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Tokyo Riddim Volume 2 1979-1986

LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Time Capsule)

Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Reggae & Dancehall

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Diving deeper into the story of Japanese reggae pop, Tokyo Riddim Vol. 2 explores an electronic, new wave and often experimental sound unlike anything Japan or Jamaica had ever heard before.

The first time Ryuichi Sakamoto left Japan, he did not go to the United States or Europe - he went to Jamaica. It was 1978, YMO were about to release their debut album, but Sakamoto was in Kingston, invited to play synths for Japanese idol singer Teresa Noda at Dynamic Sound Studios in a band alongside Neville Hinds and none other than Rita Marley. It’s not a story many know, but one which would spark Sakamoto’s fascination with dub and mark a new chapter in the ongoing Japanese love affair with reggae.

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Trust Masked Replicants

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Important)

33,99 €*

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Japan's long running masters of psych/kosmische jamming return to Important Records for a vinyl outing featuring beloved original member Cotton Casino.

Trust Masked Replicants finds AMT in fine form, creating experimental psych-rock improvised around skeletal compositions. The group's leader, Kawabata Makoto, holds the group together while they navigate chaos infused, drone based jamming at the outer edges of human consciousness.

Side B, featuring the 20 minute track Asoko Ananda, is a classic side-long fast paced AMT burner combining sped up kosmische rhythms, filter sweeps, free-jazz piano, tabla drumming and vocal experiments. Asoko Ananda utilizes many of the group's skills, ascending to the height of their collective, mountainous ability.

Channeling prog, krautrock, modern composition and noise, Kawabata Makoto formed the Acid Mothers Temple in the early 90's. The group has gone on to release countless albums while touring the globe.

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Anime & Manga Synth Pop Soundtracks 1984-1990

LP | 2022 | UK | Original (Time Capsule)

27,99 €*

Makoto Kubota & The Sunset Gang

Release: 2022 / UK – Original

Genre: Soundtracks

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Trailblazing instrumental synth pop experiments created to soundtrack Japan’s booming 1980s cartoon and comic industries. The brightly futuristic instrumentals on this collection reflect the mindset of composers and musicians who believed in a technological future where everything was possible.

In the late 1980s Japan experienced a brief but heady period where societal changes combined with new-found wealth to open up a world of possibilities. A huge influx of cash - artificially created by slashed interest rates after an agreement with the US to weaken the dollar relative to the yen - resulted in the inflation of real estate and stock market at a rapid pace. While the economic bubble it created was unprecedented and impossible to sustain, for a while money was in plentiful supply.

The musical genre City Pop reflected the aspirations of the country’s booming leisure class. Video games flourished with Nintendo's 1983 launch of their Family Computer (or FamiCom). Studio Ghibli was founded 1985 to later became one of the most famous and respected animation studios in the world, and Anime and Manga were established as major forms of entertainment for all generations of the Japanese public.

Music was no mere footnote to the anime and manga boom: the two forms of media often went hand in hand, and not simply through the presence of background melodies. With generous budgets available, even two-dimensional static manga comics could be released with an accompanying soundtrack of original music known as an ‘Image Album’.

Composer and arranger Kazuhiko Izu was one such beneficiary of this open budget approach. Written to accompany artist Katsuhiro Otomo’s manga comic Domu, the composer and arranger took advantage of the world-leading (and wallet-busting) Japanese synthesiser technology available at King Records’ fully equipped studio. Featured on this compilation, A3: Act 2 Scene 26 reflected the story’s sci fi themes with a blazingly futuristic yet warmly funky slice of synth pop that presents a joyful celebration of synthesisers and their seemingly endless possibilities.

Kan Ogasawara was another composer who made early mastery of the litany of synthesisers, drum machines and sequencers that had become available. Two tracks written to accompany the 1985 period manga Yume No Ishibumi are featured here; Honowo’s experimental electronic textures add spice to a jaunty electro pop melody that recalls the Rah band’s 1983 hit Messages From Stars; the jazz-tinged Utage rounds out Ogasawara’s shimmering synth textures with beautifully crafted backing from legendary musicians Yuji Toriyama (guitar), Pecker (percussion) and Jun Fukamachi (piano).

Before becoming one of the pioneers of Japanese Kankyo Ongaku (Ambient Music), Takashi Kokubo worked on the proto techno track Kiki (Jungle At Night). It was put together for the 1984 anime film Shonen Keniya (Kenya Boy) using some of the most expensive music technologies available at the time. This Africa-Inspired dance track offers a contemporary parallel to the early techno music that young Detroit based producers were then creating using cheap Japanese Roland drum machines and synthesisers.

This is the first compilation of Japanese anime and manga soundtracks curated by Kay Suzuki and Rintaro Sekizuka from Vinyl Delivery Service (a Tokyo based online record shop which also operates in East London's renowned wine and hifi shop Idle Moments). With a cover by artist Kazuki Takakura and two pages of liner notes, this vinyl only compilation of music never before released outside of Japan, captures a vital aural snapshot of an era whose forward-thinking sounds went hand in hand with cutting edge technology.

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Sunset Gang

LP | 1973 | EU | Reissue (Wewantsounds)

34,99 €*

LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Time Capsule)

Release: 1973 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Wewantsounds is closing its Makoto Kubota reissue series with the release of "Dixie Fever" recorded in Hawaii in 1976 and co-produced by Haruomi Hosono. Like its predecessors, 'Sunset Gang' and 'Hawaii Champroo', 'Dixie Fever' continues to explore American and Island music through a Japanese prism with a skilful mix of blues, swamp funk and America adding an exotic edge to the whole. It is the first time the album is released outside of Japan and the LP features original artwork with OBI and insert plus remastered audio by Makoto Kubota himself.

A year after the release of their highly-acclaimed album 'Hawaii Champroo' in 1975, Makoto Kubota and The Sunset Gang reunited at Sounds of Hawaii studios with co-producer Haruomi Hosono to record a new album, 'Dixie Fever'. They used pretty much the same ingredients that had made the success of Champroo - an effortless mix of Japanese folk and american roots music with some tropical influences. The same mix that Haruomi Hosono was applying to his own albums, especially ''Tropical Dandy which was experimenting with the same ideas - In fact the front cover of both 'Tropical Dandy' and 'Dixie Fever' are illustrated by Yasuo Yagi. ?As per 'Hawaii Champroo' and 'Sunset Gang', 'Dixie Fever' includes a mix of original compositions and covers. On the album, you spot The Lovin' Spoonful's 'Wild About My Lovin' and a funked up version of UK singer songwriter Ralph McTell's song 'When i Was a Cowboy'. They feature the Gang's usual musicians (Keni Inoue on guitar, Yosuke Fujita on slide guitar and Takashi Onzo on bass and keyboards) complemented by a handful of guests including Tin Pan Alley drummer Tatsuo Hayashi, Motoya Hamaguchi on percussion and New Orleans pianist and Dr. John friend, Ronnie Barron. Together they play a superb brew made of blues, soul, Hawaiian music and southern swamp rhythms. One of the highlights of the album is undoubtedly 'Hoshikuzu' (Stardust) which has become a cult classic over the years on the international City Pop scene and whose sunshine mid-tempo vibe is the perfect reflection of the group's musicianship. The track perfectly adds to the album's charm which Wewantsounds is happy to release for the first time internationally.

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Izumi "Mimi" Kobayashi

Choice Cuts 1978-1983

Special Sound Series - Volume 4: Summertime

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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A luminous soul with an indefatigable love for music, few artists have had careers as varied and successful as Izumi ‘Mimi’ Kobayashi. One of Japan’s leading jazz-funk pianists, she wrote and recorded cult albums with fusion legends at home and abroad. Obsessed with new electronic instruments, she penned some of the country’s most well-known TV themes and pioneered the use of drum machines in anime soundtracks.

A star in Japan, she moved to Europe to record global hits with Depeche Mode and Swing Out Sister, toured the world with the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra and made beats with Attica Blues’ Tony Nwachukwu. Now based in London, Mimi currently fronts Tokyo Riddim Band - the intergenerational live Japanese Reggae outfit born from Time Capsule’s acclaimed 2023 compilation of the same name - playing live shows and releasing a trio of recordings made at Prince Fatty’s studio.

Choice Cuts 1978-1983 collects eight recordings from four of Mimi’s first five albums – Sea Flight (1978) recorded with her group Flying Mimi Band, and Coconuts High (1981), Nuts Nuts Nuts (1982) and Tropicana (1983) under her own name.

The compilation opens with a syncopated electro-funk cover of Sergio Mendes’ iconic ‘Mas Que Nada’ (Tropicana) and the crisp and stripped back techno-pop of ‘Coffee Rumba’ (Nuts Nuts Nuts) with a keyboard bass line that would have made Stevie Wonder weep.

Alongside the off-beat synth jam ‘Quiet Explosion’ (Nuts Nuts Nuts) and piano samba of ‘Espresso’ (Tropicana), there’s space for two low slung soul-jazz numbers, ‘Naze’ and ‘Angel Sky’, from Sea Flight (1978) that recall the collaborations between Herbie Hancock and Kimiko Kasai. But it is around the two tracks from Mimi’s 1981 album Coconuts High that this compilation revolves (and from whose cover shoot it borrows).

Released on legendary guitarist Takanaka’s Kitty Records label, Coconuts High was recorded in LA with a backing band of jazz fusion icons, including Alex Acuña, Abraham Laborial, Harvey Mason and the Tower of Power horns. A riot of playful Latin-tinged jazz, funk and fusion with the off-beat spirit of Kid Creole & and the Coconuts, the album became a cult hit, attracting huge sums on the resale market. Here it’s the sultry, Minnie Riperton-esque ‘Crazy Love’, with its addictive groove and bittersweet melodies that makes the cut, alongside the steel drum-infused carnivalesque bounce of ‘Palm St’.

Capturing a highly creative and prolific moment in Mimi’s career, Choice Cuts 1978-1983 will introduce the idiosyncratic energy and playful verve of this under-the-radar pioneer to a wider audience for the first time. Welcome to the world of Izumi ‘Mimi’ Kobayashi. Once you enter, you won’t want to leave.

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Shigeo Sekito

LP | 1977 | EU | Reissue (Holy Basil)

Tomoki Hasegawa, Anna Tsuchiya, Olivia Lufkin

Release: 1977 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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We are very happy to continue the reissue series of Shigeo Sekitō's iconic "Sepcial Sound" series with its 4th instalment, "Summertime", a radiant musical tapestry woven by the ingenious Japanese musician. Unveiled in the vibrant 1970s, this album radiates with the warmth and effervescence of the summer season, showcasing Sekito's ability to infuse his compositions with a sun-kissed energy and a sense of carefree joy.

As the fourth installment in the Special Sound Series, "Summertime" is a celebration of the spirit of the season, where Sekito's musical prowess shines brightly. Drawing inspiration from the carefree vibes of summer, the album seamlessly blends elements of jazz, soul, and funk, creating a sound that mirrors the sunlit days and breezy nights.

Sekito's virtuosity is palpable in every note, as he skillfully navigates a melodic journey filled with upbeat rhythms, infectious grooves, and soulful arrangements. The album's title, "Summertime," encapsulates the essence of the music within – a vibrant and uplifting experience that captures the spirit of the season with a musical palette.

From the lively and danceable beats of tracks like "Sunshine Samba" to the mellow, contemplative moments in "Golden Evenings," Sekito crafts an auditory landscape that mirrors the diverse experiences of summer. Each composition is a testament to his ability to evoke emotions and paint vivid sonic pictures, transporting listeners to sun-drenched beaches, lively festivals, and leisurely afternoons.

"Summertime" stands as a testament to Shigeo Sekito's musical versatility and his innate ability to capture the essence of a moment through sound. This album, with its infectious energy and melodic charm, has earned its place as a timeless tribute to the carefree and joyful spirit of summer, making it a delightful addition to any music collection.

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OST Nana Deep Purple Vinyl Edition

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Microids)

42,99 €*

Tape | 1993 | EU | Reissue (Chrysalis)

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Soundtracks

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2023 issue, last edition.

Nana is a Japanese manga created by Ai Yazawa and first published in Cookie magazine in 2000. It tells the story of two young women, both called Nana, who meet on the train to Tokyo and, despite their different personalities, become roommates and friends.

The manga was a great success with readers, thanks in particular to the quality of its plot, its characters and its soundtrack, which includes several original songs written by Ai Yazawa herself. It was published in 21 volumes in Japan and has been translated into many languages, including English and French.

In 2006, the manga was adapted into an anime by the Madhouse studio, under the direction of Morio Asaka. This 47-episode adaptation brought Nana to an even wider audience, and was also praised for its quality.

The "Nana - Best" anime soundtrack is the result of the collaboration of various artists, including Tomoki Hasegawa, Anna Tsuchiya and Olivia Lufkin. Their unique compositions and interpretations capture the emotions of the characters and the essence of the world of "Nana". The album brings together iconic songs that amplify the impact of key moments in the story, creating a memorable musical experience.

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De La Soul

Buhloone Mindstate

Passepartout Duo And Inoyama Land

Release: 1993 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Hip Hop

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It might blow up, but it won't go pop!

De La Soul’s third studio release, Buhloone Mindstate, released on September 21, 1993, saw the group evolve into a new sound as they continued to grow stylistically and musically. There were several moments on the album which proved the band had matured. "I Be Blowin'" was a departure as the track was an instrumental featuring saxophone playing by Maceo Parker. The introspective "I Am I Be" showed De La Soul at their most self-referential to date. "Long Island Wildin'" was a collaboration with Japanese hip hop artists Kan Takagi (Major Force) and trio Scha Dara Parr (sdp). The album's first single, "Breakadawn", used a sample of Michael Jackson's "I Can't Help It" and Smokey Robinson's "Quiet Storm". De La Soul collaborated for the first time with Gang Starr's Guru on "Patti Dooke", and female MC Shortie No Mas who was prominent on many tracks on the album and showcased particularly on "In The Woods". The album ended with an old school Biz Markie collaboration called "Stone Age".

