MUSIC

THE SPACE FUNK, JAZZ AND DISCO SOUND OF GENIUS JAPANESE PRODUCER YUJI OHNO. A SELECTION - THE FIRST OUTSIDE OF JAPAN - MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH NIPPON COLUMBIA AND YUJI OHNO HIMSELF. REMASTERED AUDIO AND LINER NOTES BY NICK LUSCOMBE IN CONVERSATION WITH OHNO​

Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the release of "TOUCH," a selection of sought-after tracks produced by Yuji Ohno, one of the most revered producers and arrangers on the Nippon music scene. His blend of Jazz, Space Funk and Disco have long been highly sought-after by DJs around the world and we've been given unique access to the Nippon Columbia vaults and to Mr. Ohno himself to come with a versatile selection from his 70s body of work, all bearing his uniquely recognisable sound. The set includes works with singers Nanako Sato, Hatsumi Shibata and Ken Tanaka alongside tracks from his cult anime soundtracks for "Lupin III" and "Captain Future." Approved by Yuji Ohno himself, "Touch" was remastered in Tokyo by Nippon Columbia and features liner notes by Nick Luscombe in conversation with the maestro and artwork by Optigram's Manuel Sepulveda.

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.

In 2015, COMPUMA, together with its guitarist ally Takehisaken, known for his work with KIRIHITO, GROUP, and others, produced the first analog LP of a musical work commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of Kyoto's long-established tea wholesaler Ujikouen! The album is an imaginative, landscape-inspired sound drama dedicated to tea and tea gardens, featuring field recordings and guitar performances in a tea garden in the mountains of southern Kyoto, and completed with electronics, processing, and editing mixes. The artwork was written by Tomoo Gokita, a painter who has gained international acclaim in recent years, photographed by Masayuki Shiota, and designed by Sei Suzuki. In addition, for this analog release, the album has been remastered by Soichiro Nakamura, and the artwork and design have been completely redesigned.

The A-side includes hit songs with "boogie" in the title, such as "Tokyo Boogie Woogie," a big hit that earned her the nickname "Queen of Boogie. The B-side includes important songs other than "Boogie" such as "Bugle and Musume," "Ire Kutasaya," and "Tayori ni Matterase," her debut song composed by Ryoichi Hattori, and "Koi no Step," which was recorded under the name Shizuko Mikasa, and other valuable sound sources.

For the first time on cassette (Limited to 150 copies), 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. Riso Printed artwork, real time duplication. First Pressing.

...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

Tokyo based producer Keigo Okazaki, touches on a wide range of styles, from Trip Hop/Downtempo to Techno/Breaks/Minimal. His tracks are primarily composed of vintage synthesizers and drum machines, such as Electribe EM1, TB-303,606. Most inspired by moments of natural and synthetic beauty.

「平然とした戯れを続けてる。」音楽ディグをテーマに据えた漫画『ディグインザディガー』の作画を手掛けることでも知られるイラストレーター、漫画家、音楽家の駒澤零氏が主宰する東京の音楽レーベル〈KAOMOZI〉のカセット作品群をストック！現役高校生ボカロP／トラックメイカーの帰国子女が23年8月に発表したミニ・アルバム『惑​わ​す​電​波​塔』のカセット版が登場！長谷川白紙や諭吉佳作/men、PAS TASTAといった自身の愛聴している作家からのインスピレーションも強く感じられる、キャッチーでダンサブルなエレクトロニック・ポップを展開した秀逸な一本に仕上がっています！

ゆっくりと映る影。音楽ディグをテーマに据えた漫画『ディグインザディガー』の作画を手掛けることでも知られるイラストレーター、漫画家、音楽家の駒澤零氏が主宰する東京の音楽レーベル〈KAOMOZI〉のカセット作品群をストック！音楽制作以外にも絵画やファッションショーモデルとしても活動しているエレクトロニック・ミュージック作家の山下憶良 (Okura Yamashita)が23年4月に発表したミニ・アルバム『液晶』のカセット版が登場！『液晶(ディスプレイ』をテーマにしたプライヴェートな内容の一作で、愛らしくも実験的なエレクトロ/アンビエント・ポップを全7曲収録。平沢進ファンにも推薦！

