EM HHV Records 56 Items

A buoyant masterpiece from the early 90s, "The Water Garden" was created by Okinawa-born Kojun Kokuba under the inspiring image of a "happy Asia" thriving in the sea-based trading networks of the medieval to pre-modern era, with the concept that various types of music, as well as physical goods, were distributed and dispersed across the seas connecting various parts of east and southeast Asia. Fittingly, the music here has definite and distinctive Ryukyu island roots, but is informed by a number of other Asian musical traditions, layering phrases derived from numerous Asian scales, often altered by Kojun, eschewing typical Western chordal harmonic movement. Kojun uses the synths and multitrack recorders of the early 90s to, in his words, "pile up lines" in sweet and not at all overbearing melodic accumulations, with a desire to distribute and disperse a new energy from Okinawa to the rest of Asia and the world. Despite a pleasing and compelling rhythmic lilt and the use of synths and drum machines, this music was not created as a product for the dance floor; Kojun envisioned a type of electronic salon music, a "light music" made with contemporary technology. This is the first LP edition of the self-produced original 1993 CD release and includes bonus tracks and liner notes in English and Japanese.

This collaboration by Tokyo producers/musicians Shintaro Sakamoto (Yura Yura Teikoku, Mesh Key) and Videotapemusic, was the first of two EM Records 12"-only "tribute releases", in support of the film "Bangkok Nites", produced by Kuzoku. Based on samples from Dao Bandon [em1131cd/lp], Hongthong Dao-udon [em1142cd/lp] and Phairin Phonphibun [em1147cd/lp], Thailand and Tokyo dreamworlds meet in these songs.

"Transcendent Hawaiian vibes, in a mind meld suffused with Thai stick" - Japan Blues

2021 repress. New mastering/cutting at D&M, Berlin.

The KlapYaHandz label, a long-running labour of love helmed by Sok Visal, has been at the forefront of a revitalization of contemporary Cambodian culture since the beginning of the 21st century; it was the very first independent hip hop label in Cambodia, nurturing an ecosystem of rappers, producers and engineers, male and female, fusing hard-hitting Khmer-language hip hop rhymes with samples of Khmer traditional music and Golden Age hits, propelled by relentless grooves.

Returning to his Cambodian homeland after a youth spent absorbing hip hop in France and the U.S., Visal’s energy and focus inspired a new musical generation; his love of Cambodian music as well as hip hop melded with his ear for jazz, funk and soul, and led to the creation of some very cool music from the artists he brought to his label. The 12 tracks on this CD are the very finest from the first decade of the KlapYaHandz galaxy. Hip hop, yes, but very definitely Cambodian hip hop, with traditional and Golden Age musical elements very prominent. Very cool, very Cambodian, very cosmopolitan, and very contemporary, but the past is always present, a love of musical history lighting the way forward.

Housed in wide jewel case (12mm spine) with 36-page booklet including English liner notes (by Sok Visal and Sorany Var) and lyrics.

Compiled by Sok “Cream” Visal
Mastered by Young-G (stillichimiya / OMK) Cover art by Shinsuke Takagi (Soi48 / OMK).

Have you ever been to Miyazaki? It’s a prefecture on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, facing the Pacific. Palm trees. Humid subtropical climate. This is the home of Maple Fyshh, a musical artist whose late-80s/early-90s recordings have been collected and reissued here. Liberated by the advent of 4-track cassette home recording technology, inspired by a love of 60s pop oddball production mavens like Phil Spector and Joe Meek, as well as American hot rod and surf music, these Maple Fyssh songs glow with an outsider’s love of the transformative power of newly-available sound technology, allowing him to pull his inspirations across decades and oceans to his 1990s Miyazaki home studio. The tracks here are a d.i.y. dream-pop wonderland, compiling songs from his first LP “Mariko” and second LP “Dokitto Station!!”, both self-produced, both released in 1995. The A-side of this release features tracks from the concept album “Mariko”, a masterpiece of daydream pop introspection, recorded in 1994-95, inspired by a poem submitted to a manga magazine. The B-side features tracks from “Dokitto Station!!”, slightly earlier recordings that draw inspiration from a range of 60s pop including girl groups, surf music and acid folk. All the music here demonstrates Maple Fyshh’s deep understanding and appreciation 60s pop moves, and also his mastery of the limited technology at his disposal.

