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Studio recordings from 1988 are officially released after 34 years of absence.
The tape recorded by Yuji Takahashi (synthesizer, sampler) and Masahiko Togashi (percussion) in a studio on November 23, 1988 was found for the first time in 34 years and is now officially released as a CD album. This album is the culmination of the Takahashi/Togashi duo, which began in the spring of 1988 at the Shinjuku Pit Inn, and is an improvisational performance in which Togashi responds to Takahashi's leads without a score. Each member's different musicality is inspired by the other's, and the music is built up in dialogue. The electronic sounds of Takahashi's early samplers and digital synths, the calculated acoustic percussion of Togashi, and the lush interplay make this sound journey a rare and precious work.
Tropical ambient set on a fictional tropical island! First official LP record of the "Doshin the Giant 1" soundtrack for the NINTENDO64DD game!
In 1996, Moodman made his solo debut on M.O.O.D. label, and in 2001, Alec Empire, who received his debut album, enthusiastically offered to release his first full-length album on Geist, the label he had started. Tatsuhiko Asano has also provided music for various other projects, including label compilations such as Daisy World and Transonic. 15 tracks were released in 2000, including new recordings and versions not used in the game before it was converted for the 64. Included in the collection are the following songs.
As Asano himself describes the music as "fluffy, fuzzy, soft and warm, like a living creature, sounding like something from over the mountains," its charming, yet somehow elusive, quirky appearance makes it stand out from the myriad of game music.
Kuniyuki Takahashi was in charge of remastering the album for vinyl release. Limited edition of 1,000 copies.
"The trajectory from the initial impulse of Koshiro Hino = YPY as a track maker, not as a brain of goat, bonanzas. However, the trajectory does not mean that it is heading straight somewhere. , The path is constantly ZURE. Why. Because he is constantly trying. Why keep trying. It is to explore the possibilities hidden there. Here is a fragment of Koshiro Hino so far. And the pieces from now on will also ZURE polyrhythmically. Are your ears listening to the sound of the heart? John Cage continued to question the possibility of hearing. The possibility awaits us. ing."
-Yosuke Yukimatsu
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"I listened to it and thought," It's the sound of a live house! " There is no so-called chord feeling or melody, it is not noise, it is not music that can be heard only by "sound", it is not dance music, but it is a familiar sound. Is it physical music? It is a playful work. You should listen to it first without thinking about anything. -Phew
Ecological Plantron" (1994) is a radical installation that uses sound to experience the ecological chain that surrounds our bodies from the perspective of plants.
This is a reprint of "Ecological Plantron" (1994), a radical installation that uses sound to let us experience the ecological chain that surrounds our bodies from the perspective of plants.
Bio-artist Yuji Dohkin researched and developed an epoch-making system in the early 1990s to create a device that speaks to plants and is spoken to by plants, which is "Plantron" (*I have a related doctoral thesis).
(*There is also a related doctoral dissertation.) This device, which extracts ecocurrents from plants (orchids) and converts them into physical phenomena that can be perceived by humans, is primarily intended to explore whether humans can perceive the intelligence of plants, and is not intended to entertain physical phenomena themselves. Ecological Plantron" is the "sound" record of the first installation of this "Plantron" in operation.
In this work, the copper-plated "Plantron" is constructed by composer Mamoru Fujieda into a sound system for installation, and the ecological current generated by the communication between plants and the human environment is programmed and converted into electronic sound, emitting irregularly shaped and irregular electronic sound particles.
(*Note) If I were to use a strong analogy, I might imagine an atmosphere somewhat similar to that of Xenakis or Penderecki's graphic notation music. Ecological currents remind us of the experimental music of Rosenboom and Lussier, who used human brain waves, but this work is not human-centered but plant-first, and it should be noted that it is not presented as a "musical work" in the first place.
For this reissue, we have remastered the independent recordings made at the gallery and included two works derived from Ecological Plantron, "Mangrove Plantron" and "Pianola Plantron," on a bonus disc. The first LP version is also available.
Since the experimental release of this device in 1991, pseudo-similar attempts have appeared, but it should be noted that the original was "Plantron". The commentary includes the latest contribution by Copper Gold, which reexamines the story of this experiment and its development, as well as the intentions of this work.
Note: Fujieda rediscovered the "melody" that modern music had left behind in the process of trying to extract some kind of regularity from this uncontrollable mass of sound, and this led him to compose and publish a series of works called "Plant Patterns.
