Suche:kyo

In late 2023, Tokyo-based musician, Daigo Sakuragi, temporarily relocated to London, where he revisited material recorded with fellow Japanese musicians in Tokyo, drawing inspiration from the city’s energy, music, and atmosphere. This new perspective culminated in Togenkyo, a 28-minute work blending early 2000s folktronica and contemporary ambient styles. Sakuragi crafts immersive sonic textures with synthesisers and spatial production, while the organic groove of drums and bass anchors the piece, subtly inviting physical movement. Floating above this foundation, the saxophone weaves through the soundscape, leading the music with an elegant yet exploratory presence.

The session took place at aLive recording studio in Tokyo, with the following personnel:

Daigo Sakuragi: synthesiser, guitar, post-production
Jinya Ichikawa: bass
Shoei Ikeda: saxophone
Kazuya Ooi: drums

The lineup reflects a network of notable Japanese artists: Ichikawa, Sakuragi’s longtime collaborator in D.A.N.; Ikeda, known for his work with Maya Ongaku; and Ooi, a drummer for yahyel.

Sakuragi is best known for his band project D.A.N., where he contributes vocals, guitar, and production alongside bassist Jinya Ichikawa and drummer Teru Kawakami. Since its formation in 2014, D.A.N. has gained recognition for their unique fusion of indie rock/pop, dub, and electronic music. Under his solo moniker Daigos, Sakuragi explores electronic dance music through DJing and production, experimenting with Eurorack modules and samples in a refined, microscopic aesthetic. Recently, his creative output has expanded into diverse fields, including advertisements, artist collaborations, and films.

The term Togenkyo resonates with the concept of utopia, yet it diverges—it does not symbolise a flawless paradise but rather an attainable state of peace within oneself. Sakuragi reflects on finding his own Togenkyo in London, far from his hometown of Tokyo. The EP brings a sense of comfort and calm, reminding listeners that such a space exists not far from reach.

»Kyo Mu« and »Hochtöner« both reveal a mesmerizing symbiosis of innovative sound exploration and visionary interior music, a sublime compound of fine-drawn intricate arrangements skillfully projected in space and time, or perhaps beyond space and time.

Johannes Fritsch (1941–2010) was an award-winning composer, musician, publisher, studio owner, author and music teacher. He studied viola and composition with Bernd Alois Zimmermann and was member of the Stockhausen Ensemble from 1964 to 1970. Together with Rolf Gehlhaar and David Johnson (also from the Stockhausen Ensemble) he established the Feedback Studio Köln and the Feedback Studio Verlag, the first publishing house owned by composers in Germany.

Fritsch’s complex musical estate consists of approximately 130 works: it covers electronic music, chamber music, ballet, theatre and film music, organ compositions, an opera and pieces for large orchestras. Although Fritsch’s compositions are varied, all of them convey a strong interest in new sound combinations and sound colours.

Based on the Irvine Welsh novel of the same name, the film version of 'Trainspotting' directed by Danny Boyle became a cult sensation. Focused on the heroin subculture of Edinburgh in the 1980s, the film is occupied with surrealism, black comedy and features a great soundtrack. This album includes tracks from Iggy Pop, New Order, Blur, Underworld and many more.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the iconic drama, the original soundtrack is being reissued on CD and vinyl. Having been out of print for a long time, the 180g vinyl features replica original artwork that includes special silver spot finishes throughout - front, back, booklet and picture labels, as well as bright pantones. There will be a limited run on orange vinyl before moving to black once sold out.

Remixes of the recent Croatian Amor album "Love Means Taking Action" as a one-off limited pressing - please preorder.

KOIZUMIX PRODUCTION, a collaborative project between Kyoko Koizumi who worked under a different name in the 1990s and club culture artists and creators,
is finally being released in analog format. These two works, now difficult to obtain, are making their long awaited debut on vinyl.

The release is a complete analog version of the 1998 CD, which could be considered a KOIZUMIX PRODUCTION remix best-of.
It includes all tracks from the original CD, plus additional remixes that were previously available only on vinyl, compiled into a 2-disc set titled “89–99 COLLECTION”.

An’archives presents 'sensitive', a new album, and the first solo vinyl release, by Japanese keyboardist and synth player, Mitsuhisa Sakaguchi. A deftly assembled suite of glistening electronic tonalities, 'sensitive' is the latest in a lengthy run of excellent, idiosyncratic albums by Sakaguchi. A low-key yet productive artist, Sakaguchi has released banks of solo titles via his own Bandcamp page, and is also an in-demand improvisor for electronics: see, for example, recent collaborations with Yoshiki Ichihara ('TO(R)RI INFRANTA', 'Ftarri', 2025), Tatsuhisa Yamamoto ('non equal mad', self-released, 2020), and the - trio with Yamamoto and Uchihashi Kazuhisa ('self-titled', Modern Obscure, 2023).

