Browse by Label: EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)

Artist:	YUASA, JOJI
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 1: Aoi-no-Ue
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.50
Catalog #:	OPA 001CD

2010 repress. Volume one of Omega Point's Obscure Tape Music of Japan series, featuring Joji Yuasa's "Aoi-no-Ue" (1961) and "My Blue Sky" (1975). Joji Yuasa (b. 1929) is one of most important composers in Japan after World War II. "Aoi-no-Ue" was composed for experimental theater at Sogetsu Art Center. The sound of this work is made from the chants of Japanese traditional "Noh" theater. "The text is recomposed by me keeping the original words. And it was sung in the style of Noh-chant by three brothers ... This work is composed mainly based on the metamorphosed sound of Noh-chant. The other sound is concrete sound such as bird songs, water drops, glasses, the warped sound of a vibraphone, some generated electronic sound and others. These sound sources are diversely changed, metamorphosed through all the possible electronic techniques at that time, and finally mixed and reconstructed on stereophonic tape. This piece had taken almost half a year to complete, working with the excellent sound engineer Zyunosuke Okuyama at the Sogetsu Art Center." --Joji Yuasa. This package also includes his final electronic music piece "My Blue Sky No.1," made at NHK electronic music studio. This studio was the '60s and '70s mecca of Japanese electronic music. Yuasa explains: "In this work only clicks, pulses and the various kinds of beats induced from them -- varying pitches, width and their frequency of pulse -- are adopted. For example, I controlled successively occurring pulses of low frequency sine wave by means of triggering with the frequency of the square wave." Limited edition of 500 copies for this second edition. Housed in a cardboard paper gatefold sleeve in the original design. Newly-written liner notes in Japanese and English by the artist himself. New and quite different cover art for this second edition by Ryuhei Yuasa.

Artist:	MOROI + KOUBOU ABE, MAKOTO
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 3: Music Drama 'Akai Mayu'
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.50
Catalog #:	OPA 003CD

...(A Red Cocoon). This is volume 3 in Omega Point's newly-reissued Obscure Tape Music of Japan series. Akai Mayu is a short work of fiction by Japanese writer Koubou Abe (aka Kobo Abe pseudonym of Kimifusa Abe, 1924-1993). This musical drama version was broadcast by the Japan Broadcasting System NHK in 1960 and composed by Makoto Moroi, a pioneer of Japanese electronic music. He composed the music with a chamber ensemble, mixed chorus and electronic sound. This piece was performed at Sogetsu Art Center as a part of a concert program of Moroi's works. This version included a pantomime by Mamako Yoneyama, an abstract image projection and stage-setting by Hiroshi Manabe, as well as a performance by Kuniharu Akiyama with his work "Arcana 19." This work consisted of text, object sounds, piano and pre-recorded tapes, and was also broadcast live by NHK in 1960. This CD includes only some tape parts because the original live recording source of this performance was lost. Limited edition of 300 copies.

Artist:	YUASA, JOJI
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 4: Music for Theatrical...
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.50
Catalog #:	OPA 004CD

...Drama. This is volume 4 of Omega Point's newly-reissued Obscure Tape Music of Japan series, featuring two early works of music concrète composed for theatrical drama by legendary Japanese composer Joji Yuasa. The sounds on this recording, especially of "Oen" is so experimental and strange, but this music was not for avant-garde theater. "Mittsu No Sekai" contains elements of a mechanical beat (suggestive of a machine civilization) that could be the precursor to industrial music. Composed for the Tokubei Hanayagi Dancing Troupe for the play Three Worlds (1959), the piece was constructed from orchestral composition and tape sound: music concrète. As the composer explains, "While my engagement in the work of music concrète started in 1953 in the earlier time of tape music, the instrumental section of this work is my first composition for orchestral music. Most of the section was composed with the twelve tone technique; however, one may find some shadows of Edgard Varèse and Olivier Messiaen." "Oen" was composed for A Woman Named "En" (1963), and is a work of music concrète for a theatrical drama with choreography. "All the metamorphosed sound made from concrète sounds are used and combined for the tragic story of a woman in the Edo era, named 'En' who was put in prison for forty years. This work aims not only at depicting the situation, but also at lighting up the heroine's dark passion, her conscious and subliminal mind, and the psychological dimension." --Joji Yuasa. Limited edition of 300 copies.