Remastered in 2024, the sound of Miyazaki has been reborn for a new audience. Available on Vinyl LP and download, with a DL card, English/Japanese lyrics and entertaining and informative English/Japanese liner notes by the artist.

This miracle piece was recorded and mixed by Bunsho Nishikawa, mastered and cut by Rashad Becker, and cover art by Tomoo Gokita. The memorable first LP by 'goat', an instrumental group led by Koshiro Hino, a.k.a 'ypy', is a reorganization of the best performances from their first and second albums, "New Games" and "Rhythm & Sound". They create music with noises, muted sounds, and pulsing sounds that are produced when the instruments are pronounced, and the nature of their expression inevitably makes performance a hellish ordeal for the performer by overworking the body and nervous system. The sound is imprinted with the urgency of a performer absorbed in their performance, and the vibrations of this tingling physiological state are clearly felt by the listener, and may even cause a sense of physical exhaustion, as well as mental fatigue.

This is a brilliant compilation of archived works by Hyu, a creator from Osaka who has left his works to the legendary Childisc label, which was presided over by the genius Nobukazu Takemura. 16 songs in total, including a cover of Happy End's "Kaze Wo Atsumete" (vinyl Only Bonus)!! This is an important archival release alongside Henry Kawahara, Surin Phaksiri, and Cycheouts, a compilation that deciphers the labyrinth of shocking works by Hyu, a creator from Osaka who released works on Nobukazu Takemura's Childisc and other labels from the mid-90s through the 2000s. The compositions are diverse and dazzlingly unique, including microtonal drum techno, robotic pop with human voice synthesis technology, shredding and splitting funk, a collection of swinging samples of sensory overload, a drone quartet of voices and generators, a sine wave as a monad, a quest for outlandish harmonics, atonal piano pieces inspired by literature, J-pop born at the extreme of self-referentiality, and a dazzling array of other works.

Electronic musician 7FO's first release on EM Records in a long time is a new tune and single that will change the image of 7FO. The new song, "Healing Sword," which the artist says they approached with the "feeling of being mysterious DIY musicians" (not a feeling, they actually are), was the first single song in 7FO history to be produced as a tribute to the 7" pop era and Joe Meek. "Surf synth acid dancehall rock!!" - Jackson Bailey (Tapes/Rezette)

2025 repress of the experimental ethnic ambient dub classic album from Osaka undergroud. First time edition with a DL code, wrapped in shrink + a sticker. This is warm, friendly, very relaxed music, very “understandable” and yet intriguing, sure to appeal to fans of electronic ambient, dub and chill-out music, as well as artists like Haruomi Hosono, Captain Ganja, La Monte Young, Equiknoxx and Tapes. The Osaka-based 7FO combines groovily sparse electronic percussion with similarly sparse dub-feel synth bass, as well as pentatonic synth and steel pan melodies, the latter with an intriguing Okinawa/Sunda/Malay feel.

Here is a hidden gem from the 1990s, a sparkling cyber-ambient-Mandarin pop collection produced by Henry Kawahara, the master of cyber-occult music, with silky vocals from Shanghai-born vocalist Xiao Yun Wu. Originally released on CD in 1994 on Kawahara’s own HMD label, the Xiao Yun project was launched by Kawahara and his trusted colleague Keisuke Oki, who plays keyboards on the album. Kawahara handled the production, along with guitar, keyboards and programming. And of course, the crowning glory is the voice of Xiao Yun: lovely, floating, ethereal. The singer arranged the songs, which range from versions of previously released Kawahara solo pieces to Mandarin pop classics. All songs are given Kawahara’s cyber-occult sheen, which may evoke visions of the cosmopolitan Asia of near-future science fiction. Available on vinyl and digital download, this album will transport you, via 1994, to a sparkling future. Xiao Yun are Xiao Yun Wu: vocals Henry Kawahara: keyboards, guitars and computer programming Support: Keisuke Oki (keyboards) and Keiichi Hasegawa (percussion) Produced and engineered by Henry Kawahara Arranged by Henry Kawahara and Xiao Yun Recorded at Ecosystem Sonic Division/Fukuoka, 1993-1994

“This was traditional, transformative music, and music that made so much sense coming from EM’s epicenter.” ― Matt Werth / Rvng Intl.

"The A side lurches at you like a self driving car crash of Okinawan traditional with Bernard Herrmann's Taxi Driver." - Japan Blues

2022 repress, comes with new cover art.

