Japanese

First vinyl pressing of Baroque by Japanese composer and multi-instrumentalist Susumu Yokota, originally released on CD in 2004. The full-length album was originally released by United Sounds Of Blue in 2014, a subdivision of Frogman Records in CD format. Now it is being re-released by Barcelona-based record label Modern Obscure Music as a double-LP. Baroque is one of the most significant albums of Susumu signed under his original name. Yokota was an eclectic, highly prolific electronic musician and composer from Japan who died in 2015 at 54. "There is always fear, rage, and ugliness existing behind beauty. I have been trying to express ki-do-ai-raku (the four emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness) through music. I would like to express even one's hidden emotion with reality. It's my eternal goal." Baroque is a clear example of this, through the deep listening of the album you can experience all of those feelings in just one record and feel how his music influenced the next generation of producers during the two next decades till today. The Tokyo-based artist devoted his time and creative energy to achieving this goal, and the result is a vast discography that begins with banging early acid house tracks in the 1990s, moves across the next two decades to include deep house and Detroit-influenced techno, a stunning run of ambient electronic albums and, in his last decade, a glorious confluence that wove his various skills into a series of borderless electronic records. Susumu Yokota also known used pseudonyms Stevia and Ebi, among other.

SUMMVS IS THE FIFTH COLLABORATION ALBUM BETWEEN ALVA NOTO AND RYUICHI SAKAMOTO. THE RECORD WAS FIRST RELEASED IN 2011 AND IS THE FIFTH AND FINAL INSTALLMENT OF THE ‘VIRUS SERIES’. THE TITLE SUMMVS REFERS TO THE LATIN WORD “SUMMA” (ENG. SUM) AND “VERSUS” (ENG. TOWARDS), AND SERVES AS A METAPHOR FOR THE WORK BEING ORIENTED TOWARDS A COLLABORATIVE RESULT. THE ALBUM FEATURES “MICROON” COMPOSITIONS CONTAINING RECORDINGS OF A 16TH TONE INTERVAL TUNING PIANO—PIANO METAMORFOSEADOR CARRILLO EN DIECISEISAVOS DE TONO. THE ALBUM ALSO FEATURES TWO COVERS OF THE TRACK “BY THIS RIVER” ORIGINALLY COMPOSED BY BRIAN ENO, DIETER MOEBIUS, AND HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS IN 1977.

Experience the captivating and hypnotic sounds of Joyama no Narazumono – a rare gem of Japan’s 70’s folk scene! A genre-bending album by duo Shigeki Kobayashi and Yasuo Yamada, who drew inspiration from songs by local boatmen and British folk like Fairport Convention and The Albion Band to craft a minimalist, intimate approach to both traditional and original compositions. Locally released in 1979 in an edition of just 100 copies, this highly sought-after album is now available worldwide for the first time. Printed on Stoughton “tip-on” jackets. 300 copies on black vinyl, and 200 on Translucent “Root beer” vinyl.

'Tapestry: Koto' is a 3-album series produced by Nippon Columbia in the mid-1970s dedicated to one of the main instruments of Japanese traditional music: Koto. The beauty of the trilogy curated by composer Kiyoshi Yamaya, whose chapters are respectively dedicated to Sea, Hillside and Country, lies in the fact that they are a modern translation of tradition using newer and more avant-garde sound idioms, integrating the koto with jazz musicians. An original mix, a 'crossover’ that allows for the awakening and the consequential spread of traditional music in larger contexts. The extreme accuracy of the marvellous recordings is also remarkable.

Japan's composer and sound artist Yui Onodera and Grammy-nominated Takashi Kokubo are visionaries who are celebrated for their ability to cook up immersive soundscapes that captivate your attention despite their minimalist designs. Kokubo's traditional Japanese instrumentation defines the work as it sweeps you up and transports you to someone that is serene and introspective. Across four pieces here they do just that - each one unhurried and vast in sci, with delicate keys tinkling above yawning chords and spring day energies on 'Thousand Bells 1'. The second piece is a little warmer, with synth smears and distant breezes bring in all manner of elegant percussive sounds. Side two continues the exploration of the Far Eastern countryside on a sunny day in mesmerising and soothing fashion.

