MUSIC

Includes Download Code for the live recording and a new remix "View 2 Electro" (remix of "View2" from the
album "A View").

Compuma : Electronics, Synthesizer
Naoyuki Uchida:Dub Mix
Kiyotaka Sumiyoshi:Movie

"A View" release party held at WWW Shibuya on Sept.30 2022 has been reproduced on video. Video footage
was added to the live recording from the show.

Mastered by Naoyuki Uchida ( except “View 2 Electro” by hacchi )
Produced by Compuma for Something About Productions 2023
Design : Satoshi Suzuki

A cult work that has been talked about for years by some music lovers in Japan is now officially available for the first time! ethereal, mysterious sound.

A performance of the single-note percussion instrument "quire chime" by 12 users of "Yamato Kogen Taiyo no Ie", a support facility for people with disabilities in Yamazoe-mura, Nara Prefecture. The fresh and transparent tones, played one by one and at random, eventually formed a series of beautiful music. I wonder if there has ever been such pure and unadulterated music. This work is the ultimate improvised ambient that penetrates deep into the listener's subconscious.
Chee Shimizu

The artist made a strong debut with the "Coastlines EP" released in the summer of 2018, followed by the "Coastlines EP2" in January 2019 and their first album "Coastlines" in the summer of the same year. Released on the prestigious Be With Records label in the UK, they quickly gained attention in the worldwide chillout Balearic scene and elsewhere, and will release their latest full-length album "Coastlines2" now.

Coastlines' latest album, "Coastlines 2," is finally released, and while maintaining the same concept as the first album, it spins a more precise and beautifully polished magic hour.

A cult work that has been talked about for years by some music lovers in Japan is now officially available for the first time! ethereal, mysterious sound.

A performance of the single-note percussion instrument "quire chime" by 12 users of "Yamato Kogen Taiyo no Ie", a support facility for people with disabilities in Yamazoe-mura, Nara Prefecture. The fresh and transparent tones, played one by one and at random, eventually formed a series of beautiful music. I wonder if there has ever been such pure and unadulterated music. This work is the ultimate improvised ambient that penetrates deep into the listener's subconscious.
Chee Shimizu

Venus Penguin," the 33rd album of 2022, features legendary French guitarist Noël Akchoté, Brazilian Antonio Loureiro and Frederico Heliodoro, who are considered the new Minas generation, and American guitarist Adam Ratner, who is creating a new musical culture with Louis Cole and Sam Gendell.

Mount Analogue," the 35th album by guitarist Shin Sasakubo from Chichibu.

The 3rd album "Mujo" (meaning "transience" in Japanese) by the Japanese sound artist Kazuya Matsumoto.

The album was made from 2014 to 2022. It is an album of improvisation and recording simultaneously, using non-instrument objects along with the sounds that occur from a frosted lake and drifting ice, and recordings made by affecting the environment itself.

This album is comprised of 2 discs. Disc 1 features performing and interaction with sounds that occurs above the ice. Disc 2 features performing and interaction with sounds that occurs below the ice using hydrophones.

It is an album opposed to his first album "Mizu No Katachi (Shape of Water)" confronting the harsh and ever changing environment and he recalls those recording days as "transience", also expressing his feeling towards the never ending explorations.

The recording captures the dynamic and delicate sounds of the ice and nature as well as his soul put into the 9 years. Includes 32 pages full color booklet with photography of the ice and nature taken by Matsumoto at the time of the recordings.

5AM is a band, and a group effort by long time adulthood friends 5ive, Andry and Moko. 5ive is known for his ongoing contribution for music-duo Cos/Mes and other various projects, Andry is a multidisciplinary designer and Moko works as DJ and producer under her project Powder. After a long period of hanging out and sharing music to each, the band 5AM was naturally found in 2019, and soon made a small debut. 5AM plays about time, sings about observation and thinks about texture, atmosphere, and listening-space and random other stuff. Caring of subtle things for the big picture. Pre Zz is the first album by 5AM, recorded through 2020 and 2021, packaged day to day remixed feelings about that time, but not necessary just about that time. The album captures the moment of changes — Pre something — as like before a sleep after a long stay up Zz.