Printed on special paper embossed with matte silver aluminium foil. Please consider the jacket illustration as an image as the texture of the original cannot be reproduced graphically. The disc is a translucent coloured disc with the image of the Okinawa sun. A charming set of double transformations on this 7". “Kajyadhi Fu Bushi” is a traditional Ryukyu minyo (Okinawa folk song), a joyous celebratory classic which is usually sung at weddings, with lyrics describing how “beautiful buds unfold”, using the distinctive Ryukyu/Okinanwa pentatonic scale. Typically performed by a small ensemble of a singer accompanied by sanshin, the Okinawan precursor to the shamisen, the A-side is has been transformed by jazz musician and conductor Jun Arasaki and his group Nine Sheep, with five sanshin, four winds, piano, guitar, bass, percussion and drums. Played only once, unrehearsed but perfect in execution, for a 1976 TV broadcast, this release has been taken from the only recording in existence. The B-side is yet another transformation, a remix by the Portland “fourth world” duo Visible Cloaks.

This 2LP set and CD from EM Records chronicles the legacy of underground Japanese techno legends Cycheouts - pronounced ‘psyche outs’ in English. Originally formed in 1994, the group quickly became a centerpiece of Osaka's underground electronic scene. Led by main producer Akira Ohashi, Cycheouts melded influences from jungle, drum'n'bass, digital hardcore, and experimental noise music, all of which are explored in this compilation of tracks painstakingly selected by two true Cycheouts experts. Cycheouts' music and live performances went on to inspire a number of successful Japanese dance music acts, and can be seen as an origin point for the "nerdcore techno" movement of the early 2000s. This archive of the early work of Cycheouts provides an essential look at the birth and development of hardcore jungle in Japan, including multiple tracks featuring the full Cycheouts lineup with original vocals and multiple MCs. Most of these tracks are available on LP for the first time, and have been newly remastered for the format; the set also includes extensive liner notes in both English and Japanese.

2022 repress. Reissue of the legendary 5-track first LP from horn wizard & original underground FM radio DJ Young, featuring soprano sax, clarinet, and electronically-processed bass clarinet. An enjoyable outing from a neglected musician. Cosmic afro mimimal electronic winds recorded in late 1970s San Francisco.

Thankfully, Isophonic Boogie Woogie is as weird and as wacked as all the above business would lead you to believe. Originally released in 1980, Isophonic Boogie Woogie was the first realization of Young's unique version of free jazz music, which he referred to as "Afro spiritual minimal electronic space music" which on closer listening is WAY more spot on... Some of the coolest, weird-est, most far out free jazz we've heard for sure (Aquarius Records)

EM Records celebrates Roland P. Young’s 80th adventurous year on the planet with “Spontaneous Bounce”, the sixth RPY solo release on the label. After a musical youth in Kansas City followed by audio activities in San Francisco and New York and elsewhere, he began releasing self-produced solo music in 1980 with “Isophonic Boogie Woogie”, the title of which hints at the forward-thinking yet earthy nature of his sound, a soulful and spiritual multi-world avant-music, drawing on elements of ambient, jazz, soul, new age and electronic music. His ‘Isophonic Music’ concept crystallizes these elements through a comprovisational use of soprano sax, keyboards, drum machines and the possibilities of the recording studio. This release features 13 new pieces, a diverse array of appealing and joyful celebrations of music and life. Come and join the celebration!

EM Records celebrates Roland P. Young’s 80th adventurous year on the planet with “Spontaneous Bounce”, the sixth RPY solo release on the label. After a musical youth in Kansas City followed by audio activities in San Francisco and New York and elsewhere, he began releasing self-produced solo music in 1980 with “Isophonic Boogie Woogie”, the title of which hints at the forward-thinking yet earthy nature of his sound, a soulful and spiritual multi-world avant-music, drawing on elements of ambient, jazz, soul, new age and electronic music. His ‘Isophonic Music’ concept crystallizes these elements through a comprovisational use of soprano sax, keyboards, drum machines and the possibilities of the recording studio. This release features 13 new pieces, a diverse array of appealing and joyful celebrations of music and life. Come and join the celebration!

Special! Limited** One-sided 7-inch. Cover art is printed on specialty paper with aluminum vapor deposition.

