★EM Records
Beginning
"Beginning" is, appropriately enough, the world-wide solo debut by Japanese percussionist Mari Sekine. She has been active since 2000 with numerous groups and artists, as well as providing music for the theatre. This latter experience is particularly in evidence throughout this piece, with its dramatic shifts and changing scenery, forming a very visual and evocative music with over fifteen percussion instruments entering and leaving the stage in their various roles. Sekine' s voice also takes a …
Ecological Plantron
Ecological Plantron was a CD released in 1994, the audio document of an installation held in 1994 at a gallery in Tokyo. The Plantron is a bioelectric interface developed by botanist Yuji Dogane; it was designed to give voice to plants, using electronic means to make audible the energy of the natural world, prioritizing the non-human aspects of nature. Dogane was assisted in the project by composer Mamoru Fujieda, who helped to convert the vegetal energies into audible sounds. Though they stress…
Music for "Cyber Café"
Reproduction of the print pattern of the flyer for the "Ikebukuro Cyber Café" event held in 1991 on the cover, a center hole on the back side, a reproduction of the original cassette index of "Computer Café Music" and an IC board for electronic devices (the real one) are pasted on the front cover. The disc was mastered by D&M and cut at 45 rpm. An insert is included. Standard black vinyl pressing.
In 1991, Yuji Takahashi and Mamoru Fujieda collaborated in staging a sound installation at the Sezo…
The End of the Brim
At long last, Takao is back with his long-awaited second album, seven years in the making. His 2018 "Stealth" was (and still is) a much-loved set, mixing elements of ambient and environmental music; with this new release Takao breaks free of the gravitational pull of these earlier influences and strides confidently forward. "The End of the Brim" jettisons some of the more abstract elements of his previous work, embracing a "universal listenability" and a more concrete intensity, with a focus on …
Angels And Insects
This is the 30th anniversary CD reissue of an amazing and all-encompassing album by American composer and sound artist David Dunn, highlighting two extremes of communication: the supernatural, celestial names of angels; and the natural, subaquatic world of pond insects. EM Records is currently researching the rather unexplored domains of what can be called cyber-occult music, with an emphasis on the hidden, the enigmatic, the arcane; this release can be located at a distant edge of this area of …
The Water Garden
A buoyant masterpiece from the early 90s, "The Water Garden" was created by Okinawa-born Kojun Kokuba under the inspiring image of a "happy Asia" thriving in the sea-based trading networks of the medieval to pre-modern era, with the concept that various types of music, as well as physical goods, were distributed and dispersed across the seas connecting various parts of east and southeast Asia. Fittingly, the music here has definite and distinctive Ryukyu island roots, but is informed by a number…
Kyogokuryu-Sōkyoku "Shinshunfu"
"Shinshunfu" exists at a crossroads, a form both distinctly Japanese and distinctly "other", a complex blend of folk strains that is deep with emotional resonance and hard to place even for aficionados of Japanese traditional music.
"Of "Shinshunfu", only the drone of the shō and the occasional taiko hit appear in plain view. The exploration sits comfortably in the idiosyncratic sound world that Ken has been prolifically constructing for himself in the last few years (what he has come to call "…
Minami-kaze α Wave
This work is produced by Henry Kawahara, following the well-received Cybernetic Defiance and Orgasm: The Essential Henry Kawahara, and one of rare 'vocal pieces' produced by him is now available on one-sided 7" and digital.
"Minami-kaze α Wave (Southerly wind alpha wave)" is, as far as we know, the only 'vocal piece' that Henry Kawahara has produced, and released under the name HMD (H Music Deperception) in 1993. The song is a vocal version of the cyber-occult exotic instrumental piece "Nanpu" i…
Lam Phloen Songthaew Fanclub
A one-sided 7" single! A great and rare song, never before reissued, an early 80s electric molam classic produced by Surin Phaksiri. This release celebrates "Classic Productions by Surin Phaksiri 2: Molam Gems from the 1960s-80s", an upcoming EM Records compilation spotlighting this legendary producer; however, this song will not be available on the compilation, so get the vinyl or DL, and don't miss this groovily swaying paean to the pick-up truck share taxi, performed by Chabaphrai Namwai and …
Kajyadhi Fu Bushi
"This was traditional, transformative music, and music that made so much sense coming from EM's epicenter."― Matt Werth
Printed on special paper embossed with matte silver aluminium foil. Please consider the jacket illustration as an image as the texture of the original cannot be reproduced graphically. The disc is a translucent coloured disc with the image of the Okinawa sun.
