Music from Japan

Satoko Fujii's Min-Yoh Ensemble with Natsuki Tamura, Curtis Hasselbring and Andrea Parkins: trumpet, trombone, accordion and piano on Japanese folk songs and new pieces in the same spirit, recorded in New York in 2006.

Satoko Fujii on piano and Tatsuya Yoshida of Ruins on drums, live at Victoriaville on 18 May 2002: a fast, loud and funny duo with voices, jumping from free improvisation to metal, boogie-woogie and tango.

*300 copies limited edition* "Silver Tendril" like his recent work, it focuses on the nuances of the sound's "physicality." The intensity of the '90s returns in a refined form, withadded nuance and subtlety. Where "Pulse Demon" emphasized that raw directness (which alreadyforeshadowed the Harsh Noise Wall), "Silver Tendril" develops rhythmic structures within whichsonic chaos suddenly erupts. This is not TNB-style chaos, but rather a gradual breakdown, a perverse shift from structure to chaos.

'Each Day, as if It Were Your Last' marks a striking new chapter for Pallette and a complete departure from his Past Inside the Present debut, 'Pathways'. Released in November 2020, Pathways emerged from an introspective period in Alexander Carlo Buckley’s life, presenting four lovely loop-based compositions shaped by hypnotic, consonant arrangements, fleeting melodies, and a patient sense of ebb and flow. Each Day, as if It Were Your Last moves beyond those meditative foundations, expanding Pal…

Sachiko primarly performs live in Tokyo with drone music centered around her voice. Here, in this new studio album, her voice seems concealed within the silence of the outer space or among a forest settling into stillness. The soundscapes are carefully crafted for a slow reveal, wavering and drifting, with the electronics and viola at times taking the lead, gradually unveiling an abyss of emotion. While playing the bass in the Japanese bands Kousokuya and Overhang Party, Sachiko began her solo p…

Six pieces by Kiyoshi Mizutani from 1989 to 1991, made with environmental sound, synthesizer, wire, guitars and backward tape. Povertech Industries, 1999.

Akira Sakata with Shinpei Ruike on trumpet and Jun Inui on drums, recorded at the Shibata Etsuko Gallery in Ginza on March 30, 2026. Sister Records.

Akira Sakata with Takashi Seo on contrabass and Jun Inui on drums, recorded at the Shibata Etsuko Gallery in Ginza on April 10, 2025. Sister Records.

Akira Sakata and drummer Jun Inui in duo, recorded at the Shibata Etsuko Gallery in Ginza on April 7, 2024. The first of their Gallery series on Sister Records.

A charity CD by Akira Sakata for the medical care of children in Chernobyl and Iraq, with Kyoko Kuroda, Vagabond Suzuki and Manabu Sakata, recorded in Tokyo in December 2007.

Akira Sakata on saxophones and clarinet with Febian Reza Pane, Hiroshi Yoshino and Tomohiro Yahiro, closing with a bonus Air On The G String. Ganbaranai, 2006.

Akira Sakata x Triple Edge live at Takutaku, Kyoto, February 2024: 65 minutes with Tsuboguchi, Hayakawa and Fujikake, plus Takayuki Kato on guitar and Hiroshi Funato on contrabass, built around the two-part Takutaku Suite.

Compressed Happiness pairs Eiko Ishibashi with the Japanese noise project K2 across two pieces, Cold Pastoral and Sweet Paranoia's Heaven Version 3. Limited edition CD on Phage Tapes, 2014.

Maya Ongaku has always been searching for what exists just beyond the edge of perception. Since forming in the seaside towns surrounding Enoshima, the trio has followed a path guided less by intention than intuition, allowing songs, ideas, and experiences to emerge through a process they describe as 自然発生 (shizen hassei), spontaneous occurrence. Nothing Space Music is the deepest expression of that philosophy to date. Written in the aftermath of several years of international touring, the album e…

*100 copies limited edition* Tokyo-based artist Ryu Yoshizawa has spent the past decade developing a singular language as Koeosaeme. His works sit somewhere between electronic composition, musique concrète, sound collage and sound art. Following a series of acclaimed releases on Orange Milk Records, this album turns his attention to a place close to home: Kaihin-Makuhari, a coastal district on the outskirts of Tokyo. Land that was once part of the sea. Conceived as a future city, Kaihin-Makuhari…

Berlin, 7 November 1971, the week of the Berliner Jazztage. Terumasa Hino on trumpet and flute with the Frankfurt tenor Heinz Sauer, Peter Warren on bass and Pierre Favre on drums, for Enja's second year. Five long pieces, free and arranged in turns, including Into the Heaven and Dig It.

Yosuke Yamashita and Mal Waldron knew each other from Waldron's years of touring Japan; in 1985 they would record as a piano duo at the Pit Inn. A Tribute To Mal Waldron comes five years earlier, recorded at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg on 17 and 18 June 1980 and released by Enja the same year. This is the trio Yamashita formed after the Sakata-Moriyama years: Katsuo Kuninaka on bass, Shota Koyama on drums. Four pieces. Three Waldron compositions, Trane's Soul Eyes, a twelve-minute One-Upmansh…

Nuremberg, East-West Jazz Festival, 6 July 1984. Takeo Moriyama, the drummer of the first Yosuke Yamashita Trio, with his own quartet: Toshihiko Inoue on tenor and soprano, Shuichi Enomoto on flute and saxophones, Hideaki Mochizuki on bass. Recorded live and issued by Enja the same year. Moriyama had left Yamashita in 1975 and spent the following decade building a group sound of his own. The Vap record East Plants (1983) was the studio version of this band; Green River is the same lineup, less o…

Munich, Vielharmonie, 11 June 1981. Akira Sakata, two years out of the Yosuke Yamashita Trio, with his own trio, Hiroshi Yoshino on bass and Nobuo Fujii on drums, recorded digitally for Enja. Alto sax, alto clarinet and voice; four long pieces, including a version of Brigitte Fontaine's Comme à la radio.

Berlin, Teldec Studio, 7 November 1971, the same day Terumasa Hino was cutting Vibrations for Enja across town. Joachim-Ernst Berendt, who had brought Masahiko Satoh's trio to the Berliner Jazztage, put them in a studio with the Hungarian guitarist Attila Zoller: Satoh on piano, Yasuo Arakawa on bass, Masahiko Ozu on drums, Zoller on guitar. MPS released it in 1972. Six pieces. Meet, nine minutes, opens; Sazo is short; the traditional Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair is the ballad; Clos…