'sensitive' is a startling album for many reasons, not least its rich attention to detail. Sakaguchi’s ear is sensitized to the complexity of electronic sonority, something he’s developed through decades of performance and improvisation, though he’s not limited to that language. “I mainly use multiple synthesizers and process the sounds with effects,” he clarifies, detailing his approach to his music. “I also use a lot of acoustic sounds such as field recordings and percussion; sometimes I also use sounds such as prepared piano.”

Indeed, you can hear this see-sawing balance between the electronic and acoustic written across 'sensitive' – see the activated cymbals that twist and stutter through the first half of “metatoxic”, which are soon replaced by a similar stream of burbling synth-flow. The opening “sensitive rot” folds field recordings into Sakaguchi’s electronic kit to such a degree that the differing forms dissolve into each other; on “green shrine”, the field recordings are more present, yet still poetically framed, taken as they are “from the mountains of my hometown, Yawata City, Kyoto,” Sakaguchi explains.

The tender balance achieved by Sakaguchi as he moves between practices, tonalities and temporalities helps manifest the guiding conceptual force behind 'sensitive', where Sakaguchi explores a cleansing reverie. “What I wanted to portray with this album was to create an album of sounds that shattered and reassembled my current ‘sense’ and ‘toxins’,” he nods, “along with the ‘nature’ around me. Electronic sounds, our bodies, the environment around us, and nature all blend.”

From there, Sakaguchi attempts a transformation, or transmutation – an alchemical process of exchange. “I am attempting to explore whether it might be possible for the sounds to come closer to each other,” he concludes, “or perhaps even to interchange places.” On the five pieces that comprise 'sensitive', you can hear this fusing and exchange. Inhabiting similar spaces as the music of Nuno Canavarro, Asmus Tietchens, Omit, and other like-minded visionaries, 'sensitive' traverses curious, quixotic terrain between electronic composition, electro-acoustics, and improvisation.

Alva Noto - Wave Weave – Sono Obi is the original soundtrack by Alva Noto, composed for a film by Carsten Nicolai.

- The project emerged from a collaboration with an 12th-generation kimono textile manufacturer in Kyoto, Japan.

At its core, the work explores the translation of sound into textile form: sonograms of musical compositions serve as the basis for woven structures, connecting acoustic frequency patterns with traditional weaving techniques.

Alongside the original soundtrack, the release includes an alternative soundtrack version and a photographic documentation featuring sonograms, soundtrack visualizations, and film stills.




Tracklisting
---------------------------------------------------------
Medium: 1 // Side: A // Track: 1

Artist: Alva Noto
Title: Sono Obi Wave Weave
Playtime: 00:22:00
Explicit Lyrics: No
ISRC: DE1N62600001
(P): 2026 NOTON

Composer: Carsten Nicolai
---------------------------------------------------------
Medium: 2 // Side: B // Track: 1

Artist: Alva Noto
Title: Sono Obi Landscape
Playtime: 00:06:10
Explicit Lyrics: No
ISRC: DE1N62600002
(P): 2026 NOTON

Composer: Carsten Nicolai
---------------------------------------------------------

■ Human is a deeply “human” cover album by Gota Nishidera (NONA REEVES), focusing on the world of 80s–90s Japanese kayokyoku and new music.
Following his well received 2023 solo cover album Sunset Rain, this new release features an unprecedentedly wide ranging selection of songs spanning works
by Kyohei Tsutsumi, Reiko Yugawa, and Eiichi Ohtaki, all of whom Nishidera either learned from directly or profoundly respects for their devotion to the study and
practice of pop music.

■ After experiencing major success across Asia including two China tours with NONA REEVES and solo performances in Taiwan Gota Nishidera revisited the essence
of Japanese pop music from a renewed perspective. The result is a meticulously crafted collection of eight ultimate tracks, tightly packed with the charm of Japanese
pop. Born in 1973, Nishidera absorbed the new wave of Japanese music that began in 1980 in real time, and here he updates that experience for the present day.
With arrangements and vocals filled with deep affection for the originals, he offers a modern and fresh reinterpretation of these classics.

■ The album is produced by long time collaborators Yuzuru Tomita, Tomoya Yamagata, and rising talent Yudai Ohi. On the track “Woman (from W’s Tragedy)”,
Nishidera performs a duet with Megumi Mashiro of Hicksville, a vocalist he has worked with for many years on NONA REEVES recordings and live shows.

■ Mastering is handled by ambient/balearic maestro Calm, delivering a stunning final sound.

■ The jacket design is created by Keita Fukumi, producer of the YouTube channel Gota Nishidera Channel NGC. Shot at Nishidera’s local barbershop in Sangenjaya
during his usual haircut, the artwork vividly captures the “human” essence at the heart of this project."

companion album to their 2024 debut on PPU.
mess/age is the music of Kyoto-based friends Khan Brown and Ohhki.

artwork by Munguni.