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Radio Yuga Transclear Vinyl Edition

LP | 2024 | Original (Tonal Union)

27,99 €*

Special Sound Series - Volume 3: Pathetique

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Kindred spirits Passepartout Duo and Inoyama Land embody the essence of play - charting a new chapter and reinvigorating the environmental music and electronic landscape.

Passepartout Duo is formed of Nicoletta Favari (IT) and Christopher Salvito (IT/US), who since 2015 have been on a continuous journey travelling the world's corners, engaged in a creative process they term "slow music". Having been guests of many notable artist residencies and with live performances in cultural spaces and institutions, their evocative music escapes categorisation. With no fixed abode their musical pilgrimage brought them to Japan first in 2019, which prompted a deep connection to Kanky? Ongaku 'environmental music', a genre in which Inoyama Land is often associated with, soundtracking the duo's first immersive experience. In 2023 the duo revisited Japan and set out to reconnect in particular with the music of Inoyama Land, performed by Makoto Inoue and Yasushi Yamashita. The highly revered album 'Danzindan-Pojidon' (1983) produced by Haruomi Hosono amongst other well publicized and acclaimed reissues (Light in The Attic Records' Grammy-nominated compilation 'Kanky? Ongaku'), produced a global resurgence and admiration of the environmental music movement. Nicoletta took the lead to seek out Inoyama Land and in making contact successfully their intrigue and eagerness to meet was warmly reciprocated, and the group scheduled to meet in the form of a spontaneous improvisation session. "We're deeply concerned with what it means to be a duo, and what it means for people to connect through music."

Radio Yugawara is a unique one-off transmission from a specific place and point in time, unlikely to ever occur again. The respective duo's approach can really be described as "tuning in", a tuning into each other, to themselves, and to the surrounding nature of Yugawara. Like waves that travel off-world, sounds travel through the universe and can be lost forever if we don't seek them out. In finding a harmonic affinity within their instruments and a spiritual kinship in their interwoven performance, Radio Yugawara at its core is an interpretation of feeling, of close human interaction and the true essence of discovery.

"The album is both a transmission from a location, but also a tuning into the surroundings and to each other. Music in this kind of ephemeral moment is much less about active creation and more about discovering something which is already there in the air."

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Shigeo Sekito

LP | 1976 | EU | Reissue (Holy Basil)

A Love Supreme Uhqr Limited Edition Box Set

Release: 1976 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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We are very happy to continue the reissue series of Shigeo Sekitō's iconic "Sepcial Sound" series with its 3rd instalment, "Pathétique", a mesmerizing musical journey crafted by the visionary Japanese musician Shigeo Sekitō. Released in the 1970s, this album stands as a testament to Sekito's innovative genius and his ability to seamlessly blend genres, resulting in a captivating and groundbreaking sonic experience.

"Pathétique" showcases Sekitō's masterful fusion of jazz, funk, and electronic elements, creating a unique and otherworldly soundscape that transports listeners to a realm of musical exploration. The album features a series of compositions that are not only technically impressive but also emotionally resonant, evoking a range of feelings from nostalgia to euphoria.

The album's title, "Pathétique," is a nod to Tchaikovsky's renowned "Pathétique Symphony," and it hints at the emotional depth and complexity found within the music. Sekito's virtuosity on various instruments, including keyboards, synthesizers, and guitar, is on full display throughout the album, as he weaves intricate melodies and harmonies that take listeners on a sonic adventure.

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John Coltrane

LP Box | 1964 | US | Reissue (Analogue Productions)

201,99 €*

Dedicated To Markos III (A.K.A. Black Flower)

Release: 1964 / US – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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John Coltrane Quartet — A Love Supreme Analogue Productions' Uhqr, the pinnacle of high-quality vinyl! 45 RPM Ultra High Quality Record release. Limited to 10,000 copies. Mastered from the original tape by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound Pressed at Quality Record Pressings using Clarity Vinyl® Includes a 12" x 12" 12-page booklet featuring liner notes by Ashley Kahn and images from the Coltrane home

Audiophile reviews rave about saxophone master John Coltrane's immortal Impulse! records, A Love Supreme (1964) and Ballads (1963). In fact, jazz critics have lauded A Love Supreme as Coltrane's most important recording. The rave reviews which appeared in the magazines Downbeat, Jazz Hot, Jazz Podium and Swing-journal reflected this: critics all over the world, in America, Europe and Japan recognized that Coltrane's deep religious belief had influenced both his approach to life and his music-making.

You're about to experience A Love Supreme at its peak of vinyl perfection — in Uhqr format on Clarity Vinyl, with the added bonus of a double 45 RPM cut by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound. Ryan's cut has his characteristic clarity and transparency all set against Quality Record Pressing's usual noiseless backgrounds on 200-gram flawless records. Each Uhqr will be packaged in a deluxe box and will include a booklet detailing the entire process of making a Uhqr along with a hand-signed certificate of inspection. This will be a truly deluxe, collectible product.

For this 45 RPM 2LP edition you'll also receive a 12" x 12" 12-page booklet featuring liner notes by Ashley Kahn and images from the Coltrane home.

The original master tape is available but it's not in the best shape. This LP was cut from a flat tape copy made by Rudy Van Gelder and used for cutting in the UK in April of 1965. Of course, the original recording was in December '64, so only a handful of months later. This tape was discovered at Abbey Road and had been untouched between 1965 and 2002. So while the original tape is available and while we would always opt for the original whenever we can, in this case this copy was the better choice as the tape has incurred less overall wear and sounds much better than the original.

A Love Supreme was Coltrane's pinnacle studio outing that at once compiled all of his innovations from his past, spoke of his current deep spirituality, and also gave a glimpse into the next two and a half years (sadly, those would be his last). Recorded at the end of 1964, Trane's classic quartet of Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison stepped in and created one of the most thought-provoking albums of their relationship.

The album not only enabled Coltrane to express himself with great intensity but also lent him the necessary inner peace to conceive a work of almost 40 minutes in length and to lead his quartet along the same path as himself.

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Nirvana

LP+7" | 1970 | EU | Reissue (Wah Wah)

LP | 2022 | UK | Original (Rocafort)

Release: 1970 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Nirvana's third LP is a masterpiece of late UK sixties popsike turning into symphonic pop, but not having received proper promotion despite being equally good as, if not better than their previous releases, it also marked the end of the collaborations between Patrick Campbel-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos back in 1969.

Nirvana presented it to Island boss Chris Blackwell under the title of Black Flower. Blackwell, however, decided to turn it down for release, but gave the masters to Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos so they could find a new label to release the album. That was to happen in the USA through Metromedia Records in 1969. At that time, the label's owner went through a scandal due to the payola days, which left Nirvana's third offering without any promotion - as a result of that, very few copies were pressed. There was also a UK release on PYE and it was even released by Metromedia in Japan. However, for years it remained as "the lost" Nirvana release, with the added fact that none of the released editions launched the album under its original title of Black Flower but under the rather cryptic Dedicated To Markos II (read why in the liner notes!).

Musically, this is Nirvana at their best. The tune that should have been the title track, Black Flower, is an incredible piece of symphonic psychedelia and probably the best produced Nirvana track ever. Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos were backed for the occasion by Spooky Tooth, who played on many tracks of the album, and big orchestral arrangements mesmerize the listener in one of the duo's darkest offerings. This song aside, the rest of the album was deemed as sounding too much like a French soundtrack by Island, which may do at some points –without that being a bad thing,– but there is a lot more to it, since Nirvana have not lost that popsike edge that characterised their sound in their two previous outings.

This is also a record that was widely acclaimed in the hip hop scene. And samplers of it have been used by several artists, most notably DJ Shadow used Love Suite in his 1996 debut album Endtroducing.

The Wah Wah edition has been remastered from the original tapes by Roger Prades @ Prades Mastering and comes with a bonus 7" EP and a four page colour insert with liner notes by Malcom Dome, plus a sheet with the lyrics of the songs. First ever official vinyl reissue since 1970 in a limited edition of 500 copies only!

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Kuma

Honey & Groat

21,99 €*

Back In Mono (B-Sides & Outtakes)

Release: 2022 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Ever since jazz took its bop and free turn, each generation solved this eternal equation: how do you reconcile serious music and simple pleasure? On each of these occasions opinion was divided between orthodoxy and hedonism. Trained in the theoretical rigours of classical music and jazz, experts on their instruments, and brought up on hip-hop culture, techno and house club scenes, Matthieu Llodra and Arthur Donnot - composers of Kuma – go against the conventional rules because they like to challenge their musical boundaries. "Honey & Groat" is just like a bear (Kuma in Japanese, emblem of the band): behind the sweetness and apparent placidity, plenty of power. The resulting urban groove is reminiscent of 70's soul jazz with a contemporary sound: where instrumental talent meets pop simplicity.

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The Courettes

EP | 2022 | EU | Original (Damaged Goods)

16,99 €*

Fortune / Harper / Cowell / Workman / Hart

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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10" Mini LP featuring outtakes and re-recorded B-sides from the 'Back In Mono' sessions! Back in Mono, The Courettes' third album, was critically acclaimed worldwide and made it onto numerous best -of -the-year lists in 2021. If, like us, you can't get enough of Back in Mono, here's some good news! Back in Mono - B-sides & Outtakes is bringing some more "spit 'n' snarl garage-meets-Phil Spector pop" (Mojo) in three brand new unreleased tracks. Look forward to hearing the three new smash tunes 'Daydream', 'Tough Like That' and 'Talking About My Baby', all wrapped in a new mix by Wall of Sound aficionado Seiki Sato (Japan) and produced by the hit wizards Soren Christensen & C.T. Levine. Also included are the three non-album B-sides from the band's most recent singles. These B-sides have been newly spruced up with extra instrumentation. Making up the eight tracks is the inclusion of a Courettes rarity - 'So What' was previously only available on a split single with The Jackets released on Chaputa Records.

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Great Friends

2LP | 1987 | UK | Reissue (Pure Pleasure)

43,99 €*

Moujingue D. Mezmere Daronne

Release: 1987 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Recorded in 1986 in Paris and originally released only in France, "Great Friends" mines the John Coltrane spiritual legacy with fervent incantatory playing and an ecstatic charge. Not that alto saxophonist Fortune and tenor man Harper necessarily speak with Trane’s voice, but the intensity of their playing and their use of certain scales and modes produce a Tranelike atmosphere. Drummer Hart (who organized this band at the request of a Japanese promoter), bassist Workman and pianist Cowell form a hard-hitting team alongside the horns. Things begin with “Cal Massey”, a tribute penned by Cowell. Harper sets the spiritual vibe in motion with a big-toned, take-no-prisoners solo. The Texas tenor man has the heaviest low-register sound in the business. On Workman’s “East Harlem Nostalgia”, he chomps into the low notes as a prelude to wailing runs into the upper register. Harper’s up tempo “Insight” is the album’s tour de force, with rippling solos and torrid exchanges between the saxophonists. Fortune’s searing tone is well suited to the exuberant joyride of this performance. The rhythm section can be compared to the McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones triumvirate that backed Trane. Equally heavyweight and agile, it is relentless in its conviction and spiritual attitude. Great Friends is hot. Owen Cordle/Jazz Times

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Mezigue

12" | 2021 | EU | Original (D.Ko)

Tokoyo No Kuni Feat. Vega Voga Nicola Cruz, Wolf Müller & Michael Mayer Remixes

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Mézigue aka Mezmother from different brother comes back with a new 4 trackers based on the will of D. (as being part of it). Represent is the first collaboration between Mézigue and Mad Rey on this D.KO release showing their roots. Sixk is pretty much on the same vibe but Uchu A NO Neko is a Japanese-ish electronic ballad full with the mézigue's melodic instinct. MO D. Bass is a d n b track asking for more drum n bass. Mézigue is still looking for the last island in the new world using the path of electronic music. As they say if you ain’t like it ain’t listen to it.

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Golden Bug

12" | 2021 | EU | Original (La Belle)

2LP | 2020 | EU | Original (Time Capsule)

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Born from my meeting with japanese artist Vega Voga, ‘Toyoko No Kuni’ builds a bridge between our two cultures by creating a musical epic sounding like an imaginary, acid-drenched Toshiya Fujita movie. By homaging the 70’s Avant-garde scene and by channelling Akiko Yano and Midori Takada’s music, Tokoyo No Kuni combines a western approach to japanese traditional instruments in which lyrical vocal samples, synth lines, supersonic percussions and razor-sharp guitars drench the country of Chrysanthemums in an unsolved mystery. Remixed by Nicola Cruz, Michael Mayer and Wolf Müller, ‘Tokoyo No Kuni’ acts as the opening act of my new album Piscolabis.

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Gigi

Illuminated Audio

21,99 €*

12" | 2024 | EU | Original (Gorin)

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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The third release of Kay Suzuki's Time Capsule imprint rejuvenates Bill Laswell's dub reinterpretations of Ethiopian singer Gigi. Following reissues of Japanese fusionist Yuji Toriyama and Italian new age visionary Il Guardiano Del Faro, the third Time Capsule is a body of dub reinterpretations by celebrated producer Bill Laswell of Ethiopian singer Gigi. Curated by Tokyo record collector, music researcher and seasoned reissue supervisor Ken Hidaka, it is the first time Illuminated Audio is pressed to vinyl after its CD release in 2003.