"Minami-kaze α Wave (Southerly wind alpha wave)“ is a very rare ‘vocal piece’ that Henry Kawahara has produced, and released under the name HMD (H Music Deperception) in 1993. The song is a vocal version of the cyber-occult exotic instrumental piece "Nanpu“ included in the compilation “Cybernetic Defiance and Orgasm: The Essential Henry Kawahara” [em1197tcd/dlp]. This track is a rare example that proves he had also a genius for producing ‘pops’ in the general sense of the word, and which seems to have challenged head-on the pop songs produced by Haruomi Hosono or Tetsuya Komuro in the 80s-90s.

The Henry Kawahara project on EM Records was developed only with the enthusiasm of proving Kawahara's existence if he is to be erased as nothing in the current art context, and we have confirmed that there are a lot of supporters all over the world for our opinion when we released "Cybernetic Defiance and Orgasm" (several articles and interviews have been given). This single is a 'prescription' for the sequel, tentatively titled "Cybernetic Defiance and Orgasm 2: Other Sides of Henry Kawahara," which is currently in the process of being prepared.

This 7” is a limited one-off release, not included in the full compilation released in 2021

Ecological Plantron was a CD released in 1994, the audio document of an installation held that year at a gallery in Tokyo. The Plantron is a bioelectric interface developed by botanist Yuji Dogane; it was designed to give voice to plants, using electronic means to make audible the energy of the natural world, prioritising the non-human aspects of nature. Dogane was assisted in the project by composer Mamoru Fujieda, who helped to convert the vegetal energies into audible sounds. Though they stress that this is not music, the recordings that Dogane and Fujieda released are actually quite musical and not at all unpleasant in the way that some other non-musical sounds might seem. There is an attractive gentleness and an intelligent flow here, a vibrant energy, and one can sense that the plants are communicating, waiting for us to understand. This re-release features original and new notes in Japanese and English. The CD includes a bonus disc featuring unreleased recordings from two related installations from 1995 and 1997, a fascinating glimpse into the world of our leafy friends.

M Records again shines the spotlight on legendary Thai producer Surin Phaksiri in this second edition of his classic productions from the 1960s-80s. The first edition, released in 2019, focused on his innovative productions in the luk thung* style. This 2022 release features his stellar, glowing molam** gems from the 60s-80s, drawn mainly from his golden era in the late 70s and early 80s. Surin Phaksiri is a highly esteemed figure in Thai music, rooted deeply in his native region of Isan in northeast Thailand, a producer with a deep respect for the traditional artistry of his culture, yet always moving forward, looking outward, listening ahead. The molam style of Thai music showcases the voice; indeed, the genre’s name means “expert singer”, and Thailand is blessed with an abundance of experts, singers with amazing control, grace, vitality and finesse. This collection of 22 songs features 17 singers, ranging from venerated legends to unjustly unheralded masters of the art. These songs were recorded and released after the era of the 7" single; with the advent of the cassette boom in Thai music, most producers adopted a quantity-over-quality conveyer belt production style, churning out soundalike material to fill the expanded length of cassette tape. Phaksiri resisted these tides and continued to work with a single-song mindset, tailoring each production’s instrumentation and arrangement to precisely fit each singer and song. This care and integrity can be clearly heard in this sweetly groovy collection. These gems, originally released on 7", are all first-time official reissues, a project years in the making. Compiled by Soi48, who also provide liner notes.

A single cut from the debut album "Orca" by NTsKi, a Kyoto-based electronic music producer/performer. It is a 7" single that couples "Takao Remix", which was previously available only on the Japanese CD version of the same album, and the instrumental version by Takao. Packaged in a semi-transparent paper inner sleeve which slides into the center of a semi-transparent triple-fold paper outer sleeve. Silver vinyl. Mastered and lacquer cut by D&M Berlin.

"Yūtai-ridatsu ±", an album from Osaka-based electronic music producer Futoshi Moriyama. Initially released in 2015 as a cassette on the Birdfriend label run by Koshiro Hino (aka Ypy), augmented by four unreleased/new tracks which replace other tracks. Beautifully weird home-recorded orchestral music!

Here is a portal to a vast and relatively unknown world, the Japanese cyber-occult underground media scene of the early 1990s; our guide is the late Henry Kawahara, a media artist and electronic music producer whose expansive and visionary conception of digital technology merged with a desire to break free of the constraints of mere rationality.

