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Although Yoshimura was undoubtedly an important figure in the history of Japanese ambient music, Yoshimura was hardly known overseas because only the Japanese version was released, but the recent New Age re-evaluation. I have finally come to the point where I can see the light of day. The sound of the highest peak of creative and aesthetic Japanese ambient music that evokes the concept of "wave notation" contained in nine postcards. A mysterious sound world that connects the history of ambient music / ambient spun by Erik Satie, Brian Eno, Roederius, etc. in the dimension of Japanese emotion and spiritual cosmo. A miraculous recording of homemade ambient attempted with a minimal set of Fender Rhodes and keyboards.
PULSE DEMON probably is the most iconic, most representative and best known album in the JAPANOISE scene and MERZBOW discography.
This is the edge of music and sound, here you enter a new dimension made of POWERFULL NOISE.
Recorded in 1995 and first released in 1996 on the US label REPLAPSE, this album was re-released several times in both, CD and Vinyl formats.
This is first time in which album was completely re-mastered by Masami Akita for CD re-release with the addition of an exclusive bonus track taken from the original PULSE DEMON recoding session (the original DAT) and never used up to now.
Album comes in a six panel digifile presenting the lavish original and very psychedelic holographic-waves-art-work.
PLAY VERY LOUD AND MERCILESS!
20th Anniversary Repress!
Merzbow's Merzbeat is one the most unique and legendary titles in the artist's vast archive. This 20th anniversary repress is being issued at the same time as CD reissue of his 1983 album Material Action 2 and a brand new collaboration with Arcane Device, all on Important Records....
Celebrating 20 years of one of the most brutally honest and experimental albums in the last 50 years. A true gem that is coming for the first time on vinyl as a double metallic gray colored LP. Newly remastered album by Masami Akita himself, this release includes 4 new tracks and new artwork revisiting the location of the famous Amlux tower 20 years in the future taken by the artist. This is limited to 300 copies Worldwide.
Every copy purchased through our Bandcamp will include a limited edition print of the artwork signed by the photographer Jose Moreno Rahn of one of the new artwork included in the 20th anniversary edition of the vinyl record.
Ambient and environmental Japanese scene has flourished stronger than ever in the last years. The pioneers of this sound and the creators of an innovative way of making and understanding ambient music, such as Hiroshi Yoshimura, Yoshio Ojima, Toshifumi Hinata or Takashi Kokubo have been championed and their works have been successfully unearthed by reissue labels.
Continuing in this endless path, Glossy Mistakes adds Takashi Kokubo’s brilliant “Volk Von Bauhaus” to its catalogue, with the Japanese masterpiece as the third official release of the Spanish label.
As most of 80’s Japanese ambient and environmental music, “Volk Von Bauhaus” is an audio impression designed to give a multi-sensory experience to the listener. An effort to make things audible, an exercise of understanding and soundtracking objects or situations. The main objective of this sound is to create an iconic musical landscape to accompany a specific place.
Though his name might be unfamiliar to many, Kokubo has crafted music that has impacted virtually all of Japan, from national mobile phone earthquake alerts to contactless card payment jingles. He was one of the first artists to create ambient music strictly through loops. As he mentioned when release this album, "this recording used no keyboard players, no multitrack tape recording techniques, no analog sounds”. A shift on the process of imagining sound.
“Volk Von Haus” is and ode to this ambient, new age and environmental music created in Japan throughout the 80’s. Throughout 9 cuts, Kokubo handcrafts his own sound and immerses the listener in a peaceful yet challenging adventure. The record is the first piece of his Digital Soundology series, and arguably his most interesting work due to the groundbreaking techniques he used.
"A revolutionary musical expression that shatters the old values”, explains Kokubo about this piece. And its just what we can hear when we play “Volk Von Haus”.
The album includes an unheard exclusive track by Takashi Kokubo an insert with an interview made by Takashi Kokubo. A true gem that must land in every ambient head’s musical library.
Remastered from master tapes by Frederic Stader.
A stunning survey of the 1970s heyday of great Japanese singer and countercultural icon Maki Asakawa (1942-2010). Deep-indigo, dead-of-night enka, folk, and blues, inhaling Billie Holiday and Nina Simone down to the bone. A traditional waltz abuts Nico-style incantation; defamiliarized versions of Oscar Brown Jr. and Bessie Smith collide with big-band experiments alongside poet Shūji Terayama; a sitar-led psychedelic wig-out runs into a killer excursion in modal, spiritual jazz. Existentialism and noir, mystery and allure, hurt and hauteur. With excellent notes by Alan Cummings and the fabulous photographs of Hitoshi Jin Tamura. "Japan's answer to Scott Walker, with a visual aesthetic and a death-decadent appeal that is straight out of the Keiji Haino songbook." --Volcanic Tongue
Heavy Weight Vinyl. The unbelievably prolific Haruomi Hosono is one of the major architects of modern Japanese pop music. With his encyclopedic knowledge of music and boundless curiosity for new sounds, Hosono has put his unmistakable stamp on hundreds of recordings as a session player, producer, and auteur of his own idiosyncratic musical world. Born and raised in central Tokyo, his adolescent obsession with American pop culture informed his early forays into country music, which he would revisit later in his career. Hosono made his professional debut in 1969 as a member of Apryl Fool, whose heavy psychedelia was somewhat at odds with his influences, which leaned towards the rootsy sounds of Moby Grape and Buffalo Springfield. The latter was one of the main inspirations for his next group, Happy End, whose unique blend of West Coast sounds with Japanese lyrics proved to be highly influential over the course of three albums.
After Happy End’s amicable break up in 1973, Hosono released Hosono House, an intimate slice of Japanese Americana recorded at home with a back-to-basics approach akin to Music from Big Pink or McCartney. While his former band helped pave the way for the rise of “city pop” that reflected upon urban themes and city life, Hosono took a 180 degree turn towards the countryside for his highly-regarded first solo album. Located an hour from Tokyo in Sayama, Saitama Prefecture, the actual Hosono House was one of several American-style houses originally built for the families of troops stationed at the nearby Johnson Air Base, active during the post-war occupation years. By the early ‘70s this small community had become a hub for creative types looking for a break from Tokyo’s hustle and bustle – and cheaper rent. For Hosono, this was as close as he could get to living in America without leaving his home country. With rooms filled to the edges with recording gear, the house became a live-in studio for Hosono and his crack band – soon to become known as the in-demand session group Tin Pan Alley. The songs on Hosono House display the breadth of Hosono’s talents, from the hushed acoustic folk of “Rock-A-Bye My Baby” and the country twang of “Boku Wa Chotto” to the New Orleans funk of “Fuyu Koe” and the unexpected breakbeats in “Bara To Yajuu.” Lauded by artists such as Jim O’Rourke and Devendra Banhart, Hosono House remains a touchstone of the early phase of Hosono’s career.
Hosono’s solo career would take many twists and turns from this point forward, with forays into exotica, electronic, ambient, and techno, culminating in the massive success of techno pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), who made their debut in 1978. Admired by artists ranging from Van Dyke Parks to Mac DeMarco, Hosono continues to forge ahead as he heads into his fifth decade as a musician. With the re-release of his key albums for the first time outside of Japan, his genius will be discovered by a whole new generation of fans around the world.