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Jori Jomni

Ponder EP

13,99 €*

7" | 2024 | UK | Original (Time Capsule)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Jomni and Jori is an electronic music duo that has been deeply involved in the Japanese club scene, consistently producing sounds with an emotional and spacey vibe while bringing out the gem in electronic music to create unique club experiences. The record lovers who met in Kyoto have now dispersed to Cologne, Kyoto, and Tokyo, and have started a new label influenced by old records yet dedicated to exploring fresh sounds together with Miki.

"Slips" is a captivating blend of swinging beats and retro sound, featuring lush pads, melancholic chords and the randomly pitched synths. "Naizo" includes the catchy lead synth that serves as a guiding light, encouraging acceptance and self-discovery with its unforgettable melody and infectious mid-tempo groove. "Neuk" transports listeners to a world of liberation, where shimmering pads evoke the luminous breeze beyond deep-sea caverns. Underpinned by an expansive sub-bass that conjures visions of vast landscapes, it embodies an unwavering devotion to the art of dance. "Hitoshio" unveils the pulsating stab synths project the afterimage of the body onto the dancefloor with accelerating drums and anchored by classic house vocal samples.

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Tokyo Riddim Band

Lazy Love

16,99 €*

OST Knights of the Zodiac Music Collection (Volume 1)

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Reggae & Dancehall

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Tokyo Riddim Band continue their journey striding across times and cultures, this time with their colourful keyboardist and frontwoman Mimi Kobayashi breathing new life into a song she originally penned in 1981. ‘Lazy Love’ first featured on Mimi’s highly sought after Coconuts High LP, which she recorded in LA recruiting top session players to play alongside her. It was also included in Time Capsule’s 2024 compilation of Japanese reggae - Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985.

This soulful pop tune turned deep dub cut retains the romantic charm of the original, whilst the tasteful performances of the Tokyo Riddim Band and Ras Tavaris combined with Prince Fatty’s studio magic give the song a newly found depth.

London based Tokyo Riddim Band is a unique fusion of cultures, bringing together the vibrant energy of three generations of Japanese female musicians with the eclectic sounds of London. Their dynamic performances blend reggae drums, funky bass lines, and the smooth City Pop guitar, all magically dubbed-out live on stage. This is not just music; it's a cultural phenomenon, offering a fresh and exciting take on the reggae scene.

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Seiji Yokoyama

LP | 2023 | EU | Original (Microids)

47,99 €*

Here Are The Courettes Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Soundtracks

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First vinyl issue of the Saint Seiya Anime's cult Soundtrack. Limited Edition.

Seiya is an orphan who, as a young boy, was selected by the Kido Foundation to bring legendary bronze armour back to Japan. He succeeds, along with 10 other orphans. Forced by the foundation to take part in a "show", the knights embark on a tournament before the prize, the golden armour, is stolen. Little by little, they realise that their problems stem from the Sanctuary in Greece, home to the 12 most powerful knights, the Golden Knights, and their leader, the Great Pope. His target is the young Saori Kido, heiress to the foundation and reincarnation of Athena.

The series was a huge success and spawned an extensive franchise, with TV series, films and video games. This album features the best music and songs from the anime, composed and arranged by Seiji Yokoyama (GATCHAMAN).

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The Courettes

LP | 2021 | EU | Reissue (Damaged Goods)

Release: 2021 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Recorded In Only Two Days By Kim Kix From The Iconic Powersolo In A Small, Cramped Studio In Denmark. Unpolished Tunes - Fresh, Raw And Alive Tunes - And The Garage Is Shaking! Minimal Overdubs, No Editing, No Auto Tune, No Bullshit. Punk Straight Out Of The Garage And A Lot Of Riot Grrrl Charisma.Mixed By Kim Kix And Nikolaj Heyman. The Album Features Eightoriginal Songs All In Mono. Now It's Reissued With A New Sleeve, Colored Vinyl And New Mastering Making It Sound Better And Louder Than Ever!The Courettes Are An Explosive Garage Rock Duo From Denmark/Brazil, Highly Praised By The World's Coolest Musicmagazines. Their First Single For Damaged Goods, 'Want You! Like A Cigarette', Was Released In 2020 In The Middle Of The Covid-19 Pandemic. "This Extraordinary 45 Marries A Super-Charged Pop Top Side To A Charging, Rampaging Flip" Wrotekieron Tyler (Mojo). A Brand New Single, 'Hop The Twig',Followed In Spring 2021. Back In Mono, The Duo's Third Album Is Being Mixed Now In Japan By Wall Of Sound Aficionado Seike Sato And Shows The Band In Top Form, With Great Songwriting And Spector-Esque Arrangements.

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Nippon Acid Folk 1970-1980

LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Time Capsule)

N-44-7 AURORA IMP Ersatznadel (1 Paar)

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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The birth of Japan’s nascent acid folk scene was rooted in the messy and invigorating political climate of the late 1960s. It is a story of Dadaists, communists, pharmacists and cult leaders, led by a young generation of upstart students, artists and dreamers hellbent on turning their world upside down.

Born on the campuses of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, and centred around newly formed independent label and left-wing stronghold URC, this uniquely Japanese form of folk expression provided an outlet for musicians who were tired of aping Western sounds and instead found ways to sing in Japanese and integrate traditional forms in new ways.

At the forefront of this movement was Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Haroumi Hosono, a polymath innovator whose band Happy End released the first Japanese language rock album, and whose influence would go on to be felt across Japanese music for decades. Alongside, and informed by the Kansai scene’s Takashi Nishioka and Happy End collaborator Ken Narita, they experimented with cadences and accents of the Japanese language to open the door for others to experiment with their own forms of psychedelic folk too.

Some, like Nishioka, were more inspired by Dadaism than drugs, while others, like Kazuhisa Okubo, would ultimately find work as a chemist, having founded two further folk groups that flirted with varying levels of success. Obstinately uncommercial, relentlessly creative, the music featured on Time Capsule’s Nippon Acid Folk represents a broad church of influences.

Perhaps the wildest addition to this congregation however was Hiroki Tamaki, a classically-trained violinist and committed iconoclast, whose synth-prog odysseys hinted at his obsession with the divine. Subsumed by the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, he penned an album in praise of the infamous religious leader of which two superbly mind-bending tracks are featured on this compilation.

Charting the decade from 1970 to 1980 as the dreams of political and spiritual liberation seeded in the ‘60s turned to dust, Nippon Acid Folk surveys a little explored corner of Japanese music history, but one which ultimately laid the foundations for an independent music industry, launching the careers of Hosono and others in the process.

Nippon Acid Folk 1970-1980 is pressed on 12” vinyl and represents the start of Time Capsule’s deep dive into Japan’s rich history of folk and psychedelic soul music.

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Jico

239,00 €*

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J44A 7 Tonabnehmer ohne Stylus

Jico

99,00 €*

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Toki Wo Koete Yukou Feat. Matsurika United

Pancho & Mr Hero

LP | 2024 | JP | Original (Boso Vinyl Aikoukai)

20,99 €*

Where Light Touches (A Nima Story)

Release: 2024 / JP – Original

Genre: Reggae & Dancehall

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The first 7" by "Boso Vinyl Aikoukai," formed by record-loving members in Kamogawa, Boso, Chiba Prefecture, is now available! The recording features Pancho from K-zion, active in Kamogawa, Boso, and guest performers MR Hero and Matsurika united, who is well-known for her work on "the Entertainer" produced by Naniwaman. The song "Toki Wo Koete Yukou" (Let's Go Beyond the Time) is a wonderful song filled with positive messages like 90s Japanese reggae. Limited Pressings!!

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Rasmus Faber

2LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Farplane)

32,99 €*

12" | 2019 | EU | Original ([Oam])

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Classical Music

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Rasmus Faber 'Where Light Touches' [A Nima Story] Album Farplane Records / Fp076 https://www.rasmusfaber.com https://www.instagram.com/rasmusfaber/ https://myanimelist.net/people/36680/Rasmus_Faber https://rossdraws.com https://www.instagram.com/rossdraws
Available IN Dolby Atmos Where Supported.
Sweden's worldwide acclaimed composer, producer, DJ and pianist, Rasmus Faber, reveals his first album of ambient / neo-classical work, 'Where Light Touches' [A Nima Story]. The album is inspired by, and in collaboration with, Los Angeles based illustrator Ross Tran (RossDraws), as an audio interpretation of his highly praised book, 'Nima'. Crafting a fully immersive listening experience, Rasmus paints stunning audio pictures with delicate melodic hues, abound with atmospheric conversations between emotive pianos, soothing strings and sophisticated electronica that gracefully flow through this enchanting body of work. Composed, arranged and produced entirely by Rasmus, and conceived and mixed using Atmos surround sound, the album was recorded with a full orchestra in Stockholm and fused with contemporary electronic elements from Rasmus' rich musical heritage.

'Where Light Touches' [A Nima Story] began after Ross contacted Rasmus to make music for one of his projects. They immediately found admiration and kinship in each other's work. Ross sent Rasmus his new illustrations book entitled 'Nima', which served as the perfect catalyst for a musical idea Rasmus had - to make an album of subtle beauty and immense production and technical dexterity. Rasmus became absorbed in the characters and worlds in the 'Nima' book, encouraging him to match his composing and production skills with Ross's otherworldly illustrations and boundless talent. The result is something quite extraordinary and beautiful that can be enjoyed accompanying the 'Nima' book, or purely as an audio gift for the senses.

Rasmus Faber started his career as a Jazz musician and house DJ, touring the world, performing to fans of the melodic side of electronic music over the last two decades. His success as an artist in Japan, and being fan of Anime and Manga opened the doors to becoming a composer (one of the only non-Japanese) of music for Anime. He's composed music for the Meta Quest VR platform, AAA games such as Metal Gear Solid and is behind an almost constant stream of music releases under aliases and his on name garnering hundreds of millions of streams.

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Lydia Eisenblätter

Ground Zero

10,99 €*

10" | 2016 | US | Original (Chimera Music)

Release: 2019 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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OAM goes in for round two with the Ground Zero EP. The Shrine of Oinari-san is used here as a metaphor. It is a well-known passage in Japan that leads to the sacred ground on the mountain of Inari. Lydia uses the production and titles of tracks such as "Walk" and "Modulate" to describes her personal way of life on her own Inari. The remixers E110101 and Lenson complete the EP and the second story of OAM.

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Sean Lennon

OST Ava's Possessions

Eraldo Bernocchi And Hoshiko Yamane

Release: 2016 / US – Original

Genre: Soundtracks

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10" vinyl only release limited to 500 in beautifully printed tip-on jacket. A mysterious film score from Sean Lennon with dreamy washes of echoey drum machines & keyboards with dark & foreboding synth arrangements, twangy guitar riffs with a sci-fi western flair, 50s pop, 70s punk, creepy demonic themes interlaced with a touch raunchy, swaggering horns that recalls old school film noir, with a surprisingly fresh indie rock edge. Features guest spots from KING KHAN, MARY OCHERS, KARLA MOHENO, & BISHY & FOLEY STEWARD. NO EXPORT TO UK/EU/JAPAN

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Sabi Transparent Orange Cloudy Vinyl Editoin

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Denovali)

31,99 €*

The Big Donuts 7" Slipmat

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Denovali is pleased to present the second cooperation album of the Italian composer, arranger, producer and guitarist Eraldo Bernocchi with the Berlin-based Japanese violinist, composer, electronic producer and Tangerine Dream member Hoshiko Yamane. Eraldo Bernocchi and Hoshiko Yamane have come together again to create their second album - inspired by the Japanese concept of "Sabi". The record is a unique blend of electronic and acoustic music - with Bernocchi’s pulsating textures and Yamane's haunting treated violin melodies weaving together to create a captivating and emotional sonic landscape. "Sabi" is a Japanese aesthetic that celebrates the beauty of impermanence and decay. It is often associated with the simplicity, austerity, and solitude found in nature, and is said to evoke a sense of melancholy, nostalgia, and reverence for the passage of time. Bernocchi and Yamane's "Sabi" explores these themes through a collection of minimalist compositions that combine electronic and acoustic instruments immersing the listener in a deeply cinematic experience. The album takes the listener on a journey through a series of atmospheric tracks, sometimes melancholic pieces that evokes the sense of solitude and simplicity often associated with the concept, other times more energetic and uplifting, optimistic ones that celebrates the beauty of transience. The artwork again was created by the renowned designer Petulia Mattioli.

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Dr. Suzuki

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LP | 2023 | JP | Original (Time Capsule)

Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985

Release: 2023 / JP – Original

Genre: Reggae & Dancehall

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The smooth and funky sound of prime-time Japanese reggae pop in the 1970s and ‘80s fired up an obsession with Jamaican music that persists to the present day.

If there is a year zero for the introduction of reggae music to Japan, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was 1979 when Bob Marley and the Wailers toured the country, trailed by an entourage of journalists, photographers and fans ready to spread the message of the music into all corners of Japanese society. But the story of Japanese reggae is not a linear one, and the music that is collected on Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985 captures the moment J-reggae entered the broader public consciousness, merging commercial city pop style with an infectious backbeat, that has drawn comparisons with the emergence of Lovers Rock in the UK.

Rather than look directly to Jamaica, many producers and artists in Japan were inspired instead by the more approachable sounds of The Police and Ub40, their reggae fix arriving pre-filtered through the lens of new wave pop from the UK. Playful and groovy, these album deep cuts have been overlooked for too long. Among them are Miki Hirayama, the idol singer who borrowed the bassline from Bob Marley’s Natural Mystic on ‘Denshi Lenzi’, Chu Kosaka, who headed to Hawaii to cut the Jimmy Cliff-inspired ‘Music’ and Marlene, the Philippine songstress whose cover of Roberta Flack’s ‘Hittin’ Me Wear It Hurts’ owed much to her producer’s obsession with Sly & Robbie’s Compass Point sound. Then there was Izumi “Mimi” Kobayashi, who enlisted the Babylon Warriors to perform on a dubbed-out version of her own track ‘Lazy Love’, the city pop-meets-new wave reggae sound of Miharu Koshi’s ‘Coffee Break’, Junko Yagami’s anti-apartheid deep cut ‘Johannesburg’ and Lily, whose ‘Tenkini Naare’ was produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto and closes out the compilation with a flourish.

