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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.
“A sultry haze of shimmering ambient electronics and sparkling, effects-heavy guitar. Just what the ambient doctor ordered." - Electronic Sound
"Consumed in its entirety Late Spring is a soothing breeze, teleporting you directly to a grassy field in the sunshine – as transfixing as any record released thus far in 2021." - The Vinyl Factory
"The record sounds exactly like what you would expect with a name like Late Spring; it is a meditative, hypnotic look at the human condition and its emotional spectrum, as it attempts to grasp undefinable." - Far Out Magazine
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Japanese musician Chihei Hatakeyama is set to release his new album ‘Late Spring’ on 9th April 2021. An album of a humble nature, ‘Late Spring’ gently unfolds as a shared journeying experience through a series of rich and outstanding encounters.
An extract from the liner notes by Nick Luscombe:
"For an artist who typically works quickly, Hatakeyama considers Late Spring to be one of the more time-intensive records of his career – he started working on it in 2018, and completed it towards the end of 2020. For Late Spring, Hatakeyama re-examined his approach to musical performance, using a new amplifier and microphone set-up to playback and record his guitar and synthesisers. From the cathedral organ-like opener Breaking Dawn with its sub-aqua resonances, to the subtle drift of the closing track Twilight Sea, this record is a masterpiece of dense and beatific melodies. Drawn from evolving synthesised sounds and shimmering slow motion guitars, it combines these with occasional sonic elements that are best described as evoking computer code running through the veins of the machines like artificial blood."
Chihei Hatakeyama is a sound artist, mastering engineer, and record label founder who was born in 1978 and lives in Tokyo. He has performed for years under his given name and also as one half of the electroacoustic duo Opitope alongside Tomoyoshi Date. From his first full-length album ‘Minima Moralia’ (“Excellent” 8.1 Pitchfork) in 2006, through the subsequent 70+ albums that followed, Hatakeyama has created a mighty canon of work. His catalogue is spread across a number of highly-regarded labels, including Kranky, Room40 and his own White Paddy Mountain imprint. His release rate is unquestionably impressive, but what is even more striking is the continual high quality of each alluring album.
Whether deep modal jazz or calypso jazz, everything is swept away with grace. The quintessence of Ryojiro Furusawa at his best.
From the 1970s to the 2010s, drummer Ryojiro Furusawa was active in the Japanese music scene, not only in jazz but also in a wide range of other genres. His music, with its unparalleled individuality and overwhelming power, is uninhibited yet spirited and utterly appealing. His best-known work, "Otters," is filled to the brim with this charm. All of the songs are original compositions by Furusawa, but each song has a completely different coloring. One might be a beautiful ballad, another a dynamic funky jazz piece, another a deep modal jazz piece, and still another a warm calypso-flavored smoke.
It is not scattered, but rather, everything is clean and clear, which is very pleasing. It is dynamic, painful, and exhilarating. There are probably not many musicians and works that fit the word "pleasant" as well as this one. Ryojiro Furusawa's quintessence has been realized here.
text by Yusuke Ogawa (universounds/Deep Jazz Reality)
The year 2023 marks 30 years since Yakushima was registered as Japan's first World Natural Heritage site in 1993.
And what is the world like today, 20 years after the release of Final Drop "elements" (2003), a masterpiece produced by DJ KENSEI, GoRo the Vibratian, Kaoru Inoue, and KND, and known by many?
We modern people are constantly bombarded with so much information that we wonder if we are living our lives in a way that allows us to interact with nature, enjoy it, and refine our sensibilities.
Listening to Final Drop's latest work, "Mimyo," one is reminded of something universal and important.
Mimyo" was produced in January 2023 by DJ Kensei, one of Japan's top DJs, who creates original sound spaces through a variety of selections and sound controls, and GoRo the Vibration artist, who manipulates didgeridoo, kalimba, mouth harp, flute, hand pan, percussion, and self-made musical instruments. The project started with the reunion of artist GoRo the Vibratian after 20 years.
DJ KENSEI, GoRo the Vibratian, Kaoru Inoue, and KND, who are usually active in Japan and overseas as solo artists, DJs, musicians, and sound engineers, respectively, have been working on a project that brings together a vast amount of sound files saved during a field recording session in Yakushima in 2002. KND, an electronic musician/producer/sound engineer and member of SOFT, the most important band in the Kyoto underground scene, was approached by DJ KENSEI to compile the files, which DJ KENSEI and GoRo the Vibratian then used as the basis for the project. DJ KENSEI and GoRo the Vibratian built, produced, and mixed this new work.