Haino sings. Hasunuma plays. It’s a minimal framework, but what emerges is a boundary-blurring sonic exploration. Across the album, Haino’s voice threads through Hasunuma’s layered soundscapes built from analog synths, electric guitar, piano, field recordings, and more. Haino entered the studio with only lyrics in hand, improvising melodies in response to Hasunuma’s evolving arrangements. The result is a work of deep trust, intuition, and sonic tension.

Keiji Haino and Shuta Hasunuma’’s creative connection began in 2017 with an impromptu performance in Shibuya—Hasunuma on a Buchla modular synthesizer, Haino responding with the Japanese national anthem, “Kimigayo.” That moment sparked their unlikely collaboration.

In 2018 Haino appeared at the Hasunuma-organized event “MUSIC TODAY IN KYOTO” at Rohm Theater, alongside Nobukazu Takemura, Manami Kakudo, Elena Tutatchikova, Kukangendai among others. In September 2021 during the pandemic, the two performed "U　　　　　　　TA" for the first time at in Shibuya. They began planning the album soon afterwards.

For the recording of U　　　　　　　TA, Haino entered the studio with only the lyrics in hand, with no knowledge of what sounds Hasunuma would produce. Responding to Hasunuma’s music in real time, Haino composed the melodies and layered in his voice on the spot. With additional sessions at Hasunuma’s private studio and Haino’s preferred studio, the album was completed.

All melody and vocals by Keiji Haino
All instrument, written, played, arranged, mixed and produced by Shuta Hasunuma
Recorded by zak at st-robo studio, Shuta Hasunuma at Studio i.M.O and windandwindows
Mastered by Rashad Becker at clunk
Production Management: Eishin Yoshida, Kento Ono (windandwindows)
For Temporal Drift: Yosuke Kitazawa, Patrick McCarthy
Art Direction: Aiko Koike
Special Thanks to Toshihiko Kasai, Ryoichi Kiyomiya, zAk, Yumiko Ohno
license

Seeking out the inspirational intersection between free improvisation, rave and ancient mysticism, Plants Heal deliver an album of kaleidoscopic, organic beatdowns to Quindi.
Plants Heal is a collaborative project between Dan Nicholls on synths, Dave De Rose on drums and Lou Zon (aka Louise Boer) on visuals. The roots of the project are entwined with Dan and Lou's London-based event Free Movements, which began in 2018 to explore how instrumental music could merge with live electronics and DJ sets. Dave and Dan found themselves playing together frequently at the event and as part of Dave's free improv project Agile Experiments, with their accomplished track records as multi-instrumentalists reaching across many layers of music culture. The particular synergy of their partnership taps into the subliminal, surreal and transcendental soundscapes, but they're reliably anchored by instinctive rhythms and driven by a natural flow-state.
From the tentative steps of their first collaborations, Dan and Dave coalesced Plants Heal as a more pronounced project with Lou's live visuals, culminating in a first self-released album in 2021 and since organically fed and watered through continued performances across adventurous festivals and intimate club spaces. Every incremental step along the path of the project yielded new surprises and the deepening sense of a unique, powerful energy. The trio opted to pour this energy into two days of studio sessions at Sonic Playground Studios in Athens, maintaining their unplanned approach and letting the music and visuals unfold in the moment. The end result is Forest Dwellers, a sincere document of truly free music that uses the rhythmic structure of dance and trance music as a springboard into heightened consciousness.
Throughout the album you can hear hints of the familiar - dub techno shimmers, trip hop boom-bap, kosmische momentum, snarling bass modulation, new age ambience and even the odd sizzle of disco. But none of these references are explicit, and they weave in and out of less placeable expressions deeply bedded into Dan and Dave's sonic practices. The end result is a swirling tapestry of unspooling groove, wide open and agile enough to shift gears mid-flow - just as comfortable letting the propulsion melt away as locking into a four-to-the-floor throwdown. From the slippery syncopation of 'Avena Moon' to the angular bait-and-switch of 'Alien Hardware', 'Yarrow's starry-eyed reverie and the rolling, warm-hearted funk of 'Space Ballad', the Plants Heal sound world is expansive and equally enthusiastic for immediate musical motifs as much as wild abstraction.
Lou's visual practice is an intrinsic part of the project. During performances she improvises with analogue footage from her library run through video mixers and synthesisers, focused on medicinal plants such as yarrow, hawthorn, nettle and thistle. All those plants feature in processed form on the cover of the record, which was designed in collaboration with Lou's brother Arthur Boer. Meanwhile, Lou recorded additional footage in Athens during the recording sessions to feed into the continued cycle of the project's live evolution.
Forest Dwellers' meaning honours this cycle and its reflection of the eternal undulations of the natural world. It's also a sincere tribute to the spiritual importance and radical potential of the dancefloor, drawn from the freedom taught by jazz and dedicated to reclaiming lost ideas about community, agency, bodies and the enduring allure of the unknown.