While these stories may not always conform to neat narratives, they do provide a more accurate reflection of the indirect ways in which styles infiltrate one another and, in their naivety, have the potential to create something beautifully strange and entirely new. Previously only available in Japan, the tracks on this compilation are a testament to that curious alchemy.

Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985 is released on vinyl and as a full album download (no streaming), featuring original artwork by Japanese Fukuoka-based artist Noncheleee, whose cover pays homage to the iconic dancehall album art of Wilfred Limonious. Released on 1st September, Tokyo Riddim 1976-1985 is part of Time Capsule's Nippon Series, a loose series of compilations exploring different musical scenes from Japan between the 1960s and 2010s.

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Even The Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996

2LP | 2024 | US | Original (Light In The Attic)

55,99 €*

Release: 2024 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Light in the Attic Records proudly presents Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996—the first comprehensive collection of Ukrainian music recorded prior to, and immediately following, the Ussr’s collapse. From subtly dissenting Soviet-era singles to DIY recordings from Kyiv’s vibrant underground scene, the compilation chronicles the development of Ukraine’s rich musical landscape through rare folk, rock, jazz, and electronic recordings.

“This record is a labor of love and a long time coming,” says label owner Matt Sullivan. Over the course of the last five years, Sullivan, alongside producers David Mas ("dbgo”), Mark “Frosty” McNeill, and Ukrainian label Shukai Records worked tirelessly to compile a carefully curated, chronological playlist. But behind the scenes, ongoing war & politics would shape the evolution of the tracklist, which originally featured both Ukrainian and Russian artists. “We found ourselves in the midst of a larger political issue; what began as a broader overview of a sonically underrepresented region suddenly became quite the controversial project,” Sullivan continues, “so we decided to pivot and focus only on Ukrainian music. There were times when it felt impossible to bring this project to fruition, so to be sharing it with the world today is truly humbling and long overdue.”

Guiding listeners through the physical editions of the album are insightful liner notes and track-by-track details by Vitalii “Bard” Bardetskyi—a Kyiv-based filmmaker, DJ, and writer. The 2xLP is housed in a beautiful gatefold package showcasing Ukrainian artist Maria Prymachenko’s beloved and iconic folk paintings. The vinyl edition features a 20-page booklet with artist photos & liner notes in both English and Ukrainian, pressed on Clear Blue Sky & Sunflower Yellow wax; the CD edition features bonus content housed in a deluxe, 64-page hardbound book.

Light in the Attic will donate a portion of proceeds directly to Livyj Bereh, a Kyiv-based volunteer group working to rebuild in the regions affected by ongoing war in Ukraine.

“Music has always pulled Ukrainians out of the abyss,” writes Vitalii “Bard” Bardetskyi in his liner notes for Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996. “When there is no hope for the future, there is still music. At such moments, the whole nation resonates under a groove. Music, breaking through the concrete of various colonial systems, is an incredible, often illogical, way to preserve dignity.”

While the songs collected in Even the Forest Hums were recorded during periods of immense societal and political upheaval—and certainly reflect the resilience of the Ukrainian people—they are rooted in the universal spirit of exploration: from post-war teenagers seeking fresh rhythms and artists experimenting with DIY recording technologies to an entire nation being introduced to decades-worth of previously-embargoed albums. Yet, until now, it has been nearly impossible for anyone outside Ukraine to explore the country’s flourishing music scene for themselves.

Much of this can be attributed to Soviet-era restrictions. Music, much like any other commodity, was tightly controlled before the fall of communism. “Only state-authorized performers who had gone through hellish rounds of the permit system could record at the few monopolistic, state-run studios,” explains Bardetskyi. While many of these compositions were released and performed to mass audiences, however, they weren’t necessarily what they seemed. “Some of the artists managed, even under difficult ideological circumstances, to build a whole aesthetic platform which was essentially anti-Soviet.”

Bands could slide under the radar by changing the lyrics of rock songs to reflect Soviet ideals or by performing traditional folk music with subtle outside influences. “This resulted in a whole scene that combined central-eastern Ukrainian vocal polyphony, Carpathian rhythms, and overseas grooves,” writes Bardetskyi, who refers to this era of music as “Mustache Funk.”

Examples featured in Even the Forest Hums... include 1971’s “Bunny” by Kobza. While the folk-rock group was known for their polyphonic vocals, this particular composition is an instrumental waltz, which blends elements of traditional Ukrainian music with progressive rock, British beat, and jazz-rock. Another example of “Mustache Funk” comes from the latter half of the decade, with the Caribbean-influenced “Remembrance” by Vodohrai. While the group—which included some of the best jazz musicians in the country—had a multitude of traditional hits, inspired jams like this one could, for a lucky few, occasionally be heard live.

While the 70s proved to be a golden age for Ukrainian music (complete with pop stars, large-scale tours, and legions of adoring fans), the excitement was short-lived. “The Soviet system finally understood that funkified beats quite strongly contradict[ed] [its] principles,” notes Bardetskyi, who adds that by the 80s, “The once prolific scene was almost completely colonized, appropriated, and largely Russified; the state radio and TV waves were occupied by banal VIAs and cheezy schlager singers.”

With tighter restrictions, however, came the rise of the underground. While the decade leading up to Ukraine’s independence was marked by great turmoil—including the political reform of Perestroika in the Ussr and the Chernobyl disaster—it also marked a time of incredible creativity.

Mirroring global trends, the first half of the decade found many composers and producers experimenting with electronic music. Among them was Vadym Khrapachov, whose scores have appeared in over 100 films. His moody, Moroder-esque “Dance” (written for Roman Balaian’s iconic 1983 film, Flights in Dreams and Reality) is notable in that it was recorded on the Ussr’s only existing British EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer.

Producer Kyrylo Stetsenko, meanwhile, was reimagining traditional songs for the dancefloor. Among them is 1980’s “Play, the Violin, Play,” by Ukrainian pop star Tetiana Kocherhina. Stetsenko, who produced the album for Kocherhina, created a hypnotic remix of the folk tune that was fit for a disco. Stetsenko is also featured here with 1987’s “Oh, how, how?,” in which he transforms a melancholic ballad by Natalia Gura into a synth-forward, breakbeat jam.

As the fall of communism approached, the scene continued to diversify—particularly as music from around the world became increasingly available. Kyiv, in particular, became an epicenter of creativity. In the early days, bands like Krok offered a preview of what was to come. Described by Bardetskyi as “The first real Kyiv supergroup,” Krok was led by guitarist Volodymyr Khodzytskyi and featured musicians from local Beat bands. In addition to backing the biggest pop acts of the day, the versatile collective explored a spectrum of styles in their own recordings, including fusion and electro-funk. They are represented here with the mellow “Breath of Night Kyiv.”

By the late 80s, Kyiv “was buzzing like a beehive,” recalls Bardetskyi. “It was a period of very active socialization and exchange of musical information and ideas; local musicians evolved with supersonic speed, absorbing decades of the world's musical background and transforming it into their sound.” While rock bands comprised much of this era’s first wave, artists continued to expand their repertoire as new influences pervaded the scene. The global rise of DIY recording technology and electronic instrumentation, meanwhile, also contributed to the growing sonic landscape.

Highlights from this period include the avant-garde improvisations of violinist Valentina Goncharova. Recordings like 1989’s “Silence” were created by a series of layered tracks and custom pickups. Similarly, composer Iury Lech paints a warm ambient soundscape with 1990’s “Barreras.” On the other end of the spectrum is the industrial “90” by Radiodelo (the project of Ivan Moskalenko—aka DJ Derbastler), which combines frenetic drum machine beats and haunting, reverb-soaked instrumentation. Post-punk was also thriving, with acts like Yarn (a large, loosely based collective) dominating the scene. “The interests of [Yarn’s] members extended all the way to medieval chamber music, which would clearly be noticeable in ‘Viella,’” writes Bardetskyi. The track features two of Yarn’s co-founding members: multi-instrumentalist and graphic designer Oleksander Yurchenko (who became a significant figure in modern Ukrainian music) and Ivan Moskalenko. Yurchenko is also represented here as part of Omi, a parallel project by the chart-topping electronic group, Blemish. 1994’s dramatic “Transference” (which features contributions by legendary Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto and American singer-songwriter Diamanda Galas) serves up horror-movie-soundtrack vibes, particularly with the addition of eerie vocalizations.

Cukor Bila Smert’ (which translates to “Sugar White Death”) were also major players in the Kyiv underground. Interestingly, Bardetskyi notes, “In the reality of the general dominance of post-punk, the aesthetic message of Cukor Bila Smert’ was countercultural to the countercultural process itself.” For their contribution to the compilation, the experimental quartet provides 1995’s “Cool, Shining.”

In the years following Ukraine’s independence, Kyiv’s underground scene continued to flourish, particularly as Western trends became more accessible and Ukrainians found themselves at the forefront of their own cultural output. While the country’s music would largely evolve in new directions throughout the 90s, the final entry on Even the Forest Hums... provides a glimpse at what the future held. The album closes with 1996’s “Lion,” by Belarusian transplant German Popov, whose project, Marble Sleeves, was “one of the few Kyiv formations that tried to master jungle/drum-n-bass,” per Bardetskyi.

Though this compilation only scratches the surface of Ukraine’s vast and diverse music scene, Even the Forest Hums offers an in-depth overview of a significant period in the country’s cultural history and unites a number of influential figures in the same collection for the first time. As Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Schegel writes in the foreword, “This is our Ukrainian treasure. It is impossible to lose and impossible to win.”

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Even The Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996 Colored Vinyl Edition

2LP | 2024 | US | Original (Light In The Attic)

58,99 €*

Quixotism 10th Anniversary Remastered Edition

Release: 2024 / US – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Oren Ambarchi

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Black Truffle)

31,99 €*

OST FLCL Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Black Truffle is pleased to announce a tenth anniversary reissue of Oren Ambarchi’s Quixotism, originally released on Editions Mego in 2014. Recorded with a multitude of collaborators in Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA, Quixotism presents the fruit of two years of work in the form of a single, LP-length piece in five parts. Quixotism takes the driving rhythmic aspect of works such as Sagittarian Domain to new levels, with the entirety of this long-form work built on a foundation of pulsing double-time electronic percussion provided by Thomas Brinkmann. Beginning as almost subliminal propulsion behind cavernous orchestral textures and John Tilbury’s delicate piano interjections, the percussive elements (elaborated on by Ambarchi and Matt Chamberlain) slowly inch into the foreground of the piece before suddenly breaking out into a polyrhythmic shuffle around the halfway mark, and joined by master Japanese tabla player U-zhaan for the piece’s final, beautiful passages.

The pulse acts as thread leading the listener through a heterogeneous variety of acoustic spaces, from the concert hall in which the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra were recorded to the intimacy of crys cole’s contact-mic textures. Ambarchi’s guitar itself ranges over this wide variety of acoustic spaces, from airless, clipped tones to swirling, reverberated fog. Within the complex web Ambarchi spins over the piece’s steadily pulsing foundation, elements approach and recede in a non-linear fashion, even as the piece plots an overall course from the grey, almost Nono-esque reverberated space of its opening section to the crisp foreground presence of Jim O’Rourke’s synth and Evyind Kang’s strings in its final moments. Formally indebted to the side-long workouts of classic Cologne techno, the long-form works of composers such as Éliane Radigue and the organic push and pull of improvised performance, Quixotism is constantly in motion, yet its transitions happen slowly and steadily, often nearly imperceptible, the diverse elements which make up the piece succeeding one another with the logic of a dream.

At the time of its first release, Quixotism was clearly a summation of Ambarchi’s work in the years leading up to it. Now, listening back a decade later, it also seems like an arrow pointing to the future, suggesting paths that would be explored further in works to come: the pulsating guitar layers of Hubris, the album-length collaboration with Jim O’Rourke and U-zhaan on Hence, Shebang’s joyous layering and percussive drive. Now sounding better than ever in a new remaster by Joe Talia, the time is ripe to rediscover its quixotic charms.

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The Pillows

2LP | 2021 | US | Reissue (Anime Limited)

64,99 €*

LP | 2022 | US | Original (Waxwork)

Release: 2021 / US – Reissue

Genre: Soundtracks

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Original soundtrack to the zany year 2000 classic anime series, FLCL, produced by GAINAX (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gunbuster). The series gained a cult amongst western audiences following after a 2003 broadcast on the US "Adult Swim" programming block and features iconic tracks from Japanese alternative rock band, The Pillows.

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Masaru Sato

OST The Sword Of Doom

24,99 €*

Release: 2022 / US – Original

Genre: Soundtracks

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Waxwork Records is honored to present THE Sword OF Doom Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Masaru Satô! Directed by Kihachi Okamoto, The Sword of Doom is a 1966 Japanese samurai movie that tells the bloody and brutal tale of revenge and redemption. This deluxe LP features new artwork from Yuko Shimizu and marks the first time that the soundtrack is available on vinyl!

Starring Tatsuya Nakadai and featuring Toshirô Mifune, The Sword of Doom tells the story of Ryunosuke Tsukue, a masterful but heartless swordsman in feudal Japan. After deliberately killing an opponent in a training exercise, Tsukue then murders his mistress and flees town. After spending time in a haunted geisha house, Tsukue sees the ghosts of all his victims and spirals into madness, leaving a trail of destruction and bloodshed in his wake. As time passes, the years of brutal killings and evil deeds begin to weigh on his mind, ending in a climactic battle between Tsukue, a group of assassins, and the ghost of his past.

