Japanese

In 1980, Les Rallizes Dénudés, with the participation of Fujio Yamaguchi, made a legendary studio recording.

Side A
1. 氷の炎 / Flame of Ice
2. 夜の収獲者たち / Reapers of the Night

Side B
1. 夜、暗殺者の夜 / The Night, Assassin's Night
2. The Last One_1980

This is the first full-length album in two years since 2019, made full of Asian tastes by making full use of vintage synthesizers such as AKAI's sampler S1100, KORG M1 and PROPHET-5 that he used in the early 1990s. The 12 songs are rich in variety such as house, techno, funk, hip hop, and also includes "Asian monsoon", which also shows his own rap.

he 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 is the auteur of his own idiosyncratic musical world, putting his unmistakable stamp on hundreds of recordings as an artist, session player, songwriter, and producer. 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 the band’s amicable break up in 1973, Hosono began his solo career with Hosono House, an intimate slice of Japanese Americana recorded inside a rented house with recording gear squeezed into its tiny bedroom. 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). Released in September 1978, a mere two months before YMO’s debut, Cochin Moon is a clear precursor to the groundbreaking synth and sequencer-dominated sounds that would come to define the iconic trio. Credited to Hosono and Pop Art legend Tadanori Yokoo (who created the cover art), Cochin Moon is a fictional soundtrack to a journey into unknown worlds, inspired by Hosono and Yokoo’s trip to India. Initially the album was to be a kind of ethnographic musical document, using found sounds and field recordings made by Hosono himself. Instead, after Yokoo introduced Hosono to the sounds of Kraftwerk and krautrock during the trip, Cochin Moon became something much stranger. Created almost entirely on synthesizers and sequencers with the help of future YMO collaborators Ryuichi Sakamoto and Hideki Matsutake, the music on the album is the perfect encapsulation of Hosono’s concept of “sightseeing music,” transporting the listener to an exotic place that may or may not exist. This highly sought-after album sees its first-ever official release outside of Japan. 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.

Previously unreleased Misako Oshiro recordings produced by Makoto Kubota are now available on 7" analog vinyl! Two songs recorded at Kadena Studio One in Kadena, Okinawa in 2007 are now available on 7" analog vinyl after 15 years of recording!

Mirae Arts is thrilled to announce the release of "The Way I Am and The Way You Yawn," the debut album from Katsunori Sawa under his new KWARP alias. This six-track album marks a significant evolution in Sawa's musical journey, blending his experimental roots with fresh, vibrant textures.

"The Way I Am and The Way You Yawn" reflects on the fleeting nature of youth and the aspiration to maintain a childlike curiosity, while also acknowledging the fatigue that comes with aging. Mostly produced with modular synthesizers and analog equipment, the album takes listeners on an auditory adventure through a series of imaginative soundscapes.

The album opens with "Frog FM," a track characterized by forward-driving hi-hats and alien voices echoing and clashing, reminiscent of a scrambled FM frequency or a child playing with an analog radio dial. "Light Dash" follows, placing the listener in the cockpit of an unknown vehicle emitting reverberating artificial sounds. Side A closes with "The Spectator," featuring voices from above and creatures talking with one another.

Side B begins with "PlayStation," evoking the sounds of a gaming console booting up. "Metal Gear" reflects the inner metallic workings powering our entertainment. The album concludes with "Ultra," a track filled with belching aggression and mechanical expressions, almost as if the music itself is trying to escape the speakers.

KWARP's "The Way I Am and The Way You Yawn" is a testament to Katsunori Sawa's innovative spirit and his ability to push the boundaries of electronic music. The album's artwork and illustrations are done by the talented Jesse Osborne-Lanthier, adding a visual dimension that complements the auditory experience. The mastering and lacquer have been precisely crafted by Beau Thomas. 

Miraculous reissue of a Japanese 80s new age - ambient masterpiece! The spiritual sound spun by the original composition of synthesizers and live sounds such as flute, oboe, guitar, and percussion!

After a classical career as a flutist, Matsuzaki became a composer/arranger in 1982, and from 1985 to 1987, she worked as a studio musician and tour support member as a flutist, synthesizer/keyboardist mainly in London, gaining a high reputation overseas without passing through the Japanese music scene. Yuko Matsuzaki, who was highly acclaimed overseas without passing through the Japanese music scene, has decided to reissue "Raden no Hako (Box of Raden)", an extremely rare album she produced in 1985 before moving to the UK in a limited edition of 100 copies/LP only! The spiritual and fantastic sound with a hint of Japanese taste in many places was inspired by Simon Jeffs of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, who heard this work and decided to participate in "Pink, Blue and Amber" by Roderius, a German electronic musician and pianist known for his work with Cluster, Harmonia, and others. This album is a world-standard masterpiece that was born in Japan during the late 80's, when ambient music was expanding globally along with the rise of house and techno music!