Since the late 1960s, jazz drummer Takeo Moriyama has been a dominant force in the free jazz scene, initially with the Yosuke Yamashita Trio, and more recently, collaborating with the KYOTO JAZZ SEXTET, earning respect from past to present. Recorded in 1980 with his quartet featuring Fumio Itabashi, this album is renowned for being the first to include the emotionally rich Japanese masterpiece "Watarase". Other highlights include the spirited "Exchange" and the beautifully poignant "Goodbye". Each track is a standout, offering a grand-scale performance where tranquility and movement organically intertwine, making it one of the top albums in the history of Japanese jazz.

Takeo Moriyama (Drums)
Yoshio Kuniyasu (Tenor & Soprano Sax)
Fumio Itabashi (Piano)
Hideaki Mochizuki (Bass)
Koichi Matsukaze (Alto & Tenor Sax, Flute)

In late-1970s Japan, a new and unique “genre” called techno kayō emerged, blending catchy pop melodies with the futuristic sounds of synthesizers and drum machines. Rooted in the older kayōkyoku style, it was influenced by European electronic acts like Kraftwerk, but had a distinctly Japanese flair. Artists such as Yellow Magic Orchestra pioneered this retro-futuristic sound, creating music that felt both nostalgic and ahead of its time.

Dubby, owner of the legendary record shop Ondas in Tokyo, was one of the first to make Japanese music available to the outside world. He has teamed up with Antal, co-founder of the Amsterdam-based, Rush Hour Records, to release the first in a series of compilations.

Artwork from Johann Kauth (Stenze Quo)

TECHNO KAYO

a long-awaited reissue of an ultra-rare 7-inch single, originally released as a promo-only item from handsome boy, the 1990 masterpiece by inoue yosui—widely regarded as one of the greatest singer-songwriters in japanese music history.

“pi po pa,” arranged by haruomi hosono and used in a tv commercial at the time, was featured on heisei no oto, a compilation released by music from memory. the album’s standout track, “shonen jidai,” remains one of japan’s most iconic and beloved songs.
also included on this 7-inch is “yume migokochi,” a pinnacle of japanese balearic sound, arranged by yuji kawashima—keyboardist of ep-4, a kyoto-based band essential to the history of japanese new wave.

and exclusive to this release is “kurenai suberi,” an overlooked gem that might best be described as inoue’s take on cold-funk.

remastered from the original master tapes by kuniyuki takahashi, and housed in the ori-ginal artwork.

"Three years ago, Jérôme Leclercq and I from Mediatoon Licensing came up with the idea of creating a cinema concert to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Naruto. Why a cinema concert? The music is part of the success of the licence and fans have a particular attachment to the credits and the original soundtracks. The originality of the music by Toshio Masuda, the composer of Naruto, comes from the clever mix of traditional Japanese instruments, such as the Shakuhachi or the Shamisen, with guitar and other pop/rock instruments. So we came up with the idea of bringing this music to the stage with a 50-strong orchestra, accompanied by an original montage of the best moments from the anime. This orchestra is made up of three parts: symphonic instruments, pop/rock instruments and traditional instruments.

To do this, we approached the ODINO orchestra and its conductor Sylvain Audinovski. The ODINO orchestra is one of those capable of mixing musical styles while maintaining a very high level of performance. We have also chosen traditional Japanese instrumentalists to complete the orchestra's core, especially for the show.

The arrangements and musical direction are the fruit of a collaboration between Quentin Benayoun, Sébastien Caviggia and myself. My two accomplices, with whom I formed the group P.U.S.S. in 2007, have a great mastery of rock and orchestral music writing. This mix is essential to keep the promise made to the fans of the series and required several months' work to select the music and write the scores for the whole orchestra.

How do you tell the story of Naruto to fans, but also to those who don't know the anime? That's the real challenge of this unique film-concert. How do you select the best moments in the story of this young ninja apprentice from the vastness of the first 220 episodes? Six months of selection and research enabled me to choose the key images in the narrative, while preserving certain dialectics to match the anime's incredible music.

This original film-concert, lasting almost 2? hours, is a real Rock-Symphonic show paying tribute to the work of Masashi Kashimoto and the music of Toshio Masuda."

Repress! Limited to 100 Copies


Garage Hermétique, returns with a new EP of music from Views, presenting the ‘Kyoto Love’ EP. An alias of Atilla Fidan - producer & live performer, founder of the Berlin label Tape Archive, and also known for releases as Waitress/ASWA - each of the four tracks hits a naturalistic groove driven by vintage Chicago-esque rhythms and warm, acidic tones.