The Sword of Doom soundtrack, composed by Masaru Satô (Yojimbo, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla), is full of dark and yet melodic cues, and takes many influences from traditional Japanese instruments and music. A minimalist yet powerful score that brings to life the struggles of Tsukue’s inner demons. The tone ranges from brash fight scene orchestrations into quiet and lilting flute themes, but underscoring it all, Satô's music feels the evils of Tsukue.

Available for the very first time on vinyl, Waxwork Records is honored to work with Toho to present The Sword Of Doom re-mastered on 180 gram Snow, Blood, Flames, and Katana swirled color vinyl, deluxe packaging, new artwork by Yuko Shimizu, heavyweight gatefold jackets with matte satin coating, a 12"x12" art print, and more!

THE Sword OF Doom Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Features:

The Complete Soundrack by Masaru Satô Available For The First Time On Vinyl 180 Gram "Snow, Blood, Flames, and Katana" Swirled Color Vinyl New Artwork By Yuko Shimizu Heavyweight Gatefold Jackets with Matte Satin Coating 12"x12" Art Print

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Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds Of Japan 1980-1988 Cloudy Clear Vinyl Edition

2LP | 2021 | US | Original (Light In The Attic)

16,99 €*

2LP | 2024 | US | Original (Avex Trax Japan)

Release: 2021 / US – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan 1980–1988 hovers vibe–wise between two distinct poles within Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Japan Archival Series—Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–1990 and Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976–1986. All three albums showcase recordings produced during Japan’s soaring bubble economy of the 1980s, an era in which aesthetic visions and consumerism merged. Music echoed the nation’s prosperity and with financial abundance came the luxury to dream.

Sonically, Somewhere Between mines the midpoint between Kankyō Ongaku’s sparkling atmospherics and Pacific Breeze’s metropolitan boogie. The compilation encompasses ambient pop, underground electronics, liminal minimalism and shadow sounds—all descriptors emphasizing the hazy nature of the nebula. Out–of–focus rhythms wear ethereal accoutrements, ballads are shrouded in static, and angular drums snake skyward on transcendent tones. From the Avant–minimalism of Mkwaju Ensemble and Yoshio Ojima, to the leftfield techno-pop of Mishio Ogawa and Noriko Miyamoto (featuring members of Ymo), and highlights from the groundbreaking Osaka underground label Vanity Records, these are blurry constellations defying collective categorization.

These tracks also exist in a space of transition when the major label grip on the Japanese recording market began to give way to the escalation of independents. Thanks to the idyllic economic climate and innovations in domestically–manufactured music gear, creators on the edges were empowered to focus on satisfying their artistic visions in the open headspace of home studios. While labels like Warner Music and Nippon Columbia explored new sounds through traditional channels, it was possible for Vanity, Balcony and other indie labels, not to mention self–released artists like Ojima and Naoki Asai, to publish their work via affordable media such as cassettes, 7" vinyl, and flexi–discs.

Expertly curated by Yosuke Kitazawa and Mark “Frosty” McNeill (dublab), Somewhere Between is a collection of music, much of it released for the first time outside Japan, that is bound more by energetic vibration than shared history, genre or scene. They are the sounds of transition and searching—a celebration of the freedom found in floating.

Note: The track “Days Man” by Yoshio Ojima is only available on the LP and Cassette versions.

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Ryuichi Sakamoto

OST Tony Takitani

83,99 €*

Release: 2024 / US – Original

Genre: Soundtracks

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K.B. Burrell Tone Poet Vinyl Edition

Kenny Burrell

LP | 1969 | EU | Reissue (Blue Note)

43,99 €*

12" | 2023 | JP | Original (Infodump)

Release: 1969 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Recorded in 1957, Kenny Burrell’s third session as a leader for Blue Note presented the guitarist’s signature stylings with a crack team of hard boppers featuring Horace Silver, Hank Mobley, Doug Watkins, and Louis Hayes. Previously only issued on vinyl in Japan (1979) this swinging set is given a new shine with this mono Tone Poet Vinyl Edition.

BLUE NOTE TONE POET EDITION: Mono, produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analogue master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, packaged in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket.

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Takuro Hasumi

Fafrotskies Volume 1

13,99 €*

Akira Sakata / Takeo Moriyama

Release: 2023 / JP – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Nice first EP by japanese producer Testa! Including a remix by OOFT!

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Mitochondria

2LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Trost)

33,99 €*

LP | 2019 | US | Original (Now-Again)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Spectacular live recording from 1986 of two seminal figures of the Japanese avantgarde - Akira Sakata on saxophone and Takeo Moriyama on drums.Mitochondria captures the reunion of the two free jazz masters, who started playing together in the Yosuke Yamashita Trio in 1972 until 1975. For both, the experience with the trio was an important step in the development of their own career and musicianship. The recordings are a remarkable performance in which each successfully highlights the essential elements of his playing while giving of room for the other musician.Recorded at Kashiwa Church Chiba Pref. In Japan on 24 May 1986 by Yukio Tezuka on Sony stereo cassette recorder.Mixed by Jim O'Rourke, Mastered by Martin Siewert. Graphic design/cover photo by Lasse Marhaug.Liner notes by Kazue Yokoi

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Lloyd Miller

Oriental Jazz

26,99 €*

12" | 1998 | UK | Original (Ebony)

Release: 2019 / US – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Born in 1938, and raised in Glendale, California, Lloyd Miller has had one of the most unusual careers in all of jazz. By age 12 he had declared an
intent to make his living as a jazz musician, and by high school he had already begun to experiment, shunning swing music's mechanical perfection,
and chafing at his parents’ desire for him to nurture his talents with formal training. This tumultous relationship with his parents would eventually
lead to a stint in a psychatric hospital, before reuniting with them in moving to Iran, his father having accepted a job working for the Shah.
Stops in Hong Kong, Japan and Pakistan on the way to Iran deepened Miller's connection to other cultures he’d first felt while listening to old world
music compilations. He felt a definite calm and peace, an immense respect from everyone towards everyone else, and immersed himself in other
cultures and languages immediately. Miller spent a year in Iran with his family, picking up Farsi after a few short months, and steadily gaining more
and more of an appreciation for how deep the roots of Persian art run. However, still committed to his decision forge a career in jazz, Lloyd left Tehran
in 1958 to head to Europe to see if he could make a living from jazz music.
Miller kicked around the continent, first in Germany, then in Switzerland, Sweden and Brussels. He collaborated and performed alongside 60s jazz
legend Jef Gilson, and experimented with exotic instrumentation before returning to America to resume his studies at Brigham Young University in
Utah. In the years following his stint with Gilson, Miller had become more and more disillusioned with both modern music and modern society, which
had ashewed jazz for rock music, which he detested. In Miller’s conception, for a music to have value it had to have a deep connection to a tradition,
specifically connecting jazz to African lore. To Miller, something like “Tuareg African music is blues, just with no chord changes.”
Oriental Jazz was recorded, compiled and self-released in 1968 while Miller was studying at Brigham Young. The record, originally pressed in
a quantity of 300 copies, sought to combine a cool, modal style with the exotic arrays of instruments and styles that Miller had picked up during
his travels. Miller included songs he’d cut with Gilson in his Parisian studio years before, and a solo piano piece that he recorded in one of the
school’s practice rooms. Despite Lloyd’s professed aversion to modernity, there nevertheless is something strikingly new sounding about this
music, which fits together in startling juxtapositions. Traces of Bill Evans, Stan Getz and Jimmy Giuffre rub shoulders with Persian santur, Arab oud
and Turkish saz music.
Copies of Oriental Jazz languished in Miller's home for years after numerous failed bids for record contracts, before finally ending up in the hands of
record collectors decades later. After its release however, he would find a second life after returning to Iran, doing field recordings, and eventually
hosting a weekly television show that programmed both American jazz and the best traditional Persian musicians he could find. It was not to last
however, as he abruptly abandoned the country to return to the US in the late 1970s, predicting the arrival of the Islamic Revolution.

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Shy FX

Pandoras Box

YMO USA & Yellow Magic Orchestra Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 1998 / UK – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Used Vinyl

Medium: G+, Cover: G+

Vinyl with many scuffs and hairlines.

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Yellow Magic Orchestra

2LP | 1979 | EU | Reissue (Music On Vinyl)

34,99 €*

2LP | 1992 | EU | Reissue (BMG Rights Management)

Release: 1979 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Pop

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This first YMO album was released in 1978 in Japan ('79 in Europe) and set a precedent in the music industry like never before. By releasing this daring album, YMO shook the world with their 'Synthpop', at the time a revelation as well as a revolution. Featuring the hit "Firecracker", an infectious and exotic Martin Denny cover, which became a staple in the early Hip Hop scene in New York.

180g vinyl.

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George Harrison

Live In Japan

44,99 €*

Release: 1992 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Used Vinyl

Medium: Near Mint, Cover: Near Mint

Beyond The Dream (Musclecars Reimaginations) / Face At My Window (Kyoto Jazz Massive Remixes)

Jazzanova

12" | 2023 | UK | Original (BBE Music)

30,99 €*

For Long Tomorrow "Spindle" Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / UK – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Taken from the album ‘Strata Records – The Sound of Detroit – Reimagined by Jazzanova’, BBE Music, DJ Amir and 180 Proof records present the 3rd single from this monumental project.

This release features remixes by Japanese Club Jazz pioneers Kyoto Jazz Massive, and Genre Blending New Yorkers, musclecars.

Kyoto Jazz Massive were enlisted to remix the Jazzanova reimagining of Sam Sanders’s iconic song Face at my Window. Their mix adds an intimate Jazz Club feel to vocalist Sean Haefeli’s recording, which highlights the dynamics of Sean’s voice. The subtle tempo increase maintains the feel of the original and adds a punch to the brass section, making the track an entirely new experience.

musclecars add that traditional New York / Chicago House vibe to Jazzanova’s reimagining of Kenny Cox’s ‘Beyond the dream’, and the result is a skippy afro/latin dancefloor filler which can go on forever. musclecars demonstrate their genre blending superpowers on this mix which adds a garage swing to a jazz record, definitely going to be a jam for the dancefloors in 2023.

Both remixes showcase the importance of DJ Amir’s unearthing of these strata gems, and Jazzanova’s reimagining, how they have breathed new life into one of Detroit’s hidden gems – Strata Records. They will definitely on board new audiences to the treasure trove that is Strata, and the iconic stories surrounding the often overlooked record label.

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Toe

LP | 2009 | US | Reissue (Topshelf)

30,99 €*

LP | 2014 | UK | Reissue (First Word)

Release: 2009 / US – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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toe is a Japanese music group long revered in post-rock circles, while their song structures and dynamics have taken on elements from all styles of music, ranging from math-rock, jazz, pop, and R&B.

toe is composed of Kashikura Takashi on drums, Mino Takaaki on guitar, Yamane Satoshi on bass guitar, and Yamazaki Hirokazu on guitar. The band has formally played with this lineup since their inception in 1998.

The vast majority of the music is instrumental and features the swift, agile drumming of Takashi. The band is also known for melodic, clean guitar, often employing the juxtaposition of electric and acoustic. While the compositions feature the repetition of typical rock motifs, the subtle changes in beat and rhythm form a unique rhythmic dialect. The band has consistently expanded their sound throughout their musical tenure by incorporating singing, rhodes piano, mallet percussion, and electronic production elements.

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Takuya Kuroda

Rising Son

36,99 €*

LP | 2020 | US | Original (Lewis)

Release: 2014 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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First Word Records is incredibly proud to bring you an exclusive vinyl-only re-issue of Takuya Kuroda's highly-sought after album 'Rising Son'.

'Rising Son' was first released on the seminal Blue Note Records imprint 10 years ago in 2014, with Takuya being the first Japanese artist to sign to the label. The record received widespread critical acclaim, hitting No.1 on Japan's jazz charts at the time, with original copies now fetching hundreds of pounds on Discogs and the like. There has long been high demand for a re-press of this album, and we're very pleased to say it's finally here, a decade on.

The re-issue is to be released via London-based Worldwide Award-winning label First Word Records, who coincidentally celebrate their 20th year running in 2024. First Word released Takuya's highly-revered previous two albums, 'Fly Moon Die Soon' (2020) and 'Midnight Crisp' (2022).

For those that don't know, Takuya Kuroda is a Kobe-born, Brooklyn-based trumpeter and musician, who was also a longtime player for Akoya Afrobeat as well as DJ Premier's Badder band. Initially playing on the Japanese circuit with his trombonist brother, Takuya went on to relocate to New York City, where he has largely remained to this day, becoming a prominent player in the jazz scene there.

The original album featured several Roy Ayers covers, including the all-time classic 'Everybody Loves The Sunshine', and this 2024 pressing also includes a brand new remix of the track from keys player & producer, Joe Armon-Jones. Joe is hugely-acclaimed in his own right as a solo artist, as well as his recent collaborations with Mala (who has a track named after him on this very project, as Takuya was influenced heavily by his 2012 Brownswood album 'Mala in Cuba'), and as an integral member of the legendary Ezra Collective, winners of the 2023 Mercury Music Prize in the UK.

Flitting between the genres of jazz fusion, soul, r&b, hip hop and afrobeat, the album was predominantly produced by a previous Takuya collaborator, vocalist José James, while also featuring phenomenal accompaniment from Nate Smith (drums), Solomon Dorsey (bass), Corey King (trombone) and Kris Bowers (keys).

In the words of José James, "no one sounds like Takuya. His tone, warmth and most of all his storytelling have inspired me for years. His writing is soulful, modern, and effortlessly bridges the gap between jazz and soul, and between history and tomorrow."