Kumachan Seal: solo project of Japanese vocalist/keyboardist/songwriter Sairi Ojima, who has been playing in numerous indie bands, including Neco Nemuru, since her teens. She began her solo career in 2013, and released her first cassette in 2017. This EM Records release is her first CD/LP album, with all compositions by Ojima, who co-produced the album. Each of the eleven songs reveals beguiling layers of detailed and surprising sounds, with Ojima’s DIY sonic core embroidered by vibrant and colorful beats and guitar from EM artist Le Makeup and the quintessential ambient-pop synths and keyboards of fellow EM-er Takao. Le Makeup mixed ten of the eleven songs, with Takao mixing “China Sandwich”. The heart of Ojima’s musical identity is her clear, aqueous voice; apart from one instrumental, all the tracks here feature that mellifluous voice, but in an interesting twist, only half the songs have lyrics, with the remainder employing her wordless voice as melodic and textural elements. Although Kumachan Seal can be heard as a sort of bedroom pop filtered through ambient music and the new-age revival, listeners will note that the final two songs, “Atsumono” and “Tiny Cell”, are respectively a slightly skewed four-on-the-floor track and a lightly skanking Doo-wop-flavored confection, slightly reminiscent of the UK’s Brenda Ray.
This album, full of Ojima’s calm and cool observation of the world, is available on CD, LP and DL, and includes an English lyric sheet.
NTsKi. Nom de musique of Japan-based vocalist/songwriter/producer; pronounced n-t-s-k-i. "Calla" is her 2nd album, a unified statement of her musical vision at this point in her development, with all-new songs melding her breathy and intimate voice, singing in Japanese and English, with organic acoustic sounds and distinctive electronic colors. NTsKi possesses a charming melodic gift as well as a distinctive production style, giving "Calla" a cohesion and subtle momentum, with relaxed tempos, interesting arrangements and intriguing melodies fusing into a focused musical statement that is refreshing, charming and forward-looking, underpinned by a sense of wistfulness, nostalgia and melancholy. As with her 2021 "Orca" release, co-released on EM Records and Orange Milk, NTsKi is joined by engineer Illicit Tsuboi and British musician/producer Dan Shutt. The songs here are lovely, concise gems, warmly glowing, gently sparkling, evocative and moving. Available on LP and DL, with a Japanese and English lyric sheet. Cover art drawing: Ellen Thomas.
...The three albums “Tentai”, “After” and “Tracks” are a sort of hop, skip and jump in the band's trajectory. “Tracks” can also be seen as their third great leap forward, after “Kukangendai 2” and “Palm”. The vocal part is completely gone, and each self-contained track is even more diverse, more abundantly imaginative. Some of them could even be described as "pop" or "danceable". They have clearly entered a new phase.
“Tracks” brings to the fore the undercurrent of Latin flavor (?) in their post-“After” work, and demonstrates the most varied rhythmic patterns ever. The change is undoubtedly led by the drums, but the band's mode change, from making "differences" to making "waves", also comes from the bass and guitar. I'm honestly surprised at their evolution, by how they've come to handle their groove, be it horizontal, vertical or diagonal.
I wouldn't say that it's a new sound for them, however. Tortoise, for instance, also went through similar style changes. But the progress of Kukangendai is based on different motives and mechanisms. One must be the change of musical tastes and preferences of its members. Another, more importantly, is their use of difference and repetition. The gap-making repetition has the potential to generate countless variations of sound effects, so that new music naturally arises from what they've done, not necessarily or primarily under the direct influence of other artists.
Some tracks in the new album may sound, say, somewhat Latin, and seem too foreign to Kukangendai's music thus far. But they don't mean to introduce such a sound in the album or to approach any preexisting genre. They're creating something on their own and it just happens to resemble another. And that's the same as what happened to their style in relation to minimal music, math rock, footwork and so on.
Kukangendai is a band of difference and repetition. They make (or listen to) a difference in repetition and make a new repetition in the difference; they repeat a repetition (with difference) and a difference (with repetition) to yield an unexpected sound and euphony. Difference and repetition is music. “Tracks” mirrors the vibrance, the robustness of the band at this moment in time, and it's the highest achievement possible for these peerless musicians.
― Atsushi Sasaki
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.