From my eyes to the sun
Moritariron a noise artist living in Kochi, became rirongg and completed his first work "From my eyes to the sun" in 2023. A train whistle rings out in the dark universe... What is it that I understand, understand, and remember? Comes with a novel (not artificial intelligence) by a mysterious author. Mandala Acoustic World All 5 songs included. It is a conceptual work that captures sound as a visual vision and evokes a kind of universe, nature, science, religion, and human beings, but he asserts…
Outside of the World
Tip! *400 copies limited edition* Outside of the world, the second album by Japanese trio Usurabi, is a rare pleasure – a guitar pop album that’s deep with spirit, bristling with energy, melodically rich and precious: full of life. It’s even more thrilling than its predecessor, 2021’s Remains of the Light, also released by An’archives, its eight songs falling together just perfectly. If you’ve ever swooned to the sound of rattling, humming organs on countless ‘60s garage rock sides, the wistful …
Music Now For Harp
Wewantsounds is delighted to announce the first international reissue of Ayako Shinozaki's hard to find LP "Music Now For Harp" released in 1974 by Nippon Columbia. The LP was released on the label's cult "Master Sonic" series and features Shinozaki's harp soundscape on works by renowned composer Toru Takemitsu and Katsuhiro Tsubono. The highlight of the album is the spaced-out liquid 25-min ambient epic 'Heterodyne' featuring cult musician Takehisa Kosugi (Taj Mahal Travellers, Group Ongaku) on…
06 06 16 - St. Elisabeth Kirche, Berlin
“06 06 16 (St. Elisabeth Kirche, Berlin)” documents a rare three-hour concert by the legendary avant-garde improvisation collective Marginal Consort, on their first-ever appearance in Germany. The event was presented by Manuela Benetton on 6th June 2016, in collaboration with PAN and 33-33. It was supported by Initiative Neue Musik e.V.
"Marginal Consort is a rare gift of restlessness, aspiration and sense, growing ever deeper." — Lawrence English
Non Band II
* Japan only edition of their 2nd album. Comes with a bonus CD * NON BAND were formed in the early 1980s. Bassist and vocalist NON had been in a number of bands before going solo and then reconsidering her choice; NON BAND was the eventual concession, a three piece that placed NON with Kinosuke Yamagishi on violin and clarinet and Mitsuru Tamagaki on drums.
'The Japanese punk rock movement known as Tokyo Rockers began in the summer of 1978. It incubated an independent music culture as well as a …
Kakashi
2023 much-needed repress. A wonderful, rare record wrapped in a mysterious yet playful ambiance. Or maybe it’s just the impression that the Japanese language often gives me. ‘Suiren’ is an odd jazz-fusion-wave tune that sounds like its boiling, waiting to burst but somehow manages to stay in control. Like the nervous tick of a leg fidgeting under the table of a restaurant on a first date.Yasuaki Shimizu is a Japanese composer, producer and saxophone player. He worked with Ryuchi Sakimoto on cert…
Ta Yu Ta I
"I listened to the demo recordings for the “Ta Yu Ta I” CD. The track begins with the sound of a stone, and, for a moment I doubted my ears, thinking that it was the iwafue stone flute that I had lost overseas in 2005. The flute actually used on this recording was a replica on an ancient flute, one of three that have been handed down within my family. But until that moment when I heard the sound of it echoing inside my skull, I had completely forgotten about it. It was my living flesh that breat…
Divin
*Packaged in a deluxe, gatefold Stoughton tip-on jacket. Hi-res download included* Junko Tange’s second and final album - a minimalistic, phantasmagoric masterpiece of distant, dreamlike voices woven through pulsating, dubbed-out drum machines, synths and static, originally issued by Osaka’s Vanity Records in 1981. Did this unassuming dental student (who vanished from the music world following this release) inadvertently invent dub techno? You be the judge. Label head Yuzuru Agi said this was hi…
Hosono House
*2023 stock* The unbelievably prolific Haruomi Hosono is one of the major architects of modern Japanese pop music. With his encyclopedic knowledge of music and boundless curiosity for new sounds, Hosono has put his unmistakable stamp on hundreds of recordings as a session player, producer, and auteur of his own idiosyncratic musical world. Born and raised in central Tokyo, his adolescent obsession with American pop culture informed his early forays into country music, which he would revisit late…
Vocal Studies #19
*50 copies limited edition* Volume 19 of Econore’s Vocal Studies series by Junko Hiroshige. Recorded in Tokyo November 2022.
