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Music from Japan

Above The Desert
*50 copies limited edition* "Our intention is to affirm this life, not to bring order out of chaos, nor to suggest improvements in creation, but simply to wake up to the very life we’re living, which is so excellent once one gets one’s mind and desires out of its way and lets it act of its own accord". - John Cage "I recorded this album in the basement studio. I recorded the sound output from the guitar amp and the speaker. The sound seemed to be blowing. In this album I worked underground in th…
Hi-Nology
Gatefold packaging. Terumasa Hino is undoubtedly one of the most famous Japanese jazzmen. Learning the trumpet at the age of nine, he began his career as a professional musician by playing in the orchestra of an US Army base, before joining Hideo Shiraki's Quintet and then forming his own band in 1964. On Hi-Nology, his brother Motohiko Hino appears on drums, Hiroma Suzuki on electric piano, Kumitsu Inaba on electric bass and Takeru Muraoka on tenor sax. The inspiration from the "electric period…
New Jazz In Japan
Gatefold packaging. Nobuo "Hara," whose real name is Nobuo Tsukahara, is a Japanese saxophonist who became known in 1951 with his big band, the Sharp & Flats. Together they recorded more than a hundred album during their career. Hozan Yamamoto is, for his part, a Shakuhachi player, a traditional Japanese flute, enjoying such recognition in his country that he was awarded a Living National Treasure in 2002. The first record bringing together the two musicians is a live recorded in 1967 during the…
Into The Heaven
Gatefold packaging. Le Tres Jazz Club can't really say that Japanese jazzmen benefit (not justify in fact) from a great international fame. However, trumpet player Terumasa Hino is an exception, undoubtedly because since the '70s he has collaborated with numerous American musicians: Gary Burton, Roy Haynes, Herbie Hancock -- on Into the Heaven, which was released in 1970, Terumasa Hino is surrounded by the same musicians as on Hi- Nology (LTJC 016LP), released a year earlier: his brother Motohik…
Trinity
*2024 stock* Enja has released the live recordings of Masahiko Sato, one of the most famous pianists in Japan, at a broadcasting station in Germany in 1971, and this is a rare item that has only been released on CD once in the past in 1992.The performance by Sato, who came to Munich in 1971 at the invitation of Horst Weber of Enja, Peter Warren on bass, and Pierre Fabre on drums is truly a triumvirate of greatness!
Distant Thunder
*2024 stock* The Yamashita Trio on tour in Germany in 1975 had a miraculous encounter with free improv genius Manfred Shcoof! This is a too hot live recording of the live performance with Yosuke Yamashita, Akira Sakata, Takeo Moriyama, and Manfred Schoof, who responded aggressively with their whole heart and soul!
Paradoxa Paradoxa + Material Action for 2 Microphones
Tip! * 25 copies, exclusive Soundohm blue shell cassette / white shell cassette * "Paradoxa Paradoxa": first ever live performance of Merzbow, recorded live at Kid Ailack Art Hall, Tokyo, 22 March 1981. First time ever re-issue on cassette since 1988. An incredible visceral performance, remastered by Masami Akita himself. An incredible chance of owning this very sought-after material. + "Material Action for 2 Microphones", originally released as a cassette on Lowest Music & Arts, Japan in 1981, …
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SF Sayuki Starzinger TV BGM Collection
Soundtrack of Sci-Fi West Saga Starzinger, an anime series produced by Toei Animation. It was a sci-fi remake/adaptation of Wu Cheng'en's fantasy novel Journey to the West. It was directed by Yugo Serikawa and written by Leiji Matsumoto. It aired in Fuji TV in Japan from April 2, 1978 to August 24, 1979.
Landmarks
Following its release in the winter of 2018, "Landmarks", a collaboration between veteran ambient artists Celer and Forest Management, initially drew quiet accolades and a steadfast listenership that has since swelled to unimagined proportions (~20 Mil. streams), resonating with listeners perhaps now more than ever and cementing its status as an experimental classic.  Inspired by Paul Theroux's novel "The Mosquito Coast" and Peter Weir's 1986 film adaptation of that book, "Landmarks" sets out 14…
YaneUra Oct.’80
Les Rallizes Dénudés with Fujio Yamaguchi as a member, burst into a historic live performance at Shibuya Attic in October 1980, and this is finally officially released!