Previous reviews and accolades for Takuya's third album 'Rising Son' include AllMusic's Best of 2014, NPR Music, Jazz Weekly, Leo Weekly, All About Jazz, Icon, Relix, Pop Matters, Jay Z's Life + Times, Wbgo, Upscale, The Revivalist, East Bay Express and The Jazz Line, to name just a few.

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Skinshape

Umoja

Tadao Sawai,Kazue Sawai,Takeshi Inomata,Norio Maeda,Hozan Yamamoto

Release: 2020 / US – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Fifth studio album featuring Malcolm Catto, D'Alma, Idd Aziz and Modou Touré. Includes the singles Sua Alma, In The End and Afande. His most accomplished album to date Will Dorey aka Skinshape moved out of his comfort zone to create a new sound while retaining his trademark feel. While Skinshape has often been influenced by African music 'Umoja' directly incorporates styles and rhythms from the continent. Drawing on London's vast talent pool from across the globe collaborators bring the essence of Senegal, Portugal, Ghana and Kenya via Norway no name but a few. The initial plan was to travel to various African nations to record 'Umoja'. This proved to be an unnecessary step because Skinshape's hometown of London ended up bearing many fruits. It was a challenging project for Dorey taking a year and a half of dedicated work to complete with many ideas left unfinished along the way. The album has a very global feel which was enhanced at the end of the process by a collaboration with Japanese painter Ken-ichi Omura. Fans of Skinshape's distinctive voice will not be disappointed as he features on 'In The End' and 'Sun'. Long-time friend and collaborator Jon Moody (from the band Franc Moody) wrote the album's horn parts.

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Jazz Rock

LP | 1973 | EU | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

N-44-7 DJ IMP Ersatznadel (1 Paar)

Release: 1973 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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They say you can't judge a book by its cover, and going by 'Jazz Rock', nor a record by its title. Though entering into jazz territory and featuring some distorted guitar, 'Jazz Rock' is more a beautiful marriage of funky breakbeat drumming and spiritual jazz instrumentation, combined with traditional Min'y music performed on the koto and shakuhachi.
Originally released in 1973, the record sounds simultaneously vintage and contemporary. It is akin to something Madlib might dream up whilst lost in Japan collaborating with Min'y players at a recording session. The record features some amazing shakuhachi (bamboo flute) playing by Hozan Yamamoto, which gives the music a haunting, dreamlike atmosphere. You can almost visualise the long grass blowing in the wind, and ear the bamboo rustling in the distance on a long hot summer's day. Takeshi Inomata, Tadao Sawai and Kazue Sawai anchor the session. Takeshi's exceptionally funky-drum work will almost certainly get some producers dusting off and firing up their MPC's. Whilst Kazue and Tadao work their magic on the koto (a traditional string instrument). Though certainly not an ambient record, 'Jazz-Rock' has the same meditative, other-worldly quality that invites you to sit back, listen and be transported somewhere else. Unfortunately, until now the 'Jazz Rock' album is a scarcity that commanded a high price-tag only for the most hardened of record collectors. So it is pleasure to make it accessible to all, and we hope you dig this lost, obscure future classic as much as we do.

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Jico

219,00 €*

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Dr. Suzuki

12" Slipmats Mix-Edition

12" | 2023 | EU | Original (O.C.D. Open Channel For Dreamers)

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The excellent Dr. Suzuki Slipmats are now available in purple!
Optimized for mixing, thanks to hand-made Japanese fabric as well as coated edge and center hole. The ultimate standard in slipmats!

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Trailmix

Plum Pudding EP

14,39 €* 15,99 € -10%

Release Spirit Pink Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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The 90’s San Francisco underground electronic scene always commanded a great deal of love and respect here at OCD. It played an important role not only in the development of the global electronic music scene, but also in our personal, never-ending journey of discovery. Back in 1996, between the early releases of one of the SF’s scene most important and pioneering record labels, Sunburn Records, an EP titled “Plum Pudding EP” by an artist called “Trailmix” appeared. It featured 4 tracks spanning between early hours progressive-house and more gentle, mellow breaks with a hint of electronica. For many years it has been one of our most favourite record from that scene and era. 27 years later, we’re beyond stoked to have being able to successfully track down that gentleman by the name of Alan Aronoff (Trailmix) who, with no hesitation, allowed us to reissue that special EP on The Secret Sun.

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Khotin

LP | 2023 | US | Original (Ghostly International)

26,99 €*

2LP | 1999 | JP | Reissue (Universal Music Japan)

Release: 2023 / US – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Canadian producer Dylan Khotin-Foote has kept his Khotin alias going for the better part of a decade; the impressionistic electronic project shifts with the movements in his life. Sometimes it leads, like when the club-friendly grooves of 2014's Hello World immersed him in the heart of Vancouver's underground dance scene, and sometimes it follows, like 2018's Beautiful You, a downtempo salve for DJ fatigue His melodic sensibility and playful ear for atmosphere remain the rippling core of the project's fingerprint; whether beat-driven or ambient, a foggy smear or a dusted and pristine print, a Khotin track has a distinct and instantly recognizable swirl. During and after the 2020 release of Finds You Well, his second LP on Ghostly International, Khotin-Foote settled back into a slower vibe in his hometown of Ed- monton. Even before the pandemic, his pivots to softer production, and away from DJing, left him with fewer opportunities in Vancouver and club bookings overall, and as a self-identifying introvert, he was fine with that. But the change of pace did open space for Khotin-Foote to grapple with concepts of adulthood and career. At his lowest, he almost walked off this musical path altogether; instead, he doubled down on the craft _ the tone, pacing, and dynamism of new material _ arriving at a definitive full-length. With Release Spirit, Khotin releases himself from the pressure of expectation, fusing and refining everything we know about his music. The warmth and familiarity of Khotin's dreamy, dulcet style meet new ideas and frameworks, a natural progression, a modest revelation; Khotin confirms it is okay to move slowly and he's never sounded better doing it. The album title borrows from the "release spirit" mechanic in the video game World of Warcraft. When players die, they are prompted to release their spirit and return as ghosts to find their corpses and come back to life. Khotin sees it as a worthy metaphor for the impending change his return home presented and the resulting process of purging artistic expectations to find his creative self again. On this go- around, he is freer, more playful, and more intentional within his palette of warped synth, breakbeats, and piano sounds _ including the classic Casio Sk-1 presets he's used since the start _ mingling with wistful samples, field recordings, and other abstract snippets. For the first time, he enlisted Nik Kozub to do the mix and assist with sequencing. Khotin-Foote has long worked with the Edmonton-based musician and engineer in the mastering phase, as well as their days co-running the label Normals Welcome, and this time was able to involve his ears earlier given their newfound proximity. "I think it's my best sounding record to date." We begin on "HV Road" or Happy Valley Road, where Khotin-Foote spent time during a family vacation in British Columbia's Okanagan Lake. His plans to record crickets at night are quickly foiled by his younger siblings; the cute exchange orients the listener to a core memory of sorts, setting the tone of universally understood warmth and wonder that has defined some of Khotin's most transportive tracks. Hazy percussion takes hold, and we are swept further into the wisp of "Lovely," a grooving, melodic standout built on the interplay between the beat and human voice-like hums. Khotin knows this zone well; equally suited for a reverie or a club warm-up. The bubbling atmosphere and absurdity of "3 pz" offer a cosmic/comic interlude and also speak to reflections on his family's move to Canada two generations ago, and the audio tutorials they used to learn English. "I can only imagine my grandpar- ents repeating some of the bizarre phrases." "Fountain, Growth" finds Khotin in collaboration with Montreal's Tess Roby (Dawn to Dawn) for the project's first-ever vocal track. Roby's soft cadence echoes atop spiraling air pockets of rhythmic production, lending a breezy, almost shoegaze pop feel. Throughout the single and the album, wind gusts between the compositional layers, akin to the roaming spirits of its namesake, curving around the birdsong of "Life Mask" and seamlessly reaching "Unlimited <3." The latter bumps in slow motion; disembodied whirrs from his Casio collide with 808 drums and sub-bass for a vibe that teeters on trap and instrumental hip-hop. Release Spirit rests in a dream sequence. Oscillating synth lines dance around the heartbeat of "Techno Creep," a hyperactive REM state before the digitized ambient sprawl of "My Same Size." In the final pass, Khotin imagines transcontinental travel from the glow of his screen. He recorded "Sound Gathering Trip" to soundtrack a genre of YouTube videos he's taken to that follows train routes through Europe and Japan. The scene is serene and moving; piano keys warble as static-filled sound design shimmers off the rails, from cityscapes to the countryside, an introspective ride through a world beyond his bedroom. It doubles as an apt parting image for Khotin's project as a whole: dreaming big but happiest when riffing on the details, shaping environments from the inside out. Over the last decade, he has stretched from his core in Edmonton, leaving a trace in Vancouver and beyond; but when all signs point home, he loops back to see it all from a different vantage, revitalized, refined, and free.

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Hikaru Utada

First Love

60,99 €*

Release: 1999 / JP – Reissue

Genre: Pop

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OCD Presents The Secret Sun: Alex Martin Futurespective Volume 1

Alex Martin

12" | 2020 | EU | Original (O.C.D. Open Channel For Dreamers)

2LP | 1980 | UK | Reissue (BBE Music)

Release: 2020 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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We’re thrilled to have another legend of the underground on O.C.D. : Alex Martin. A very well respected mainstay in the Spanish Techno scene, Alex’s career spans 3 decades under different production aliases and releases on seminal labels like F-Com, Klang Elektronik, Pias, Cosmos Records, Minifunk, Boozoo, Pagoda Recordings, many of which are now sought-after collectors material. Alex is a very good friend of the label since long and a while ago he shared with us his DAT archives filled with unreleased material from the early years of his career. It took us a while, but we are now ready to give him the rightly deserved space on our Secret Sun series. This is the first volume of a collection of never heard before music from Alex Martin under some of his several aliases, retrieved from the vaults to be finally made available to the world.

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Ralph Thomas

Eastern Standard Time

26,99 €*

Grush Glow In The Dark Green Vinyl Edition

Release: 1980 / UK – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Following hard on the heels of BBE delving into the archives of
Detroit’s Strata Records and delivering their widely acclaimed
and hugely in-demand exploration of J-Jazz, comes another
crate digger’s delight- Ralph Thomas’ ‘Eastern Standard Time’,
which dropped the USA back in in 1980, on the obscure Zebra
Jazz imprint.
This is the is the kind of “spiritual’ jazz gem that appears on You
Tube and upon checking it out on Discogs reveals a price well in
excess of £150.00. To have it widely available in its original
vinyl format, as well as digitally and on CD, is a real treat. So,
who is Ralph Thomas?
The self-produced ‘Eastern Standard Time’ features Thomas on
baritone, alto and tenor saxophones as well as flute and
percussion. He describes himself as a practicing ethnomusicologist
who’s musical vision evolved during the Sixties and
it’s Thomas’ multifaceted, global approach that gives the music
on Eastern Standard Time’ an engaging and distinct flavour.
"My music has always been open to different cultures and
sounds Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Mexican, Peruvian, American,
Hebrew, Turkish, African, Indian and Japanese,” declares the
Chicago born musician. While attending the Chicago
conservatory of music in 1969 he became a member of the
Chicago A.A.C.M, studying with master musicians Phil Cohran
and Richard Muhal Abrams. He also recorded with well-known
blues legends, Howlin' Wolf and Mighty Joe Young for the Cadet
imprint of Chess records.
In 1974, he moved to Los Angeles and was employed as a
session player with both 20th Century Fox and Motown – where
he recorded with Marvin Gaye, Jermaine Jackson, Smokey
Robinson and Rick James. In the early Eighties he was working
for Quincy Jones Productions appearing on the soundtrack of
Roots and The Color Purple but a passion for reggae music led
him to Jamaica where he recorded with producer Jack Ruby and
artists like Augustus Pablo and Gregory Isaacs.
In ’86 he moved to NYC where he collaborated with Boogaloo
legend Johnny Colon and played with like-minded musical
explorers Sun Ra, Don Cherry and Olatunji. However, by 1993
his restless spirit carried him to Paris where studied
Ethnomusicology and performed with trumpeter Mra Oma and
film-maker Ranaivo-Rajaona Hery. There were also gigs with
percussionist Trilok Gurtu as well as drummer Sunny Murray
and saxophone legend Archie Shepp. Upon moving to the
South of France Thomas ran an art gallery and initiated his
MusArt project – which has since toured in the US, Canada and
Japan
After a productive stint in Chiang Mai, Thailand – where he
immersed himself in Issan culture – Ralph Thomas recently relocated
back to the US to live and work.

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µ-Ziq

2LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Planet Mu)

So Young High Rising Limited Picture Disc Edition

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Mike Paradinas, veteran producer and Planet Mu label owner has written a new album called ‘Grush' and it's full of weird bangers that reclaim the 'dance' part of the woeful term IDM. A back-to-first-principles record, inspired in part by the group of artists IDM was coined for; melodic dance music that didn't come out of urban scenes, but interpreted them from a distance. The tracks on ‘Grush’ are all road-tested live favorites developed with feedback from Mike's touring partner and visuals guy Mora (Jan Moravec). It's a detailed and energetic journey which replicates the flow of a live gig. A lot of the tracks have been made in hotel rooms in response to shows, ‘Imperial Crescent’ is named after a Japanese Hotel, as is ‘Belvedere’ in Prague, while some tracks such as ‘Hyper Daddy’ were created specifically to play live. Drums are confidently at the fore here and the album feels like it traces Mike's musical history and interests neatly around his sweetly nostalgic melodies, with atmospheres and structures which twist and turn with a charming softness which contrasts with the tension in the drums. Take ‘Hyper Daddy’s’ spiralling notes and twinkling piano which remind one of early Black Dog or Omni Trio rushing alongside splashy jungle drums, or the aquatic acid footwork of the title track with its drums softly bubbling and kicking. Elsewhere there's territory which harks back to his Tusken Raiders pseudonym, like the heads down Drexciyan funk of ‘Windsor Safari Park,’ which transforms from moody electro into a sunny hardcore track midway.