90s is Asteroid Desert Songs, 00s is Smurphotokogu, and in recent years, the first 12-inch impact of Koichi Matsunaga aka COMPUMA, a stubborn electro crew who admits himself and others with his musical connoisseurs who are dying in "Devil's Swamp". drop. Only computers can interact with "Haku's music" on an equal footing! I delusionally asked to rebuild the album. This is the work that came up! ?? !! The experimental result that the computer says, "It looks like an original work ...". However, in order to faint in agony and complete the original request, I decided to announce it under the name of Compuma meets Haku. An electro song with a non-trivial atmosphere that has a feeling of devotion from each note of snare, kick, hat, etc. 80s US Old School-Tasteable dance music that has blossomed suspiciously in the depths of Japan across the Atlantic Ocean from the 1960s!
High quality reissue of the monumental work August 1974 by Japanese experimental music ensemble Taj Mahal Travellers. Pressed on 180gr. vinyl with extensive liner notes by Julian Cowley.
In April 1972 a group of Japanese musicians set off from Rotterdam in a Volkswagen van. As they crossed Europe and then made their way through Asia they made music in a wide range of locations. They also paid close attention to the changing scene and to differing ways of life. Midway through May they reached their destination, the iconic Taj Mahal on the bank of the Yamuna river in Agra, India. The Taj Mahal Travellers had fulfilled physically the promise of the name they adopted when they formed in 1969. But their music had always been a journey, a sonic adventure designed to lead any listener’s imagination into unfamiliar territory.
The double album August 1974 was their second official release. The first July 15, 1972 is a live concert recording, but on 19th August 1974 the Taj Mahal Travellers entered the Tokyo studios of Nippon Columbia and produced what is arguably their definitive statement. The electronic dimension of their collective improvising was coordinated, as usual, by Kinji Hayashi. Guest percussionist Hirokazu Sato joined long-term group members Ryo Koike, Seiji Nagai, Yukio Tsuchiya, Michihiro Kimura, Tokio Hasegawa and Takehisa Kosugi.
The enigmatic Takehisa Kosugi, whose soaring electric violin was such a vital element in their music, had been a pioneer of free improvisation and intermedia performance art with Group Ongaku at the start of the 60s. Later in that decade, before launching the Taj Mahal Travellers, he had become known internationally through his association with the Fluxus art movement. During the mid-70s the Travellers disbanded and while his colleagues more or less stopped performing as musicians Kosugi continued to reach new audiences across the course of several decades as a composer, regular performer and musical director for the acclaimed Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
August 1974 captures vividly the characteristic sound of the Taj Mahal Travellers, haunting tones from an unusual combination of instruments, filtered through multiple layers of reverb and delay. Their music has strong stylistic affinities with the trippy ambience of cosmic and psychedelic rock, but the Taj Mahal Travellers were tuning in to other vibrations, drawing inspiration from the energies and rhythms of the world around them rather than projecting some alternative reality. Films of rolling ocean waves often provided a highly appropriate backdrop for their lengthy improvised concerts. This is truly electric music for the mind and body.
Meitei’s 2020 album 'Kofū' was the bold bookend to an expedition, where sounds were first navigated and then subverted in 2018’s 'Kwaidan' and 2019’s 'Komachi'.
All three albums were Meitei’s attempt at immersive storytelling, reimagining moments of Japanese history he felt were being washed away – not least by the unforgiving sands of time – through wistful compositions that stretched across ambient music, hauntology, and musique concrete.
When it came to finalizing 'Kofū', Meitei found he was left with over 60 fully realized tracks, bursting with ideas that fired in divergent, curious directions. Meitei was content with the 13 tracks he had selected. But when it came time to begin his next album, he found that it had been sitting in front of him all along. He realized his work wasn’t over yet.
Meitei sounds right at home celebrating the past he first reimagined in his previous work. The merriment is palpable in its first two tracks of 'Kofū II' – a loop of cheery whistling amidst the clanking of wood leads into strings, cricket sounds and flutes, all united in bustling harmony.
'Happyaku-yachō' is where it comes into focus. Pitch-shifted vocal samples roam around in the crowded sonic field. “My image of this music is that it expresses the vibrant mood of Edo's merchant culture,” says Meitei, “where old Japanese dwellings were densely packed together in a vast expanse of land.” The affair becomes bittersweet as the track leads into the desolate 'Kaworu', a compositional piece lifted from his 'Komachi' sessions – a final requiem to his late grandmother.
The album is bursting with spectral vignettes of wandering samurais, red lanterns, ninjas, puppet theatres, poets, even a vengeful assassin ('Shurayuki hime', known to Western audiences as ‘Lady Snowblood’).
