mscty_edn

I stayed at memu earth lab, based in Memu (mem, Taiki Town), located in the southern part of Tokachi, eastern Hokkaido, for a total of five weeks during the winter and spring of 2021 and 2022, and recorded the sounds I encountered at various locations around the area.
Loading the recording equipment into the car, I would drive on the vast land while thinking, “Where should I go today?”
There are forests and rivers all around, and lakes and marshes dotting the coast. Away from the town centre, one rarely sees passing cars or people. On the other hand, wild foxes, red-crowned cranes, and squirrels can be seen from time to time, and the snow reveals a smattering of animal tracks.
I’d park the car at a suitable spot, carry our bags of equipment, and keep walking until I found a point that looked interesting or contained the atmosphere of something I could record. The various sounds that I encountered in this way are recorded in this work. In addition, we talked to the people who live in the area because I was interested in how and what kind of sounds they heard in their daily lives.
When I stepped out of the bungalow where we were staying on a snowy morning, 
I shivered with such silence that I thought my ears were clogged. Even in places where it seemed like one can only hear the sounds of “nature” with their own ears, the microphones captured a variety of sounds associated with human activity. For example, there are the sounds of large trucks driving on national highways, hunters shooting their prey in the mountains, airplanes passing overhead, the sound of the outdoor units of neighbouring residences, and of course, the sounds I myself make subconsciously. Still, a place where there is little background noise and small sounds can be heard clearly is worthwhile in itself. This is just such a place.
Considering both the ambient sounds I encountered in Memu, and the voices of people, without distinguishing them, I try to perceive the two things as the voice of this land. By attentively listening to the voice of the land, recording it, and listening deeply to the recorded sounds, what kind of world will emerge? The word ‘Memu’ (mem, in Ainu sound) apparently means ‘a place where springs wells up and fish gathers’ in the Ainu language. It is my hope that these sounds will intertwine with the memories and physical experiences of each listener and nurture their imagination towards the world like spring water.
 

New soundscapes inspired by the architecture of V&A Dundee, the first ever dedicated design museum in Scotland. Midori Takada Legendary Japanese Ambient pioneer Takada was specially commissioned by MSCTY and one of UK's leading art institutions, V&A Dundee, to create a soundtrack to the museum itself. Sympathetic to the architect Kengo Kuma's use of natural materials in the landmark building's construction, Takada bases the compositions around huge wood marimbas, creating atmospheric, hypnotic beauty inspired directly by Kuma's organic vision. This album contains the complete works, constituting 3 connected compositions. Midori Takada plays a special live show at Kings Place, London in September, the month of the album's physical release. Her recently reissued 1983 work 'Through the Looking Glass' was hailed as "mesmerising" and an "ambient minimalist masterpiece" by Pitchfork who awarded it their best reissue of 2017. SHHE SHHE is the alias of Scottish-Portuguese artist, musician and producer, Su Shaw. Her work is influenced by environment and ecology, exploring themes of identity and connection at the intersection between sound, space and liminal states. SHHE's eponymous debut album was released by One Little Independent Records and was shortlisted for Scottish Album of the Year 2020. This new album features an exclusive 45 minute composition specially commissioned by MSCTY and V&A Dundee, which is located in her town. Based on the sounds of the water around V&A Dundee, with the music reacting to the movement of the pools and the tides, the piece is inspired by the rugged exterior of the museum architecture and its location by the River Tay.

Having already released 400+ tracks via the inception of www.mscty.space in 2010 ... MSCTY is now developing and launching a series of HIGHLY LIMITED EDITION PHYSICAL PRODUCTS! The first release: A collection of EXCLUSIVE MUSIC formed via musical artists’ responses to the UNBUILT + UNREALISED work of LEADING ARCHITECTS. Participants are LORAINE JAMES, BILL FONTANA, HANNAH PEEL, DANIEL LIBESKIND, RICHARD ROGERS, LILY JENCKS, YURI SUZUKI, MCCONVILLE, PIM.STUDIO, ELSIE OWUSU, NIETO SOBEJANO ARQUITECTOS, CHISARA AGOR, YUVAL AVITAL + AB ROGERS. The work was produced for MSCTY_EXPO’s first Zone, UNKNOWN PLEASURES, launched as part of the London Design Festival in 2020. It's presented as a lovingly-designed, specially-boxed, double cassette and 12-page booklet. IN A LIMITED EDITION OF 100!