"1978 was a key year for Japanese music. Haruomi Hosono, one of the country's most innovative musicians had just formed Yellow Magic Orchestra pursuing the sonic experimentation he had started with his solo album Paraiso. The album, recorded between December '77 and January '78, featured both Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi. Hosono quickly invited both musicians to form YMO but before the group could release their first album, Sakamoto entered the Nippon Columbia studios in April 1978 with a plan...

Led by guitarist Kido Natsuki of Bondage Fruit, Salle Gaveau combines the art-music tango, as typified by the brilliant and famous work of Astor Piazzolla with a rock energy and zaniness. Using the same quintet musical configuraration as Piazzolla's...

"Though hes renowned for his roles in Acid Mothers Temple and Zeni Geva, and for leading the bands Koenjhyakkei and Koekyojinn, since 1985 Ruins has been Tatsuya Yoshidas primary musical outlet. Beginning in 2006, Yoshida would occasionally fill the vacant second slot with alto saxophonist Ono Ryoko, one of Japans most indemand studio musicians. Their duo, Sax Ruins, transforms Yoshidas compositions from heavy, nimble prog to dense, hyper kinetic big band jazz, not entirely unlike Sonny Rollins sitting...

Before the advent of the Japanese school of progressive rock music during the Eighties, represented by Gerard, Outer Limits and Pageant, among others, a certain number of local bands of great interest were already active. Amongst them, the name of Shin...

“The first international reissue of Ayako Shinozaki's Music Now For Harp released in 1974 by Nippon Columbia. The LP was released on the label's cult "Master Sonic" series and features Shinozaki's harp soundscape on works by renowned composer Toru Takemitsu and Katsuhiro Tsubono. The highlight of the album is the spaced-out, ethereal 25-min ambient epic "Heterodyne" featuring cult musician Takehisa Kosugi (Taj Mahal Travellers, Group Ongaku) on electric violin and sound waves.
Japanese harpist Ayako..

"Following on from the gutsy blues-rock groove of the band's first and probably only genuine studio release, 1971's Eve, Speed, Glue & Shinki's second release, originally released in 1972 on Atlantic and often referred to as Tiger, brought together a...

Very good new Japanese progressive/fusion band releasing their first CD. This was recorded live on 1/14/2002; it's hard to tell from the info here if this was their first gig or not. If it was, I am doubly impressed. Dual guitars (Hirofumi Okamoto and ...

Keiji Haino - guitar, voice, flute, taepyeongso
Aaron Turner – guitar
Nick Yacyshyn – drums
Brian Cook - bass

“Post-metal power force Sumac based around Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Gloom) follow up their collaboration with Keiji Haino, American Dollar Bill -- Keep Facing Sideways, You are too Hideous to Look at Face on (2018), with another monolith -- heavy and experimental at the same time.”

The famed and great vocalist for Can during their heyday has carried on for decades now performing improvised music with a revolving cast of players. This is his latest.

Dirk Dresselhaus/Schneider TM on the concert: "I find it fairly difficult to say something about how the music in this concert came about, cause we didn't plan or rehearse anything and hardly were able to hear each other on stage. Wherever it came from, the energy and course of this concert is very much based on group dynamics and

"The Japanese improvising rock trio of Kazuto Shimizu on keyboards, Nasyuno Mitsuru on bass, and Yoshida Tatsuya on drums performing live at Club Goodman in Akihabara, Japan, 2016 for technically superb, fast paced, turn-on-a-dime, joyful prog-oriented playing."

Legitimate vinyl reissue of this rare and legendary album. TMT was led by Fluxus member Takehisa Kosugi (electric violin, harmonica, voice, etc.) with Kyo Koike (electric double bass), suntool, voice, etc.), Yukio Tsuchiya (bass-tuba, percussion), Beiji Nagai (trumpet, synthesizer Mini-Korg, timpani), Tokio Hasegaw (voice, percussion), Kinji Hayashi (electronic technique), Hirokeszu Sato (percussion, voice). Recorded live at Nippon Columbia Studio #1, Tokyo, August 19, 1974. Four side-long improvisations...

Comes in a Stoughton "Tip-On" jacket with printed inner sleeves.

"The highly-anticipated reissue of Japanese percussionist Midori Takada's sought after and timeless ambient/minimal album Through The Looking Glass, originally released in 1983 by RCA Japan. Considered a holy grail of Japanese music by many, Through The Looking Glass is Midori Takada's first solo endeavor, a captivating four-song suite capturing her deep quests into traditional African and Asian percussive language and exploring...

''One of the foremost pianists of the 20th century, composer Yuji Takahashi makes a long-awaited return to solo piano composition along with intriguing works for shamisen, bass shamisen and sho (Japanese mouth organ), applying his own techniques to the...

Masayuki Takayanagi-guitar
Kenji Mori-alto sax, flute, bass clarinet
Nobuyoshi Ino-bass, cello
Hiroshi Yamazaki-percussion

"Masayuki "Jojo" Takayanagi (1932 - 1991) was a maverick Japanese guitarist, a revolutionary spirit whose oeuvre embodied the radical political movements of late '60s Japan.
Having cut his teeth as an accomplished Lennie Tristano disciple playing cool jazz in the late '50s, Takayanagi had his mind blown by the Chicago Transit Authority's "free form guitar"

“In August 1969, Masayuki Takayanagi formed his first New Direction group and embarked on an unparalleled musical journey that over the final 22 years of his life would define him as an uncompromising artist who would forge a visionary new musical language. Comprised of himself on acoustic and electric guitar and joined by Motoharu Yoshizawa on bass and Yoshisaburo "Sabu" Toyozumi on drums, Takayanagi's group created a new unconstrained form of music; It expanded on the most radical, fiery elements of...

"Digitally remastered edition. Hyperborea is the nineteenth major release and thirteenth studio album by Tangerine Dream. It spent two weeks on the UK album chart peaking at #45."

''A founding member of the Fluxus Movement with Takehisa Kosugi, Yoko Ono and George Maciunas, Yasunao Tone has been doing experimental sound pieces since the early 1960s. For the past ten years much of his work has centered on extending the possibilit...

This is drummer Yoshida Tatsuya (Ruins, Koenjihyakei, Korekyojinn), guitarist Uchihashi Kazuhisa (Altered States, Ground Zero) and pianist Mishiba Satoshi (who plays in the rock band "Kinniku Syojotai", who are a major, big band in Japan). This is ten...

Four new compositions exploring free jazz, Cagean dialectics and noise improvisation...beginning and ending with two of the most intense recordings Otomo has ever done, the centerpieces of this remarkable CD join the Cagean aesthetics of randomness and...

''Japanese Free Jazz has a history that goes back to the 60's, & Otomo's latest project brings together some of the best free jazz players in Japan with noise musicians Sachiko M & Akita Masami (Merzbow). Features 3 bizarre covers of tunes by Eric Dolp...

Katsui Yuji plays violin, keyboards and percussion (but mostly concentrates on very atmospheric synths and violin) and Mr. Bondage Fruit, Kido Natsuki plays acoustic guitar. While not ambient, it's surprisingly low-key.