A charming set of double transformations on this 7 inch. "Kajyadhi Fu Bushi" is a traditional Ryukyu minyo (Okinawa fol…
Yumi Kagura
"Deep session! It is rare to hear folk music from Japan in such beautiful fidelity and incredible dynamics. This recording is intensely gorgeous and hauntingly disarming. This should open up a whole new world of adventurous listening for folks outside (and inside!) Japan."―Brian Shimkovitz
"Sounds absolutely great! Super interesting and engaging."―Ben UFO
"Just Give Me That Old Time Religion, It's Good Enough For Me."―Japan Blues
A hotline to the gods! Kagura is a thousand-year-old form of Japa…
Classic Productions by Surin Phaksiri: Luk Thung Gems from the 1960s-80s
This collection of 12 luk thung (*1) songs from the 1960s-70s, all produced by Surin Phaksiri, is a superb showcase of cross-genre/multi-national fertilization, with Latin, jazz, western pop, Indian and Japanese music seamlessly melding with the musical culture of Isan (northeast Thailand), which is strongly rooted in Laotian culture; indeed, the Isan language, as featured in these songs, is a form of Laotian. Esteemed producer Surin Phaksiri, an Isan icon, always strove to drive Thai music forw…
![Stealth [Gold Edition]](https://cdn.soundohm.com/data/products/2025-08/MzUtODYzNS5qcGVn.500.jpg)
Stealth [Gold Edition]
Takao's new album is a rare attempt to recreate a previously released 2018 album. He has re-recorded his debut album "Stealth" and presents it here as a completely new work. This is a 50-minute full-length album with two new tracks, "Moon" and "Seven Sands". This new "Stealth" is subtitled 'Gold Edition'. The cover of the CD version is a swanky dual metallic silver and gold print. CD comes with a standard jewel case. Obi attached.
"Stealth" is the aptly-titled debut album from Tokyo-based compos…
Haiku In The Wide World
This is a lovely and surprising treat indeed. Composer andmulti-instrumentalist Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow and much more) partners with vocalist Atsuko Kamura (Mizutama Shobodan aka PolkaDot Fire Brigade and Frank Chickens) to present 37 compositions,expanding the usual sub-10-second acoustic life of classic haiku into avaried suite of compositions which place the gem-like poems, spokenand sung in both English and Japanese by Hodgkinson and Kamura,into gorgeous musical frames composed by Hodgkins…
Crystallization
A beautiful album re-emerges from realms of mystery! The long-awaited vinyl reissue of a Japanese neoclassical/experimental/new age/electronic music classic, originally released in 1978. ”Crystallization” is a work of unwavering perfection, whose sparkle has become even more brilliant over time, in the midst of the new age music revival that has emerged in recent years and the rediscovery of Japanese environmental music so-called Kankyō-ongaku. This was SAB's first and only solo album, recorded …
New Games / Rhythm & Sound
*2024 Repress. A new edition with changed details such as the back of the jacket and the label. Shrink packaging + sticker pasting.* "A miraculous object with a line-up of recording and mixing by Fumi Nishikawa, mastering and cutting by Rashad Becker, and binding by Tomoo Gokita. An instrumental group led by Koshiro Hino = YPY, Goat's memorable first LP is a reorganization of the best performances of the 1st "New Games" and 2nd "Rhythm & Sound". They create music with noises, muted sounds, and p…
Istikhbars and Improvisations
*2024 repress* Mustapha Skandrani. Besides having an excellent name, this man, a luminary of Algerian music, possessed a unique musical sense, able to transcend the borders of musical cultures to create a distinctive fusion of Arabo-Andalusian and European styles. "Istikhbars and Improvisations", recorded in 1965 in Paris, is a solo piano album presenting a trans-Mediterranean crossover based on traditional Algerian vocal pieces known as Istikhbars. Playing these istikhbars (which have roots in …
Nanyatoyara
The folk arts of Japan, including music, are an ever-evolving wonderland. Riyo Mountains, a Tokyo-based folk song research/DJ duo, is actively documenting the folk music of various regions in Japan; here they present the fifth in their series of musical documents on EM Records. This particular release focuses on the thunderous drums and powerful vocal phrases of the singular Nanyatoyara dance and song, featured at summer festivals in the northern prefectures of Iwate and Aomori, places with long…
Music for "Cyber Café"
In 1991, Yuji Takahashi and Mamoru Fujieda collaborated in staging a sound installation at the Sezon Museum of Art in Tokyo, making extensive use of the new artistic possibilities provided by the advent of personal computers. In this installation, a culmination of their investigations into the aesthetic use of new technology, these two renowned leaders of Japanese experimental music used sensors and transducers on objects and in the space itself, via MIDI conversion, to trigger pianos, synthesiz…
Emily's Illness
Comes with 6-page foldout sleeve, translucent blue vinyl. Including rare photos and lyrics. Originally released in 1967; Nora Guthrie’s ultra-rare “Emily’s Illness” is a lost gem of songcraft originally released in 1967, now reissued in the same 7″ vinyl format (b/w “Home Before Dark”) as the original. Featuring the pure vocals of the 17-year-old daughter of Woody Guthrie, “Emily’s Illness” was written by Eric Eisner (The Strangers) and impeccably arranged by Artie Schroeck. A romantic collabora…