A groove so deep and bewitching that one hesitates to lose oneself in it. Guitarist Kiyoshi Sugimoto has been sharply piercing through the heart of the times. This is the highest point of his career. His cutting-edge and versatile sound has always been at the forefront of both modern jazz and jazz-rock, and he has sharply penetrated the heart of the times. There can be no disagreement that "Babylonian Wind" captures one of the pinnacles of his musical expression. Hideo Ichikawa's rippling electric piano, Yoshio Ikeda's lush yet restrained bass, Motohiko Hino's grainy and propulsive drums, Takao Uematsu's wild and lustrous saxophone, and Sugimoto's sharp-edged guitar. Listening through "Babylonia Wind," which seems to be bobbing in the deep sea, to "Hieroglyph," which leaves a delicate and fragile aftertaste, one is struck by the diversity of expression and is struck by the glamour of the music.

Demdike Stare’s DDS label kicks off a new series of limited edition 12”s with the return of Shinichi Atobe, offering a slow evolution of his inimitable deep house, finely balanced with a new found sub-heavy bias while unlocking extra space in the upper registers.

 

 

Atobe’s third 12” since debuting on Chain Reaction in 2001 marks a subtle but crucial development of his style, leaning towards classically deep, dub house templates. On both sides he adds supple flesh and hypnotic emotive pathos to his stripped formula, resulting in some of the most immediate and enduring work in his canon thus far. It coincidentally also marks a decade since he first graced DDS with his debut album ‘Butterfly Effect’, followed by a tranche of cultishly acclaimed albums in the years since.

 

 

On the A-side pearl ‘Ongaku 1’ he steps out with a shimmering take on the effortless gait of M-Series blueprints, as derived from the deepest NYC house, delicately ornamented with cascading levels of detail. Precision-tooled kicks precipitate Prescription-via-Maurizio feathered dub chords, interlaced with a frisson of darker strings and synth melodies for the full goosebump. ‘Dub 6(six)’ on the flip whisks up a psychedelic lattice of arps and synth voices with ruder bass ballast, taking its sweet time before the kicks come to swing the ‘floor deep and wide. 

 

 

Straight bullets, no messing.

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25th anniversary reissue of MERZBOW's legendary Tauromachine, available for the first time on vinyl, now remastered by James Plotkin!

Comes in oversized o-card with label, piece of fabric and some paper rolled up. Recorded & mixed at Munemihouse, Tokyo, November 2023.

A classic compilation that emanated out of Osaka, "Noise Forest" brings together a powerhouse of early 90's Japanese noise stalwarts: MERZBOW, C.C.C.C., SOLMANIA, DISLOCATION, MONDE BRUITS, MASONNA, VIOLENT ONSEN GEISHA, and INCAPACITANTS.

The ultimate Japanoise collection, originally released in 1992 on the cult Les Disques Du Soleil label / record store on CD-only, and now impossible to find. Remastered and presented here on deluxe 2LP in matt-laminate gatefold sleeve (first time on vinyl) and new CD edition, all with new artwork.

A forest isn't something normally associated with noise; it brings to mind silence and solitude. However, the ominous cover art here - and the artists within - bring to mind the notorious suicide forest Aokigahara. Despite all tracks falling into the Japanoise genre, the tracks are very diverse, yet every track is so distinct it could only be by that artist.

On February 26, 2020, 10 years after the death of musician Nujabes, a video commemorating him was projected on all the screens at the Shibuya scramble crossing. A video commemorating Nujabes was projected on all the screens at the Shibuya scramble crossing, and his music, including "Reflection Eternal," rang out. The video was the music video for "Lamp," which he co-wrote with haruka nakamura.

The year is 2021. Even though a long time has passed, the number of listeners from all over the world who seek the music of Nujabes continues to increase. In the midst of this turbulent time, Nujabes' label, Hydeout Productions, asked haruka nakamura to create a tribute album to mark the 10th anniversary of his death, saying, "I want you to carry forward the 10 years that time has stood still. The music video for "Reflection Eternal" and a 7-inch record were released in the summer and received a great response.