On opening and title-track ‘Kyoto Love’, charming bird song flourishes into a rubbery bassline. ‘Go Well (Part 2)’ embarks on a similar tip, before loosening up into a soaring, somewhat new-age atmosphere, while never sacrificing it’s watertight drums.

On the flip, ‘Kimura’ and ‘Systems (Last Mix)’ move in deeper directions still; The former is a sparkling, detailed cut that rolls out nocturnal dance floor depth, while the latter rounds off the release with transcendent choral breaks.

Created around a conversation with his brothers, Alfa blends melancholy Jazz harmony with alternative hip-hop and soul.

After showcasing intense, edgy breakbeats on previous releases with Scuffed Records, FeverAM, and early reflex, Kyoto-based producer Naco returns with "Snakey," his first release in two years and a long-awaited comeback on his own label, 85acid. This essential collection features four cutting-edge bass mutations that push boundaries once again.

The EP opens with the title track “Snakey,” a minimal piece featuring a relentless, serpentine bassline that slithers beneath, grounding the sound in a hypnotic groove. It’s followed by "Anolon", a potent and minimal dubstep mutation, pulling the listener back to a sense of calm. In “Ows,” the energy intensifies with a stripped-back, industrial breakbeat that takes the BPM up to 155, where raw machine-like precision takes center stage. Finally, the EP closes with “Mappy,” a dancehall and hardcore-inspired offering where a simple yet addictive rhythm is layered with amen breaks and echoes of raves past.

Embracing a dangerous yet lush minimalism with an intentionally restrained sound, this release also marks a first for 85acid with the label's first vinyl pressing!

Adam Beyer shares his first collaboration with Brazilian superstar Vintage Culture, ‘Lift Me Up’ feat. Kyozo.The track has been brewing ever since the two artists crossed paths while touring and discussions soon turned to a potential collaboration. Passing ideas back and forward, ‘Lift Me Up’ took shape, before Kyozo’s signature vocals were added, with the British vocalist on their radar after link ups with Prof & Fitch, Aiken and Made by Pete. The final work is a pristine slice of dance music built for the summer festival season and reinforces Beyer’s continuing expansion and maturation of his sound palette, following the runaway success of his remix of Sharam’s PATT (Party All The Time) with Green Velvet and Layton Giordani and recent EP on Drumcode ‘Ghost Kiss’.‘Lift Me Up’ has soldered the relationship between Beyer and Vintage Culture, with the Drumcode boss playing the Brazilian’s So Track Boaevent earlier this year, with an anticipated B2B coming before the end of 2024.

29 Speedway is a record label and performance series based in Brooklyn, NY featuring forward-thinking improvisational music and live multimedia. Founded in 2020 by Ben Shirken a.k.a. Ex Wiish (‘Shards Of Axel’, Incienso 2023), 29S serves as a platform for artists exploring the fringes of interdisciplinary art and music. Hosting D.I.Y-guerrilla style sound and performance art concerts at Pioneer Works (NYC), Public Records, and in Europe in partnership with Index Records, they have worked with artists such as James Hoff, J. Albert, Yolabmi, Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe, AceMo, Flora Yin Wong, Nexcyia, Young Boy Dancing Group, UMFANG, Color Plus, Poncili Creación, Special Guest DJ, Arushi Jain, Drumloop, Isabella Koen, Ben Bondy, Kamran Sadeghi, Yawning Portal, James K., Syndey Spann, Debit, Pent and many others.

Resident Advisor called their most recent compilation record ‘Channel Plus’ “one of the most stunning documents of the ‘modern ambient-techno movement pioneered by labels such as Motion Ward and West Mineral’, with a focus on New York as well as a global outreach that encompasses chilled-out trap, electro, downtempo and even early '00s electroacoustic music”. Their debut solo artist release from J. Albert and Will August Park, entitled “Flat Earth” (2023), was based on free improvisation and ambient jazz, receiving praise from Philip Sherburne, Shawn Reynaldo, and was included in RYMs top EPs of the year. 29S has been written about on ID, Bandcamp Daily: Best Ambient, Boomkat, Paper Mag, Artnet, Dazed, Clot Mag, Nina Protocol, and Document Journal.

The newest release from 29 Speedway, UltraBody, is a compilation record featuring the music of Jake Muir, Pent & Dylan Kerr, Nexcyia & Mu Tate, James K, Flora Yin-Wong, Ex Wiish & Dorothy Carlos, Kamran Sadeghi, Tati au Miel, James Hoff, Eric Frye, Muein and Maxwell Sterling. The record is emblematic of the artists who have performed at 29 Speedway shows in New York and Europe during the past two years, and is the third in a series released by the label.

