Music from Japan

Reissue of the long out of print 1996 album.

Reissue of the long out of print 1997 album. All performed, recorded and edited at Acty Hanazono, Summer 1997. Used Instruments: Microphone, Colorsound Pedals, Romero Theremin, 60'sFuzz, Expj Ring Modulator, Arion & Guyatone Digital Delay, Evans Super Echo and Noise Canister.

*2025 stock. 300 copies limited edition* The third offering in No Holiday's September 7-inch batch comes courtesy of Merzbow, offering up twin bursts of total electronic punishment that could have been made by no one else. Avian electronics for white-cheeked starlings the world over.

Somewhere is a place we have been waiting years to experience: a climate of sounds and spirits that gathers quietly and disperses with hazy grace, the result of a chance connection and long term correspondence. Over the past decade, ambient drone composer zakè (aka Zach Frizzell) has established his identity with numerous solo works, and his open-minded approach to peers has resulted in a complement of communal efforts; Pallette (who chooses to be known only by that moniker) has crafted no fewer…

Tip! *Japan import with Obi Strip* In 1967, drummer Takeo Moriyama joined pianist Yosuke Yamashita’s group, later forming a legendary trio together with saxophonist Seiichi Nakamura in 1969. This group consisting of Moriyama, Yamashita, and Nakamura became known worldwide as one of Japan's leading free jazz combos. Moriyama left the group in 1975 and later returned to the scene in 1977 with the Flush Up live album, where he evolved and deepened his musicality in a more melodic and rhythmic direc…

Tip! *Japan import with Obi Strip* Hiromasa Suzuki is a legendary composer and arranger, and a key player who has been active in the Japanese music world, including jazz as well as movies, television and commercials. In the late ‘60s and mid-’70s, he was deeply involved in the works of Terumasa Hino, Akira Ishikawa and Jiro Inagaki in their most radical times. The album “High-Flying,” recorded in 1976, showed his innovativeness, which was always one step ahead of the times. This is an essential …

Tip! *Japan import with Obi Strip* This is the first and long-awaited vinyl reissue of this Jiro Inagaki & Soul Media jazz rock masterpiece! With vocals by Sammy and Yasushi Sawada. Backed by Masahiko Sato, Kimio Mizutani, Hiro Yanagida. Essential!

Tip! *Japan import with Obi Strip* From the opening tune “The Vamp” to the final “Head Rock”, this album is a dazzling jazz rock showcase with dreadnought songs that are filled with ideas and passion. This is a masterpiece that has an overwhelming presence in the history of jazz in Japan, as an heresy left on the prestigious jazz label Takt.

We are pleased to announce the release of new live and studio recordings by Rudolf Eb.er, an Austrian/Swiss artist in the vein of Viennese Actionism. The recordings includes a live recording at Hokage, Osaka in December 2024 and studio recordings at Om Kult Osaka. This is a new masterpiece of Rudolf Eb.er, a very conceptual and precise composition of sustained sounds and creaking metal, moans and crows, concrete crushing noises, organs and field recordings. In order to materialize this music, th…

Reissue of 1998 CD release originally via Solipsism Recorded at Less Than Zero Studio and Oncosonik Laboratory Dec. 1996 - Feb. 1998.Edited Feb. 11, 1998. Originally released as Solipsism-05, 1998Archival materials courtesy of Kyle Wright

2010 release ** "In the planning (and many faxes, emails and discussions in person) for 20 years, finally this stunning collaborative release for Cold Spring from Japanese Noise king Merzbow and legendary elemental sound artist Z'EV is here. The tracks were created in London and Tokyo, with each artist remixing the other's original sounds. Two tracks weighing in at 22 minutes and 28 minutes respectively! Dark Ambient Noise."

