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Early Electronic Works
Onnyk (Yoshiaki Kinno) is a well-known on the field of Japan's underground and free improvisation, acted as 'The Fifth Column", also called 'Daigoretsu', in mid 70's to 80's. This release is not only one of his obscure recordings in earliest years, but also it's rare electronic works on his carrier. "A late friend of mine, two years elder than me, he bought the synthesizer for first public use, made in Japan, SH 1000. He rented me it when I was 18 years old. For I was so interested in making str…
John Cage Shock Vol. 1
In October 1962, John Cage and his great interpreter/co-visionary David Tudor visited Japan, performing seven concerts and exposing listeners to new musical worlds. This legendary "John Cage Shock," as it was dubbed by the critic Hidekazu Yoshida, is the source of this series of releases -- three CDs and a "best hits" double LP compilation. Recorded primarily at the Sogetsu Art Center in Tokyo on October 24, 1962 (with two performances from October 17 at Mido-Kaikan in Osaka), all recordin…
John Cage Shock Vol. 2
Volume 2 in EM Records' John Cage Shock series lifts off with a fiery example of David Tudor's piano virtuosity, his mastery of dynamics well-evident in a performance of Klavierstücke X (1961) by Karlheinz Stockhausen. The titular shock of this series is delivered even more forcefully with the next piece, John Cage's 26'55.988" for 2 Pianists and a String Player (1961), which was first performed the year before in Darmstadt by Tudor and Kenji Kobayashi, a combination of two of Cage's solo piece…
John Cage Shock Vol. 3
The final CD of the John Cage Shock series features John Cage's 0'00" (1962), also referred to as 4'33" No. 2, performed by the composer, with daily activities such as writing and drinking coffee amplified by contact microphones into sonic abstraction, following the score's directions: "with maximum amplification (no feedback), perform a disciplined action." Next is Composition II for 2 Pianos (1960/1961) by Michael von Biel, lovely and sparse, performed by David Tudor and Toshi Ichiyanagi. …
Funakakushi (1963)
**2022 stock "Funakakushi" [1]: This electronic work was composed for the opening ceremony of the hotel "Funakakushi-en" in Kagawa prefecture in 1963. It was realized as a sound installation and used many speakers inside a built-in stone sculpture. They were designed by sculptor Mitsu-aki Sora (b. 1933) and were arranged here and there in the main garden of the hotel. The sound was made from a modified Japanese traditional instrument, biwa, as well as from a sea wave sound [2]. The engineer Juno…
A Group for Experimental Music
In the mid 1960’s, there was a collective of contemporary musicians in Osaka, called Art Zyklus. Because Hajime Yamashita, one of the core members, had sold a part of his privately stored sound source over the Internet, the whole picture of amazing and completely unknown activities was revealed. The release compiled works created by Art Zyklus as well as Yamashita. Worth mentioning is that ‘Music for Electric Metronomes’ by Toshi Ichiyanagi was premiered in Japan. Apart from that, the fact that …
Event '73
"From 1972 to 1973, I was based in New York for my creative activities and live performances. New York at this time was in its golden age of experimental music. Towards the end of my stay, I held a live performance entitled Event '73 to sum up my creative works in New York. The venue for the performance was The Kitchen of the Mercer Arts Center that provided spaces for innovative and emerging artists. This CD consists of a mixture of sounds that were created at a studio prior to the live …
Early Works
Edition Omega Point presents a collection of early work from Japanese experimental composer Kazuo Uehara. "'Seoul 1982' was composed using recorded sounds as raw material to reassemble the 'historical' soundscape of Korea's capital city, Seoul, in the early 1980s. During this time, despite the political chaos and the tension in the city under the Korean military government, I felt the lively energy in people's lives. The raw material comprised a wide range of different sounds, including th…
Electronic symphony No.1
Little-known composer Hiroaki Minami was a professor of electronic music at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music and is a pioneer of synthesizer music in Japan. He built a private studio for his self-made synthesizer in his home in 1976, and shortly thereafter, he composed this piece, Electronic Symphony No. 1, filled with spacey and very noisy analog synthesizer sounds, much like Roland Kayn's '60s concrète works. Contains liner notes by the artist in Japanese and English; h…
Drip Music. Obscure Tape Music of Japan vol. 9
*2022 stock* This is volume 9 in Omega Point's Obscure Tape Music of Japan series. Yoji Kuri is one of the foremost and highly-regarded experimental animation artists in Japan, active since the early '60s. His name is well-known not only for his many works of "black humor" throughout the '60s and 70's, but also for the soundtracks to his materials, composed by avant-garde composers. Originally titled Synthesized Piano Space, it has been renamed Drip Music for this release. This new edition is co…
Music for Tinguely
This is volume 5 of Omega Point's newly-reissued Obscure Tape Music of Japan series, available in a limited edition of 1000 copies, also with an LP version in a limited edition of 300 copies. Toshi Ichiyanagi is a well-renowned Japanese avant-garde composer who made brilliant pieces of tape music. Most of his works have not been issued on CD, or have only been issued in very small editions. This CD consists of three of his obscure tape works. "Music for Tinguely" (1963) was made from the jun…
Pratical Concert 1976-78
GAP is an improvisation group which was founded by Kiyohiko Sano, Masaru Soga and Masami Tada in the Mid 1970’s. Gap had only one album on the famous ALM records, and from the early time, they played oscillators and synthesizers, adding to simple self-made instruments, and made a free improvisational performance which is comparable to Taj-Mahal Travellers. Especially for Tada who was under tutelage of Takehisa Kosugi, GAP was a missing-link which lead him from East Bionic Symphonia to Marginal C…
I Can't Promise
Recorded between August 24, 1983 and September 9, 1984.