The record was born out of a desire to investiage how the self, spirituality, and language are intertwined with the intervention of subjectivity by new technologies. With increasingly sophisticated tech, and the supposed ability to remake the world and ourselves, what differentiates our individual discretion from the will imposed upon us by software? Quoting Walter Chaw from his piece on David Cronenberg’s Videodrome, “Decades of rampant, unregulated and ill-considered technological leaps have begun to evolve, to mutate, humans at a biological level”. This haphazard acceleration towards a techno-utopic transformation of humanity has faulted, and as William Gibson put it, is leading us to live in a “half assed singularity”. In this reality, artistic processes are influenced by excessive access to computational tools and assistance, but not utterly controlled.

This in-between state of dominion is explored in 29 Speedway: UltraBody. “Incoherences” samples the utterances of Dylan Kerr’s voice processed between Pent’s percolated glazes, muddying the gulf between vaporous ambient and reflexive sound design. The voice on James Hoff’s “A... ...Cha.... A... I feel l” was created by trying to get voice cloning technology to sing a gps data stream, the music an extrapolation from an earworm he got stuck in his head while shopping in Kyoto. On “Plogue Chain”, Eric Frye’s most speculative sci-fi observations spiral into a glazed pool of digital cacophony, while Kamran Sadeghi’s “Formula Fiction” is an experiment in (un)controlled generativity. Incorporating minimal pings from a 3D simulation scene based on gravitational interaction, cello bits evolve on “Assimilation”, a collaboration between Ex Wiish & Dorothy Carlos.

On UltraBody, sound has no separate existence from space.

After touring the globe showcasing their A/V moshpit-inducing live show, they are revealing their new musical creations to an unsuspecting public. Never Sleep are proud to present a landmark moment in the Japanese hardcore new rave scene. The blinding lights of DEATH RAVE point to an untraveled journey, a sci-fi fusion of black metal, gabber, cyberpunk, performance art and techno. It’s their first for the Berlin label (founded by Gabber Eleganza) following 2021’s EP Principle of Light Speed Variance. Full description VMO aka Violent Magic Orchestra break through the darkness and herald a spectacular mould-melting sound on their forthcoming album DEATH RAVE. After touring the globe showcasing their A/V moshpit-inducing live show, they are revealing their new musical creations to an unsuspecting public. Never Sleep are proud to present a landmark moment in the Japanese hardcore new rave scene. The blinding lights of DEATH RAVE point to an untraveled journey, a sci-fi fusion of black metal, gabber, cyberpunk, performance art and techno. It’s their first for the Berlin label (founded by Gabber Eleganza) following 2021’s EP Principle of Light Speed Variance. Ahead of the release VMO have brought their digital harcore to festivals around the globe, including Roadburn Festival, BANG FACE Weekender, Brutal Assault extreme music festival, Le Guess Who?, CTM Berlin and Dark Mofo. Their performance is the ultimate extreme visual music project in which techno, black metal, and industrial unite to create a ritual from the near future, 2099. All visual art and stage setting is provided by non-touring member, artist and programmer Kezzardrix (who has been visual director for millennium parade and BABYMETAL previously).The power consumption of a VMO show is equivalent to 56 guitar amplifiers, 5000W, a mind-expanding supreme noise and light experience. The band members all go by the names of classic black metal bands rendered in the Japanese katakana script; “ダークスローン”; “メイヘム”, and “エンペラー”. Their new LP is the first to feature lead vocalist ザスター. The record features guest vocals from extreme metal icon Attila Csihar, known for singing with Mayhem and Sunn O))). Other featured artists include Dylan Walker, singer of Full of Hell, punk-techno artist Infinity Division (aka Ash Luk), Icelandic darkwavers Kælan Mikla and Ican Harem of Gabber Modus Operandi. The result is a leap forward from their 2016 debut, where they have found a singularity where death metal meets Kraftwerk, or Rephlex goes black. Dressed in corpse paint and other hell-raising looks, onstage they are like “Shinigami (death gods) from the Death Note manga”. Singles Venom, Supergaze and Martello Mosh Pit featuring Gabber Eleganza have been released in the lead up to the record and have been shocking techno dance floors too with their hi-NRG-symphonic doom-gaze. They have shared their video for Planet Helvetech (here), created by Berlin-based Patrick Defasten. Helvetech combines the Norwegian word for hell (hevlete) with techno and is a reference to the infamous black metal shop founded by Mayhem’s Euronymous. It’s a song that imagines time travel from 2099 on the planet Helvetech (where VMO comes from) to 1990s Oslo. In 2023, they performed at the CTM festival in Berlin, as well as at Berghain, receiving rave reviews. At Sydney’s leading multi-sensory SOFT CENTER festival they drove the crowd into a frenzy on the 17 metre X 30 metre jumbo screen. They have also collaborated with artists, performing at the two day installation by the trailblazing Tianzhuo Chen - The Shepherd - at the Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival in 2021 here. At Sónar 2023, VMO provided the music for Taiwanese visual artist Yuen Hsieh’s work about virtual life after death DIGITAL AFTERLIFE AGENCY here. VMO will tour the world again for the new record, with appearances at ROSKILDE and media art and music fest Sónar 2024 announced so far and the DEATH RAVE experience getting bigger and bigger.

