★ato.archives
Shiroyama
SUDA Seishu (1947–) is a master of the Satsuma-biwa and Heike-biwa, traditional Japanese instruments. He was born in Tokyo and studied Satsuma-biwa with Tsuji Seigo and Heike-biwa with Kindaichi Haruhiko. In 1970, he won the Biwa Music Competition and has been a leading performer in the biwa world for over 50 years.
The biwa is a Japanese string instrument with a long history. It came to Japan during the Nara period (710–784 AD) and is thought to have originated in Iran. It is related to instrum…
Monooto
Monooto represents a genuine encounter with objects. The whispers of countless items draw us into an unfamiliar realm, directing our ears toward the shadows where they reside. This is the emerging music genre known as “monooto”. Interestingly, the Japanese term “mono” (もの), meaning “thing” or “object,” carries a subtle eeriness. According to the Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, “mono” can also denote deities, spirits, or objects of fear and reverence, including ghosts and vengeful spirits. Terms like "mon…
Unaesthetic Harmony
Yengo is an artist recognized for creating experimental sound pieces, including live performances that arrange sound in an installation-like fashion and compositions that heavily feature the repetition of a single motif. Yengo's debut release on ato.archives, titled Unaesthetic Harmony, is accompanied by the artist's own commentary included with the tape for those seeking a deeper understanding. This work, influenced by Vaporwave, internet culture, and similar methodologies and aesthetics, explo…
Revolving Lantern
a0n0 is an electronic musician and a member of the fluid collective "時の崖_tokinogake". His music blends sharp, provocative noise that pushes the limits of audio equipment and hearing, with sequences of sound that are both mellow and lyrical, creating a fresh and stimulating auditory experience. This latest piece is rooted in an improvised performance on a modular synthesizer. It stands out as a unique work, featuring a simple yet multi-layered soundscape where different moments of improvisation i…
しるしまみれ / Shirushi - Mamire
Masahiro Sugaya began his career in the 1980s, working alongside the environmental music scene of that era while also making a significant impact in stage music through his involvement with Pappa TARAHUMARA.
Over the past 20 years, Sugaya has shifted from traditional composition using instrumental music to creating works for 8-channel multi-speaker systems, incorporating environmental sounds and field recordings. His latest album continues this evolution, featuring collages of environmental soun…
Cinema Ouvido: Experimental music by filmmakers from Latin America
This compilation introduces the sound pieces created by the Latin American experimental filmmakers and is curated by the film artist Tetsuya Maruyama. Tetsuya Maruyama born in 1983 in Yokohama, Japan and currently based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Graduated from the University at Buffalo's School of Architecture in 2007 and from the Visual Language Department of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro's School of Fine Arts in 2024. His work spans film, text, performance, sound, ideas, and instal…
Agora
Born in Athens, raised in Yokohama, and currently based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Spends daily life at Ipanema Beach, enduring a heat index over 60°C, cracking coconuts with a pinky, eating the flesh inside, and diving into the ocean—on repeat. Always accompanied by a loyal German Shepherd (definitely four years old).The soundtrack to his bicycle ride near the beach is Baden Powell. Connected with Tetsuya Maruyama, curator of the upcoming tape release, through this very dog. (Both Maruyama and t…
Space Noise
Born in Tokyo, 1978. Lives and works in Kanagawa. Takashi Makino graduated from Cinematography / Sound Recording course at Department of Cinema at Nihon University College of Art, Japan in 2001 and he studied about film, lighting, and music under Quay Brothers at Atelier Koninck QBFZ in London in 2001. Makino gained his skills relating to film and videos while he was undertaking coloration as a Colorist on various filmography, CF, and music videos from 2001 to 2011. He has been started screening…
Unshaping
Artist Rie Nakajima is known for arranging small devices in an installation-like manner, presenting the movement of each device as a “performance.” This “performance” may be an attempt to highlight the interaction between humans and devices, as well as the states of response between devices and the space they inhabit, by minimizing human intervention. This piece is a recording of Nakajima’s performance in the courtyard of a castle, where she was invited to perform at a festival in France in 2016…
Yama no Kawa
Mshukai is an improvisation group that revolves around Imao Takuma, known as a contemporary artist and percussionist Pedal. The group performs in unconventional spaces such as baseball fields or inside closets, responding playfully to the environment. This tape documents their performance in the headwaters of a river in Koga, Shiga Prefecture, where they brought equipment and played around a campfire. Additionally, recordings capture their studio session in Kanazawa, where they listened to the a…
Ever-Present / つねなるもの
This work captures the sounds that were born while Masami Tada carried various small electronic equipment and hiked Mount Kobo in Kanagawa Prefecture, and the improvisation he performed at its summit.
Transcendental Meeting at Hatagaya
Jared Carrigan plays synthesizer and sampler. Yuya Oguma plays bass guitar with effects. Zefan Sramek plays synthesizer with looper and effects. Recorded at Forestlimit in Hatagaya, Tokyo. Mastered by Taku Unami. "I bathe in the lake and walk through the forest in the rain. Sleeping outdoors, I feel as though I’m closer to the Earth. How do we maintain connection with each other? How do we communicate in ways that transcend language? I often reflect that so many of us are trapped in our own cult…
Oscillating Stars
Archival release, composed and improvised by Seiji Nagai (Taj Mahal Travellers). Mastered by Taku Unami. For more than two decades, Seiji Nagai has been creating experimental sounds with a computer, and when he improvises, he mixes them in real time. This work was created with sounds that have been organically accumulated within the past 10 years.
Footprint
Tip! Limited edition. Stunning tape by Tomonao Koshikawa (of Takehisa Kosugi, East Bionic Symphonia and Marginal Consort fame), mastered by Taku Unami. Falling somewhere in liminal space between cosmic music, drone, and musique concrète, with immersive long tones and remarkable harmonic interplay, sculpting a spacial universe entirely their own. It is a stunning, immersive blanket of tones.
Anton Webern Variations for Piano, op.27 I – IIII programmed the notes of the composition with a Yamaha QY…