From the label established by Satoshi Ashikawa, a pioneer of Japanese environmental music, Takashi Sekiguchi's film music collection linked to Hiroshi Yoshimura, Inoyamaland and others has been made into analog LP for the first time.

A world of nostalgic sounds, subtle sounds that are easy to forget.
It was nearly 40 years ago that I began searching for a tone and music that could only be found at this time, as if the instruments and tools were talking to each other through multi-track recording at home.
When I re-listen to the sound source recorded this time, I remember the time when various sounds took shape for the first time, and the bamboo from Asia of that time is revived. ― Takashi Sekiguchi

Released as a CD in 1998, "Bamboo From Asia Plus" contains the contents of Sekiguchi's own self-produced cassette tapes, as well as sound sources composed for six video works released between 1984 and 1994. Acoustic sounds that make extensive use of Asian folk instruments, mainly guitars and percussion, are clear throughout, accompanied by a variety of images, and the passion that slowly overflows. The essence of his music that transcends borders is summarized here.


In 1972, he studied under the late Masayuki Takayanagi, mastering basic music theory through jazz guitar. After that, he learned composition techniques of contemporary music and joined a progressive rock band at the same time. Around this time, he began researching ethnic music and collecting musical instruments in Southeast Asia, and learned how to perform from local musicians in Thailand, South Korea, Indonesia, and other places. Around 1983, he started working on film music. In 1990, Takashi Kogo, Yu Watanabe, and Sekiguchi formed the unit Bamboo from Asia, aiming for new Asian music. In 1993 he released his first CD "Bamboo From Asia" and in 1997 his second CD "Sacral Dance". In 1998, he released his solo album "Bamboo From Asia Plus".

・Remastered for vinyl by Kuniyuki Takahashi
・Liner notes by Yuji Shibasaki
・For fans of New-age, Ambient & World music

Silent River Runs Deep · Bamboo From Asia Plus

"Oscillation" of space and life.
A timeless masterpiece in the history of Japanese ambient/minimal music, reissued as a 2-disc set with unreleased sound sources!

Distributed in 1984 by "Sound Process Design", a company founded by Satoshi Ashikawa, a pioneer of Japanese environmental music, the full picture of the work, which has been shrouded in a mysterious veil to this day, is finally revealed. A thoughtful response to the work of great artists such as Eric Satie, Claude Debussy, John Cage, Steve Reich, Brian Eno, Haruomi Hosono and early 1980s King Crimson. A re-performance of "Nocturne", which is the key to the album, and the unreleased recording and chamber music arrangement version of the sequel "Nocturne II" will be recorded for the first time on Disc 2.

・Limited Pressing for one time
・Including the liner notes
newly written for this reissue by Yuji Shibasaki
・Coming with Obi strip
・Remastered for vinyl by Kuniyuki Takahashi
・For fans of Ambient, Minimal & Modern Classical Music

■Track list (*Recorded songs are different from the original LP)
33rpm
A1. Homme
A2. Nocturne
B1. Circling Air

45rpm
C1. Nocturne - New Recording
C2. Nocturne Ⅱ - Take2
D1. Nocturne Ⅱ - Take1
D2. Nocturne Yakyoku

LP + 12inch 2 disc set specification

Chie Mukai & Yonju Miyaoka 'Song of trees' Comes in jewel case, with 8 page booklet and English translation kraft sheet. artwork by Yonju Miyaoka Lyrics translation by Alan Cummings Long notes by Takuya Sakaguchi, Short notes by Alan Cummings and Yu Hirayama. Mix & Mastered by Ippei Suda All lyrics and text has English translation Edition of 500

Dai Sayozoku (大サヨ族) is Sayozoku Septet avant-garde, free music, improvisational ensemble. live at Namba BEARS ,Osaka on 2021 August19th. イエレキルピネン Jere Kilpinen ..Shakuhachi, Drums 向井千惠 Chie Mukai ...Voice, Recorder, Percussions 佐藤史 Fumi Sato ...El-guitar 沼 タカハシシカロ Shicaro Takahashi ...Recorder, Toys, Percussions, Voice 　 染谷藍 Ai Sometani ... Recorder, Toys, Percussions サ 天神さやか Sayaka Tenjin ...Gopichand, Recorder, Percussion, Voice ヨ 宮岡永樹 Yonju Miyaoka ....Recorder, El-guitar, Hichiriki 族 Recorded by Yonju Miyaoka Mastered by Masami Baba Special thanks to Satoru Higashiseto (Forever Records), Naomi Kurimoto (Bears)

