B-STOCK, Tear On Spine Latest release by shakuhachi player Kenji Ikegami, who fuses ancient Japanese ethnic music and ambient/experimental music in a unique worldview. Includes two long pieces with cellist Yasutsugu Seto, who inherits the spirit of Terry Riley, and UtaE, a player of the traditional Ainu instrument mukkuri. Produced by Chee Shimizu.

KENJI IKEGAMI, who digs out madake bamboo from the mountains and plays the jinashi shakuhachi he made himself; the long tones of the shakuhachi layered like Brian Eno's ‘Music For Airport’; cellist Yasutsugu Seto, who inherits the spirit of Terry Riley; and the ever-changing improvisations of the cello player UtaE. The near-futuristic drone ambient ‘Kannon’ floats with the long tones of the shakuhachi, and the transformative improvisation of cellist Yasutsugu Seto, who inherits the spirit of Terry Riley. The ethnic ambient ‘Raven’ is a perspective soundscape created by the shakuhachi flute, with UtaE's mukkuri vibrato pouring down like rays of sunlight. KENJI IKEGAMI's music breathes new life into the historical tradition of the jinashi shakuhachi, which began with the konmuso, while paying homage to it, connecting ancient and future time and space to the present. (Chee Shimizu)

Kannon is a duo piece featuring shakuhachi by Ikegami and cello improvisation by Seto Yasutsugu. The introduction of the piece, which evokes a landscape of bamboo groves, begins with a single blow of the shakuhachi, with the sound floating quietly like the murmur of a stream or the chirping of birds. The long tones of the shakuhachi are layered with reverberations, forming a drone. The cello, inspired by the melody, overlaps the melody in an unrestrained manner. The tones and melodies of the two instruments do not contradict each other, but quietly reach their peak while drawing a mysterious soundscape, which is eventually assimilated once again into the tranquil bamboo forest. RAVEN was recorded live at the Oneness Gathering festival held in Tokyo's Ooba Can Opu Village in 2021.

It is a duo performance between UtaE, who plays the mukkuri, a traditional Ainu folk instrument, and Ikegami's shakuhachi, or bamboo and bamboo. The ambience of the shakuhachi draws a perspective sound image, while the unique shaking of the shakuhachi's tone is used throughout the piece. The vibrato sound played by Mukuri falls like rays of sunlight in the centre of the sound.