YPY
Be A Little More Selfish

tags: electronic, ambient, experimental, folk, japanese, thai, Japan

EM Records: ...from Beginning c​/​w Lena Willikens Remix, released November 23, 2018"Beginning" composed and produced by Mari SekinePublisher: Eel's Bed Music(c) & (p) 2018 EM Records

EM Records: ...EM Record's release of little known koto auteur Kōhei Amada continues the label's tireless mapping of multi-hued human expression, sitting outside genre convention and confusing record store clerks everywhere. "Shinshunfu" is sectioned into two parts: a more recognizable duet between koto and Irish harp, and a complete 180 into an elongated vocal piece repellent with droning shō and taiko drum bass hits. This concoction brings up familiar scents: Lou Harrison's small ensemble harp pieces, or a Japanese recasting of the Medieval troubadour songs performed by transcultural-minded early music groups like Studio der frühen Musik or Hespèrion XXI. Yet these comparisons are merely abstract, "Shinshunfu" exists at a crossroads, a form both distinctly Japanese and distinctly "other", a complex blend of folk strains that is deep with emotional resonance and hard to place even for aficionados of Japanese traditional music.SUGAI KEN's rework renders the source material almost unrecognizable, pushing even further in the non-deterministic, GRM-like meta-concrète direction of his recent work, jump-cutting in high definition between synthetic birdsong, haunted vocoded voice and arresting, back-of-the-head foley. Of "Shinshunfu", only the drone of the shō and the occasional taiko hit appear in plain view. The exploration sits comfortably in the idiosyncratic sound world that Ken has been prolifically constructing for himself in the last few years (what he has come to call "Japanese electronic-folklore"), just as brilliant as one would expect.

EM Records: ...Compuma, a.k.a. Koichi Matsunaga, reaches back through time to 1970s Hawaii to perform a mind meld, his old-school Roland drum machines and present-era compumagic vulcanizing and reshaping Haku's original home-grown analog synth madness. Not merely a remix, this a synergistic reconstruction, a transformation at the　molecular level in which Haku's source-code DNA is reborn on 12 inch vinyl.TRACKS:Side-A1. Compuma re-edit (11:24)Side-B (vinyl version only available)1. 悪魔の沼 Bonus Beats (Akuma-no-numa Bonus Beats)(5:29)2. ダミーOSCar Part 3 (Dummy OSCar Part 3)(1:17)3. 沼 SCREWED Reprise Dub (Numa SCREWED Reprise Dub)(7:46) Cover art: Tomoo GokitaDesign: Satoshi Suzuki

EM Records: ...Emerson Kitamura is here with the fifth and final in a series of 12-inch releases in support of the film “Bangkok Nites”. Kitamura is a renowned veteran keyboardist in Japan, having worked on countless sessions from the late 80s to the present. These self-produced tracks, featuring his trademark old-school rhythm box, feature instrumental and dub versions of Rungphet Laemsing’s “The Countryside is Great”, plus a bass music version of Angkhanang Khunchai’s “Lam Phloen Salab Khonsawan” and a cover of George McRae’s early disco classic “Rock Your Baby”, with mmm (mii mai moe) on vocals. Cover art by Shinsuke Takagi of Soi48.

Launched in an uncertain time, here are 12 tracks from 17 new independent Japanese artists, a physical release from a generation which has an online-release default setting. Not a scene document, not a label sampler, and not a showcase for a collective, this compilation features a selection of artists from all across Japan, selected by ex-Jesse Ruins producer CVN. These songs are snapshots of a sensibility shared by these artists: a love of contemporary electronic pop music, an awareness of melody, and an appreciation of the musical options provided by technology. Not techno or ambient, there is an emphasis on the human voice, with elements of hiphop, trap, EDM and bass music, all subsumed into multiple facets of a glowing electronic bedroom pop gem. Available on CD, vinyl and digital, with English liner notes, lyrics and artist information. These songs are seeds of hope for the coming post-pandemic parties.