tarting in 2019 with ‘Life In A Shell’, the then new and upcoming Japanese producer yolabmi lay the foundation for a triptych of releases on Vaknar in the span of 3 years, all of which formed an ongoing sonic interrogation with his own past, while also consequentially reflecting on his growth as an composer and individual. The final stage of this album triptych, ‘For Wind Poetry’, once again underpins the natural world of yolabmi’s past with the technocratic eccentricity of his present self, yet rather than letting his matured proficiency over his modular synthesizer reign throughout the span of the album, yolabmi chooses to end this chapter via an introspective sonic long-form of redemptive stimulation.

First official reissue, remastered from master tapes. VINYL ONLY, NO DIGITAL. Recorded in 1981, Dance by Earthling is a cornerstone seminal album of Nippon new wave and synth-pop. The group called their first album DANCE to express the fullest flowers of rhythmic movement, attending to both physical and spiritual needs. Earthling consisted of the couple: lead vocalist/guitarist John, bass guitarist Yoko Fujiwara, plus keyboard/sythesizer player Jin Haijama. The group was formed in Tokyo in 1979 when John and Yoko, who had been fashion and textile designers, felt the desire to give the music they'd written a more permanent environment. The sound of Earthling reinforces the subtle and sensitive connections which link modern music to dance to, with hints of synth-pop, top notch new wave and heavy punkish vocals. Fun fact: "You go on Natural" became a well-known banger in the late 80s in La Ruta Destroy in Valencia, championed by local djs back then. Please note that the artwork was produced at a local Madrid-based printing house to maintain the same aesthetics as the original copies, maintaining the die-cut with the iconic six holes, displaying the blue color from the inner sleeve.

A super special environment with over 40 seconds of reverberation. Amazing electro-acoustic dam music recorded in a huge concrete space inside the dam.

One day in 2022, Carl Stone, an American computer music pioneer, and Ken Ikeda, a musician and artist who emits primitive and original electronic sounds, visited "Uchinokura Dam" deep in the mountains in Shibata, Niigata. This album is a record of musical experiments secretly performed inside the dam to explore new possibilities of electronic music. The dam has a hollow structure, and the internal space is about 40m in both height and depth, and itself is a huge resonance device. The electronic sounds emitted by Carl and Ken fill the space with infinite reverberations. All sorts of sounds such as dripping water, footsteps, conversations, and noises are added as performers, creating a philharmonic orchestra of electrons and reverberations that are created and elaborated while confronting the constant reverberating sounds. 

Limited edition of 200 copies.* Ferns proudly presents a new release on the label, K.Mizutani's "Inferior's Betrayal". Reissue of the self-produced K7 in 1994 on Kiyoshi Mizutani's Ulcer House label. Mizutani was a member of Merzbow in the '80s and has done solo work since 1989. He has recordings on Ulcer House, ZSF Produkt, Shirocoal Recordings, NEdS, Sounds For Consciousness Rape, Pure, Artware, Kaon, e(r)ostrate, Povertech Industries, and Flenix Records.

Lost & found Japanese jazz-funk from 1986 surfaces for the first time on Estonia’s Memme Vaev, featuring overproof levels of wiggly machine funk backed by a driving Italo-acid remix by US-based Estonian JT (DJ Julius Talvik) “With unprecedented prosperity and growing worldwide fame in broadcast, game, and synthesizers, the 1980s Japan entered a golden decade. New genre splashes from technopop, Pacifica, and AOR/City pop merged local sensibilities with jazz-funk and Latin influences. Spiced in sugary US West coast sparkle and boasting naive lyrics with opulent arrangements and cover designs, it beamed millions of listeners on the cosmic journeys of Japan and its connections with Asia. Looking to bet on the city pop phenomenon, a group of young, just out-of-school in-house studio players gathered for ad hoc recording sessions between 1982-1986. Spearheaded by up-and-coming associate producer and arranger HASEGAWA Joe and keyboardist KATSURAGI Mariko their goal was to produce a hit album concept with a musical journey from Japan to Asia and beyond. Just short of wrapping a handful of test-pressings for studio and radio executives and a few tapes of demo recordings, the sessions came to an abrupt halt in 1986 with a striking personal loss. With the band's consequent disbanding and members embarking on their decades-long sessions careers, the original tapes were archived and lost in the Akihabara district for decades… …until Japanese pop culture *connoisseur extraordinaire* and producer Sten SALUVEER aka MILDHANS discovered a rare demo of the original recordings in one of Tokyo's Ebisu district's revered vinyl bars. After a lengthy period of digging and tracings for the original tapes, the lush soundscapes of KATSURAGI Mariko and HASEGAWA Jo are finally here to take you on a jazzy journey to City Heights of Asia.”