The culmination of this project is the release of the album "Nujabes PRAY Reflections".

The beautiful melodies spun by Nujabes are interpreted in a new way by haruka nakamura on piano and guitar. The album features a variety of new music from Nujabes, including Final View, Horizon, flowers, and Another Reflection, as well as a waltz version of Reflection Eternal and a piano solo based on the motif of "let go". The album also features a waltz version of Reflection Eternal, a piano solo based on the motif of "let go," and other songs that listeners can only hear on this album and that will be a moving experience for them. Guest musicians include Gen Tanabe (orbe), who plays the flute and electric guitar left behind by Nujabes, and maika (baobab), who deepens the album's worldview by providing a folkloric sound with his fiddle and singing.

The cover for the new album was commissioned from Cheryl D. McClure, the artist responsible for Hydeout Productions' "2nd collection," and it features a striking binding that resembles the coastline of Kamakura, Nujabes' favorite city. Also included is a rare case liner notes booklet with production notes by Nakamura himself, explaining all the songs. Photographs are by TKC, the photographer who also shot the music video, and the design is by Suzuki Takahisa, an up-and-coming designer. The book is a careful homage to the style of Nujabes' past works, and the binding has been completed.

The music travels through time, the beautiful melodies spun by Nujabes.
Following the melody, haruka nakamura's piano, which resembles a prayer, plays a continuation of the story.
This is not a so-called "cover album," but rather new music by haruka nakamura inspired by Nujabes' melodies.

Reflecting on the mental landscape. There flows a prayer that transcends the present time.
We can confirm his presence in the beautiful things that will always be there.
You are the flower, you are the river, you are the rainbow.

Joseijoi Banzai was released as an analog single disc only in Japan in 1973. It is now an ultra-rare disc that has become a premier item worldwide. It was one of the exhibits at the exhibition, and will be reissued again, this time only in Japan, and on white vinyl with a red label side, in a Japan-inspired format. The song is sung in Japanese in response to the “women's lib” movement in Japan at the time, appealing for women's liberation, assertion of women's rights, and improvement of women's status.

The top ambient captivating listeners in Japan! Prepare for a euphoric ambient masterpiece, cocooned in the comforting embrace of nostalgic guitar layers.

The first vinyl release by Japanese ambient musician Haruhisa Tanaka, who holds the record for the highest number of monthly listeners in the ambient genre on Spotify in Japan and was selected as one of the Best of Ambient X 2023. This euphoric ambient piece features a warm, nostalgic sound created with guitar melodies, environmental sounds, analog tape loops, and old technology.
This ambitious project was crafted entirely in Japan, from dub cutting to pressing. The sleeve, inspired by ink painting, marks the debut release from the up-and-coming art label "teinei," dedicated to producing records that double as art pieces for display.

Limited re-pressing of the memorable first album by Happy End, released on August 5, 1970, in heavy vinyl (black).

Isao Suzuki, who became a popular bassist after “Blow Up,” released his fourth TBM album. The profound groovy sound he has created with the genius Kenji Mori and others has never faded away over time.

180g vinyl, half speed mastered, heavy sleeve, obi Tracklisting LP A1. Hot House (Charlie Parker) A2. All The Things Your Are (Jerome Kern) A3. Red Carpet (Duke Ellington) A4. Bouncing With Bud (Bud Powell) B1. Embraceable You (George Gershwin) B2. Just One of Those Things (Cole Porter) B3. Mellow Dream (Ryo Fukui) Info We Release Jazz is so happy to announce the official reissue of Ryo Fukui’s New York sessions with Lisle Atkinson and Leroy Williams, the aptly titled album Ryo Fukui in New York, sourced from the original masters and available on limited edition 180 gram vinyl mastered at half speed for full audiophile sound, as well as on digipack CD. Recorded in February 1999 at Avatar Recording Studios in New York and inspired by Ryo Fukui’s idol and mentor Barry Harris, the fourth album from the famed Sapporo pianist captures memorable ses-sions with seasoned American jazz musicians (and frequent Barry Harris collaborators) Lisle Arthur Atkinson on bass and Leroy Williams on drums. Ryo Fukui in New York is pure bop heaven, glowing with poetic takes on classics by Charlie Parker, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Bud Powell, plus a supreme remake of Fukui’s very own “Mellow Dream". It’s expressive, soulful, and vibrating with a bouncing swing feel all the way through; every note falls exactly where it should, undeniable brilliance. Much like the other albums by the genius from Hokkaido, it’s got that “special something", hard to grasp, hard to describe, but 100% felt. Skills and heart, the Ryo Fukui way. Following his New York adventures, Ryo Fukui headed back to Sapporo, and more precisely to his jazz club Slowboat, where his newly acquired experience inspired numerous jam sessions and a full dedication to perfecting his craft. He sadly passed away in 2016, leaving behind a legacy of works that is sure to captivate jazz lovers for generations to come, and Slowboat, where the magics

After two highly acclaimed early albums, "Seanaly" and "Mellow Dream," and now known by jazz listeners around the world, "A Letter From Slowboat" is his first leader album in 2015, 16 years after his first album.