G Version III from Kyoto Japan arrives on Digital Sting via a correspondence going back a few years that grew out of mutual musical connections and a deep appreciation for the Jamaican soundsystem diaspora. G Version grew up with a love of Hip Hop, R&B, and Reggae and had a musical revelation at a Lake Biwako sound clash event as a teenager that was formative in spurring a deeper dive into Dancehall and soundsystem culture.

After some time spent studying in the UK and returning to Japan, working at Jet Set records along with meeting heavy weight producer Element the beginnings of her future musical output began to take shape. Downtime during the pandemic provided the time to concentrate on production. G Version's sound has a retro futuristic feel, equal parts Dancehall history and esoteric dub leanings, particularly in tune with the more experimental branches of 80's-90's UK Dub and Steppers. Influences being stated G Versions sound is thoroughly distinct and imaginative, not content to conform to any obvious genre tropes. Also included in this release are two dubs of G Version tracks by Digital Sting mainstays Feel Free Hi Fi.

G Version III- Scenery From Double Glazing DS008 Digital Sting Records

Mathew Jonson on The Nothing Special!

180g vinyl pressing.

During the late 2010s, music lovers around the world began obsessively listening to increasingly esoteric albums on Youtube. More often than not, they’d leave the browser on autoplay. This was how Facundo Arena, the composer and producer behind The Kyoto Connection, discovered the technonaturalistic pleasures of Kankyō Ongaku (environmental music), a distinctly Japanese interpretation of European, British and American minimalist composition and ambient music. “It was a kind of algorithmic magic,” he says.

Upload by upload, the utopian music of Hiroshi Yoshimura and his 80s Japanese contemporaries transported Facundo back to his childhood. When he was five, his father placed him in karate lessons and began watching martial arts movies with him. From those early experiences, Facundo became fascinated Japanese history, tradition, and culture, particularly that of Kyoto - the cultural capital of Japan. Kankyō Ongaku reminded him of hearing the sounds of Japanese folkloric instruments as a young boy, and suddenly, the way the influence of Japan had manifested in his music made sense. “I had the sensation that for many years, I’d been doing something similar to the style,” he explains.

Inspired, Facundo used an iPad and an old Akai cassette deck to record Postcards, his homage to Japanese minimalism and Kankyō Ongaku. By this stage, he was twelve years deep with The Kyoto Connection, the musical project he launched in 2005 in his hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Over that late 2000s and 2010s, Facundo, later on joined by collaborators Rodrigo Trado (drums), Jesica Rubino (violin) and Marian Benitez (vocals, now his wife), released numerous D.I.Y albums. Project by project, they followed the threads between 80s synth-pop, ambient, new age, house, techno and acoustic composition.

Postcards introduced The Kyoto Connection to listeners around the world and brought Facundo into our orbit. During Argentina’s covid lockdown, Facundo received a set of soundscapes recorded in Kyoto by the Japanese musician and sound designer Masafumi Komatsu. Over several insular months, he decorated them with synthesisers, samples and subtle rhythms, creating The Kyoto Connection’s next album, The Flower, The Bird and the Mountain to be released via Isle Of Jura offshoot Temples Of Jura.

Ostensibly made up of twelve distinct tracks, listening to The Flower, The Bird and the Mountain feels more akin to spending calm, meditative time in twelve specific environments. Although the foundations they rest on are recordings made in geographic locations around Kyoto, Facundo has yet to visit Japan. As a result, the landscapes he paints sit somewhere between fiction and fact, richly pictorial sonic imagination juxtaposed with echoes of reality. Regardless, as his bubbling melodies and glistening synthesisers glide against Masafumi Komatsu's recordings, Facundo guides us into a blissful zone of tranquillity well worth spending time within.

*2021 Repress*

Minami Deutsch 1st self-titled album. Minami Deutsch’s debut album is sated with an absolute love of Krautrock and the driving motorik beat.

=Band Description=
Minami Deutsch was formed by Kyotaro Miula (guitar, vocals, synthesizer) in Tokyo in 2014. Their sound is influenced by both their love for Krautrock legends such as Can and Neu!, and the band members being self-professed "repetition freaks" who heavily listen to minimal techno.
The music proceeds straightforwardly with the Motorik beat (Hammer beat), devised by Klaus Dinger (Kraftwerk, Neu!), as its central axis. Humorous, yet bizarre Japanese lyrics are whispered over a hard, cold beat that is maniacally repeated, creating a pleasant ambience of electronic pulses drifting in space. Sharp guitar tones reminiscent of Michael Karoli (Can) occasionally explode into fuzz distortion, on the verge of collapse.

