Music from Japan

Tip! C.C.C.C. are legends of Japanese noise, and many consider their 1994 record Test Tube Fantasy to be their finest work, an unrelenting waterfall of psychedelic sound that stands as a genre classic. Originally released as a 7-inch on Ant-Zen, in 2020 C.C.C.C. member Hiroshi Hasegawa revisited the master tape that provided the source material for Test Tube Fantasy and remastered this longer performance into two 20+ minute tracks. This is an entirely reimagined version of Test Tube Fantasy that…

**2022 stock. Edition of 150 copies ** In November of 1938, Samuel Barber's 'Adagio for Strings' was broadcast on radio for the first time. It was regarded as "full of pathos and cathartic passion", and "perfect in mass and detail". While it was generally well-received, it was also criticized as "suffering from repetitiousness", and being "dull and utterly anachronistic." It is often labeled as 'the saddest music in the world', and is one of the most recognizable pieces of popular classical musi…

2025 Edition. 100 copies only! In collaboration with Wax Mage, Aurora Central brings you the definitive edition of Merzbow's groundbreaking album Merzbeat. Every copy features an incredibly beautiful hand-poured colored vinyl - each one unique - housed in an archival style sleeve and gatefold jacket, plus two inserts reproducing paintings by Masami Akita created around the time of the album's recording. Remastered by Masami Akita at Munemihouse, Tokyo 2021. Originally released in 2002 on Importa…

Tip! Spectacular live recording from 1986 of two seminal figures of the Japanese avantgarde - Akira Sakata on saxophone and Takeo Moriyama on drums. Mitochondria captures the reunion of the two free jazz masters, who started playing together in the Yosuke Yamashita Trio in 1972 until 1975. For both, the experience with the trio was an important step in the development of their own career and musicianship. The recordings are a remarkable performance in which each successfully highlights the essen…

*300 copies limited edition* »Hilt« is the first collaboration between Rudolf Eb.er and Will Guthrie who, based on their previous musical work, seem very different at first glance. However, it quickly becomes apparent, that the distinct approaches to composition and sound complement each other perfectly and make this album a very special and exciting affair. The closer you listen, the more you will be drawn into it and realize that the rhythmic drumming, the careful arrangements of hiss, crackle…

** Limited edition of 100 tapes, 50 on blue colored version (this one) and 50 on original colored version cover. ** Certainly Amlux is a very cohesive and well-constructed piece; starting more softly than usual, the record slowly builds into the chaotic harsh sound that Merzbow is well known for, but this time adding some actual recognizable music elements (like rhythms), and constructing various surprisingly well-texture soundscapes, that made of this album a more focused and immersive piece th…

** Limited edition of 100 tapes, 50 on original colored version (this one) and 50 on blue colored version cover. ** Certainly Amlux is a very cohesive and well-constructed piece; starting more softly than usual, the record slowly builds into the chaotic harsh sound that Merzbow is well known for, but this time adding some actual recognizable music elements (like rhythms), and constructing various surprisingly well-texture soundscapes, that made of this album a more focused and immersive piece th…

** Limited edition of 100 tapes, 50 Copies with yellow coloured cover artwork (this one) and 50 Copies with pink coloured cover artwork ** Introducing Masami Akita's homage to free-jazz. Door Open at 8am is one of the most adventurous outings made by Merzbow. Recorded during the same era as Aqua Necromancer, this new recording also incorporates the use of sampled sounds. However, this time Akita is paying homage to his love of free jazz, free-jazz drummers to be precise. It includes tracks such …

Rare CD by this trio comprised of Masayuki Takayanagi (guitar and effects), Peter Kowald (double bass) and Keiki Midorokawa (cello), recorded on April 29, 1983 in Tokyo.

