★Ftarri
of rain
*2023 stock* "The four works for piano recorded on this CD were written between 2017 and 2021. All were composed using a random number method. More precisely, each of the sonic components of sounds made from random numbers was changed, based on my own sensibility, into another sound that I was happy with. This transformation was carried out little by little every day, like writing in a diary, resulting in the creation of each individual sound. I always write similar things in explanatory notes a…
Works for Piano
*2023 stock* "The four tracks on this album are piano pieces I composed between 2007 and 2018, performed by pianist Satoko Inoue. A live recording of a 2018 solo recital by Inoue-san has been newly mastered for this release. The three tracks other than "Containing Time" are pieces I composed for Inoue-san. Around 2007, when I wrote "Cosmetic Dance," I often went to her concerts, as I liked the way she played. One day soon after I'd finished the composition, I went to hear her perform. After the …
Andersen's Swan Song
*2023 stock* "I composed this piece in 2011 on a commission for the concert "Sonorous Solitude / Hidehiko Watase Solo Flute Recital," produced by image/air_ (Ippei Hosokoshi). The conditions were that the piece should be as long as possible and written for baritone (Homei Kamie) and flauto traverso (Hidehiko Watase), and that I could use any lyrics I liked. Simply put, the flauto traverso is an ancestor of the contemporary flute. First, Watase-san told me about the instrument's characteristics. …
Study In Fifths I (For Two Flutes, Keyboard And Electronic Sounds)
*2023 stock* Contemporary classical composer Masamichi Kinoshita was born in 1969 in Ono, Fukui Prefecture. He currently lives in Tokyo. Kinoshita regularly performs at Ftarri in Suidobashi, Tokyo. In February 2020 he held the first concert in the series "Ftarri's Harmonium," featuring the harmonium housed at Ftarri. The series has since continued at a rate of one concert every few months; the fifth was held on July 3, 2021. In each concert, Kinoshita (on harmonium) performs his own compositions…
Musical Procedure
*2023 stock* This CD documents a series of works that I call "Musical Procedure." In composers' usual works, the sounds to be performed are written in a score; but in these pieces the procedures (which could also be called programs, algorithms or specification sheets) for shaping music, such as performance methods and the general ideas of the works, are written as concisely as possible, and the type of sound to be produced is left largely to the performers. The score is merely an arrangement of …
![Paraphrase on Shichikushoshinshu [1664]](https://cdn.soundohm.com/data/products/2023-09/a1670394315_16-jpg.jpg.500.jpg)
Paraphrase on Shichikushoshinshu [1664]
*2023 stock* Published in the Edo era (1664), "Shichikushoshinshu" is a beginner’s guide to three musical instruments—the "hitoyogiri" shakuhachi, the koto, and the shamisen—which includes lyrics and fingerings for songs believed to have been popular at the time. Tai decided to create a new musical instrument in order to perform the shamisen music in "Shichikushoshinshu" (Japan’s oldest shamisen “scores”). The result was the self-made electric stringed instrument he calls the coiled cello. In 20…
Less Action, Less Excitement, Less Everything
The International Nothing is a Berlin-based psycho-acoustic clarinet duo formed by Michael Thieke and Kai Fagaschinski in 2000. They collectively compose multilayered sound sculptures using multiphonics, beat frequencies and difference tones as an integral part of their language. Both musicians might be known as improvisers but in this project they develop and perform exclusively their own compositions crafted with an extreme care for detail and precision. The duo's works have been released on f…
The Dark Side Of Success
The International Nothing is a Berlin-based psycho-acoustic clarinet duo formed by Michael Thieke and Kai Fagaschinski in 2000. They collectively compose multilayered sound sculptures using multiphonics, beat frequencies and difference tones as an integral part of their language. Both musicians are well known as improvisers but in this project they develop and perform exclusively their own compositions.
