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Mai Mao LP Ricshari – An’archives

Silkscreened jacket & obi (textured tan or black) by Alan Sherry, inserts and a postcard –

liner notes by Jon Dale, ltd to 285

An’archives are thrilled to announce the release of Ricshari, the first LP from Japanese free improvising duo MAI MAO. Consisting of Shizuo Uchida of Hasegawa-Shizuo, Albedo Gravitas, archeus, Kito Muzukumi Rouber, TERROR SHIT, UH, etc. on bass, and Kyosuke Terada, of HUH (who have their own release due on An’archives soon), TERROR SHIT, Bay City Rolaz, Praymate, The Obey Unit, etc. on guitar, they’ve previously released two wild cassettes, Curvature Improvement Plan (Haang niap, 2020) and Folk Dope Rally (2021), both documenting one-take improvisations from live gigs. Ricshari was recorded by Nobuki Nishiyama in January 2021, and is proof, if any was needed, that this duo is one of the most fiercely unique, out-there units currently extant – in Japan, or anywhere, for that matter.

The music of MAI MAO seems to proceed by opposites and juxtaposition, shifting from frantic, hectic runs of splattering note spray to moments of granular stasis, where Uchida and Terada coax their instruments into and out of deep wells of silence, or rest, temporarily, in a lagoon of fermenting fuzz. Spiralling kinetics are largely the order of the day, though – the opener, “Chew a flying flash prayer”, skitters here and there, guitar and bass jumping over one another in games of leapfrog and Twister, finding new ways to perplex and puzzle the listener, and perhaps each other in the process, Uchida and Terada fully committed to the short-circuiting spirit of the moment.

The energy here is hyperactive, but it also speaks of a curious and committed attention to improvisatory responsiveness, one that’s just as likely to fork off into different directions in a split second – it’s real edge-of-the-seat stuff, as though the hands are moving too fast for the mind to follow. That’s all the better, then, to let the gush of genuinely free-thinking, devoted duo improvisation to fly at its most playful and intelligent. File next to the likes of Davey Williams & LaDonna Smith and their TransMuseq companions, or the wickedly perplexing bass-synth/trombone duets of Dave Dove Paul Duo, and you’ve some idea of what’s going on here, provisionally at least, ‘cos this one’s an enthralling, yet welcoming, head-scratcher of the highest calibre.

OUT OF PRINT

Le Son de L’os LP “old Sun” – New vague records 2012

Le son de l’os could be seen picking up where Onna-Kodomo left off in the mid-1990s or early Nijiumu.

Current line-up is Yuko Hasegawa (Onna Kodomo), Shizuo Uchida (Kito Mizukumi Rouber / Hasegawa-Shizuo / Suishou No Fune) & Mashiro Deguchi (Gendai Sokkyo), the band was signed for a first album on P.S.F. 2 years ago. If you are in Nijiumu, in nighty improvisations, slowed down kind of blues or miniatures folk songs with bass,  vocals, guitar…

Ltd to 285, comes in a nice silkscreened cover done by Alan Sherry, dedicated to our friend Joel Nickelson who died before he had completed his first 2 releases on his label. Thanks to Alan who has helped Joel’s family to finish and sell this project along Majutsu No Niwa reissue

SOLD OUT

Naoki Zushi CD +CS box “For My friends sleep” Neurec

Comes in a 17 x 23 cm box

$40 we only have a very few

Naoki Zushi CD box “Nocturnes” Neurec

Comes in a 17 x 23 cm box

$32

Yuji Takahashi CD “Meikai no Heso” Edition Omega Point

A collection of small pieces of tape music by renowned composers, that haven’t been talked about very much. All of them are premiere release on disc.

tr.1 Yuji Takahashi (1938 -), Meikai no Heso (The Umbilicus of Limbo, 1963)

It is also known as Window to Antonin Artaud, or The Umbilicus of Limbo. it was performed in a version of tape and instruments – poetry reading of the French poet Antonin Artaud, which was modified on the tape, and bass instruments as well as percussion instruments. This is a live recording of Musicians Group: New Direction at Sogetsu Art Center, conducted by Toshi Ichiyanagi. At the beginning of the concert, Kuniharu Akiyama gave his commentary about the piece.

tr.2 Kuniharu Akiyama (1929 – 1996), Jo-un Keiji sho (1987) It is a segment of a body of work Sound Gift, that was commissioned by WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) for a show to celebrate John Cage’s 75th birthday. A short text, “Kumo Kumo-wo Joshi Keiji-suru (Kumo=Clouds, Keiji=Cage)”, which was a poetry reading by Akiyama, was looped in the tape, which then overlapped with Haiku about clouds (including English and German), words related to Zen ( in which Cage immersed himself), and sounds. By the way, an English version of Haiku was read by Ayuo Takahashi.

tr.3 Yoriaki Matsudaira (1931 -), Constellation (1984)

This is a work by using UPIC device developed by Iannis Xenakis (which can translate graphical images into sound). Here is Matsudaira’s commentary.

“I decided to draw the constellation which we can see in Japan, and chose to fade in colours depending on the brightness of each star. Each of us was supposed to indicate the tone by images, and I remember that I decided to divide the sky into four sections to change the tone little by little.

tr.4 Yoshio Hachimura (1938 – 1985), Catch in the air (1973It was produced in 1973 at NHK Studio of Electronic Music. Some Japanese traditional instruments, piccolo, tuba, violin, piano as well as electronic sounds were edited on the tape. Its sharp materialistic sound is characteristic of this composer.

tr.5 Toshi Ichiyanagi (1933 -), Music for Film Shikisokuzekuu (1974) The visual of Shikisokuzekuu is described as follows; A letter of Heart Sūtra is projected one by one on the screen rapidly. From the middle of the film, religious paintings appeared with subliminal effect, and flickering vivid colours were added. That gave the audience a dizzy sensation.” The music is mixed barbaric rhythm, electronic sound and Japanese traditionalnt.