This collection, the first-ever archival release of his work, is drawn from recordings released during the period 1991-1996, an exceptionally fertile time for Kawahara. Originally released on CD by a few Japanese independent labels including Hachiman Publishing, a cyber-occult / new-age / old shinto book specialist, the releases were available mainly in book stores, so this sumptuous and prescient music has remained relatively unknown. The original titles and tag lines of the CDs give clues about Kawahara’s interests and the music itself: Digital Mushroom, Subtropical Illusion, Never-ending Asia, and so on. This 15-track gateway compilation is available on double 12” vinyl and CD; the CD version has two extra discs featuring sound from two art installations entitled Dysteleology - α and Dysteleolog - β from the 1990s. All formats feature extensive English liner notes. Cover art by 2yang, with liner notes by Keisuke Oki and Koki Emura, with an interview of Sūgen Takeda (Hachiman Publishings)

"Henry Kawahara has been called “the Jon Hassell of Japan”, but upon closer inspection one finds that his work operates on very different terms. Like Hosono's forays into computerized Ryukyu folk “sightseeing music” or Tsutomu Ōhashi's Ecophony trilogy, Kawahara's world projected ancient musical traditions and notions of cultural identity onto the modern digital plane through a fusion of cybernetic thinking and pan-asian cultural introspection that makes Western attempts to do the same seem quaint in comparison. Kawahara's omnidirectional sound “illusions” were constructed not as albums but psychological experiences, billowing with a then-nascent notion of early 90s cybernetic spirituality that was proliferating on both sides of the Pacific as the hyperlinked state of global connectivity we know today was just beginning to crystalize. Through digital representations of folk instruments, shifting Midi sequencing and custom binaural recording technology he aimed for psychoacoustic effect as much as artistic, all via a countercultural form of distribution untethered from the commercial expectations of post-bubble modes of artistic production. This EM collection draws out the best of his fruitful early-mid 90s period into a revelatory sequence, generously opening Kawahara's world to all." — Spencer Doran (Visible Cloaks)

Clan Caimán returns to EM Records for their second album, continuing the instinctive evolution of their music: a wordless, timeless, gently pulsing and sweetly melodic soundworld, based on composer Emilio Haro’s vision of a band playing the music of an imaginary undiscovered ethnic group. Woven together by Haro’s self-made kalimbafón, a tuned percussion instrument, these five Argentinian musicians also use threads of lap steel, guitars, bass and percussion to knit their beyond-genre textures, seemingly ageless despite being recorded in December 2019. Available on CD, digital download and 12’’ LP, the latter cut at Berlin’s famed Dubplates and Mastering. “Asoma” is perfect music for imaginary voyages during travel-restricted times.

Clan Caimán returns to EM Records for their second album, continuing the instinctive evolution of their music: a wordless, timeless, gently pulsing and sweetly melodic soundworld, based on composer Emilio Haro’s vision of a band playing the music of an imaginary undiscovered ethnic group. Woven together by Haro’s self-made kalimbafón, a tuned percussion instrument, these five Argentinian musicians also use threads of lap steel, guitars, bass and percussion to knit their beyond-genre textures, seemingly ageless despite being recorded in December 2019. Available on CD, digital download and 12’’ LP, the latter cut at Berlin’s famed Dubplates and Mastering. “Asoma” is perfect music for imaginary voyages during travel-restricted times.

Rising out of the bong haze, Thai master Juu4e is back with his second solo album for EM Records. Fusing hip hop and trap with a pan-Asian blend of influences and samples from the traditional and pop musics of his native country, as well as the musics of Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and other regions across the continent, “Crazy World (Baka Sekai in Japanese)” is an ambitious and sonically adventurous album alive with unexpected juxtapositions, deft production, irresistible grooves and a joyous heart. A true solo album, all the tracks here are performed/arranged/produced by Juu4e, with the final mix provided by Young-G of stillichimiya/OMK. With a versatile and playful vocal style, Juu4e delivers thoughtful, positive lyrics and intriguing imagery, dealing with issues both local and global, old and new, with themes of celebration as well as social criticism. Featuring a cover of a Taiwan pop classic by Teresa Teng, “Crazy World” is available on Cd/lp, and comes with informative liner notes and English translations of the lyrics. Cover art: Shinsuke Takagi (Soi48/OMK).

