Akira Symphonic Suite
2023 Reissue. Set in the year 2019 in Neo-Tokyo, the world is still recovering from the ravages of World War III. One night, teen delinquent Kaneda has his biker gang hurtle through the busy city. Kaneda’s friend, Tetsuo, is seriously injured during an accident and is taken to an army hospital. There the military notice Tetsuo’s potential psychic power, so they transfer Tetsuo to a secret government laboratory to awakening his latent abilities. When Kaneda gets involved in an antigovernment guer…
Mothra
Tip! We are excited to announce that we are releasing the complete Mothra Original 1961 Motion Picture Soundtrack by Yuji Koseki! This special double LP album marks the very first time that the complete original soundtrack has ever been released on vinyl, anywhere. We are honored to present this release in close collaboration with Toho featuring all new album art by Yuko Shimizu. Join us in celebrating the historical significance of one of the most popular Kaiju monsters who is second only to Go…
Hajiki Uta
Wewantsounds is delighted to announce an extensive reissue program of Meiko Kaji's first five album released in Japan between 1972 and 1974 on Teichiku Records. The program, in partnership with Teichiku and Meiko Kaji, will see her first five albums reissued on vinyl for the first time ever in their original Japanese artwork and remastered audio. Famous for her early 70s exploitation movies ('Lady Snowblood', the 'Female Prisoner Scorpion' and 'Stray Cat Rock' series) revered by Tarantino, Meiko…
King Kong Vs Godzilla (Original Motion Picture Score)
Akira Ifukube's score to the legendary 1962 monster movie King Kong vs. Godzilla. Ifukube's visionary music is tense and violent, a perfect complement to Ishirō Honda's film. This incredible score alternates between brass and strings as you witness the death and destruction that comes in the wake of these two classic film monsters' battles.
Eleki Bushi 1966-1974
The aftermath of World War II gave rise to a global phenomenon that saw new generations of young people rise up determined to forge new paths from their elders – culturally, politically, and musically. Japan was no exception and the recent past made the local youth angrier, hungrier and even more determined to fully experience something different from their parents. The country caught on to the early rock & roll craze almost in tandem as it was happening in the States. Teenager Chiemi Eri singin…
Anime & Manga Synth Pop Soundtracks 1984-1990
Trailblazing instrumental synth pop experiments created to soundtrack Japan’s booming 1980s cartoon and comic industries. The brightly futuristic instrumentals on this collection reflect the mindset of composers and musicians who believed in a technological future where everything was possible!
Patlabor 2 The Movie (Original Soundtrack "P2")
Tip! *2022 stock* From the master Kenji Kawai, composer of soundtracks such as Ghost in the Shell, Avalon, Ring, Ip Man, Seven Swords and too many to list. Complete soundtrack to Mamoru Oshii's 1993 superb political thriller science-fiction mecha anime film Patlabor 2. Outstanding emotion-filled ambient soundscape and percussion mastery, with hints of minimalism and modern classical. One of Kenji Kawai's most experimental...and best!
Special Sound Series – Vol. 1: Catch in Alice
Considered by many one of the most gifted and outstanding players in the Electone community thanks to his fresh, energetic, rhythmic and sometimes humorous style of playing, from 1975 to 1977 Shigeo Sekitō released a four-LP album set titled Special Sound Series for the iconic Nippon Columbia. On the first chapter of this series, Sekitō revisits, in his own colourful style, compositions such as "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" by Stevie Wonder, "Oh, My Love" by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, "Andalu…
Utakata No Hibi
** NEW limited 200 copies orange vinyl. Double LP in UV-glossy laminated gatefold sleeve with OBI + includes A1 Poster 60x60cm and lyric sheet**A legendary yet long lost crown jewel from the early 80s Japanese Electronic and Jazz Rock scene - new powerful master, much appreciated by the artist, dbl.12″ in UV-glossy laminated gatefold sleeve with OBI+ includes A1 Poster 60x60cm and lyric sheet** Mariah was a Japanese outfit in the field of art pop, way back in the very late 70s and early 80s with…
Is It Really Goodbye? More Ryūkōka Recordings, 1929-1938
Exquisitely melancholy, pre-war Japanese Ryūkōka Recordings, 1929-1938, delving deeper into the style’s fusion of traditional and classical Japanese and western blues x jazz on Death Is Not The End.