$20

Special edition with bonus CDR $35

Somei Satoh CD “Echoes” – Edition Omega Point

Emerald Tablet + Echoes

$22

Kuniharu Akiyama CD “Environmental Music of dining Room” Edition Omega Point

$22

Joji Yuasa CD “Music for film Gengitsu” Edition Omega Point

In 2017, Genjitsu was shown at the Kobe Planet Film Archive. It is a film created in 1966 by a director Tetsuji Takechi, known as a legend of Showa eroticism. But this film has been hidden somewhere somehow from the public for a long time. The film’s story focuses around a prostitute and has a strong fantasy literature style to it as one may have guessed from its title Genjitsu (Sun dog; an optical phenomenon that consists of a light source alongside of the Sun in rare climate condition).

Actually, among some music tapes that I got from Mr. Yuasa, there was indeed one with the same title. However, since the existence of the tape recording was unknown at the time, I was convinced that it wasn’t “tape music” and I left it untouched for quite a while. Hearing news of the film screening made me check what is on this tape carefully. Overall, the sounds were “prosy” with a lot of silence as well as reoccurring sounds of a prepared piano and sounds created presumably by playing inside of the piano (it is likely to have been amplified). But they were also an accumulation of experimental sounds with elements of tape music such as parallel playback with vocal pieces, delay (or tape echo) and ring modulator. In chapter 2, female jazz vocal is inserted.

According to the Kobe Planet Film Archive, the following names are included in the players list. Toshi Ichiyanagi (maybe inside play of piano), Masao Yagi (jazz piano in chapter 2), Yasukazu Amemiya (percussion).

Fantastic !

Regular edition $20

special edition with bonus CDR $50

Joji Yuasa – Kuniharu Akiyama CD “Music for puppet Thetre Hitomi-za” Edition Omega Point

$20

Joji Yuasa CD “Ai no ue” Editions Omega point

2nd Edition

Aoi no ue composed 1961 for voice and tape and based on The tales of Genji written by Murasaki Shikibu in 11th century.
My blue sky (No.1) composed 1975 for tape.

Tape parts realized at NHK Electronic music studio.

Edition Omega Point Archive Series OPA-001.
Limited edition of 500 copies.

$20

Tomoyuki Aoki & Harutaka Mochizuki LP “Tomoyuki Aoki & Harutaka Mochizuki LP” Nashazphone

Vinyl LP pressing. Reissue of the now long sold-out debut album (2014) by the guitar and saxophone duo of Aoki Tomoyuki (Up-Tight) and Harutaka Mochizuki. Initially limited to 200 CD copies only, this record features nine, reverb drenched, mourning pieces characterized by this duo’s specific melancholic language via guitar and alto saxophone. Immediately evoking the Velvet Underground inspired electric and echo filled ballads of Les Rallizes Dénudés, it is also augmented with haunting horn improvisations simultaneously reminiscent of Anthony Braxton and Kaoru Abe.

This is one of my favorite album recorded in the last decade !

$23

Chie Mukai & Yonju Miyaoka CD “Songs of Trees” Tall Grass records

Comes in jewel case, with 8 page booklet and English translation kraft sheet.
artwork by Yonju Miyaoka
Lyrics translation by Alan Cummings
Long notes by Takuya Sakaguchi, Short notes by Alan Cummings and Yu Hirayama.

“Chie Mukai (Ché-SHIZU), an erhu player with a cult following in Japan and abroad, has been performing her unique style for over 40 years. And the newcomer Yonju Miyaoka, who has been quietly attracting attention both at home and abroad with his work on “Bunsuirei,” “Shuko No Omit,” and “Sayozoku”. These two artists of different generations, who naturally gravitate toward each other based on their aesthetics and sensibilities that they can somehow communicate without saying it out loud, have a chance encounter that transcends generations in their gentle, song-filled performances and mysterious songs. At times sharp and gentle, at other times fresh and simple, this is a journey into daydreams.”
Text by Tsunaki Kadowaki (Meditations). If there’s only one thing I can add is how I’d have loved to have it released on An’archives….

$15

Sayozoku CD “星 Studio” Tall Grass records

Sayaka Tenjin – vocal, percussion, instruments
Yonju Miyaoka – vocal, guitar
Yasuo Kikuchi – Bass

$12

Preorder, copies are on the way

Toshi Ichiyanagi- Michael Ranta – Takehisa Kosugi LP ‘Iskra 1975’ Metaphon

Toshi Ichiyanagi, Michael Ranta and Takehisa Kosugi originally got together in the summer of 1975 for an open-air concert in Sapporo. The concert felt like a great success but was unfortunately not recorded. As the desire arose to record together, they managed to arrange a studio session in the NHK Studio in Tokyo, with presence of sound engineers. What was supposed to be a soundcheck for this session became the session itself: a haunting 50-minute séance of intense avantgarde improvisation using a large instrumentation and live processing (tape echo, ring modulation, phasing). A trident travelogue of the momentum masterfully controlled by the ensemble spirit, transcending the boundaries of psychedelic underground.

Official reissue of this underground classic from 1975, originally released in a tiny edition on the small Japanese Iskra label.
As the original master tapes of these recordings seem to be lost, the master had to be taken from an unplayed original LP copy. It was carefully restored and mastered by Jos Smolders with amazing result.

$23