Ai Aso’s immaculately crafted form of minimalist pop music skirts the edges of tensity with the manner and with the skill of a tight rope walker, calmly balancing repeatedly at every step, with a combination of surety and the risk of a slip, a fall, and an unknown uncoiling of events. Aso's capacity to capture, or inspire, the tension and attention from within the listener and observer are quite pronounced. At Aso's concert the performance constantly teeters near the brink, a sharpened awareness in the hall emerges from all observing, with the will of that most delicate balance. On “The Faintest Hint” she brings a meta level to the proceedings, the dream of a singer in a bright sunlit room in the centre of the density of the society, simply and precisely searching for single ideas, single tones, a sense of sensuality and even a dream of a grandeur (rock dream) emerge. A stillness prevails, even a sharp set of instances of dreaming, melancholia, nostalgia… or even saudade. The album was recorded, mixed & mastered by Soichiro Nakamura at Peace Music between 2018-2020. Atsuo and I joined these sessions as producers, and moreso as catalysts, yet also became the skeleton of a band on the album (with the tender touch). The legendary Japanese rock band Boris accompany Aso on two pieces. A faintest hint of sharpness and la tendresse féroce quickly erodes into a fine brief cloud of the purest crystalline dust.

Limited to 200 copies on Yellow Pollen Color Vinyl. For the first time on vinyl, Masami Akita's 1998 masterpiece, Vibractance, originally released in France, this is one of the most unique and beautiful releases in the Merzbow library. It stands out as an analog dream of drone, noise, ambient music: a meditative journey on the psychedelic shores of experimental music.

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.

Noise music emerged as a distinct genre in the late 20th century, influenced by various experimental movements, such as Futurism, Dadaism, and the Fluxus movement. Artists and musicians began to reject the traditional notions of music and sought to challenge the established norms and expectations of the medium. Merzbow is the moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita inspired by dadaism and surrealism. Akita took the name for his project from German artist Kurt Schwitters's pre-war architectural assemblage The Cathedral of Erotic Misery or Merzbau. Working in his home, he quickly gained notoriety as a purveyor of a musical genre composed solely of pure, unadulterated noise. Embracing technology and the machine, first in an absolutely analog way and then welcoming digital innovation, Merzbow broke boundaries and pushed toward new territories of the extreme, arriving at a sonic space of uncontaminated, straight noise that, from its base in Tokyo, has continued, now for over 40 years, to set the pace for the entire genre of noise. During the mid-1990s, the Japanese artist went through his most prolific and inspired period of the analog era, releasing masterpieces such as Noisembryo, Venereology, Hybrid Noisebloom or Green Wheels. In that same period, one of his notable and iconic releases, Space Metalizer, released in 1997 under the Canadian label Alien8 Recordings on CD, stands as a testament to his ability to create immersive and mind-altering soundscapes. This album takes listeners on an otherworldly journey, fusing electro-psychedelic noise, EMS Synthesizer, filter and electronics with techno oriented resonance into a unique sonic experience. Opening with a surge of swirling noise and cosmic echoes, Space Metalizer pt.1 immediately establishes a sense of vastness and otherworldliness. Merzbow masterfully combines layers of distorted metallic sounds, oscillating frequencies, and disorienting textures, creating an immersive soundscape that feels like traversing the depths of the universe. The intensity builds gradually, capturing the listener's attention and propelling them into a sonic voyage. Closes the A-side of the first record of the vinyl reissue Mirage a sonic exploration of interstellar phenomena in non silent way. This track features a swirling combination of celestial textures, shimmering frequencies, and cosmic bursts of noise. The B-side, that include the bonus track Spaceout introduces a more pronounced metallic element, intertwining with the dense layers of noise, filtered with techno resonance. Merzbow's intricate use of metallic samples and distorted textures creates an industrial, almost mechanical, atmosphere with an interspatial rhythmic patterning. The tracks on second vinyl pulsates with a relentless energy, akin to the cosmic machinery of the universe. The cacophonous climax leaves a lasting impact, cementing Space Metalizer pt.2 as a standout moment on the album. Through a combination of cosmic atmospheres, metallic elements, the use of the EMS shynti, the Theremin and the filters, Merzbow takes listeners on a transcendent journey through the depths of space.

Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita was born in Tokyo in 1979. Inspired by dadaism and surrealism, Akita took the name for his project from German artist Kurt Schwitters's pre-war architectural assemblage The Cathedral of Erotic Misery or Merzbau. Working in his home, he quickly gained notoriety as a purveyor of a musical genre composed solely of pure, unadulterated noise. Embracing technology and the machine, first in an absolutely analog way and then welcoming digital innovation, Merzbow broke boundaries and pushed toward new territories of the extreme, arriving at a sonic space of uncontaminated, straight noise that, from its base in Tokyo, has continued, now for over 40 years, to set the pace for the entire genre of noise. When it comes to Japanese noise, few projects have pushed boundaries or risen to a more iconic status than Merzbow. Hybrid Noisebloom, originally issued by Vinyl Communications on CD in 1997, is the latest in this trilling bread crumb trail. It is also the first time that this seminal document from Merzbow’s '90s period has ever appeared on vinyl. Composed and performed on EMS and Moog Synthesizers, Theremin, Metal Devices, Noise Electronics, and Voice, all recorded at extreme volumes, Hybrid Noisebloom's five tracks present a fascinating sonic assault, heavily driven by the presence of electronic sounds, played against the sparse interjections of Akita’s heavily processed vocals, that push toward new territories of the extreme, while subtly nodding toward historical gestures from the early years of the avant-garde. A side opens with Plasma Birds comprising a series of banner that investigate timbral relationships, the fragmentation of melody, and abrasive, provocative noise - shifting from the sparse, airy, and restrained, to dance clusters of interplay and back again. Follows enclosed in just over ten minutes, Minotaurus, finding a strange middle ground between the intuitive logics of their instruments; synth and electronics taking on decidedly percussive approaches, while metal device’s fractured polyrhythms and beats often veer toward the presence of a notable tonality. B side is filled with a single long track, Mouse Of Superconcetion, formed by screeches and from swinging and chugging to stepped back and sparse combinations of rhythm and tone - moving from the lingering sensibilities of straight-ahead synth to radically out hard blow fire. Launching from a total wall of sound, C side track Neuro Electric Butterfly takes the listening on an endlessly surprising journey through its devices’ inner world, shifting between airy open passages that feature endless combinations of one or more effects, to furious moments of sonorous lashings where the sound falls in together in brilliant dialogical periods of conversant texture and psychedelic intervention. Closes The Imaginary Coversation Of Blue embedding bristling fragments, percolating tones, and poignant dissonances within a sweeping field of echoes rumbles and drones, taking sonic abstraction to startling heights. Despite its undeniable intensity, Hybrid Noisebloom is arguably one of Merzbow’s most accessible and engaging releases. Noise at its best - sophisticated and refined, more than twenty-five years after it first appeared, this album is long overdue for a return to the world, retaining every bit of potency and power as the day it was laid to tape. Never before available on vinyl, this beautiful pressing is issued as a deluxe double vinyl LP edition, limited to 299 copies. Needless to say, we can’t possibly recommend it enough.

Tomoyoshi Date, a physician and musician known for his releases on prominent ambient labels such as 12K (US), LAAPS (France), and QuietDetails (UK), will release his piano trilogy, created between 2021 and 2024, on November 10 via Bandcamp in a limited edition of 150 cassettes.
This trilogy includes 438Hz, As it is, As you are, released by LAAPS and selected as one of Bandcamp’s Best Ambient albums in January 2023; Tata, composed for Silver Gelatin’s exhibit at Tata in Koenji, Tokyo; and Requiem, a piece dedicated in memory of a close friend who passed away too soon. All three albums are packaged in special jackets featuring found photographs curated by Silverわ Gelatin and are being released simultaneously.
Created with the theme of “objects and the passage of time,” this trilogy is characterised by elongated, repetitive piano motifs, microsound elements, and organic electronics, aiming to blur the line between rhythm and melody. Recently, Date has been working on a world-first program that auto-generates pure-intonation music (www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1BNEjMtL1o). This trilogy serves as a culmination of Date’s past compositions in equal temperament.