The duo’s progression from release to release is subtle, but with "The Dark Side Of Success t…
In Doubt We Trust
The International Nothing is a Berlin-based psycho-acoustic clarinet duo formed by Michael Thieke and Kai Fagaschinski in 2000. They collectively compose multilayered sound sculptures using multiphonics, beat frequencies and difference tones as an integral part of their language. Both musicians are well known as improvisers but in this project they develop and perform exclusively their own compositions.Every four years the duo releases an album on the Japanese Ftarri Label. In 2018 they are pres…
Just None Of Those Things
Just released, the 5th album "Just None of Those Things" by the revered psycho-acoustic clarinet duo The International Nothing
Ftarri Fukubukuro 2018
Fukubukuro are special surprise gift bags sold at stores in Japan at the New Year. This fukubukuro CD is being released by the CD shop/label Ftarri to celebrate its fresh start for 2018. Each of the 5 tracks is a solo piece by a different musician. Shuta Hiraki is an electronics musician who creates mainly drone music. He released the CD Unicursal on Kyou Records in 2017. Radio ensembles Aiida, a solo project by A. Mizuki, presents unique performances using shortwave radios as "instruments." Her…
Thought Is The Enemy
Krishnamurti is the duo project of Italian sound artists Giovanni Lami and Lorenzo Abattoir, who aim to create a new type of soundscape using the Indian drone instrument called the shruti box. Originally from Ravenna, Giovanni Lami has since the 2010s been known for diverse activities including his work in artist-in-residence programs, festival appearances, and exhibitions. In recent years he's released numerous recordings, especially from cassette labels. Lorenzo Abattoir, who lives in Torino,…
Ftarri's Harmonium
Why is there a harmonium (reed organ) at Ftarri? It all goes back to the Ftarri Festival held in Tokyo in November 2019. A quartet made up of Klaus Lang (harmonium), Johnny Chang (violin), Samuel Dunscombe (bass clarinet) and Michiko Ogawa (clarinet) was planned for the festival's final day, so Ogawa quickly purchased a used harmonium for Lang. As she lives in Berlin, Ogawa and Ftarri decided that the harmonium would be housed there temporarily and used in Ftarri concerts.Composer Masamichi Kino…
Trio (2CD)
These recordings were mostly made during the daytime at the residency place and concert venue Petersburg Art Space in Moabit, Berlin. While we were recording, people would sometimes show up in the kitchen area on the other side of the room for a coffee break, probably not aware that we were recording music for a potential album. Even though this could have led to frustration and many retakes, it ended up quite unproblematic, and it was nice how it made us aware of both the fragility of our music…
Dented Time
Jazz drummer Per Oddvar Johansen was born in Oslo, Norway, in 1968. He has earned six Spellemannsprisen, Norway's equivalent to Grammy Awards. One of Norway's leading drummers, he has participated in over 80 albums. In May 2018, Johansen came to Japan with his own trio. Paris-based drummer/percussionist Seijiro Murayama is familiar to Ftarri listeners for his many releases of solo and collaborative performances on the Ftarri, Hitorri and Meenna labels. The eight tracks on this CD (each 5 to 10 …
A Rose with No Name 'Sorry'
**Edition of 200** Tokyo-based sound artist and improviser Makoto Oshiro carries out live performances and installations in which he creates sound using self-made devices and remodeled pre-existing objects. Beijing-based musician/poet Yan Jun, one of the leading Chinese artists on the experimental/improvised music scene, creates music and produces installations freely utilizing electronics, field recordings and voice.
This album was studio-recorded on February 22, 2017, when Oshiro was visiting …
6 Chords
Guitarist Cristián Alvear was born in 1979 and lives in Santiago, Chile. Active on the international contemporary/experimental music scene, he has since 2010 released numerous recordings on labels in various countries. Musician and programmer Klaus Filip was born in 1963 and resides in Vienna, Austria. ppooll, the software he developed, is used regularly by many improvisers, including Filip himself.
This album is comprised of a single track of 40 min., 58 sec., divided into six parts. Klaus Fili…
Guitars
Taku Sugimoto is a Tokyo-based guitarist and composer. Improvisation is one aspect of his work, but currently his main activities are composing and performing composed pieces (including those of other composers). He continues his global and concentrated interaction with composers from around the world, particularly those closely connected with Wandelweiser. Ftarri had previously released two albums under Sugimoto's name alone—Septet (2015) and Quintets: Berlin, San Diego (2017). On both CDs, his…
In Cotton and Wool
** 300 copies** With his innovative performances, Berlin-based trumpeter Axel Dörner has been a leading figure on the improvised music scene since the 1990s. Internationally popular no-input mixing board player/improviser Toshimaru Nakamura structures sound by controlling mixer feedback. These two musicians released the CD "Vorhernach" on the Ftarri label in 2007, and In "Cotton and Wool" is their second duo album. The four tracks on this album (each between 7 and 12 minutes) were recorded in a …
Electric Powered Music Concert
This is the 2nd CD release commemorating the 6th anniversary of Ftarri,
the CD shop in Suidobashi, Tokyo. In recent years composer Masamichi
Kinoshita, cello player Tomoki Tai, and composer/computer musician
Takumi Ikeda have departed from their usual musical activities to hold
“Electric Powered Music” concerts–periodic improvised music performances
featuring electrical machinery and devices. These three plus guest
Takuya Harashima (biwa, flute, voice) performed together in an Electric
Po…