Computer Space
Premiere release! Two sound compositions discovered at Toshi Ichiyanagi’s home in 2018 to be released for the first time! One is an unknown early work created on a computer and the other is material for an experimental short film by Toshio Matsumoto. Particularly, the former piece was revolutionary. the quirky sound he made on the computer at the time was unheard of especially because a computer could only create simple sounds then. Moreover, it also includes an unknown electronic ambient piece …
Environmental Music for Dining Room of Athletes' Village in Tokyo
From participation in the early Fluxus to giving an introduction of Futurism, Kuniharu Akiyama (1929-1996), a renowned music critic, was involved in a vast range of activities. Particularly in the 1960s, he recorded a lot of music on tape for himself. To our surprise, the music compiled on this CD was actually discovered from a series of ambient music pieces played in the Athletes’ Village at the Tokyo Olympics! During this period, Akiyama was fascinated by the sound of Sanukite stone from Sanuk…
Obscure Tape Music Of Japan Vol. 12: Miniatures Of Concrete Works
Edition Omega Point presents work by legendary Japanese composer Joji Yuasa -- one of most important composers in Japan after World War II. "Nadja, Twincling in Stars" (1963) is the incidental music, by NHK Radio, based on "Nadja" by Andre Breton who made "Declaration of Sur-Realisme." The actual chart of constellations was played by three players (violin, piano and vibraphone) which was used as the music score. Birdsong, electronics, and sound generated from inside the piano using music c…
Music for Puppet Theatre of Hitomi-Za
This is volume 2 of Omega Point's Obscure Tape Music of Japan series. Hitomi-Za is an experimental puppet theater group that still exists today in Japan. This recorded performance took place from February 13-17th in 1962 at Sogetsu Kaikan Hall. The program consisted of three parts, and Joji Yuasa, Kuniharu Akiyama and Naozumi Yamamoto composed background sound for each part. This CD consists of two works made from magnetic tape from among the performances. This is the world premiere release of b…
Electronic Works 2
"I’m going to talk about the works in this CD. It includes CIRCUIT I and CIRCUIT III, they belong to the CIRCUIT series”. CIRCUIT II was included in my "Electronic Works vol.1. I’m going to explain for those people who don’t know the "Works vol.1”. In the series of electronic music entitled CIRCUIT, the next work is created using the material from the previous one. At first I burn the precious CD into two CDRs, next I cross them and make new CIRCUIT music by using two CD-J players. Since this op…
Toshi Ichiyanagi, A Pianist
Limited 80 copies. V.A “Toshi Ichiyanagi, A Pianist” (special edition) CD+CDR
1_Table tennis performance at Katsumi Asaba Exhibition / 2009 / 13’57”Influenced by Asaba, who even coached a Japanese national team player, Ichiyanagi is also known as a very good table tennis player. A ping-pong table was also brought to the event and a demonstration was held before Ichiyanagi's performance. A contact microphone was attached to the ping-pong table where audience members, as well as Ichiyanagi, played…
Hommage to Home Electronics
"I have been interested in junk materials and have made sound works since several years ago. Before then, I listened to experimental music as a fan, but the border between music and non-music became meaningless from encounters with Fluxus, sound-art, media-art and others. Since then, I love the texture of sound itself. I collected abandoned analog televisions when the transmitting system of broadcast signals was changed to digital format in 2011. They are one of my favorite instruments at presen…