We write to you with the conclusions of our investigation into the synthesized audio transmissions picked up by the deep space telescope at regular intervals since 1986. The source was traced to two brothers in Kawasaki, Japan, who identified themselves as Satoshi and Makoto. When we raided the building, they were huddled around a synthesizer manufactured by the Casio Corporation, model number CZ-5000. 

In their archives we discovered a wealth of colourful and ear-pleasing material created entirely using this music-making device in the early 1990s. We asked them to provide copies so that we could make these compositions available to the public for the first time. They handed us a compact disc that bore the handwritten code “ST006”.

Scientific Bulletin From The Safe Trip Institute, Amsterdam. 

Our latest communication to colleagues concerns an audio artefact – library reference code ST019 – provided by our esteemed Japanese brothers Satoshi and Makoto. They unearthed it from their own archive of musical experimentations and laboratory tests, which have been ongoing since the 1990s. They have shared it so that the process of peer reviewing can begin in earnest. 

We have undertaken thorough testing in the Safe Trip Laboratory and offer the following observations: 

Colleagues in Japan provided us with sample product of the following audio artefact – file number ST015 – believing that it may be relevant to the Safe Trip Institute’s ongoing research in this area of study. After rigorous testing and analysis, we would like to offer the following observations: 
  
• By running each of the 10 pieces of music that make up the artefact through the Past Fire Particle Analyzer, we have ascertained that every single note, chord and aural element was created using the CZ-5000, an electronic instriment built by Japan’s Casio Corporation. 

• One of our researchers discovered that if you assign a Pantone colour code to each different musical note featured on the artefact, all bar 734 of the 1,867 “spot” colours are present. By gathering these together on one screen, she discovered that most of the “musical colours” employed by Satoshi & Makoto were shades of purple, orange, red, green, yellow and pink. 

• In laboratory tests, listeners were instinctively drawn to the following percussion-free compositions: ‘Crawl Up (ST019-02)’, a combination of vibrant melodies and rumbling sub-bass; ‘Updraft (ST019-08)’, which one listener claimed helped him see through time; and ‘Kass (ST019-09)’, a musical voyage through neural pathways that should interest colleagues within the world of phrenology. 

• Test subjects also responded positively to a number of other artefacts, with one insisting that ‘Corendor (ST019-03)’ induced intense feelings of joy thanks to its use of vibrant melodies and “shuffling beats”. We draw no conclusions from this comment but think it worthy of further discussion. 

We invite colleagues the world over to analyse and test this audio further in order to increase our understanding of Mr Satoshi and Mr Makoto’s archive aural artefacts. We eagerly await your correspondence. 

In an effort to sublimate the negative energy surrounding everyone in 2020, legendary Japanese heavy rock band Boris focused all of their energy creatively and turned out the most extreme album of their long and widely celebrated career, "NO." The band self-released the album, desiring to get it out as quickly as possible but intentionally called the final track on the album "Interlude" while planning its follow-up. The follow-up comes with "W", the band's debut album for Sacred Bones Records. The record opens with the same melody as "Interlude" in a piece titled "I want to go to the side where you can touch..." and in contrast to the extreme sounds found on "NO", this new album whispers into the listener's ear with a trembling hazy sound meant to awaken sensation. On all of "W" Wata carries the lead vocal duties. In general the styles on the album range from noise to new age, as is typical with one of our generation's most dynamic and adventurous bands, but there is a thread of melodic deliberation through each song that successfully accomplishes the band's goal of eliciting deep sensation. Be it through epic sludgey riffs, angelic vocal reverberations or the seduction of their off-kilter percussion, Boris will have you fully under their spell. This languid and liquifying sound is perfectly represented in the beautiful Kotao Tomozawa cover art and in suGar yoshinaga's sound production. "NO" and "W" weave together to form NOW, a duo of releases that respond to one another. In following their hardest album with this sensuous thundering masterpiece they are creating a continuous circle of harshness and healing, one that seems more relevant now than ever and shows the band operating at an apex of their musical career.