*30 copies limited edition* "The first time I heard about Takahiro Mukai was through the Err Rec label on which I had published 2 albums.I immediately liked his approach to sound, very pure and very close to the machine, to synthesizers. He seems to ignore the human by becoming one with the synthesis, his tracks do not have titles but numbers that are classified by their recording order. This may seem cold and soulless but it is in fact quite the opposite, because it is in symbiosis with his mac…

250 copies limited edition Percussionist Ryotaro Miyasaka gave concerts in the performance space of Ftarri, Tokyo, on three consecutive days in June 2024. One of these was a duo concert with Takako Minekawa. Unlike in the usual concerts at Ftarri, this time the instruments were placed both in the stage area in front of the audience seats, and in a space arranged behind the seats. While Minekawa played mainly in front and Miyasaka mainly in back, they frequently moved back and forth between front…

Tip! Masonna is the solo noise project of Yamazaki Mazo, who, along with Merzbow and Emergency Staircase, has earned the respect of the entire world as an iconic figure of Japanoise. In 2002, Masonna, Christine 23 Onna, and Space Machine, the three units Yamazaki Mazo is involved with, released three albums simultaneously as the "Yamazaki Maso 15th Anniversary Freakout Triplex Series" to celebrate the 15th anniversary of their activities. The albums of these three units, Masonna, Christine 23 On…

Exceptional soundtrack from 1993 Japanese yakuza/crime/thriller movie Sonatine. A movie by the legend himself: 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano. Director, screenwriter, comedian, actor, and icon known for Violent Cop, Hana-Bi, Battle Royale, Johnny Mnemonic, Ghost in the Shell and many more.
 Music by one of the greatest ever: Joe Hisaishi. Composer, musical director, conductor and pianist behind over 100 film scores including Kitano’s A Scene at the Sea, Kikujiro, and Brother, as well as his famed work fo…

Stardust is a rare live recording that reunites three pioneers from the dawn of Japanese jazz: Masayuki Takayanagi (guitar), Ryozo Sugiura (vibraphone), and Hideto Kanai (bass), captured at Yokohama’s Stork Piano Lounge in December 1979. Unlike the intense, driven performances Takayanagi was known for in his “New Direction” and “Second Concept” projects, this session offers a relaxed, intimate atmosphere-full of warmth, camaraderie, and spontaneous musical dialogue. Listeners can even catch the …

A vital document of late-period Japanese jazz innovation, Holy Holy captures Masayuki Takayanagi in a moment of creative transition. Recorded live on December 8, 1985, at Aketa no Mise, this session features Takayanagi’s razor-sharp guitar in dialogue with two double basses: Nobuyoshi Ino and Toru Saitoh. The result is a soundscape of overwhelming depth and intensity, where the deep, undulating resonance of the twin basses intertwines with Takayanagi’s incisive lines. On Holy Holy, the trio reim…

2025 repress "Japanese pianist Yumiko Morioka initially released Resonance, her first and only solo recording, on Akira Ito's Green & Water imprint in 1987. Whilst by no means a commercial failure, the album was mostly found in the background of Japanese TV documentaries, maternity clinics and healing shops before drifting into relative obscurity.By 1994, Morioka had relocated to America and her solo music career had given way to the joys of starting a family and her new life in California. It w…

Despite a 40-year age gap and the vast distance between Japan and Greece, pianist Masahiko Sato and guitarist Giotis Damianidis reveal themselves as kindred spirits on Thousand Leaves. Capturing their very first meeting—recorded live on February 2, 2024, at Jazz Spot Candy in Chiba, Japan—this album is a testament to the power of improvised music to dissolve boundaries of geography and generation. The rapport between Sato and Damianidis is so immediate and intuitive that one might imagine a much…

2019 release ** "Ten years after their first collaboration (“Into”, Silentes, 2009) KK Null and Deison are back together with “Yugen”*, a new work exploring darkness and controlled chaos thru deep and dense sounds. Pulsating and fractured electronics are mixed with an eerie atmosphere of clunks, broken tribal drums and hovering electronic tones."