Relapse presents a remastered reissue from the undisputed king of Japanese noise-MERZBOW. Pulse Demon is one of the most celebrated releases of Masami Akita's storied 4 decade long career. Composed entirely by live noise concrete and the use of a fuzz box, Pulse Demon eschews all overdubs and studio trickery, laying MERZBOW bare. What follows in these recordings is the pure essence of unfettered noise. The rawness in Pulse Demon is palpable; praised as "genuinely extreme, downright torturous sounds that are strangely compelling in their shredding intensity." (A.V. Club) upon its original release in 1996.

Remastered by James Plotkin (ISIS, ELECTRIC WIZARD, FULL OF HELL, and more,) the Pulse Demon reissue features "Extract 1", a never-before released track that was recorded as part of the original Pulse Demon sessions.

The undisputed king of Japanese noise MERZBOW returns, as the landmark album Venereology celebrates 25 tinnitus-inducing years with its inaugural vinyl pressing! Remastered by James Plotkin (ISIS, ELECTRIC WIZARD, FULL OF HELL, and more) and featuring reworked art, this is the most extreme recording of harsh electronic sickness you will ever own! Venereology features a second LP with more than 20 minutes of unreleased bonus material.

A fictional soundtrack of the weekends lost during the pandemic Mellow, endless melodies and lo-fi, dubby, effects-processed soundscapes. 

There is a spring after the cold winter, and “Down the Road” by Lost Weekend captures our collective reawakening. This collaborative album was born when Japanese producer/DJ duo Slowly's Masato Komatsu and Ryo Kawahara discussed and compared each other’s perspectives on music during the pandemic. 

“As the pandemic continued, how I listened to music and values within me changed.
I started to feel that the music I was making was slightly different from the real world.” 

Slowly are best known for their uptempo tunes and remixes that often utilise reggae rhythms. They are a DJ’s DJ and DJ’s producer as many of their 7-inch releases have sold out and get played on dancefloors across the globe. Their remix of Struggle For Pride’s “Make a Rainbow feat. Yoshie Nakano” was selected as one of the best songs of 2020 on Gilles Peterson on his BBC Radio 6. With reggae at the core of his roots, Masato’s eclectic sound making is highly praised, and consists of a mixture of genres with futuristic visions to serve a worldwide audience. 

Disruptions from the pandemic hit club culture hard in Japan. When Masato and Ryo sat down, and compared their music notes over this long spell, they discovered that both were inspired by a similar direction in music: exotica, balearic and chillout. With the reassurance of looking in the same direction, during this challenging time, they decided to draw upon a new canvas. Bravely taking a big step away from the Slowly sound, they present Lost Weekend, a new project, creating a fictional soundtrack “longing for the weekend” that we lost during the pandemic. 

Long-awaited reissue of the historical masterpiece released by Kazumi Yasui, a female lyricist who established a new image of women in Japan! Yasui herself wrote all the lyrics, and Kunihiko Murai, Hiroshi Kamayatsuya, Kenji Sawada, Terumasa Hino, Mamoru Manu (Golden Cups) and others contributed songs. Released in 1970.

Miyazawa, who said, "We are Japanese, so I think we have to make something only Japanese can do." From 1969 to 1970, Miyazawa released "Four Units," "Iwana," and "Kiso," a series of works in deep pursuit of Japanese identity.

Among them, "Iwana", which he recorded with the most cutting-edge piano trio of the time, Masahiko Sato, Yasuo Arakawa, and Masahiko Togashi, is a true masterpiece of "Japanese jazz", creating a soaring musical world that is unparalleled in the world.

The tension-filled "Iwana", the leisurely "Kawamasu", the stunningly beautiful "Ayu", and the vibrant "Nijimasu". All of the pieces are masterpieces that will remain in the history of Japanese jazz.

Since the late 1960s, when jazz music began to diversify, many works were produced that attempted to return to Japan in a radical musical style, and "KOKEZARU KUMIKYOU" is a spearhead among them. The album is based on a fusion of jazz and traditional Japanese music, using Japanese and electric instruments, and injecting elements of contemporary rock and psychedelic music into it. The sound is relentless and intense. This is an ambitious and eternally problematic work by Miho, who has been called a genius by all.