Liner notes by Takehiko Sato (Riyo Mountains) + English text & lyrics

Rising out of the bong haze, Thai master Juu4e is back with his second solo album for EM Records. Fusing hip hop and trap with a pan-Asian blend of influences and samples from the traditional and pop musics of his native country, as well as the musics of Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and other regions across the continent, “Crazy World (Baka Sekai in Japanese)” is an ambitious and sonically adventurous album alive with unexpected juxtapositions, deft production, irresistible grooves and a joyous heart. A true solo album, all the tracks here are performed/arranged/produced by Juu4e, with the final mix provided by Young-G of stillichimiya/OMK. With a versatile and playful vocal style, Juu4e delivers thoughtful, positive lyrics and intriguing imagery, dealing with issues both local and global, old and new, with themes of celebration as well as social criticism. Featuring a cover of a Taiwan pop classic by Teresa Teng, “Crazy World” is available on Cd/lp, and comes with informative liner notes and English translations of the lyrics. Cover art: Shinsuke Takagi (Soi48/OMK).

Liner notes by Takehiko Sato (Riyo Mountains) + English text & lyrics

Forty years ago this summer, Joy Division released what became their only chart hit, Love Will Tear Us Apart.

December 1982, Tokyo. Kiyoaki Iwamoto has a guitar, a simple rhythm box, a friend with a bass guitar, and some stripped-down songs, brazen in their post-punk simplicity, irritation and controlled aggression, yet full of sadness and resignation. Five songs, including a rearranged version of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” are recorded and released on a now extremely rare 7” record. This release, available on 10” vinyl or CD, features those five songs, along with a previously unreleased 1980 live performance by his duo Birei, as well as a 2020 reworking of “Love ...” , by the Japanese duo Chisato and Junta. Iwamoto was an enigma, active in the post-punk scene in Japan in the late 70s and early 80s, a member of Birei and founding member of Guys & Dolls with Tori Kudo (Maher Shalal Hash Baz); in the mid-80s he cut contact with his friends, disavowing his name and later performing under a different moniker. Liner notes written by Koki Emura, with English text & lyrics.

* This compilation, available on CD and double vinyl, features 18 tracks by Japanese artists, from 2013-2017, previously available only on hard-to-find cassettes on the Birdfriend label

* Compiled by Hino, who also provides liner notes and cover art

Never colonized, Thailand has remained purely itself across the years even while developing, evolving and selectively adopting international influences; the same can be said of Thai popular music, and can be clearly heard in previous releases of Thai music on EM Records. Perhaps the exception to this instinct of “pattana” (Thai for development or evolution) has been the luk thung genre, which, despite great forward leaps in the 1960s and 1970s, has been stagnant since the 1990s. New Luk Thung is here, however, as Juu and his friends update the luk thung genre with keyboards, drum machines, and samples from luk thung classics. Contemporary hip hop and trap are fused with luk thung and ramwong elements, as well as the traditional Isan/Lao instruments khaen and phin. Ex-biker Juu has been musically active since the 1990s as a respected rapper, musician and producer, relocating from Bangkok to the musically rich Isan region. His lyrics, in Thai, English, Khmer and Japanese, deal predominantly, humorously and punningly with ganja. New Luk Thung features 10 new tunes, recorded 2017-2019, produced by Juu and Young G (stillichimiya). Vocal guests include G. Jee, Chinza DOPENESS, Dengaryu, MMM, Big Ben, Mr. Maro and Young-G. Songs here include a tribute to Dao Bandon’ s 70s luk thung classic “Man on a Water Buffalo”, a theme song for the mystery group OMK (One Mekong), a cover of a hit from a 1977 film, and other new treats. Available on vinyl and CD with English translations of the lyrics and Soi48’ s liner notes. Cover art by Shinsuke Takagi (Soi48).

YPY is back with his third full-length album, his second on EM Records, following his 2016 debut Zurhyrethm, and 2020 on Where To Now? YPY is the solo alias of Osaka-based Koshiro Hino, who has honed his rhythmic instincts as leader of the acclaimed Japanese band goat and the sound installation/theatre project GEIST and Virginal Variations. His preoccupation with propulsion is on full display here, across five tracks of varying density and intensity, all thoroughly beat-oriented, with skeins of synthesized and sampled sound stretching to the horizon, rising from a bedrock of minimal drum machine pulses, all lovingly embraced in a cassette-borne sonic fug. The cover image and title hearken back to Hino’s past, with the image obscurely referencing his yesteryear green mohawk, and the title derived from Talking Heads, but this effervescent album, though recorded using cassette technology, is not a sad tale of nostalgia, rather a look at a present/pleasant reality. Cover drawings by NAZE.