'Saryō' is as elegant and refined as you would expect. It induces stillness in its repetition, with each synth note a brushstroke. It was inspired by a Sengoku-era tea house he once visited, designed by national icon Sen no Rikyū. Meitei tied it to the reaction he felt while poring over the ink paintings in his grandmother’s house. “The decayed earthen walls and faded tatami mats gave me an emotional impression,” he says. “And the cosmic flow of time drifting in the small room. I decided to put my impression of this into music.”
In 'Akira Kurosawa', an appropriately thunderous track, Meitei finds deep resonance in his vast filmography, which drew equally from Japan’s rich heritage and troubled circumstances post-WWII.
'Kofū II' is not a leftovers album, nor is it a straightforward companion piece. In this album, Meitei has his biggest reckoning with the Japanese identity yet. Over the years, he has attempted to peel back what he believes has defined Japan and its people. After seeking answers with three full-length albums, his fourth poses more questions.
If his first three albums inspired a sense of longing – or, perhaps inevitably, fed an irreparable nostalgia doomed to history – 'Kofū II' compels us to reassess our relationship with the past. By constantly looking back, are we ever afforded a clearer present? After capturing the “lost Japanese mood”, where does that leave its country in the modern world? Meitei offers no immediate answers with 'Kofū II'. It forces you to sit with its disparate moods, to meditate amidst the textured fragments.
'Kofū II' will be released on 180g LP, CD and digital format on December 10, 2021 (LP expected to land January 28, 2022) via KITCHEN. LABEL. Both LP and CD format are presented in a debossed sleeve with obi strip and include a 16-page insert with words in Japanese and English from Meitei, printed on premium paper stock with design by KITCHEN. LABEL founder Ricks Ang, and is mastered by Chihei Hatakeyama in Tokyo, Japan.
An exotic work that can be said to be an extension of the Watermelon Group, Toshio Nakanishi, Masayuki Kudo, steel guitar player Genichi Tamura, who is also known for activities such as Little Tempo, and Shunji Mori of Natural Calamity gathered in Bali to record. This album is an exotic sound that has been consistently slowed down in line with the label's concept.
A work that can be said to be the highest peak of domestic exotic music.
Works in 1992
Tracklist:
Side A
1.BEYOND THE JUNGLE (there’s something)
2.MOON HOTEL
Side B
1.DEATH A GOOD ADVISER
2. NUMBERS
3.WHEN THE SKY FALLS
DISC 2
Side C
1.MOVING WATER (GET HOT, GET WET)
2.SLACK BABY SLACK
Side D
1.THUNDER ISLAND
2.SPACE COWBOY
3.VOICES
Les Rallizes Dénudés' original album "'67-'69 STUDIO et LIVE", released in August 1991, has been reissued with vinyl LP! This is a valuable collection of sound sources from the early days of the band's activities, filled with the electric guitar feedback that would determine the direction of the band's later activities.
FACE A
1. Smokin’ Cigarette Blues (Live Version)
2. La Mal Rouge
3. 眩 暈 otherwise My Conviction
Vertigo otherwise My Conviction
FACE B
1. Les Bulles de Savon
Soap Bubbles
2. 記憶は遠い
Memory is far away
3. 鳥の声
Bird calls in the dusk
4. My Conviction (2nd. Version)
5. The Last One _1969 (Live Version)
*The two bonus tracks "Résonance" and "Tobacco Road" on the CD reissue of the same title will not be included on the LP.
MIZUTANI / Les Rallizes Dénudés", has been remastered and reissued by Makoto Kubota, a participating member at the time!
Acoustic and introspective, this important work offers a glimpse into the personal side of Mizutani, the core of Naked Rallies.
Due to recording time constraints, "Black Sorrow Romance Otherwise Fallin' Love With," which is included at the end of the CD, was cut from the analog LP.
As a result, this record is composed of only the unique sound sources in the history of the Raleys, which were created by a chance encounter between Takashi Mizutani and Makoto Kubota in Kyoto, Japan in 1970.
(LP / 180g / Tip-on jacket / limited to 200 copies)
■ TRACK LIST
SIDE A (SAM GENDEL)
01 IN THE DUNES
02 REEDS
03 PENSIVE FROG
04 PIPE
05 COPYEXERCISE
SIDE B (SHIN SASAKUBO)
01 CARNET
02 OPUS
03 FONTAINEBLEAU
04 HUMAN LOOPER
05 NADJA