Unfettered harsh noise from the legendary Japanese noise artist Masami Akita aka Merzbow. Tirelessly churning layers of distortion are punctuated across two tracks with glistening, jagged feedback and thrashing pulsations that lash at the ears and utterly invigorate the senses.

Marginal Consort is a Japanese avant-garde improvisational group comprised of sound artists Kazuo Imai (a student of Japanese free jazz linchpin Masayuki Takayanagi and occasional performer in both Taj Mahal Travellers and Takayanagi’s New Direction Unit), Tomonao Koshikawa, Kei Shii, and Masami Tada (also in group GAP). Formed in 1997, the four members of Marginal Consort attended Takehisa Kosugi’s music classes at the Bigakkō art school in Tokyo in the mid-1970s, where they teamed up with other students to record East Bionic Symphonia’s debut album “Recorded Live” in 1976. Since its inception, each year Marginal Consort holds one (or more when invited) annual concert at spacious venues in which they perform continuously, without interruption, for over three hours. Their extended set explores forms of sound and ways of playing that never coalesce into music but create a group dynamic of ebb and flow, exploration and fluidity. Their performance, which is completely free from abstract, political or sometimes mystical ideas about improvisation, neither contraposes the immediacy of action or anonymousness of sound against music nor dramatises the dialectics between the individual and the whole. Even the general idea of the words “collective”, “improvisation” and “project” do not really tell the way they work. Marginal Consort performed at South London Gallery; St. Elisabeth Kirche, Berlin; Asahi Square, Tokyo; Kotoku Morishita Bunka Center, Tokyo; Mikawadai Junior High School, Tokyo; Super Deluxe, Tokyo; Tokyo Arts and Space, Tokyo; Macao, Milan; Instal 08, The Arches, Glasgow; St. John at Hackney Church (33-33), London; The Substation, Melbourne; Carriageworks, Sydney; Third Edition Festival, Stockholm; nyMusikk, Bergen; Borderline Festival, Athens; On the Boards, Seattle; Portland Institute for Contemporary Art; PuSh Festival, Vancouver; Zebulon, Los Angeles; Pioneer Works, New York. ​​​​​​​“A form of sound that does not turn into music and a group that does not produce harmony; individual concepts and group fluidity; individuals who are at once independent entities and components of the whole; coexisting time frames and intersecting rhythms – these are among the images of group improvisation that have occupied my mind since the ’70s. These images neither presuppose specific elements nor regulate the entire process. There always remain, however, the fundamental premises that sounds are separately produced phenomena and that their accumulation forms the whole”. – Kazuo Imai

Riki Hidaka + Jim O' Rourke + Eiko Ishibashi, a rare combination of musicians who represent the current domestic scene, present a delicate and bold music. The musical work "Oki Oishi" by Riki Hidaka, Jim O' Rourke, and Eiko Ishibashi consists of two 20-minute pieces based on studio sessions by the three artists.

Set in the year 2019 in Neo-Tokyo, the world is still recovering from the ravages of World War III. One night, teen delinquent Kaneda has his biker gang hurtle through the busy city. Kaneda’s friend, Tetsuo, is seriously injured during an accident and is taken to an army hospital. There the military notice Tetsuo’s potential psychic power, so they transfer Tetsuo to a secret government laboratory to awakening his latent abilities. When Kaneda gets involved in an antigovernment guerrilla movement, he encounters Kei, a member of the revolutionaries, and learns that the goal of the fighters is to infiltrate a secret laboratory – the very one where Tetuso is being held. The experiments to awaken Tetsuo’s powers are a terrifying success as he begins to wield psychic energy he cannot control – reminiscent of the emergence of the legendary esper boy "Akira”, which triggered World War III. The stage set, a fierce battle begins between Kaneda, Kei, the army and Tetsuo with the destiny of Earth at stake.

The symphonic music to AKIRA was composed by Dr. Shoji Yamashiro, head of the beloved Japanese musical collective Geinoh Yamashirogumi, and performed by the group. Rerecorded and remastered using the most advanced audio techniques available, this release of the unforgettable score of AKIRA is peerless in quality and audio fidelity.