Repress!

Berlin based duo Kyongpaul is a electronic producer and a live jazz drummer. Together they create an unique experience crossing Melodic Techno & House up to jazzy and piano influenced downtempo beats for fans of Kiasmos.

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A MAJOR EXPLORATION OF TOKYO'S CUTTING EDGE 80S SOUND THROUGH THE MUSIC OF CULT JAPANESE LABEL NIPPON COLUMBIA AND ITS BETTER DAYS IMPRINT, SELECTED BY BRITISH RADIO PRESENTER AND DJ NICK LUSCOMBE.

‘Tokyo Dreaming’ is a superb selection picked from the highly collectible Nippon Columbia label and its Better Days sub-label. For the occasion, we’ve teamed up with journalist and Japanese music expert Nick Luscombe who was granted rare access to the much-guarded Nippon Columbia's vaults for a masterful selection encapsulating the fascinating sound of Tokyo in the late 70s and 80s. The selection mixes electro, synth-pop, funk and ambient and features such artists as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Mariah, Shigeo Sekito, Juicy Fruits, Hitomi "Penny" Tohyama and Yumi Murata. The tracklist includes many sought-after rarities and hidden gems which have never been released outside of Japan and the set has been newly remastered by Nippon Columbia. The album has been designed by famed London-based designer Optigram and is annotated by Nick.

Nippon Columbia, one of Japan's oldest music labels is also one of its most collectible thanks to its sub-label Better Days which, in the late 70s, became a hotbed for Tokyo's new generation of pop artists eager to experiment with ambient, electro and funk. Armed with a string of new Japanese-made synthesizers and drum machines that would soon take the world by storm, they made cutting-edge music, which has since become highly sought-after by a new generation of Japanese music lovers. Nick Luscombe, who has long been a leading advocate of Japanese music from this era, has handpicked a selection of some of the sharpest music released on these labels at the time.
According to Nick, “Tokyo Dreaming is a look back to an incredible era of Japanese music, that still sounds and feels like the future. It was a moment when brand-new music tech from Japan helped forge new ideas and experiments that permeated pop, soul and jazz and helped create new forms of music including electro and techno. The perfect meeting point that would help create a new soundtrack for modern living.“
?The selection starts with "The End of Asia" by Ryuichi Sakamoto from his 1978 ground-breaking debut "Thousand Knives Of" (reissued last year by Wewantsounds). The track became a staple of Sakamoto's and YMO's live shows and was even re-recorded by the group for their 1980 album 'X Multiplies'. The track is followed by Mariah's cult Armenian folk flavoured synth pop classic "Shinzo No Tobira" (1983), which first spread outside of Japan when the Scottish DJ duo Optimo started playing the track regularly at their shows.
?Chika Asamoto's "Self Control" (1988) and Jun Fukamachi's "Treasure Hunter" (1985) are perfect songs in the synth-pop canon, while Yumi Murata's rendition of Akiko Yano's "Watashi No Bus" and Hitomi "Penny" Tohyama's "Rainy Driver" both from 1981, move closer towards the slicker, funkier sound of City Pop.
?'Tokyo Dreaming' superbly showcases the breadth of 80s Japanese music and the way electro pop was a playing ground for musicians to experiment with many styles, as showcased by Akira Sakata's dub-enfused "Room" from 1980, Kazumi Watanabe's discoid "Tokyo Joe" (1980) and Juicy Fruits' "kawai" robotic Techno pop song "Jenie Gets Angry".
?The selection flows effortlessly between many shades of synth and ends with two cult classics in the form of Yasuaki Shimizu's "Semi Tori No Hi" and Shigeo Sekito's ambient-jazz masterpiece "The Word II" from his highly sought-after album "Kareinaru Electone (The Word) Vol.2" which, although recorded in 1975, perfectly announces the synth revolution to come. Tokyo Dreaming showcases the groundbreaking sounds of a city turned giant sonic lab which was restlessly inventing the music of the future.
Nick Luscombe is a highly respected and in-demand music influencer who discovers great music from all over the world and shares it internationally through his many radio shows and DJ sets. He has been in charge of music selection for various radio programs since 1999, and from 2010 - 2019, was the DJ for the popular BBC Radio music program "Late Junction”. He has also curated and presented music shows for Monocle and British Airways radio stations. He has worked as both Chief Music Editor at iTunes and Director of Music at London’s Institute of Contemporary Art, and is the founder of MSCTY.

HNNYs big tune 'Nothing' from earlier this year now remixed by Kyodai alongside a killer unreleased latin house jam from Kyodai entitled 'Vengo Loco'.No fuzz...just a serious buzz on this one!
Limited stamped 12" ! .