Info coming soon.

Composed and produced by Mari Sekina, Lena Willikens
Mastered by Takuto Kuratani (Ruv Bytes)
Publisher: Eel's Bed Music / Golfen & Reiten (c)＆(p) 2018 EM Records
Special thanks: Tomoe Ura, Thomas Venker / Slave To The Rythm Unlimited

Comes in large format duo-case with 60 page booklet. Osharaku is a traditional Japanese form of musical entertainment, featuring mainly voice, shamisen and percussion, with a repertoire of folk and popular songs, performed by farmers and fishermen for local audiences. This compilation, 28 tracks compiled by Riyo Mountains, is the fourth release in the EM Records/Riyo Mountains Japanese folk series. These recordings feature legendary Osharaku masters, recorded in their homes, brilliantly capturing the casual warmth and vitality characteristic of the style. Osharaku is unique in its use of shamisen, originally an “uptown” urban instrument, in a “downtown” non-urban setting. These joyous tracks, all recorded in the 1960s and 70s, are available as a 2CD set or a single 12” vinyl LP, with English translations and rare photos. Cover art by Shinsuke Takagi (Soi48).

Riyo Mountains are a Japanese folk song research team formed by Mood Yama and Takumi Saito. They are resident DJs at the renowned party "Soi48" at Be-Wave, Tokyo, featuring music from all over the world. They produced the Japanese folk song mix-CD series entitled "Riyo Mountains Mix" and also direct the reissue series of Japanese folk music on EM Records, including the releases "Yumi-kagura", "Sakai Ishinage Odori”, and "Kizaki Ondo”. Riyo Mountains have appeared as DJs at many events/programs including NTS (London) and Japanese Bon-Odori traditional dance festivals. Their articles about Japanese folk music are now published serially in the Japanese web magazine “boid".

“Kizaki Ondo” is a folk song from Nitta Kizaki town in Gunma, north of Tokyo. Played annually by local performers at the Bon-Odori traditional summer dance festival, it features unabashed lyrics about prostitution along with a rhythmic drive sure to appeal to fans of contemporary electronic genres as well as aficionados of traditional musics. The first track is a wildly echoing vocal version recorded in 1980, redolent of humid summer nights; the second track, recorded in 1981, is an instrumental version, both by the Kizaki Ondo Preservation Society. The other two tracks are extensions of tradition, with Tokyo-based producer Clark Naito’s 2018 revisions of “Kizaki Ondo”, providing trap-inspired interpretations, with a vocal version using the original lyrics, along with a sweet instrumental take. This release, the third edition of the EM Records Japanese folklore series, directed by Riyo Mountains, is available on LP & CD, with English lyrics and notes, and rare photos. Evocative cover art by Shinsuke Takagi (Soi48).

This double A-sided 7" features two new cool, sophisticated and funky melodic pop songs from Bank. Tight bass lines, multi-hued percussion, snappily intertwining guitars, yearning melodies and clever production touches abound. These Tokyo veterans evince their love of all varieties of funky pop from recent decades in these two sweet sides.

The long-awaited, first-ever vinyl release from the Osaka-based band goat. The five tracks being compiled from their debut CD “New Games” (2013) and their second album “Rhythm & Sound” (2015). The titles of those releases provide a hint: a sense of joyful play within defined structures, and an emphasis on propulsive pulse and a prioritizing of pure percussive sound over melodic content. With guitar, bass, drums and saxophone, goat create music which is unlike any rock band, utilizing harmonics outside standard tonality, as well as clever muting, to craft the intricate, driven, forceful compositions of Koshiro Hino, aka YPY.

goat is currently going through a period of new development and further exploration of intertwining patterns of rhythmic repetition; this compilation is the bedrock. Superbly recorded and mixed by Bunsho Nishikawa, mastered and cut by Rashad Becker, cover art by Tomoo Gokita, this release will be a revelation for your turntable.

“goat's is a singular sound, improvised frenetic rhythms, reined in by weeks of rehearsal, until a monstrous battery emerges. See them live in Europe this summer and prepare to be absolutely blown away.”

