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Release date : May, 23rd

Makoto Kawashima CD Arteria – Relative Pitch

Over the past decade, saxophonist Makoto Kawashima has consistently established himself as one of the most compelling improvisers in contemporary music. His unique approach to solo performance aligns him with the tradition of groundbreaking Japanese saxophonists like Kaoru Abe, Tamio Shiraishi, and Masayoshi Urabe. Operating at the fringes of improvised music, Kawashima’s artistry unveils a delicate essence, placing equal focus on silence and minute detail alongside intense expressions of tone and texture.

$15

Mamer LP 45 rpm with CD Desert – Guitar solo for reel to reel tape recording – Old Hevaen books

Mamer first became known as a dombra virtuoso and a modern master of Kazakh folk music. Over the years, he has evolved into a prolific and versatile artist, working across the boundaries of both tranditional and contemporary music. Mamer leads seven band projects: IZ, Bande, Mekrop, TAT, Mask, 51-Rayon, and Kunakar. He has released over 30 records, presenting a diversity of distinct styles including folk, ambient, industrial, noise, improvisation, and drone music.
“Every Mamer is brand new”. On stage, Mamer gives absolute control to his artist ego, surprising his audience in every next performance. An artist who refuses to repeat his past, Mamer creates, solely for the call of his inner world and the vast universe. The only tradition he commits himself to is that of innovation: electric bass, classical guitar, dombra, Dolan rawap, bouzouki, Jew’s harp… Mamer transforms every instrument in his hands, no matter classical or folk, into sound machines from a different planet, sending out outlandish harmonies made up of myriad sound particles. With a remarkably unwavering approach to composition and almost stifling calmness and self-restraint, Mamer has built up a sonic kingdom of his own: of darkness, profundity, and boundless mysteries.

LP $45 SOLD OUT

CD SOLD OUT

Mamer cassette Imitate sky – Old Heaven books

Mamer cassette Fake Jazz – Old Heaven books

Mamer cassette Dirty – Old Heaven books

Mamer cassette Underground Factory – Old Heaven books

$20 each

Takashi Masubuchi – Ayami Suzuki – Takashi Tsuda CD Rasenkiryu – Otooto

増渕顕史 Takashi Masubuchi : Acoustic guitar
鈴木彩文 Ayami Suzuki : Voice, electronics
津田貴司 Takashi Tsuda : Electric guitar with a bow, sound objects

Live recorded at Permian, on January 3rd and February 13th, 2022

Comes with a DL code and 2 bonus tracks

$17

Kotonashiso LP Umwelt, room

LP ltd to 300, black vinyl, 2 colors (blue, black & grey) silkscreened jacket with obi (black or dark

red , 2 inserts and a postcard

Label : An’archives Réf : [An’49]

Printed by Alan Sherry, liner notes by Jon Dale

Release date : April 4th, 2025

Contact – wholesale : anarchives@sfr.fr – anarchiveslabel@gmail.com – clerouley@free.fr

Shop in Paris & distribution in France : Souffle Continu

US : Worldgonemad

Home | WORLD GONE MAD DISTRO (bigcartel.com)

With Umwelt, room, An’archives releases the first vinyl LP by Japanese singer, songwriter and guitarist, Kotonashiso. An elegant collection of seven slow-moving, free-ranging song forms, Umwelt, room is reflective, pensive, and yet has a great, expansive sense of movement, each song’s parameters feeling almost infinitely flexible.

Born in Tokyo in 1984, Kotonashiso began playing music in 2000. After taking a long break from making music between the years 2005 to 2016, he returned with renewed focus, and over the past eight years, he’s toured Japan and Europe, performing in venues, street performances and open mic events. Currently, Kotonashiso plays either solo, on in three separate duos, with Sou Mori, 泥, and Hideya Kyooka, respectively. He’s not released much music, as yet – a single, “in the cavern”, with Sou Mori, in 2021, and a soundtrack to Hiroki Nakajima’s solo exhibition, Ray, the following year.All of this gives Umwelt, Room the feeling of a major statement, a debut shot across the void. The seven songs collected here were recorded in 2024, with a guiding principle, for Kotonashiso, being his desire to “[imagine] the time when people started recording blues and folk songs on analog records,” creating a ghost-like presence in the listener’s room. When talking about the songs on Umwelt, Room, Kotonashiso focuses on a number of concepts, such as prayer, tragedy, ‘the cycle of life’, and the disappearance of the gulf between fantasy and reality.

They’re songs with deep, rich resonance, performed without guile. You might be able to hear, at times, the fragility of fellow Japanese singer-songwriter Hisato Higuchi, or the bluesy touch of Loren Connors in the guitar. However, Kotonashiso’s aesthetic remit is wide, identifying with artists like Bill Callahan, Scout Niblett, Inukaze, and Tomoko Shimazaki, and sharing sympathies with “the psychedelic rock, avant-garde and ambient communities.” Ultimately, though, the pellucid, dream-like songs of Kotonashiso, somewhere between folk, pop and blues, sit, disarmed and lovely, within their own universe.

25€

Z.O.A LP Night’s Wanton Spider – Grand Fish

Last and final album by Japanese goth/avant-garde/progressive rock band formed by Seiichiro Morikawa (Chi To Shizuku) in 1984. Ltd edition, we only have a few copies

$38 SOLD OUT

Tori Kudo -2LP Studio Village Hototoguiss 2007-2022 – Bruits Direct Disques

Matsuyama in Ehime is the birthplace of haiku, and to this day, haiku submission boxes are placed around town. Young people gather in a haiku society-like manner. In other words, they observe and contemplate well, but their approach is generally instant, casual, and somewhat careless. There is a local disposition here, which they call “yomoda” in the dialect—a blend of humor and sadness. It’s as if they pretend to agree to demands in a laid-back way, all while delaying the big decision. It’s a matter related to the moment and ethics.

Near the famous Dogo Onsen is Studio Village Hototogisu, named after the magazine Hototogisu started by Masaoka Shiki, the father of haiku. The studio was once a large psychiatric hospital, which Mr. Tsuru, the owner, completely remodeled, turning the third floor into his music studio. Tsuru-san is both a psychiatrist and an avid enthusiast of classic rock. He’s a broad-minded adult who also accepts my type of music. About once or twice a month, I randomly select an instrument or device from his vast collection, gathers whoever happens to be around, usually his family, and in about two hours, we record and mix a piece. This album is a compilation of those recordings. The album cover is designed after Matsuyama’s specialty confection, “Ichiroku Tart.”

From around the time of the pandemic, I started layering his dobro guitar or mandolin over my tracks on purpose. The mainstream and the fringe—once opposing camps—merged after this pandemic, a convergence in rock history that’s etched on side D of this album, reflecting the current global situation.
Could a society of free-verse haiku poets sharing both love and resentment for Matsuyama be possible? It’s a question that touches on the future course of nationalism. (Tori Kudo)

A very few copies available $32

Izumi Hirakawa LP “3” – Enban

Last album from the the musician from Hokkaido (and she’s”s regularly play with Ikuro Takahashi), comes in a nicely handmade jacket.

Some lovely Lo fi pop songs with piano, violin and guitar, some strange arrangements with a 80’s feeling à la Luna Park Ensemble We only have a very few !

$48