Taku Sugimoto
Taku Sugimoto is a Japanese guitarist. He initially gained attention in the late 1990s for his restrained, melodic playing, unusual in the world of free improvisation. Around 2002 his music became increasingly abstract, all but eliminating melody and featuring extended periods of silence. He has collaborated with other Japanese musicians involved in the Onkyo movement, such as Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura and Otomo Yoshihide. He has also collaborated with musicians from European free improvisation scenes, notably trombonist Radu Malfatti and guitarist Keith Rowe.
Taku Sugimoto is a Japanese guitarist. He initially gained attention in the late 1990s for his restrained, melodic playing, unusual in the world of free improvisation. Around 2002 his music became increasingly abstract, all but eliminating melody and featuring extended periods of silence. He has collaborated with other Japanese musicians involved in the Onkyo movement, such as Sachiko M, Toshimaru Nakamura and Otomo Yoshihide. He has also collaborated with musicians from European free improvisation scenes, notably trombonist Radu Malfatti and guitarist Keith Rowe.
Since 2016
Full Spectrum welcomes the legendary guitarist and Japanese free improvisation heavyweight Taku Sugimoto into the fold for an album that we are absolutely honored to present as our first LP release of the new year – ’Since 2016.’
Octet
*2023 stock. 250 copies limited edition* On this album, works composed in 2018 and '19 by Tokyo-based composer/guitarist Taku Sugimoto are performed by musicians based in Berlin. Sugimoto has in recent years been working on a series in which pieces w…
Snare Drum +
Snare Drum + is the latest piece by legend composer/guitarist Taku Sugimoto in 2021, containing some variations of his snare drum solo piece which was written in 2011. In Snare Drum +, three or more additional performers try to follow the sound of sn…
Trio (2CD)
These recordings were mostly made during the daytime at the residency place and concert venue Petersburg Art Space in Moabit, Berlin. While we were recording, people would sometimes show up in the kitchen area on the other side of the room for a coff…
Guitars
Taku Sugimoto is a Tokyo-based guitarist and composer. Improvisation is one aspect of his work, but currently his main activities are composing and performing composed pieces (including those of other composers). He continues his global and concentra…
Songs
The concept of Songs, the duo project of guitarist Taku Sugimoto and vocalist Minami Saeki, came about in the second half of 2016. By that December they had already made recordings of their music, and the following February they released their debut …
Taku Sugimoto / Stefan Thut
Guitarist, composer and improviser Taku Sugimoto frequently performs overseas as well as in Japan. He's also a member of the Suidobashi Chamber Ensemble, which consists of five Japanese musicians. Stefan Thut is a Swiss cellist and composer. Both Sug…
H
Cristián Alvear & Taku Sugimoto (guitars). Recorded live in concert at Ftarri, Tokyo, November 2017. This piece was originally composed for ‘Songs’, a duo project with Minami Saeki, a female singer who I have been working with recently, when we had a…
Quintets: Berlin, San Diego
In recent years, guitarist Taku Sugimoto has been active as a composer, providing works to musicians inside and outside Japan, and also as an improvisational musician. He often works with composers and musicians in the sphere of the Wandelweiser scho…
Septet
Guitarist Taku Sugimoto continues his long-term musical activities, with a focus on composing, and also collaborates closely with some of the composers in the Wandelweiser Group. This release is one of the summits of his recent work. Septet is a work…
Quartet / Octet
Taku Sugimoto, guitar and composition, with Klaus Filip (sine tones), Ko Ishikawa (sho), Moe Kamura (voice), Kazushige Kinoshita (violin), Radu Malfatti (trombone), Masahiko Okura (clarinet), Taku Unami (sine tones), Nikos Veliotis (cello). 2013.
D minor / Bb major
Composed by Michael Pisaro and Taku Sugimoto. Performed by Casey Anderson: computer, Matt Barbier: trombone, Eric KM Clark: violin, Devin Disanto: clarinet, Paul Fraser: trumpet, Kristin Haraldsdottir: viola, Stefan Kac: tuba, Ingrid Lee: piano, D…
2 seconds / b minor / wave
Michael Pisaro and Taku Sugimoto are not generally closely associated, but have quite a bit in common. Both are composers whose primary instrument is the guitar, both have close ties to the Wandelweiser collective (Pisaro is a longtime member), and b…
13 & 14 for Guitars
Composed by Taku Sugimoto. Tetuzi Akiyama: guitar. Recorded live at Loop-Line on October 23, 2009. Recorded by Taku Sugimoto. Mastered by Taku Unami. Drawing by Taku Sugimoto.
26 ((2009)) Electronic Version
Composition named '26': different sequences of Electronic sounds and silences on the left and right channels. Realized by Taku Unami, (2009) in Tokyo.
Mienai Tenshi
This is Taku Sugimoto's very first solo release originally released in 1988 by the artist himself in a small edition of 100 copies. Its a far cry from his current style. Back then Taku was very much influenced by MC5 and the Velvet Underground. This …
Eine gitarre ist eine gitarre ist keine gitarre ist eine gitarre
But, of course, a guitar hasn't necessarily been a guitar at least since the mid-'60s, when Keith Rowe laid it down flat on a table and began dealing with it more as a sound-generating object than a guitar as such. In their second release as a duo, g…
Live in Australia
Taku Sugimoto is an extremely restrained guitarist who produces very few sounds in performance, allowing silence to be the controlling force. As an improviser and composer, he's garnered international acclaim, and also provoked strong reactions, both…
Chamber music
Taku Sugimoto has been one of the most important musicians on the improv-front for some years now with releases on Erstwhile, Grob, A Bruit Secret, Improvised Music From Japan and many other labels. Redefining guitar music with his ultra minimal way …
Futatsu
Vienna resident Radu Malfatti, who turns 60 in December, is a trombonist and composer with a long and impressive career. In the nineties he established the unique compositional/improvisational style, using very few sounds, that he continues to develo…