"Rhythmic Brutalism" is the title of this release, available as two CD set or two separate 12 inch vinyl LPs; the title is also a very apt description of the music itself. Romania-born Alexandra Atnif is fascinated by the harsh, grey concrete beauty and minimally repetitive force of the brutalist post-war architecture of her homeland, and this fascination has given rise to the music here.

From Scratch was an innovative and highly influential New Zealand- based sound-performance group, making extensive use of found and re-purposed objects as well as custom-made instruments in their intricately interlocking percussion music. One of their signature instruments consisted of carefully tuned PVC pipes, played with foam rubber mallets, arrays of these feature prominently, along with drums and tuned percussion, in Gung Ho 1,2,3D, an extended composition which sumptuously investigates polyrhythmic relationships indicated by the number sequences which title each section of the piece.
Featured here is the original 1982 recording of the "8, 9, 10" and "9, 10, 11" sections of the piece, previously issued in 1988 by Flying Nun. Rounding out this 2LP release are three 2016 translations of the piece, based on the original score. Japanese group goat provides a driving rhythmic and mathematical analogue, which From Scratch's Phil Dadson, who provides liner notes, describes as "a fast-moving shadow, familiar in outline but from another world". German producer Don't DJ imbibes the tribal spirit of Gung Ho and its sense of ritual to deliver a hypnotic immersion, and Utena Kobayashi Group adds wordless voice-worlds and distorted blasts to the ever-onward mix, before a final tropical down-shift.

Two rare Thai treasures from the late 1960s. Hit covers of Japanese songs; pan-Asian music produced by the legendary Surin Paksiri.
A version of Soran Bushi, the traditional work-song of Hokkaido fishermen, Ya Deon Show was his first success, fusing a Luk Thung arrangement with a Japanese Dodonpa rhythm.
On the flip, a bi-lingual do-over of the 1968 smash by Pinky & The Killers, Sakura La Kon — Goodbye Sakura — featuring fine, bittersweet khaen.
Lovely picture sleeve, with lyrics and liner notes in English.

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 in 2015.

Brigade and Frank Chickens) to present 37 compositions, expanding the usual sub-10-second acoustic life of classic haiku into a varied suite of compositions which place the gem-like poems, spoken and sung in both English and Japanese by Hodgkinson and Kamura, into gorgeous musical frames composed by Hodgkinson. + Comes with DL card & an insert + English liner notes by Tim Hodgkinson

Clan Caimán, led by composer Emilio Haro, is a group from Argentina, but their timeless, organic music transcends nationality. “Pica-Pau” (woodpecker), their third album, is their most abstract and minimal to date, but this is not a cold abstraction nor an austere minimalism; the music here, with its focus on rhythm and texture, is warm and hypnotic, seeming to have existed forever despite the fact that it was recorded in 2023-24. As on their previous albums, all with EM Records, the music is driven by the kalimabafon, Haro’s self-made tuned percussion instrument. The kalimbafon’s patterns weave through waves of reverb-drenched lap steel and guitar, as bass undertow and sans-cymbal percussion allow the music to flow music inexorably forward, like a broad, timeless river. The compositions here have a feeling of being immersed in deep night, surrounded by life, away from the enclosed isolation of the urban environment. As with previous albums, the compositions are instrumental, the exception being the final song, a vocal version of the opening track, sung in a language invented by Haro.

Includes original inner sleeves and booklet.

Karavi Roushi and Aquadab team up again for an innovative hip-hop album! Karavi Roushi, the up-and-coming rapper who burst onto the Japanese hip-hop scene with his masterpiece “Kiyosumi Kurokawa,” has completed his remarkable and long-awaited new album “blade N.” Like the previous release, Aquadab was in charge of sound design, and this album, created through a close interactive relationship between the rapper and the trackmaker, is a joint release by the two. The album also features Kuroyagi, who has performed with rawbai, Oriva, who sings emotional subtleties of the heart, and C.J. CAL of The Sexorcist led by Nipps, and on the sound side, Synthetic participates in one song as Co-Producer.

An extraordinary album where Algerian pianist and composer Mustapha Skandrani improvises and varies Andalusian folk melodies on the piano. Algerian classical music is a blend of Andalusian court music, originating from the Arab-Islamic rulers of Spain, and Turkish classical music, along with Western, African, and Jewish influences. Skandrani pioneered a style of performance, which was considered unconventional. Before him, solo piano performances were unheard of in Andalusian music concerts, and playing "Istikhbar" on the piano was revolutionary at the time.