**This version also includes the bonus disc JDR-0011 Endless Final featuring the last recording of Takayanagi** Jinya Disc presents a live concert by New Direction. The album includes the last performance of Action Direct and the last performance of Takayanagi's life. In other words, it is Masayuki Takayanagi's "remaining work".  An astounding force set free upon the world, heaving with life and fire, bound to stop even the most seasoned listener dead in their tracks It’s hard to offer a better …

2026 Re-issue. A cornerstone of postwar Japanese free improvisation, captured before three thousand listeners at the ninth Moers New Jazz Festival on 26 May 1980 and issued later that year as TBM-5023. By this point Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi had spent more than a decade refining his theory of mass projection - a model of collective improvisation in which the ensemble operates not as a sequence of soloists but as a single density field, modulating texture rather than line - and the New Direction…

"Hideto Kanai's first album is fairly hit-or-miss free jazz, but here he's in full-blown Black Saint and the Sinner Lady mode. There are twenty three musicians on this album (twenty three!), and while the undercurrent of free jazz is still running through, it's much closer to experimental big band or avant-garde jazz. And it's extremely compelling. Two side-long pieces, both of which go in and out of being quite elaborate and being complete chaos. There's some unusual and dissonant guitar and sy…

Nazlo Records presents Spell by Takahiro Mukai. Dubbed on fresh recycled tapes with white stickers and printed j-card, limited to 40 cover by Agendathnetaim.

*Edition of 200. Mirror cover, transparent vynil* "Beautiful release on Yan Jun’s Sub Jam label. Toshimaru Nakamura was the first one that I ever saw using a no-input mixer, already in the 1990s. What exactly Yan Jun’s open-input feedback means, I am not sure, but I love the noise coming from both! Some sounds are as if they come from distorted guitar, I hear earth hums and glitches, there are a lot of different dynamics and small events in the pieces, but all in all it’s enervating music that a…

This bundle includes the newest Urashima vinyl releases:Merzbow "Hybrid Noisebloom" (2LP)Masonna "Masonna vs. Bananamara" (LP)Merzbow "Hybrid Noisebloom" (2LP)**Limited Edition of 299 copies.** When it comes to Japanese noise, few projects have pushed boundaries or risen to a more iconic status than Merzbow. The mutant child of punk and experimental music, the project’s blistering sounds - as singular and wild as they are unique - are among the movement’s most important, definitive statements, c…

**Limited Edition of 299 copies.** When it comes to Japanese noise, few projects have pushed boundaries or risen to a more iconic status than Merzbow. The mutant child of punk and experimental music, the project’s blistering sounds - as singular and wild as they are unique - are among the movement’s most important, definitive statements, continuously laying the groundwork for countless artists who have followed in its wake. Like so many artefacts of Japanese noise, Merzbow’s output - often relea…

**Limited Edition of 299 copies.** Masonna, the moniker of the Osaka based artist Maso Yamazaki, belongs to the second wave of Japanese noise. The name alone, a pun on Madonna’s name by combining the Japanese words Maso (Masochist) and Onna (Woman), illuminates the wry humor and intensity that rubbles below his work.Masonna claims that his interest in making noise is rooted in childhood encounters with the sounds of destruction on tv. Initially playing in psychedelic rock bands, following encoun…

Cat's Squirrel is a live recording of Masami Akita & Oren Ambarchi's performance in Sydney, Australia in May 2012. Although Akita & Ambarchi have known one another since 1993 & performed together as part of larger ensembles, this was their first performance as a duo. Together they create a massive wall of sound that moves from the cavernous to the blisteringly psychedelic, laying down shifting low-end structures over which pointillist details ricochet across the stereo field. Akita & Ambarchi's …

"There is no argument; Merzbow stands as the most important artist in noise music. The moniker of Japanese artist Masami Akita has appeared on over four hundred albums since 1979. The name comes from German artist Kurt Schwitters' famous work Merzbau, in which he transformed the interior of his house with found objects. This is reflected in Akita's junk art / collage aesthetic. Other influences on the Merzbow philosophy range from ritualised eroticism (fetishism & bondage), surrealism to extreme…

This bundle collects the five recent Merzbow Box Sets released by Slowdown Records, contents are the following:   Arrangement (2006) (6 CD Box) CD1 15 August 2006CD2 27 August 2006CD3 BloodourCD4 Coma TestCD5 Yono’s JourneyCD6 Feedback Purple Yellow   Drum & Noise (2008-9) (6 CD Box) CD1 DrumorphCD2 Ensemble DrumsCD3 Arijigoku (Test Mix)CD4 Red BrickCD5 Groon LessonCD6 Pi-Eggplant   Horizon (2011-12) (6 CD Box) CD1 Insect 801CD2 雲の絶対値 Kumo No ZettaichiCD3 Sugamo FlowerCD4 Bit BluesCD5 Kotorhizom…