A short story published in 2013 by Haruki Murakami, a writer with a passionate fan base all over the world, was adapted into a film directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who has been called the best young director in the Japanese film industry. Drive My Car. The soundtrack for this film was created by Eiko Ishibashi, a musician based in Japan who has released works on overseas labels, toured and performed at festivals in Europe and other countries, and created music for the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney. This is the long-awaited analog version of the original soundtrack by Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Eiko Ishibashi, two people who were destined to encounter each other. This is a must-have item for fans. Ten pieces of music unleashed from two melodies. The music written for the film has been newly constructed as a single musical work. Jim O'Rourke, Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, Marty Holoubek, Toshiaki Sudo, and Atsuko Hatano, all of whom have worked with Ishibashi on original works in the past, participated in this project, creating a wonderful fusion of live acoustic music, electronics, and environmental sounds used in the film. The album was mixed and mastered by Jim O'Rourke, the jacket was designed by Yutaka Kimura (Central67) who has worked on many of Ishibashi's works, and the jacket illustration was drawn by Mayo Akao based on the visuals of the film. The jacket illustration was drawn by Mayo Akao based on the film's visuals. This is a masterpiece that shines with the film.

Simultaneous purchase set of three original Les Rallizes Dénudés albums LPs with bonus 12-inch, available in limited quantities!

Special 12-inch for purchasing all three albums at the same time. 
The "Romance of Black Sorrow otherwise Fallin' Love With," which was cut from the analog LP of "MIZUTANI / Les Rallizes Dénudés" due to the recording time, and two bonus tracks from the reissue CD of "MIZUTANI / Les Rallizes Dénudés" will be included.
Two bonus tracks from the reissue CD of "'67-'69 STUDIO et LIVE" will be included.

FACE A 
1. 黒い悲しみのロマンセ otherwise Fallin’ Love With 
　Romance of the Black Pain otherwise Fallin’ Love With 

FACE AA 
1. Résonance 
2. Tobacco Road

An omnibus album "OZ DAYS LIVE" recorded in '73 at the live house "OZ" in Kichijoji, Tokyo, will be released as a 2LP analog set, plus previously unreleased material that was not recorded at the time. Officially approved by , which holds the legal rights to Les Rallizes Dénudés's sound sources, and remastered from the original analog tapes by Makoto Kubota. Includes booklet with liner notes by Minoru Tezuka (manager of OZ/ later manager of Rallizes's) and rare photos from that time. Comes with craft board sleeve and obi.

3LP edition. The long-awaited reissue of "'77 LIVE", recorded live in Tachikawa, Tokyo on March 12, 1977 by Les Rallizes Dénudés, after remastering by Makoto Kubota! The contents of the album are an overwhelming flood of sound and transformative improvisation, allowing the audience to relive the miraculous one-and-a-half hour live performance.

The omnibus album "OZ DAYS LIVE" recorded at the live house "OZ" in Kichijoji, Tokyo, in 1973, is now available on 3 CDs, including a bonus track from the same session by The Naked Larries, which was not recorded at the time, and over 40 minutes of previously unreleased material by Acid Seven, and an oral history book of several hours with people from "OZ". The special edition release includes a 100-page hardback book with an oral history comprising several hours of interviews with people involved in 'OZ'. Remastered from the original analogue tapes by Makoto Kubota.

Phew's 1992 legendary solo album "Our Likeness" will be reissued on clear vinyl, limited to 1,000 copies worldwide!

