Art Zyklus CD A group of Experimental Music – Edition Omega Point
In the mid 1960’s, there was a collective of contemporary musicians in Osaka, called Art Zyklus. Because Hajime Yamashita, one of the core members, had sold a part of his privately stored sound source over the Internet, the whole picture of amazing and completely unknown activities was revealed. The release compiled works created by Art Zyklus as well as Yamashita. Worth mentioning is that ‘Music for Electric Metronomes’ by Toshi Ichiyanagi was premiered in Japan. Apart from that, the fact that Yamashita founded his own electronic music studio was unprecedented at the time. Also, it was revolutionary that he generously showed his knowledge of electronic music by playing on an electronic device such as a self-built theremin, when performing a concert.
CD $20
Special ltd edition with poster & bonus CDR $42
Toshi Ichiyanagi CD A pianist – Edition Omega Point
The composer Toshi Ichiyanagi is, needless to say, also a pianist. We have collected recordings of h
is performances demonstrating his superb skills and ability. “Music for Piano No. 8,” on which he is
accompanied by Sumihisa Arima, a frequent collaborator, on electronic devices, is particularly note
worthy. His cool-headed improvisation in the gallery reminds us of David Tudor, with whom he shares
a deep resonance as a pianist. A rare recording of Sylvano Bussotti’s “Five Piano Pieces for David T
udor,” which was written specifically for Tudor, has also been recovered !
CD $20
Special Edition with bonus CDR $35
Toshi Ichiyanagi CD Computer Space – Edition Omega Point
Premiere release! Two sound compositions discovered at Toshi Ichiyanagi’s home in 2018 to be released for the first time! One is an unknown early work created on a computer and the other is material for an experimental short film by Toshio Matsumoto. Particularly, the former piece was revolutionary. the quirky sound he made on the computer at the time was unheard of especially because a computer could only create simple sounds then. Moreover, it also includes an unknown electronic ambient piece reminiscent of a bird tweeting as well as a reissued version of an accompanying single of a mythical self-published book, which inspired Yoji Kuri’s animation work known as “Tragedy on G string”!
Computer Space (1970)
There is a piece called “Music for Living Space” (1969), which recreated human spoken words. It is an electronic music piece that Ichiyanagi produced almost solely with a computer. “Computer Space” is created in the same era, therefore it was impossible to create a complexed sound. However, echoes and rapid pitch changes are heard in the middle of the recording (there is also voice like sounds intermixed). Since similar phrases are repeating, it is considered that he created various short phrases to edit on an analogue tape then bind them together. Sound materials for “Metastasis” (1971) It is considered as sound material for a short film by an experimental filmmaker, Toshio Matsumoto. The discovered sound material is only 30 seconds long, which contains two different electronics sounds. The (b) sound repeats more often as a part of minimalistic pattern to create a work of about 10 minutes. Using a fade-in/fade-out arrangement made me think it might have some special intention? title and year unknown These works archived in Sogetsu Foundation contain electronic sounds which are considered to be created by changing tones of real bird tweets. The sound repeats itself in a straightforward manner, while changing its foam somewhat. Originally, there are many pieces that last for 1 or 2 minutes. For this CD, some of them were strung together. A piece using parts of popular music that was created for Expo’70 Takara Beautilion contains similar sounds to that. Ichiyanagi also contributed another ambient music composition played on another floor of the building, however it is not included to this CD, according to the artist. For String #2 + Stanzas (Both in 1961, Simultaneous performance) This piece is the music used in the film however it is originally a recording of a public performance at Sogetsu Art Center and edited to a few minutes shorter. The original sound material was included in an accompanying single of a book, “Yabunirami-No-Concert”, which Yoji Kuri self-published in 1966 before he created an animation. This book contains 10 pages of a series of ink drawings, which is completely different from “Tragedy on G string”. This CD has a reissued version of the original sound material. The time could be between 1961 and 1964 when Ono was in Japan. It is considered that Kenji Kobayashi was on Violin and Ichiyanagi was on Piano in an internal rendition style were together with Yoko Ono on vocal.
$20
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