Sunset Gang (LP)
Wewantsounds continue its Makoto Kubota retrospective with the reissue of Sunset Gang recorded in 1973 for Showboat. The album, co-produced by Kinji Yoshino (Haruomi Hosono, Akiko Yano, Sachiko Kanenobu) and featuring Hosono, Minako Yoshida and Taeko Ohnuki, was released as Kubota had just recorded his classic first solo album, Machibouke. It marks the start of the group's unique sound mixing Japanese music with R&B, blues and New Orleans influences, a sound that would have a lasting impression …
Dixie Fever (LP)
Wewantsounds announce an ambitious Makoto Kubota reissue program with his three albums recorded with The Sunset Gang between 1973 and 1977. The albums feature Haruomi Hosono (who also co-produced Hawaii Champroo) and also includes Minako Yoshida, Taeko Ohnuki and Tatsuo Hayachi to name a few. Makoto Kubota has been one of Japan's true musical innovators and following his involvement with Les Rallizes Dénudés in the early '70s, he developed a unique sound bringing American, Hawaiian and Okinawan …
Hawaii Champroo (LP)
Wewantsounds announce an ambitious Makoto Kubota reissue program with his three albums recorded with The Sunset Gang between 1973 and 1977. The albums feature Haruomi Hosono (who also co-produced Hawaii Champroo) and also includes Minako Yoshida, Taeko Ohnuki and Tatsuo Hayachi to name a few. Makoto Kubota has been one of Japan's true musical innovators and following his involvement with Les Rallizes Dénudés in the early '70s, he developed a unique sound bringing American, Hawaiian and Okinawan …
Belladonna
Not content with liberating what many consider the rarest soundtrack on both the cut-throat Italian and Japanese collectors markets (with the repress of the music to Eiichi Yamamoto’s erotic-historic Pinky anime psych cinematic feature Belladonna Of Sadness), Finders Keepers Records return to the composer Masahiko Sato’s bottomless well in an attempt to retrieve the elixir which enticed us in the first place. From a clutch of thirteen lost cues which never appeared on the mythical Italian-only s…
Kowloon Neon City Episode 2
HDK is proud to introduce you the second episode of "Kowloon Neon City", the immaginary distopic and retro-futuristic anime released in 199X. In this second part, the story moves from the rejected city of Kowloon to its double Olympus. We will discover a world permeated by technology that brings many aspects of our reality forward, to the extreme consequences. Mei and Cheng, once again the protagonists of this story, have to fight for their lives against the global sistem of surveillance. And we…
Sound Storing Machines
** Limited edition LP with two sided insert of liner notes by Robert Millis ** The first commercial recordings from Asia were made in Japan in 1903 by Fred Gaisberg, the legendary producer and recording engineer who traveled the world making recordings for the Gramophone Company (later His Masters Voice). The recording industry barely existed at this time. Man’s ability to record and reproduce sound had only existed since 1877 (with the invention of Edison’s cylinder phonograph) and flat disc re…
Golden Dog
**500 copies** Golden Dog (Original Soundtrack) by Yuji Ohno was originally released in 1979. Ohno is best known for his soundtracks to Anime such as Lupin III and Captain Future. So if you’re fans of those particular soundtracks and a dog lover, you may well want to get on board with this jazz funk classic.
Yuji Ohno (大野 雄二, Ōno Yūji, born 30 May 1941 in Atami, Shizuoka, Japan) is a Japanese jazz musician. Ohno is known for his musical scoring of Japanese anime television series, particularly …
Kokotsu/ Ecstasy
The 1970 erotic lounge record by Japanese maestro of percussion, Masami Kawahara, reissued now! The present record is a standout work amid the myriad records of the x-rated / lounge genre of the 1960s and 1970s that catered to adult audiences in both the east and the west. Masami Kawahara, who was a mainstay in both the jazz and pop scenes in Japan, brought together musicians including Akira Ishikawa, Masaoki Terakawa, and Jake H. Concepcion for this recording.
As would be expected of such a ste…
Kayobi No Onna
**500 copies** A golden era gem from the master himself, Masahiko Satoh, presented by Mitsuko & Svetlana Records. Archival reissue of long-lost treasure from genius pianist and composer whose resume includes hundreds of legendary albums and collaborations with Midori Takada - Lunar Cruise and Ton-Klami) among many others. Very rare soundtrack of a nine-episode suspense drama that aired on TV in 1969 and 1970. Filled with exquisite jazz, soul-jazz, folk-jazz, and mystery-jazz, plus groovy affairs…
Japan
The first Be With foray into the archives of revered German library institution Selected Sound is one of our favourites on the label - the super in-demand Japan from Victor Cavini, originally released in 1983. Rare and sought-after for many years now, this is one of those cult library LPs that never turn up. With Daibutsu the giant Buddha of Kamakura’s presence gracing the hefty front cover, this is a record bursting with dope samples for adventurous producers: it’s koto-funk madness!