Satori
*2023 repress. In process of stocking* The Flower Travellin' Band's first musical outing, Challenge, was released in 1970 and was essentially a series of covers of Cream, Hendrix, Big Brother andJefferson Airplane material. However, Satori appeared a year later and forever changed the way the group would be perceived, both in Japan and in the musical world at large. Possessing the vision to select Akira "Joe" Yamanaka as their vocalist, the Flower Travellin' boys elevated themselves above other …
Sowaka
Genji Sawai’s classic LP “Sowaka”, featuring Midori Takada and Bill Laswell, reissued for the very first time.
Vibractance
*50 copies limited edition* Originally released in France in 1998, Vibractance is one of the most unique and haunting titles in Merzbow’s vast catalog. It’s unique drone, noise, almost ambient like qualities makes this a great starting point for adventurer ears but also an essential album for the initiated. A true journey into the unknown where pulsating sonar waves swim between a sea of eerie beauty and tangible dreams. Celebrating it’s 25th anniversary, Aurora Central Records proudly presents …
Otomo Yoshihide Live in Shenzhen
Tip! *In process of stocking. 2022 stock* Over the years, Otomo’s music has spanned across Free Jazz, Noise, Free Improvisation, Sound Art, popular music, film scores, and compositions for large amateur ensembles. Carrying the lineage of the Japanese Free Jazz movement that developed in the 1960’s, Otomo has exploited the sonic possibilities of both the electric guitar and turntable. He is one of the key figures who defined a now internationally recognized genre of Japanoise. His band Ground Ze…
The Meaning Of Blackness (More Decorous Than Duty Having Become Faster Than Everything A Smile That Was Never Birthed Into The Light)
Keiji Haino considers this live album as an integral work that cannot be separated. We suggest that you enjoy the whole album without interruption and turn the volume up to the maximum.
Double Action
Twin Cosmos is not only the name of the musical output of fraternal twins Morihito & Yasuhito Ito, but more philosophically, an album that encapsulates, “the universe of twins”.
The pair were born 1953 in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture. A port city 50 kilometres west of Nagoya, famous for its chemical plants. Despite their surroundings, they grew up in an environment that fostered learning and self-expression. From an early age, they began to carve out their own paths.
Morihito was fascinated with sc…
Paradise Of Delusion
*Limited edition of 500 copies.* Paradise Of Delusion, the first vinyl release of the music of Japan’s legendary psych-pop group Shizuka, originally appeared in June 2021. Long-awaited, the LP sold out almost immediately, and already changes hands for three-figure amounts. An’archives is pleased to announce a CD edition of Paradise Of Delusion, making this music accessible again to a wider audience. Drawn from a 2001 performance at Binspark, Nishi Ogikubo, Paradise Of Delusion is gorgeous and ot…
Lunatic Pearl
*Limited edition of 550 copies.* Following the long-awaited Paradise Of Delusion LP from 2021, An’archives announces Lunatic Pearl, a 10” EP by Japanese psych-pop legends Shizuka. As with the material on Paradise, 狂気の真珠 [Lunatic Pearl] draws from the deep well of music the quartet recorded in 2001, this time from two studio sessions. Here, though, the group’s classic line-up of Shizuka, Maki Miura, Jun Kosugi and Seven is augmented –on the a-side, they’re joined by Yasushi Nagata on guitar; flip…
Hydration
Following the release of his album trilogy (Kwaidan, Komachi and Kofū), Meitei has established himself as a defining voice in contemporary Japanese music. By sharing intricate sonic stories and impressions of his nation's rich culture, he has built an aural world around his notion of the ‘lost Japanese mood’. His latest project, under the new moniker Tenka, aims to work without the boundaries of theme, storytelling or audience expectations. Spending many hours in the mountain forests that he li…
You're Either Standing Facing Me Or Next To Me
“Only this is Rock” Keiji Haino has said of new studio album You're Either Standing Facing Me Or Next To Me. “Treat what I call rock like breaking the seal of old manuscripts.” Since his beginnings in 1970 as the vocalist of the band Lost Alaaf, Haino has spread his work across multiple genres, pushing the limits as a tireless explorer of free-form experimentation. It was with the intense psychedelic soundscapes of Fushitsusha, formed in 1978, that his live set earned a formidable reputation. Th…