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京大西部講堂 1983.9.17 Live
Sta-Kaidan was a miraculous collaboration band formed by Michiro Endo of The Stalin and Jojo Hiroshige of Hijokaidan, which became the origin of the later "Kaidan Collaboration" series, such as SOB-Kaidan with SxOxB, Togawa-Kaidan with Jun Togawa etc. Recorded at the Kyoto University in September 1983 by one of audience, this legendary live recording in chaos and violent paformance, which had been out of print for many years after being released as a CD in 2014 to commemorate the 35th anniversar…
Best
of the crazy collaboration between Japan's world-famous King of Noise, Hijokaidan, and vocaloid Hatsune Miku! The first vocaloid to join the staircase series, which has seen numerous collaborations with Stalin, S.O.B, Atomic Bomb Onanies and even idols such as BiS and avandoned, is called "Hatsune Staircase"!  The first vocalist, Shiranabata Kamin, and the second vocalist, Rusha, have been performing live continuously and have gained many fans in Japan and abroad. This album is based on the jack…
Inside Richard Serra Sculptures
Pedro Vian and Merzbow release their first joint work, an unbounded expression of creativity and experimentation. Over the album's forty-minute duration, listeners can experience a blend of field recordings made by Pedro Vian at the DIA Bacon Foundation, specifically inside Richard Serra's sculptures. These recordings are interwoven with the ambient percussion and melodies characteristic of Vian's work, alongside the piercing and sharp frequencies produced by Merzbow, one of the most acclaimed a…
Tsubame: 13 Japanese Birds Pt. 12
This is December 2009's Bird CD from Merzbow. Tsubame is the 12th and 2nd to last in the series. Merzbow's 13 Japanese Birds is a 13 month series of releases inspired by Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue D'Oiseaux
PiaNoise
For decade, this collaboration was supposed to happen with Dapnom. Now, we enter a new dimension with my own piano ! We worked on this piece of crazy art last year, when the planet started to get wronger and wronger. This album is an ode to our ruin ! Even the most experienced ear will not come out of PiaNoise unscathed. Consecrating the meeting of two consummate artists, this release confronts their universe like a massive head-on shock in the eye of a sound storm by which we sometimes feel tot…
Live Improvisations
*100 copies limited edition* "The colours that appear in autumn are the soul of perennial transition and slow breath; once a chill sets in and the chlorophyll-green of the leaves migrates to the trunk of the tree, those yellows, oranges and reds emerge from chemical remnants that have in fact been there all along, awaiting their moment on the forest’s lissome stage. It is a graceful manner of self-sustenance for the organism, but a source of ineffable beauty for the observing eye. Potent, poetic…
Answer 81'
Here we have an early live recording of the legendary Japanese noise band Hijokaidan, commonly known as the "King of Noise," which was made during their performance at the "Answer 81" event that took place in 1981 in a location known as "Kyoto TakuTaku." Although the recordings of this event were originally featured on their first album, "Zouroku No Kibyou," even though it was only a section of the album, it has now been finally made accessible as an independent work together with the entire rec…
終末処理場 = Syumatsusyorijo
The long-awaited first analogue reissue of the legendary noise compilation album 'Doomsday Processing Plant', released in 1980 on Unbalance Records, which was headed by the late Naoto Hayashi of INU - Auschwitz! This album features three bands active in the Kansai underground scene at the time, which is referred to as so-called noise and industrial. The album was released two years before the famous "Hijokaidan" album "Zouroku no kibyou" (1982), so it is regarded as their first album. "NG" is a …
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Binomial Cascades
Tip! "I just released a new album as my solo project, Agencement. This is a follow-up album to 'Six Juxtaposed Works', which was released in 2017 on the Copenhagen label Tochnit Aleph. It's been about 35 years since I produced 'vinyl' by myself, so it's very emotional, although since the 1990s, it has become difficult to manufacture vinyl LPs in Japan and there were no channels to outsource overseas because I was disappointed in the situation. Musically, I think it's a further step in the direct…
Oersted
*Limited Edition of 299 copies. Black vinyl * Masami Akita's exploration of noise as a musical form has influenced generations of artists and reshaped the way we perceive sound in the context of contemporary music. Oersted stands as a testament to Merzbow's ongoing artistic evolution and his unwavering commitment to pushing sonic boundaries. This limited vinyl reissue, expertly remastered by the wizard of mastering, James Plotkin, with 299 copies available on black vinyl, is a must-have for coll…