音楽ディグをテーマに据えた漫画『ディグインザディガー』の作画を手掛けることでも知られるイラストレーター、漫画家、音楽家の駒澤零氏が主宰する東京の音楽レーベル〈KAOMOZI〉が、今年9月にリリースしていたコンピレーション・アルバム『kaomozi compilations vol​.​2』の限定カセット盤を特別にストックさせて戴きました！レーベル・ショーケース的なラインナップとなった本作は、1周年記念となる作品であり、佐々木虚像、鮭とばSKTB、零進法、ナナビット、H B、帰国子女といった近年のhyperpop以降の若手音楽シーンで活躍する作家たちによる豪華トラック群を全14曲収録。マスタリングはNaofumi Uedaが担当。版元完売。

A memorable 1982 masterpiece first album left by Hiroshi Yoshimura, a Japanese talent who is attracting attention from all over the world, on the label Sound Process sponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in Kita Shinagawa !!

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.

after great rework of jan jazz classic “watarase” by fumio itabashi,henrik schwarz,kuniyuki, joe claussell reconstructed “watarase”. it’s an epic cosmic jazz fusion.joe claussell meets kuniyuki are always best. on b side, it’s a rare minyo(japanese folk song) version of watarase. it’s a live version that fumio itabashi played with the local orchestra and minyo singer. a lot of diggers have been wishing to be released on vinyl. so this release is one of the most important catalogue on studio mule. With ‘Drumming Up Trouble’, American experimental music composer Alvin Curran - perhaps known best for his work in live improv group Musica Elettronica Viva - presents an album of unreleased material for the Black Truffle label. Focussing on a largely unknown side of his work - namely, with synthesized and sampled percussion - it’s a collection of work recorded between 2018 and 2021, with the exception of ‘Field It More’ that takes up an entire side and dates back to the early Eighties. Polyrhythmic, wild and unstable, it will be of interest to anybody with even a passing love of beats and rhythm.

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

Highly recommended! For all of ambient, balearic and new age fan. The previous work from <100% Silk>, which was also introduced by , just made a record-breaking hit in Bandcamp. Tokyo's notable DJ / producer, who had released a great cassette work from , has released the beautiful ambient / new age gems from . After the popular title from <100% Silk>, New cassette release from with enhanced new age / Balearic colors is very exquisite. Works recorded at home studio, focusing on hardware synths and samplers from the 80's and 90's. It is a work that pursues "images in photographs and movies of locations that have been lost with the passage of time" and "A nostalgia for a place we can never be" The best hidden work. It is as good as, and sometimes even surpasses, the works of modern revival / new age sanctuaries and reissues such as and . At the bottom is the light and quiet view of dance / deep house that is unique to this person. It's too great, it's incredible, and it's just a sigh of admiration.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Following the release of the first volume of the Koto: Tapestry series, Cinedelic completes the series of three with the release of the remaining two valuable albums. Tapestry: Koto is a three-album series produced by Nippon Columbia in the mid-1970s dedicated to one of the main instruments of Japanese traditional music: the 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 marvelous recordings is also remarkable. The performers on this fabulous album are: Toshiko Yonekawa who learned to play the koto at an early age, performing in a public concert as early at eight years old. For three years, from 1941 to 1944, she won prizes as the best performer in the Japanese Cultural Federation's competition for traditional trios. She also received an award from the Prime Minister. Many other important recognitions followed until she became president of the Reichokai and executive director of the Sankyoku Association. In 1996, she was appointed Living National Treasure. As a koto player, her best-known characteristics are her extreme precision of intonation and rhythm and the unparalleled beauty of her sound. Kiyoshi Yamaya was born in 1932 and attended the Kunitachi College of Music. Between 1956 and 1960, he performed with Nobuo Hara and His Sharps & Flats (clarinet, saxophone, etc.) and was responsible for composition and arrangement. In 1959, he formed the Modern Jazz Three Association with Norio Maeda and Keitaro Miho, which contributed to the improvement of the level of composition and arrangement in Japanese jazz. In 1965, he became conductor of the Tokyo Union Orchestra and received the Japan Record Award's Arrangement Award. His name appears on more than 100 albums. An unmissable session for those seeking new sounds. Original masters licensed by Nippon Columbia for the first ever reissue. Includes OBI and insert.

'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.

The 1st solo album "Himatsubushi" released in 1974 after the breakup of Murahachibu is now available in a limited edition reissue with the original cover obi from the time of its first release!

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