Artist:	ICHIYANAGI, TOSHI
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 5: Music for Tinguely
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.50
Catalog #:	OPA 005CD

This is volume 5 of Omega Point's newly-reissued Obscure Tape Music of Japan series, available in a limited edition of 1000 copies, also with an LP version in a limited edition of 300 copies. Toshi Ichiyanagi is a well-renowned Japanese avant-garde composer who made brilliant pieces of tape music. Most of his works have not been issued on CD, or have only been issued in very small editions. This CD consists of three of his obscure tape works. "Music for Tinguely" (1963) was made from the junk objects by kinetic sculptor Jean Tinguely. "Appearance" (1967) is the artist's first live electronic performance, also featuring John Cage and David Tudor -- very noisy and hardcore! "Music For Living Space" (1969) was composed for the inner "Future Section" of the Sun Tower at the World Expo in Osaka. A computer-generated voice reads Sun Tower architect Kisyo Kurokawa's artistic manifesto. Strange!

Artist:	ICHIYANAGI, TOSHI
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 5: Music For Tinguely
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	LP
Price:	$50.00
Catalog #:	OPA 005LP

LP version. This is volume 5 of Omega Point's newly-reissued Obscure Tape Music of Japan series, available in a limited edition vinyl version of 300 copies. Toshi Ichiyanagi is a well-renowned Japanese avant-garde composer who made brilliant pieces of tape music. This release consists of three of his obscure tape works. "Music for Tinguely" (1963) was made from the junk objects by kinetic sculptor Jean Tinguely. "Appearance" (1967) is the artist's first live electronic performance, also featuring John Cage and David Tudor -- very noisy and hardcore! "Music For Living Space" (1969) was composed for the inner "Future Section" of the Sun Tower at the World Expo in Osaka. A computer-generated voice reads Sun Tower architect Kisyo Kurokawa's artistic manifesto. Strange!

Artist:	YUASA, JOJI
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 7: Music for Experimental
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.50
Catalog #:	OPA 007CD

...Films. This is volume 7 of Omega Point's Obscure Tape Music of Japan series. Many avant-garde composers made soundtracks for experimental film-maker Toshio Matsumoto. This CD consists of Joji Yuasa's three musique concrète works for his 1960s and 1970s short films. The first track features a heavily broken and meaningless narrator for the short film Andy Warhol: Re-Reproduction (1974); "Document Of The Long White Line" is an obscure, early electronic sound collage with chamber orchestra, and "Autonomy" is pure musique concrète with the inside of a piano, bird-song, the sound of steel springs, etc. "I have been convinced that the role of music for film must be accompaniment for the images. Consequently, the music here is sort of incomplete as independent music. However, I think that this CD is a document of how and what I had tried to explore in the field of film music in the '60s and '70s." --Joji Yuasa. Limited edition of 700 copies.

Artist:	ICHIYANAGI, TOSHI
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 8: Electronic Field
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.50
Catalog #:	OPA 008CD

This is volume 8 in Omega Point's Obscure Tape Music of Japan series, featuring the recorded live performance of Japanese avant garde maestro Toshi Ichiyanagi. He has stood out from the other more moldy academic groups of composers due to his groundbreaking and mindblowing work during the '60s. Thus, he was invited to perform as part of the concert series "Japanese Experimental Music 1960s" at the Art Tower Mito in Ibaraki in 1997. The noisy and radical sound of this performance shows the composer has not changed the tone of his experimentalism one bit. Ichiyanagi improvised on a prepared piano and the sound was modulated by live-electronics. Painter Sadamasa Motonaga (b.1922, a member of Gutai) projected abstract figures on the walls of the performance space. Limited edition of 700 copies.

Artist:	ICHIYANAGI + YOJI KURI, TOSHI
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 9: Drip Music
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$31.00
Catalog #:	OPA 009CD

This is volume 9 in Omega Point's Obscure Tape Music of Japan series. Yoji Kuri is one of the foremost and highly-regarded experimental animation artists in Japan, active since the early '60s. His name is well-known not only for his many works of "black humor" throughout the '60s and 70's, but also for the soundtracks to his materials, composed by avant-garde composers. Originally titled Synthesized Piano Space, it has been renamed Drip Music for this release. This new edition is combined with Toshi Ichiyanagi's unpublished tape work from 1974 (lost at Kuri's studio for the past 30 years) with 53 pieces of Kuri's newly-inked, fantastic manga work inspired by the sound. Contains newly-written liner notes in Japanese and English, housed in a specially-designed cardboard paper sleeve in a limited edition of 1,000 copies.

