise moment, rendering the future unpredictable. ‘Does It Still Matter’ unfolds against a backdrop of collective disaster and biocidal urgency, challenging the very essence of time. Büchi explains: «The world appears to have gone mad. It’s all but impossible to reflect on the meaning of avant-garde in music, considering the future in this sepulchral kind of stability of the human condition.» Her compositions resonate like an infernal machine, questioning the instantaneous dissipation of everything. Finally, echoes and fragments of sounds remain, haunting memories like ghostly companions. ’Does It Still Matter’ is an immersive experience that invites listeners to contemplate the impermanence of our world and the enduring power of sound.

ISOR29 - Moon Phase Gardening (LP)ISOR29 - Moon Phase Gardening (LP)
ISOR29 - Moon Phase Gardening (LP)Second Circle
¥3,989
Second Circle are excited to welcome another new artist to the label, ISOR29, with a six track mini-album titled ‘Moon Phase Gardening’. ISOR29 is a new project from Colombian musician Tomas Garcia Station and follows on from his highly regarded 2020 debut release under the ‘Irie Nation’ moniker. The title ‘Moon Phase Gardening’ (also referred to as Gardening by the Moon or Planting by the Moon) draws upon the idea that the lunar cycle affects plant growth. Just as the Moon’s gravitational pull creates the tides of the oceans, it also creates more moisture in the soil, which encourages growth. Evolving out of forced time off, individual confrontation and the love for someone close, ‘Moon Phase Gardening’ was recorded in the living room of an old flat in Lisbon during the first lockdown. Using only a microphone, computer, Korg MS20, hang drum and a field recorder, ISOR29 channels Tomas’ musical vocabulary via electronics to reflect an immersive and self-reflective story bound to a uniquely powerful time and space.
Jamma-Dee - Perceptions (CS)
Jamma-Dee - Perceptions (CS)Nothing But Ne
¥2,855
Nothing But Net presents “Perceptions”, the debut LP from Los Angeles producer/beat maker Jamma-Dee aka Dyami O’Brien. Jamma-Dee has been a figure in the west coast modern funk and boogie scene, both as an accomplished DJ and music producer, having released records under his own name and producing for the likes of Joyce Wrice, Mndsgn and others. From a musical upbringing in Los Angeles, Dyami’s adolescent obsession with record digging and beatmaking eventually led him to Dam-Funk’s renown Funkmosphere parties where he built friendships with key players in the LA funk scene and began to make a name for himself as a DJ and producer. In the second half of the 2010’s he released a series of EPs on Arcane and hosted the legendary Soul In Paradise show on NTS radio. His first full-length, “Perceptions” is a long time in the making. Beginning with studio experiments nearly a decade ago, a version of the album found its way to producer and Nothing But Net label boss Onra, who helped guide the project to completion. The album artwork was created by outsider soul music conceptualist and painter, Mingering Mike, whom O’Brien felt compelled to reach out to after discovering his work years earlier. Thematically, the artwork, record, and its title touch on very modern themes: the alienation of life in a world of instant-gratification, an overly-connected society of masks, distorted realities and shifting identities. Musically, “Perceptions” is the culmination of a life lived under the groove. Featuring a long list of collaborators, including Benedek, Mndsgn, Koreatown Oddity, the legendary Craig T. Cooper and fellow NBN labelmate, Devin Morrison, the double album touches on all of O’Brien’s musical influences. Album opener “Up N Down” sets the scene with it’s syrupy g-funk impressionism, before “Jamma’s Jam” bounces out of the speakers through an auburn-colored sunset haze of lush Rhodes chords and sparkling vibraphones. “It Takes A Freak” and “Datafile Groove” shuffle westward, re-imagining New Jack Swing grooves through a distinctly Californian lens. Elsewhere, the album touches on classic deep house rhythms (“Tic Toc” and “Silly”) and crystalline, downtempo R&B and UK street soul (“Joy”, “Saturday”).“U.R.” features legendary L.A. guitarist Craig T. Cooper laying down a network of stunning, silken guitar lines with absolute class. Over the course of these 15 tracks, Jamma Dee consolidates, renovates and perpetuates the sound of his influences. “Perceptions” is a masterclass in modern funk and soul production.
Carmen Villain - Nutrition EP (12")Carmen Villain - Nutrition EP (12")
Carmen Villain - Nutrition EP (12")Smalltown Supersound
¥3,078
Carmen's new 3 track EP gives a sense of where she might be heading next on her musical journey. On Nutrition, the submerged influence of dub seen in a lot of her earlier work has risen more prominently to the surface. Carmen describes the tracks as "some dub studies born out of my continued fascination with the form. I’m in a period where I just keep going back to experimenting with beats and rhythms". Nutrition is set for release on 25 October 2024 through Smalltown Supersound.

