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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…
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…
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 …
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 …
Shikisokuzekuu-Kuusokuzeshiki
The details of Shikisokuzekuu-Kuusokuzeshiki (1964) are unknown except that it was created at the NHK electronic music studio. According to Toshi Ichiyanagi, there were various discussions about the title, but it would seem to have been eventually broadcasted on the radio with the title Kuu after a producer renamed it. Here, the original title is used, following Ichiyanagi's initial intention. This work has no relation to the short experimental film Shikisokuzekuu (1974), produced by filmmaker T…
Echoes
*2022 stock* "'Emerald Tablet' was recorded at the NHK electronic-music studio in 1978. It is made up of only the sonic ingredients of a tubular bell, cymbals, and 'kin,' a largish-sized bell used for Buddhist memorial services in Japan. The attack of the sound of each instrument was eliminated, and the work was taped through repeated overdubbing. This produced a variety of beautiful harmonics that otherwise could not be produced from a single instrument's sound, and the interference of harmonic…
Obscure Tape Music Of Japan Vol. 25: Night Event At Festival Plaza In Expo '70
At the World Exposition held in Osaka in 1970, many multi-media works such as experimental music were presented at different pavilions. Some of the recordings were released on discs, however, the information was lacking what music was produced for what event held at the Festival Plaza. Although many sound sources were lost, we managed to analyze some part of treasurable recordings that were still available! tr.1 "Flag, Flag, Flag and Plaza of Light" (music: Yori-aki Matsudaira) The event was a …
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. 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. …
Extended Voices
Omega Point had obtained the original tape recording of "Extended Voices" composed by Toshi Ichiyanagi (first released by Odyssey/Columbia in 1967 on the compilation of the same name, alongside other pieces for voice & electronics by Pauline Oliveros, Morton Feldman, John Cage, Robert Ashley and Alvin Lucier). The piece consists of electronic sounds and modulated voices which are included on this album in two new 2014 realizations, in collaboration with Takashi Matsudaira, a baritone singer…
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…
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…
Music for Piano 1959-1961. Obscure Tape Music of Japan vol. 11
The Music for Piano series was written under John Cage's influence in his New York years. This CD is the premiere complete recording without simultaneous playing. The series was played and recorded by pianist Takuji Kawai at KEN in Tokyo in October 27, 2012. "Music for Piano No. 1-No. 7" was composed between 1959 and 1961. All the works were written using graphic notations (No. 1, No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6) and instructions (No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6). "This period of my compositions such as 'Music fo…
Aoi no Ue. Obscure Tape Music of Japan vol. 1
Volume one of Omega Point's Obscure Tape Music of Japan series, featuring Joji Yuasa's "Aoi-no-Ue" (1961) and "My Blue Sky" (1975). Joji Yuasa (b. 1929) is one of most important composers in Japan after World War II. "Aoi-no-Ue" was composed for experimental theater at Sogetsu Art Center. The sound of this work is made from the chants of Japanese traditional "Noh" theater. "The text is recomposed by me keeping the original words. And it was sung in the style of Noh-chant by three brothers ... Th…
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…
Kusabira. Obscure Tape Music of Japan vol. 13
One of the pioneers of Japanese electronic music, Makoto Moroi, composed "Kusabira" for Kyogen (traditional comedy theater) with electronic sound in 1964. "Kusabira" means "mushroom." A strolling Buddhist monk, Yamabushi, tried to exterminate many mushrooms that grew in the garden of a man's home. However, his magic did not take effect on them but also the Mushrooms began to increase. The man and Yamabushi were driven out of the home by a large Mushroom, finally. In this work, Moroi used abstrac…
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 Electronic Works
Born in Tokyo in 1948, Seiji Nagai studied drums in a music class when he was in junior high school. He op ened his eyes to free jazz and improvisation, started an improvisation concert with Tokio Hasegawa i n 1967, and played the trumpet as a member of the "Taj-Mahal Travelers" in 1969. After that, Mr. Nagai studied sitar at an music school in India. After he returned to Japan, he perf ormed sitar concerts all over Japan. He started composing on a computer around 1979, so this time his works wi…
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…
Early Sound Installations
* Special Edition is added a CDr consists of two tracks, sound installations at Striped House Museum and his important work in late years Background Music. Special brown box, limited to 60 copies * In the early 1980s, several artists such as Satoshi Ashikawa and Hiroshi Yoshimura, who were pioneers during the early days of Japanese sound art, began to display their works at exhibitions. Ashikawa, who passed away at the young at the age of 30, worked at Art Vivant, a store affiliated with the Sei…