Artist:	MINAMI, HIROAKI
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 10
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.50
Catalog #:	OPA 010CD

...Electronic Symphony No. 1. Little-known composer Hiroaki Minami was a professor of electronic music at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts & Music and is a pioneer of synthesizer music in Japan. He built a private studio for his self-made synthesizer in his home in 1976, and shortly thereafter, he composed this piece, Electronic Symphony No. 1, filled with spacey and very noisy analog synthesizer sounds, much like Roland Kayn's '60s concrète works. Contains liner notes by the artist in Japanese and English; housed in a limited-edition specially-designed cardboard paper sleeve.

The artist himself: "At the age of 15, having more of an interest in technology than music, I began to build radio sets and vacuum tube amplifiers. In the next 20 years, electronics advanced into the realm of transistors and integrated circuits, creating a huge potential for the use of the synthesizer for musical applications. In the '70s as knowledge about experiments in transistors, integrated circuit oscillators, and filter technology became available in electronic technology magazines, I attempted IC even though I only had vacuum tubes to complete an analog synthesizer, and I also purchased 2-channel and 4-channel tape recorders. I was finally equipped with the necessary equipment to create electronic music when tragedy struck my family: my 8 year-old daughter died from liver disease. It compelled me to compose the fifth movement 'Sorrow Song The Stars Sang' of the Electronic Symphony No.1 as the requiem for my daughter. The piece, created from my own analog synthesizer, was distributed throughout the world as an individual work, and only later did I compose the rest of the movements in order to complete Symphony No. 1." --from the liner notes

Artist:	FUJIEDA, MAMORU
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 11: Radiated Falling
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.50
Catalog #:	OPA 011CD

Mamoru Fujieda is a Japanese post-minimalist composer, and Edition Omega Point releases some of his work from the early '80s. Both "Radiated Falling" (1980) and "The Art Of Fugue" (1981) are tape compositions in which sound materials of a prepared piano are electronically-processed and modulated in various ways. "Radiated Falling" is based on "Falling Scale No. 2" for piano (1975). The series of works entitled "Falling Scale" are composed almost entirely of descending scales as their structural elements. In these works, patterns are automatically produced by the difference in the number of scale tones or through the temporal discrepancy made when the tones descend. In "Falling Scale No. 2," a spiral line is successively transformed. The artist piled up the spiral line in several layers with the uneven timbres of the prepared piano producing sound materials for "Radiated Falling." The sound materials were then transformed to layered sonic textures through the ring modulator, the phase shifter, the harmonizer, and various delay processes. "The Art of Fugue" is based on a simple fugue in four voices from the first piece in The Art Of Fugue by J. S. Bach. The four voices were randomly cut into fragments, which were then reassembled to form four new voices. Each of the voices played by a differently prepared-piano was recorded on a multi-track recorder to produce sound materials for the piece. The sound materials for the prepared piano were then electronically-modulated and spatially processed. The randomly cut fragments of the fugue are interwoven at different tempos to make it "The Art Of Fugue" on the brink of collapse.

Artist:	YUASA, JOJI
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 12
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.50
Catalog #:	OPA 012CD

...Miniatures Of Concrete Works. Edition Omega Point presents work by legendary Japanese composer Joji Yuasa -- one of most important composers in Japan after World War II. "Nadja, Twincling in Stars" (1963) is the incidental music, by NHK Radio, based on "Nadja" by Andre Breton who made "Declaration of Sur-Realisme." The actual chart of constellations was played by three players (violin, piano and vibraphone) which was used as the music score. Birdsong, electronics, and sound generated from inside the piano using music concrète techniques were constructed at the NHK Electronic Music Studio where Yuasa's first so-called pure electronic piece "Projection Esemplastic For White Noise" was made in the same year of 1963. "Music For A Cenotaph For Industrial Victims" (1972) was set in the woods of Tama Hills, in the suburb of Tokyo. The music consists of echoing wooden bells in the woods, made from lowered marimba moderated by square wave, various metamorphosed sounds reminiscent of industrial work to accompany the offering flowers by the attendants, and again, more reverberant sounds of wooden bells. "Music For The Main Pavillion Of The Okinawa Oceanic Expo" (1975) is a musique concrète work which was made for the Oceanic Expo in Okinawa prefecture in 1975. Folk music with an indigenous stringed instrument (Jamisen), voices of various sea birds, the engine sound of a boat, and metamorphosed instrumental sounds reminiscent of the wind and waves combined with orchestral chamber music. Italian folk song "To The Sea" is arranged for chamber orchestra and recorded by the composer as an important sound source of this work. Limited edition of 500 copies only.