This special album features original compositions by a top-notch lineup of Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Yuji Ohno, Mickey Yoshino, and Hiromasa Suzuki, performed by top-notch studio musicians.

DIY pop master from Saitama, JAPAN. love psychedelic pop/anime/dreamy pop

Thank you very much for your patience ♥ M's first release in the first year of Reiwa is YPY's new album! I don't need a difficult theory now. A letter from YPY who has become faithful to the starting point again ♥

Last year, he started the studio and has projects such as goat, "GEIST" and "Virginal Variations", which are the bands that the world is waiting for.・ YPY that no longer needs explanation as a project. There is a legend that Mr. Hino used to be a green mohawk, but it is this work "Be A Little More Selfish" that expresses that the spirit continues to live in him.

YPY's greatest appeal is that it has a mixture of hard songs that are likely to be welcomed by European DJs, new frontier afro and ambient percussive tunes, home-listening BGM-like songs, and songs that are not well understood. The underground live feeling remains the same! This is YPY's latest self-questioning update issued in a world flooded with glitter names and glitter sounds, and it is a psycho-psychic blow that blends in with the killer binding picture by Mr. NAZE! YPY's premium full-length album, which is still rare even though the live performance has been overthrown, is still rare ♥

Composition / Performance: Koshiro Hino
Cello on "All Wounds": Yuki Nakagawa
Mastering: Takuto Kuratani (Ruv Bytes)
Binding picture: NAZE

12 "LP version: Uses quality lacquer / stamper cut by Dubplates & Mastering.
CD version: Spread paper jacket specifications

A charming set of double transformations on this 7 inch. “Kajyadhi Fu Bushi” is a traditional Ryukyu minyo (Okinawa folk song), a joyous celebratory classic which is usually sung at weddings, with lyrics describing how “beautiful buds unfold”, using the distinctive Ryukyu/Okinawan pentatonic scale. Typically performed by a small ensemble of a singer accompanied by sanshin, the Okinawan precursor to the shamisen, the A-side is has been transformed by jazz musician and conductor Jun Arasaki and his group Nine Sheep, with five sanshin, four winds, piano, guitar, bass, percussion and drums. Played only once, unrehearsed but perfect in execution, for a 1977 TV broadcast, this release has been taken from the only recording in existence. The B-side is yet another transformation, a remix by the Portland “fourth world” duo Visible Cloaks.

A hotline to the gods! Kagura is a thousand-year-old form of Japanese Shinto sacred music and dance, accompanying the chanting of myths; the word "kagura" can be translated as "god-entertainment". Passed down over countless generations, the music is rare and recordings even rarer. Shigeo Tanaka was a master of the yumi (bow), an uncommon single-string percussion instrument, which is a true bow: arrows are fired off at the end of each ceremony to fend off evil sprits. The instrument is difficult to play; it's hard to draw out the proper sound and maintain the rhythm.
Yumi kagura is the oldest of all the various forms of kagura. The Tanaka family, based in rural Jōge-cho, Hiroshima prefecture, has passed down this yumi kagura tradition for hundreds of years; this lineage continues to this day in the person of his daughter Ritsuko Tanaka. The Jōge-cho yumi kagura, which prays for family well-being, bountiful crops and good fortune, was designated an Important Intangible Cultural Property in 1971. The piece featured here, "Takusa saimon", based on the myth "Ama no iwato" (The Rocky Celestial Cave), is mesmeric, reaching back across ages to the time before time, with Tanaka's voice and yumi, accompanied by flute and metal percussion, drawing us closer to the primal activities of the gods. Listeners may find affinities with aspects of musics as diverse as German electronic minimalism like E2-E4, certain Ethiopian music, "spiritual jazz" and more, all tapping into the deep root of forever. Previously available only on a ridiculously obscure 1990 cassette release, Yumi kagura is the first collaborative release by EM Records and Riyo Mountains, a Japanese folk song research team. Available on LP and CD, with the CD featuring a bonus track: "Inagahachiman jinja yumi kagura hōnō" recorded in 2016 by Tanaka's daughter and successor Ritsuko Tanaka.

+ Direction/liner notes by Riyo Mountains
+ English liner notes & lyrics

LP version: insert