Jaki Liebezait (CAN), Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten), Chrislo Haas (D.A.F.), Thomas Stern (Lime and the City Solution) participated! Recording by Kraftwerk , NEU!, Cluster & Eno, D.A.F.

Genji Sawai’s classic LP “Sowaka”, featuring Midori Takada and Bill Laswell, reissued for the very first time. Sowaka will be re-released on February 10th with remastered audio. Sowaka, recorded in 1984, displayed an innovative sound that went beyond genre – mixing dub, world, jazz, electro, hip-hop and avant-garde. A perfect match of some of the most experimental artists of that time resulting in an extremely sought after and singular piece of music of the golden Japanese era. A talented crossover. In 1984, working with Bill Laswell, Michael Beinhorn and Midori Takada would be unlike working with anyone else Genji Sawai had before, pulling him out of the J-jazz experimental scene he was based on. Rather than work off written music, they’d build songs like cooks. Genji might supply the ingredients, perhaps the tonal choices – sax, FM synths, drum machines, and Bill would task himself to do the “cooking”, creating the overall image of the song. It’s the use of imagery to have a conversation with each other, musically, that just felt so different to Genji. Unlike the other musicians who contributed to Sowaka, musicians of impressive, rarefied technique like Midori Takada, Shuichi “Ponta” Murakami, and Kazuhiko Shibayama, notation or sheet music wasn’t a part of Genji’s vocabulary with Bill. With him, drawings were how songs were built from the ether. Whatever image a demo conjured up – that’s where the song had to go. You hear it on songs like “Hikobae” that predicted the chopped and screwed sound that would revolutionize hip-hop years later. On this track what started with a mental picture, of some kind of tree shoot, metastasizes a vision full of no-wave sax skronk dosed with pointillistic dub affectations. Although, Sowaka wasn’t tied inherently to it’s original meaning – the final utterance from the Buddhist Heart Sūtra – it’s philosophical meaning wasn’t too divorced from the true meaning (or at least, his truest meaning) Genji placed on it here: getting things done. Simply put, all his high-minded ideas wouldn’t have come to fruition unless all involved put some serious work into getting the project over the finish line. In five cracking days the album was put on tape and was then jettisoned off to NYC for Bill to put its final touches. What’s fascinating about Sowaka, or at least what will make it so, is just how it perfectly captures a certain atmosphere, somewhat alien to overground Japanese music at the time. Forget about a starry-eyed, futuristic, technopolis. The Japan heard in songs like “1969 (The Real)” is found in its iconic back alleys and constantly changing cityscape. It would use hip-hop, jazz, folk, and world music, to drop its sonic graffiti. That pull of “tradition” trying to co-exist with increasingly hypermodern ideas is palpably heard in music defined by its mix of organic and synthetic instruments paired with hard-nosed melodies. Genji’s Japan, as heard in Sowaka, pulls no punches, it wants you right in the middle of that public maelstrom. It wants you to sonically be there. Behind the mysterious chopped-and-screwed-with jazz of songs like “Hikobae” or the no-wave, nu wave-fried jazz of the titular track, there was a new kind of fusion being presented. Moving beyond world music, there was territory to be uncovered that was even more unplaceable. Somewhere, between the mind, body, and spirit, closer to one’s neck and booty, was this music urging you to simply move elsewhere, further, until you’re closer to where Genji’s music would land. Somewhere between history and his story, there’s still room to rewrite our story by absorbing this spectacular music that remains completely, forever, out of time.

White Heaven’s second album, Strange Bedfellow, is one of the great unsung albums of the 90’s Japanese underground. Released two years after their striking debut, Out, the album reveals the group shifting to a more dynamic and finely honed sound. You Ishihara’s songwriting & arrangements take center stage, leading the group to transmute classic west coast psychedelia and garage into a thrillingly direct collection of songs that span from fuzz drenched, driving rockers to smoldering numbers that fade into the night... Only ever available in an edition of 700 LP’s released in 1993 by PSF Japan, Black Editions is pleased to present Strange Bedfellow, newly remastered in this deluxe edition.