Isak Edberg - Belt of Orion (LP)Isak Edberg - Belt of Orion (LP)
Isak Edberg - Belt of Orion (LP)XKatedral
¥3,621
Belt of Orion by Stockholm-based Isak Edberg is the composer’s second solo release on XKatedral, and his first to focus solely on instrumental music in the form of two pieces of extended duration for solo piano. Edberg is a composer of electronic and acoustic music as exemplified by Ondulations from 2017 and Lamé written in 2010 and released in 2022, both on XKatedral. Edberg was also a member of Golden Offense Orchestra, active from 2012 to 2014. Edberg writes that his music is informed by an enchantment of being and a search for holiness, rapture and transcendence through stillness, contemplation, dreaming and an attempt to uphold the present. Edberg regards his music to be an adornment of time. The two works presented here were composed in the south of France and in Stockholm during a period spanning the years 2016-2018. The music was inspired by the cold winds, starry nights and desolate, palely bright landscape of the provençal autumn, as well as reflections during a time of escapism and isolation in the life of the composer. More concretely, this music grew out of hours of improvised playing on an old piano while living alone on the countryside, during which harmonic structures and gestures were slowly worked out by means of performing and listening, assessing and balancing sounds and silences. Stylistically, the music draws on a range of sources, such as Feldman’s use of space and resonance as projected through both harmonic and temporal distance, the ritualistic gestural repetitions of Satie, as well as Messiaen’s resonant harmony, together with some of the harmonic lushness of Scriabin’s late work. Belt of Orion is a piece that explores the contrast of two musical textures, the one being fluid, airy and progressive, the other being more static, steady and repetitive. The music sequences through a series of harmonic tensions in search of a place of peace, exposing a rift in the weave of time where everything momentarily stands still. In Vestiges repetitive and rhythmic materials form a major part of the musical structure, while sections of sparse, floating harmonies temporarily interrupt with reflective pauses of stillness. The music thus employs two different and contrasting kinds of musical hypnosis, with the aim of cradling the listener into a dark and perhaps unsettling sleep. The music on this recording was performed by the renowned Swedish pianist Mats Persson, who has for many decades been a legend in the art music scene of Stockholm. Through his languid yet distinct interpretations the delicacy and intimacy of these works are elegantly brought to the fore. The recordings heard here were made over the course of two evenings at Fylkingen in Stockholm. Isak Edberg's music moves slowly through the seemingly endless world that is harmonic sound. In his practice he uses heavily reduced and carefully controlled materials to create states of maximum clarity.

Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson - Glory Fades (LP)Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson - Glory Fades (LP)
Yair Elazar Glotman & Mats Erlandsson - Glory Fades (LP)XKatedral
¥3,621
Glory Fades is a song book written using a common collaborative musical language developed by Yair Elazar Glotman and Mats Erlandsson, building intimate musical spaces, primarily focused on acoustic instrumentation with electronic counterparts contributing light and shade. Throughout the eight songs on the record, each piece unfolds according to its own logic while simultaneously reflecting the overarching tonality of the song book as a whole. The music focuses on the topography outlined by a melodic and harmonic modal framework and the exploration of the negative space found in the decay and in between the notes. There is a tension in this music caused by a reduced and stark emotional expression on the surface and the complex structures hidden underneath, where the harmonic material shimmers and shifts, and tempo and time signature modulates imperceptibly. The instrumentation forms a non-traditional chamber ensemble consisting of plucked and bowed acoustic guitars, zithers, bells, double bass, violin and percussion with additional treatments through manipulated tape and reamplification techniques. Mats Erlandsson is part of the vibrantly re-emerging field of drone music in Stockholm, Sweden, and is associated with practices characterized by the extensive use of sustained sound. Utilizing synthesized and recorded analog and digital sound, contaminated field-recordings and extensive tape processing his music slowly unfolds sets of precisely tuned harmonic material while textural properties of the imaginary rooms where the music takes form shifts, shimmers and moves from sparse and open to dense and claustrophobic. In addition to his own artistic practice, Erlandsson holds a position as studio technician at the world-renowned Elektronmusikstudion (EMS) in Stockholm and has frequently presented electroacoustic music and new music from Sweden in concert. Yair Elazar Glotman is a composer and a musician based in Berlin. Glotman trained in classical music as an orchestral contrabass player and in electroacoustic composition. His work for film as well as his independent musical releases are informed by both classical and electroacoustic traditions, and employs a range of improvisation, extended contrabass techniques, and a special interest in textural and spatial compositions and in combining analog and digital processing. His compositions for film began through his close work with the influential, late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, writing additional music for Mandy (2018) and co-composing Last and First Men (2020). He also collaborated on two oscar-winning soundtracks (Joker and All Quiet on the Western Front). Glotman also regularly releases and performs his own music, which has been released on notable labels including Deutsche Grammophon, Bedroom Community and Subtext Recordings.
角田俊也 Toshiya Tsunoda - Extract From Field Recording Archive: Reflection-Revisiting (CD)角田俊也 Toshiya Tsunoda - Extract From Field Recording Archive: Reflection-Revisiting (CD)
角田俊也 Toshiya Tsunoda - Extract From Field Recording Archive: Reflection-Revisiting (CD)Erstwhile Records
¥2,367
Toshiya Tsunoda is a Japanese sound artist whose quarter century of exploration into field recording has been a huge influence on many other great artists working in similar territory. His archival series of three themed sets of field recording studies, released on three different labels from 1997 to 2001, 'Extract From Field Recording Archive #1-#3”, lay the groundwork for so much of what followed, both from Tsunoda and many others. This disc, 'Reflection-Revisiting', contains more recent recordings from 2007-2018, in which he revisited some of the original port areas, looking for a certain continuity between his ideas in the past and the present, while also discovering the differences between the two periods. "My purpose for these recordings in the nineties was to observe vibrations, and at the same time to find the observation point for each recording. For some very subtle, inaudible vibrations, a special method of observation such as installing a contact microphone inside a bottle or a particular observation point is required. It can be said that the object of the vibration and the act of observation are inseparable. I think that it is not really 'detection' or 'documenting', but is more likely closer to 'depiction'. The word 'depiction' has a nuance of both watching and portraying an object simultaneously." "By using small microphones and contact microphones, I tried to detect vibrations that were integrated with the presence of the place, like the vague images existing in the lowest layer of our perception. The space that could be observed in this way was quite different from how we perceive the actual place as a space." (from liner notes of Extract From Field Recording Archive 5CD box set by Toshiya Tsunoda)

Toshiya Tsunoda/Taku Unami - Wovenland 3 (3CD)Toshiya Tsunoda/Taku Unami - Wovenland 3 (3CD)
Toshiya Tsunoda/Taku Unami - Wovenland 3 (3CD)Erstwhile Records
¥4,786
Wovenland became a band. But we never do live shows. Our band activities are mainly editing in a studio. Our goal is to focus on acoustic experiments. No more and no less. We have been active for a total of about 10 days, including meetings, in 7 years. We are now disbanding.

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