The album is interspersed with Reticulum A, B and C at the start middle and end of the album which suggest a theme which carries across the music in an effortless and joyful way. ‘Grush’ is a strong album that works both for listening and DJing and a great snapshot of where Mike Paradinas musical head is at in 2024.

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Suede

7" | 2024 | Original (Demon)

25,99 €*

Release: 2024 / Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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12" | 2024 | EU | Original (O.C.D. Open Channel For Dreamers)

Portal Jams

7th Day EP

15,99 €*

LP | 1973 | JP | Original (London)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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This eleventh O.C.D. release showcases the results of a series of prolific sessions recorded live in Barcelona in 2022 at the Small Black Dots’ in-house studio between Alessandro Picone and Jordi Barasoain.

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Bloodstone

Unreal

11,99 €*

10" | 2022 | UK | Original (Newdubhall)

Release: 1973 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG, Cover: VG

Japanese pressing with insert.

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Deadbeat

Things Fall Apart

15,99 €*

New Soul Greatest Hits 14 Vol. 1

Release: 2022 / UK – Original

Genre: Reggae & Dancehall

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After releasing Undefined, Kazufumi Kodama and Babe Roots, the 4th release from a Japanese experimental dub label newdubhall welcomes the ever-evolving pioneer of minimal dub and dub techno Deadbeat, a solo project of Scott Monteith hailing from Canada. Side A 'Things Fall Apart' will feature a beatless dub ambient which shares a perspective of free jazz and 'Adieu Chez Cherie,’ an absolute knockdown four on the floor dub techno on the flip side. Though simple, both sides are layered with complexity, let yourself experience the profundity of newdubhall with this masterpiece.

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The Stylistics

LP | 1976 | JP | Original (Avco)

9,99 €*

LP | 1979 | JP | Original (Motown)

Release: 1976 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG, Cover: VG

Japanese pressing, no Obi.

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Diana Ross

The Boss

LP | 1974 | JP | Original (MCA)

Release: 1979 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG, Cover: VG

Japanese pressing, no Obi.

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Eumir Deodato

Artistry

14,99 €*

12" | 2015 | DE | Original (Upon.You)

Release: 1974 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG, Cover: VG

Japanese pressing, no Obi.

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Magit Cacoon

Love Express

6,99 €*

Release: 2015 / DE – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG+, Cover: Generic

Hozan Yamamoto With Sharps & Flats

Beautiful Bamboo-Flute

LP | 1971 | EU | Reissue (Mr Bongo)

Martin Landsky & Marco Resmann

Release: 1971 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Seminal Japanese jazz album from 1971. Journeys through jazz fusion, soul and big band moods. Impossible to obtain in its original format these days. Official Mr Bongo reissue.

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Lava

12" | 2015 | DE | Original (Upon.You)

7,99 €*

Everybody Likes Hampton Hawes, Vol. 3: The Trio

Release: 2015 / DE – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG+, Cover: VG+

Cover with light shelf wear

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Hampton Hawes

CD | 2001 | JP | Reissue (Contemporary)

34,99 €*

Dan Eben & Derrick Thompson

Release: 2001 / JP – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG, Cover: VG

Japanese pressing, no Obi.
Sleeve has light foxing.

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Crossing Continents

12" | 2003 | DE | Original (Psycho Thrill)

14,99 €*

Release: 2003 / DE – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG+, Cover: Generic

LP | 1968 | JP | Original (Globe)

Ramsey Lewis

"Live" In Tokyo

27,99 €*

Piano Improvisations Vol. 2

Release: 1968 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG, Cover: G+

Japanese pressing, no Obi.
Sleeve has foxing and wear.

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Chick Corea

LP | 1978 | JP | Reissue (Polydor)

Eddie Kendricks' Best Collection

Release: 1978 / JP – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG+, Cover: VG

Japanese pressing without OBI, with insert. Vinyl close to NM. Cover with foxing, close to VG+

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Eddie Kendricks

LP | 1975 | JP | Original (Motown)

7,99 €*

Oscar Peterson / Erroll Garner / Art Tatum

Release: 1975 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG, Cover: VG+

Slightly warped vinyl, but still enjoyable. Japanese pressing with OBI and insert.

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Great Jazz Pianists Of Our Time

LP | 1972 | JP | Reissue (RCA)

11,99 €*

Osvaldo Pugliese Y Su Orquesta Típica

Release: 1972 / JP – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: Near Mint, Cover: VG+

Japanese pressing with OBI and insert.

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Sentimental Y Canyengue

LP | 1982 | JP | Original (Philips)

Juan D'Arienzo Y Su Orquesta Típica

Release: 1982 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: Near Mint, Cover: VG+

Japanese pressing. With OBI and insert. Cover is close to NM.

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Juan D'Arienzo Interpreta A Francisco Lomuto

LP | 1975 | JP | Original (RCA Victor)

LP | 1978 | JP | Original (ABC)

Release: 1975 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG+, Cover: VG+

Japanese pressing with OBI.

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The Dramatics

Do What You Wanna Do

15,99 €*

Ocd Presents The Secret Sun: Miki - The 7 Kumaras Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 1978 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG+, Cover: VG+

Cover with light wear. Japanese pressing without OBI, with insert

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Miki

12" | 2021 | EU | Original (O.C.D. Open Channel For Dreamers)

13,99 €*

Freddie Hubbard / Stanley Turrentine

Release: 2021 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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We’re at our fifth episode on The Secret Sun series and we’re thrilled to have another legendary producer taking care of it. Miki “The Dolphin” is somebody who needs no introduction as he is, together with Francesco Farfa and Roby J, one of the pioneers of the Italian progressive scene that formed in the early 90’s in Tuscany and spread across Italy and beyond. Recognized worldwide for his productions on Interactive Test and his own Major Hypnotic Key Institute, Miki forged a solid vinyl discography that is still today very much in-demand in the second hand market, with collectors paying high prices to get their hands on the few copies around. His intense dj set activity over the past 30 years has brought the attention of many also towards his experimental analogical works: initially realized in Florence with the connection with Franco Falsini and his Interactive Test, and later, up until the first half of the 2000’s, in Ferrara, in the recording rooms of the Adrogimus Recordings Mulino where the concepts of the Major Hypnotic Key Institute were further developed thanks to long studio sessions, both alone and with renowed trained musicians. As it is now our modus operandi here at the Ocd/ss HQ, we gained access to Miki’s personal DAT archives to scour for the goods; we are now bringing under the light of our sun two previously unreleased gem “Anse Takamaka”, created together with the late jazz bass player Bruno Corticelli, and “Shamballa”. To close the EP, we’re reissuing “Art Of Libido” a highly sought after track previously released on Interactive Test.

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In Concert Volume One

LP | 1978 | JP | Reissue (CTI)

14,99 €*

LP | 1978 | JP | Original (CBS/Sony)

Release: 1978 / JP – Reissue

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG, Cover: VG

Japanese pressing, no Obi.

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Kimiko Kasai

Round And Round

11,99 €*

Lee Oskar = Lee Oskar & War

Release: 1978 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG, Cover: VG

Japanese pressing, no Obi.

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Lee Oskar = 約束の旅

LP | 1976 | JP | Original (LAX)

5,99 €*

2LP | 1993 | JP | Reissue (Universal Music Japan)

Release: 1976 / JP – Original

Genre: Organic Grooves, Rock & Indie

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Used Vinyl

Medium: VG, Cover: VG

Japanese pressing, no Obi.

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Nakamori Akina

Unbalance + Balance

69,99 €*

Release: 1993 / JP – Reissue

Genre: Pop

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2LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Rush Hour)

Soichi Terada

Asakusa Light

23,99 €*

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (An'archives)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Back in 2015, Japanese deep house pioneer Soichi Terada stepped back into the limelight courtesy of Sounds From The Far East, a Rush Hour-released, Hunee curated retrospective of material released on his Far East Recording label in the 1990s and early 2000s. Buoyed by the positive response and renewed interest in his work, Terada went back into studio to record his first new album of house music for over 25 years, Asakusa Light.

Developed over 18 months, Terada tried to recreate the mental and physical processes that led to the creation of his acclaimed earlier work. Those familiar with Terada’s celebrated, dancefloor-focused sound of the 1990s – a vibrant, atmospheric, and emotive take on deep house powered by the twin attractions of groove and melody – will find much to enjoy on Asakusa Light.

“I tried to recall my feelings 30 years ago, but when I tried it, I found it super difficult,” he explains. “I didn’t even know what I thought about myself five years ago, and the mental metabolic cycle seems to be faster than I thought. I tried different methods, including digging up my old MIDI data and composing by remembering old experiences. With the help of Rush Hour, I found some of the light from my heart that I had 30 years ago. I nicknamed the light I found in my heart, ‘Asakusa Light’.”

Produced using the very same synthesizers and drum machines that powered his 1990s work, the album is a joyous, colourful and life-affirming collection of timeless house music that not only recalls Terada’s own impeccable back catalogue, but also that of similarly celebrated contemporaries such as the Burrell Brothers or Ben Cenac (Dream 2 Science, Sha-Lor).

Terada, who has spent much of the last two decades writing video game music, has always had a gift for combining warm, undulating synthesizer basslines and perfectly programmed machine drums with stirring chords, smile-inducing melodies and mellow musical flourishes. It’s this immersive, sun-kissed and tuneful trademark style that takes centre stage on Asakusa Light, an album for the ages.

The set begins with the alien-sounding chords, soft-touch percussion and dawn-friendly warmth of ‘Silent Chord’ and ends on a high via the bouncing string stabs, starlight chords and thickset grooves of ‘Blinker’; in between, you’ll find a deluge of effortlessly feelgood music that’s the aural equivalent of a dopamine rush at sunrise.

There are subtle variations aplenty throughout the album – see the 8-bit lead lines and pulsing electronic textures of ‘Takusambient’, the vintage Tony Humphries flex of ‘Diving Into Minds’ and the effortlessly funky ‘Marimbau’ – but it’s the uniquely atmospheric, vivid and tactile nature of Terada’s loved-up sound that resonates. After well over 30 years in house music, the light in his heart is shining brighter than ever.

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Usurabi

Chita

37,99 €*

2LP | 2024 | UK | Original (Nervous)

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Chita, the third album proper by Japanese guitar pop trio Usurabi, is their most elegant, stylish confection yet. Over the past four years, Toshimitsu Akiko (vocals, guitar), Kawaguchi Masami (bass) and Morohashi Shigeki (drums) have been recording, playing live, and releasing songs of rare melodic warmth, centring Toshimitsu’s unique musical vision, where melancholy and joy can co-exist, a split-second flick of her wrist switchblading the guitar from languorous sweetness to overloaded rock action.

Chita expands on the smartly sculpted pop and rock songs found on their previous albums, Remains Of The Light (2021) and Outside Of The World (2023), while infusing the music with more of the rough- housing energy that also coursed through the live CD, Once In A Red Room, they self-released in January 2024. There’s still a through-line, of course, that connects the music here to Toshimitsu’s earlier groups, Doodles and Animone, but Chita feels more deeply like a sussed, sharp take on the crumbling edges of sixties psychedelic folk and rock: the harmonica that blasts through the opener, “Bansho”, is pure Dylan in effect.

One of the many smart things about Usurabi, though, is that they never feel beholden to the historical moment. Soon after “Bansho”, we encounter “TurnOff”, a lush pop song that turns on a dime, with Toshimitsu tearing fuzztone notes from six strings that are like a more folk-reverent Kaneko Jutok. And there’s something about the guitar and bass riff that doubles through the thrilling two-and-a-half minutes of “Hakanonaka” that’s a dead ringer for the Only Ones. Flip the record, and things get more expansive, the spindly jangling of the title song spiralling ever inwards, before the sweet, sugary rush of “Kanata” resolves to the martial rhythms that pulse through “Aseranai”, winding the album down to its poetic, becalmed resolution.

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Teddy Douglas

I’m Here

Through The Looking Glass

Release: 2024 / UK – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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US House Music legend Teddy Douglas of Basement Boys and Jasper St. Co. fame gets set to unleash his first solo artist album, ‘I’m Here’, on the iconic label, Nervous Records. Teddy has gone all out to deliver one of his most creative and musically diverse albums to date. ‘I’m Here’ is a colourful pallet of meaningful songs and grooves that reach far beyond Teddy’s signature soulful Baltimore House sound, with added infusions of Funk, Rock and Jazz, yet still loaded with plenty of Teddy’s trademark House and Disco sounds that we all know and love.

Across the album he’s pulled together an array of heavyweight international vocal talent including; UK vocal diva Pauline Taylor; Danish award winning Folk and Blues artist, Richard Farrell; Chi Town Hip House legend, Fast Eddie; dance music’s legendary No.1 vocal queen, Ultra Naté; up and coming Brit Soul talent, Sipho; and Buckshot from Blackmoon appearing as BDI Thug. From the shimmering cover of The Frontline Orchestra’s ‘Don’t Turn Your Back On Me’ with Pauline Taylor on the vocals, to the downtempo rocky vibes of ‘Help!’ with Sipho delivering a spine-tingling gravelly vocal, ‘I’m Here’ is testament to Teddy’s finely tuned expert musicianship and impeccable knack for penning great songs and delivering vibrant covers.

Baltimore’s Teddy Douglas has produced everyone from Michael Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, Crystal Waters, Erykah Badu, Martha Wash and Ultra Nate’ and was an important figure in the development of the Baltimore “House” Sound. Teddy has held down a long and successful DJ career since 1983 staring out in Baltimore and spreading his wings globally gracing the decks at clubs such as Yellow in Japan to London’s Ministry of Sound and beyond. In 1985 he met Jay Steinhour and Thommy Davis, who later formed The Basement Boys production company. The Basement Boys have produced countless dance classics like Crystal Waters’ 1991 Gold single, ‘Gypsy Woman’. In the mid 90’s Teddy Douglas and Jay Steinhour opened Basement Boys Records and released club anthems from Teddy Douglas, Jasper St. Co., Ann Nesby, Those Guys, DJ Spen, Byron Stingly, Karizma, Kenny Bobien, Taja Seville and more

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Midori Takada

LP | 1983 | EU | Reissue (WRWTFWW)

20,99 €*

LP | 2022 | EU | Original (Morr Music)

Release: 1983 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Standard 33rpm edition without gatefold cover.

WRWTFWW & Palto Flats Records are ecstatic to announce 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 contemplative ambient sounds with an admirably precise use of marimba. The result is alternatively ethereal and vibrant, always precise and mesmerizing, and makes for an atmospheric masterpiece and an unparalleled sonic and spiritual experience. The fully licensed reissue is available as a single 33rpm LP and a limited 45rpm DLP, both cut directly from the original studio reels (AAA), at Emil Berliner (formerly the in-house recording department of renowned classical record label Deutsche Grammophon) for the 45rpm DLP, and at the equally famous Frankfurter SST Studio for the LP. It is also available in CD format for the first time. All versions come with extensive liner notes. Bio Midori Takada is a composer, multi percussionist, and theater artist renowned in Japanese vanguard circles. She will tour Europe this year. Midori released two solo albums: “Through The Looking Glass” and “Tree Of Life” and wrote music for Tadashi Suzuki's theater plays. Her hypnotic, minimalist music is based in the concept of coherence between sound and the human body.

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Tenniscoats

Tan-Tan Therapy

23,99 €*

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (AvantRoots)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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Just over a decade ago, Japanese indie-pop duo Tenniscoats recorded »Papa's Ear« (2012) and »Tan-Tan Therapy« (2007), two albums made with musical and production help from Swedish post-rock/folk trio Tape. Originally released on Häpna, they are beautiful documents of the exploratory music made by a close-knit collective of musicians, fully at ease with each other, playing songs written by Tenniscoats and arranging them in gentle and generous ways. Released during a prolific phase of collaboration for Tenniscoats – during the late ‘00s and early ‘10s, they would also collaborate with Jad Fair, The Pastels, Secai and Pastacas – they have, however, never been available on vinyl. In collaboration with Alien Transistor, Morr Music is now reissuing these albums with bonus material.

Filled with graceful pop songs, autumnal folk tunes, and gentle yet risk-taking improvisations, »Tan-Tan Therapy« was the first Tenniscoats album to be released in Europe, after a run of albums on Japanese labels, and the excellent »Live Wanderus« (2005) on Australian imprint Chapter Music. It was also the first recorded evidence of their collaboration with the three members of Tape and that group’s extended musical family. It opens with one of Tenniscoats’ signature songs, the pop fantasia of »Baibaba Bimba«, with Tenniscoats singer Saya repeating a light-headed incantation over joyous brass. The essence of Tenniscoats is contained in »Baibaba Bimba«: uplifting melody and playful musicianship, tinged with distant echoes of winsome melancholy.

From there, »Tan-Tan Therapy« explores many hues of lustrous blue. »Oetu to kanki no Namoriuta (Given Song of Sob and Joy)« is an aquatic arbour, the musicians’ gentle performances growing together like vines and seaweed as Saya’s voice swims through the waterway. »Umbarepa!« is full of play and pleasure, sparkling with glockenspiel as snare drum tattoos push the song ever-forward. »Abi and Travel« floats past, a lovely instrumental built from shifting layers of synthesizer and pianet; »Good B.«, an extra track originally only available on the Japanese edition of »Tan-Tan Therapy«, is added to this reissue, and follows a similar thread, its humming pump and Hammond organs swirling under beautiful vocals from Saya and guest performer Kazumi Nikaido.

Throughout, you can sense the deep empathy the members of Tenniscoats and Tape have for one another. It’s a conversational, tender and, at times, fragile music that can only be created out of mutual trust and kindness, with each of the players contributing to the community of sound they’re building. There’s an element here, too, of feeling out the possibilities of what this creative meeting can achieve, something reflected in the loose-limbs sprawl of »Marui Hifo (Everyone)«, which echoes the seaside drift of Bristol post-rock group Crescent, and the following »One Swan Swim«, a dreamsong redolent of the sleepy sensorium of Robert Wyatt’s »Rock Bottom«.

The freedom and liberty at the heart of Tenniscoats is something Tape and their friends have picked up on, beautifully so, and run with during the entirety of »Tan-Tan Therapy«. This is music with its wings outstretched, wanting to take to the air, ready to fly.

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Charles A.D

Deep Diver

21,99 €*

Phyllis Dellon/ Tommy Mccook And The Supersonics

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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The sea has long been central to Japanese culture, symbolizing both sustenance and spiritual
depth. Charles A.D.'s Deep Diver draws inspiration from this, channeling the ancient traditions
of diving and fishing into his music. Historically, the sea has influenced everything from Shinto
rituals to the livelihoods of coastal communities. In Deep Diver, this reverence flows through
aquatic soundscapes, where rhythmic waves of 90s house and Detroit techno meet Japanese
minimal production techniques, New Age and Pacific Jazz. Like the tides, the album ebbs and
flows, creating a serene yet dynamic homage to the timeless connection between Japan and
the sea.
The opening track 'Deep Diver' plunges into the depths, its abstract sound design capturing the
sensation of deep-sea propulsion. Rhythmic bubbles pulse gently alongside slow-moving
chords, creating an otherworldly atmosphere. The textures are lush yet restrained, setting a
tranquil stage that pulls the listener into a submerged world. 'Underwater Ruins' builds on this
aquatic theme, introducing rhythmic layers and bass-heavy notes reminiscent of mid-90s
Japanese ambient techno. The smooth, melodic flow nods to pioneers like Mr.YT and Susumu
Yokota, while subtly incorporating the Detroit techno influence through soulful, deep basslines.
The track feels like a fusion of ambient and techno, balancing serene tones with a rolling
groove, emblematic of Japanese techno soul. As the album progresses into 'Bubble Ring', it
becomes clear that Charles A.D. is a master of minimalism. The production is timeless, leaning
on analog techniques where echo-drenched chords and carefully layered soundscapes take on
an addictive, hypnotic quality. The simplicity of the composition is deceptive, as each element
carries weight, drawing the listener deeper into the rhythm and space between the notes.
'Merperson' is where organic rhythms truly come into play. Charles A.D. gently evolves the
patterns, allowing each percussive hit to flow naturally into the next. Soothing melodies emerge
from within the track’s structure, eventually reaching an emotional peak without ever feeling
forced. The organic nature of the arrangement creates an effortless progression that feels
deeply connected to the natural movement of water.Starting the second half with 'Deep Exploration', the theme of underwater excursions becomes
even more pronounced. Light, steady drumming anchors the track, allowing the melodic layers
to develop gradually. It unfolds with a calm, measured pace, before ending softly, almost as if
the sounds are drifting off into the oceanic depths. 'Diffuse Reflection' stands out as the most
dub house-influenced on the album, with rolling rhythms and hypnotic elements reminiscent of
Maurizio's deep, pulsing sound. Yet here, the production feels submerged, with aquatic effects
swirling around the rhythmic core, blending dub house with a fluid, oceanic touch. 'Traitors'
delves even deeper into dub-inspired territory. Deep, resonant bass hits combine with wooden
drums, while static-like sounds evoke the image of a radio tuning through static to find clarity.
Chords shimmer briefly before fading back into the liquid depths, evoking the ebb and flow of
the tide. The final track on Deep Diver 'Levitation', is a fitting conclusion, as the rhythms merge
and overlap like waves gently lapping the shore. The minimalistic arrangement allows each
element to blend effortlessly into the next, creating a sense of unity and closure. The sounds
move with the gentle grace of water, ending the album in a way that feels both complete and
open-ended, like the infinite motion of the sea.

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Don't Stay Away / Continental

7" | 2021 | JP | Original (Duke Reid Classics)

20,99 €*

Chilli Beans. Translucent Orange Vinyl Edition

Release: 2021 / JP – Original

Genre: Reggae & Dancehall

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1967 released. A certified old hit tune and masterpiece to come out of the Treasure Isle studios. Great Female Rock Steady Vocal. The flip (also from 1967) is an alternate take of a great Rock Steady Instrumental.

A premium series of limited edition Japanese pressed 7"s - featuring unreleased and impossibly hard to find gems from the Duke Reid archives.

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Chilli Beans.

LP | 2024 | EU | Original (Black Screen)

33,99 €*

Vibration Army / Silence-High-Speed

Release: 2024 / EU – Original

Genre: Pop

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Translucent orange vinyl.Chilli Beans. are a three-piece band from Japan, formed in 2019 by Moto (vocals), Maika(bass & vocals) and Lily (guitar & vocals). Their neo-garage style fuses indie rock withgarage infused guitars and catchy melodies. Since 2019, the band has released 4 EPs andtwo albums on A.S.A.B. and played several nationwide headline tours in Japan.On July 13, 2022, Chilli Beans. released their first full-length album "Chilli Beans." including the hit singles "lemonade", "andron", "Tremolo" and "School". The song "you n me" from the third EP "mixtape" was selected as the opening theme song to the TV Tokyo J-Drama series "Play It Cool, Guys".

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Non Band

Mag+7" | 2023 | EU | Original (TAL)

31,99 €*

Vertigo Days Black Vinyl Edition

Release: 2023 / EU – Original

Genre: Rock & Indie

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This unique and unconventional set combines a 7“ single with two yet unreleased songs by Non Band and a photo magazine, both of which provide essential evidence of the tsunami-like tidal wave of the Japanese post punk movement. The two featured songs perfectly capture the charismatic formative years of Non Band, with their sound emerging as an entirely unique mix of driving punk veering from No Wave and Folk into raw post punk mutations. Both songs were committed to tape in 1981 at the legendary facilities of Mod Studio, Tokyo, by engineer Yasushi Konichi when the band recorded their eponymous debut album which was issued via Tokyo‘s Telegraph Records back in 1982.

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The Notwist

2LP | 2021 | EU | Reissue (Morr Music)

CD | 2022 | EU | Original (Rush Hour)

Release: 2021 / EU – Reissue

Genre: Rock & Indie

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On Vertigo Days, the first album in seven years for The Notwist, one of Germany’s most iconic independent groups are alive to the possibilities of the moment. Their music has long been open-minded and exploratory, but from its engrossing structure, through its combination of melancholy pop, clangorous electronics, hypnotic Krautrock and driftwork ballads, to its international musical guests, Vertigo Days is both a new step for The Notwist, and a reminder of just how singular they’ve always been. Most importantly, the core trio of Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck are reaching out: as Markus reflects, “we wanted to question the concept of a band by adding other voices and ideas, other languages, and also question or blur the idea of national identity.”

It’s been seven years since The Notwist’s last album, Close To The Glass, and in that time the various members of the group have been busy with side projects (Spirit Fest, Hochzeitskapelle, Alien Ensemble, Joasihno), guest appearances, a record label (Alien Transistor), movie scoring, helping organise the Minna Miteru compilation of Japanese indie pop & running a festival (Alien Disko). Those divergent paths feed back into Vertigo Days in surprising ways, from its structure, built from group improvisations, with songs flowing and melting into one another in a collective haze, to its spirit, which feels refreshed and alive. There’s something cinematic about Vertigo Days too, reflective of the group’s time working on soundtracks, and reflected in the rich, moody photographic artwork by Lieko Shiga that adorns the cover.

The first sign of this newfound openness was the album’s lead single, “Ship”, where the group were joined by Saya of Japanese pop duo Tenniscoats, her disarmingly hymnal voice sighing over a propulsive, Krautrocking beat. Elsewhere, American multi-instrumentalist Ben LaMar Gay sings on “Oh Sweet Fire”, also contributing “a love lyric for these times, imagining two lovers in an uprising hand in hand.” American jazz clarinettist and composer Angel Bat Dawid adds clarinet to the spaced-out dream-pop of “Into The Ice Age”, while Argentinian electronica songwriter Juana Molina gifts some gorgeous singing and electronics to “Al Sur”. Saya also reappears as a member of Japanese brass band Zayaendo, who guest on the album. Throughout, The Notwist also capture the openness of their live performances, too, where they mix and link their songs in unexpected ways.

Indeed, what’s most impressive about Vertigo Days is the way it sits together as one long, flowing suite, the album conceptualised as a whole entity – it’s perfect for the long-distance, dedicated listening experience. This is also captured by the album’s lyrics, which Markus states, “feel more like one long poem.” The dimensions of that poem are multi-faceted, something intensified by the geopolitical weirdness of its times: “As the situation changed so dramatically, while we were working on the record, the theme of ‘the impossible can happen anytime,’ more about personal relationships in the beginning, became a global and political story.” But it also works at a level of poetic abstraction, such that each song gestures in multiple directions – the deeply private pans out to the global. The one certainty is that there is no certainty. “It’s maybe mostly about learning and how you never arrive anywhere,” Markus concurs. To sit within uncertainty is brave, but it’s also where we feel most alive, and Vertigo Days is an album that is brimming with life, with enthusiasm and love for music and for community, all wide-eyed and dreaming.

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Soichi Terada

Asakusa Light

17,99 €*

LP | 1983 | EU | Reissue (Be With)

Release: 2022 / EU – Original

Genre: Electronic & Dance

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Victor Cavini

Japan

24,99 €*