Artist:	MOROI, MAKOTO
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 13: Kusabira
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.50
Catalog #:	OPA 013CD

One of the pioneers of Japanese electronic music, Makoto Moroi, composed "Kusabira" for Kyogen (traditional comedy theater) with electronic sound in 1964. "Kusabira" means "mushroom." A strolling Buddhist monk, Yamabushi, tried to exterminate many mushrooms that grew in the garden of a man's home. However, his magic did not take effect on them but also the Mushrooms began to increase. The man and Yamabushi were driven out of the home by a large Mushroom, finally. In this work, Moroi used abstract electronic sounds, like on his earliest works, and he modulated Kyogen lines into concrete sound -- so noisy and strange in all of Moroi's electronic works. The second piece is "Sinfonia - Shin - For S.M." (1972). This is Moroi's most important work using Japanese traditional instruments. The origin of this work was based on Arving Toffler's 1970 book Future Shock, and it was composed as spacephonic music by a 4-channel recording system. This is committed work by the young genius player Susumu Miyashita, who plays various kinds of koto, gongs, percussion and Indian flute bansuries. The sharpness of the performance is so wonderful, and also some transformed human voices are inserted in the middle part of this work. Both of these two works together contrast "comedy" with "tragedy." This work was released on LP in 1973 (Victor). This is the first time "Kusabira" has appeared on disc, and this is the first CD reissue of "Sinfonia-Shin-For S.M." Cardboard paper gatefold sleeve in its original design. Newly-written liner notes in Japanese by the artist, translated into English. Limited edition of 500 copies.

Artist:	YUASA, JOJI
Title:	Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 14: Background Sound...
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.50
Catalog #:	OPA 014CD

...In Textile Pavillion Of EXPO '70. At the EXPO '70 in Osaka, many avant-garde artists contributed architectural, space, environmental design and sound works. In the Textile Pavillion ("Sen-i Kan" in Japanese), Japanese composer Joji Yuasa and filmmaker Toshio Matsumoto presented a remarkable experimental event, "Space Projection 'Ako'" for multi-channel tape music and image projection. Also included in the presentation at the Pavillion was background sound for several spaces and objects, composed by Joji Yuasa, mainly. This original master tape was provided by Yoshimasa Matsumoto, the sound operator at the Pavillion, who was also a sound engineer for '60s film and television which included "Ultra Q," "Ultraman" and others. For the first track, "Music For 'Pattern-Slide 'Mon'yoh'," abstract textile images were projected on the walls of a corridor ("Mon'yoh" means graphical patterns). This concrete sound was composed specially for this space. "Music For 'Colourful World'" (by unknown mixer) was played and recorded by three electric guitar players. "White World" involved the same interior space as "Colourful World," except it was painted white, in contrast to "Colourful World." Music for this room was made out of sound material from "Projection Esemplastic" and "Icon For White Noise," both important electronic works from Yuasa's early years. "Voices Of Dolls" featured a group of tall, gentleman-like dolls set in a lobby space, accompanied by meaningless text in Japanese, English and Portuguese coming out of them. The Japanese version is a part of Yuasa's concrete work, "Voices Coming." An English version (by Joseph Love) and a Portuguese version (by Joaquim M. Benoetez) were recorded for this project. For "Voice Of 'Raven' Objects" (by unknown mixer) the artist Masunobu Yoshimura created ravens and arranged them here and there on the Pavillion. The accompanying sound was made from modulated Noh chant and lines from a story coming out of the mouths of the ravens. "Background Sound Of Central Dome" was taken from events such as "Space Projection 'Ako'" that took place in the dome space of the Pavillion. This background sound was prepared from marimba modulated by a square wave. Premiere recordings on disc, housed in a cardboard paper gatefold sleeve in an original design. Includes newly-written liner notes in Japanese & English. Limited edition of 500 copies.

Artist:	ICHIYANAGI, TOSHI
Title:	Music For Tinguely
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	OPA GQ

A quarterly magazine for graphic work, gq was issued in the 1970s. The magazine was re-produced in 2008, and the newest issue devoted to kinetic sculptor Jean Tinguely was completed in 2009. Edition Omega Point made a special CD for the edition comprised of rare sound materials from Toshi Ichiyanagi's Music For Tinguely, released here for the first time ever. Also includes the track released on OPA 005CD. Toshi Ichiyanagi is a well-renowned Japanese avant-garde composer who made brilliant pieces of tape music. Most of his works have not been issued on CD, or have only been issued in very small editions. Housed in a cardboard paper gatefold sleeve. Newly-written liner notes in Japanese and English by Toshi Ichiyanagi. Limited edition of 300 copies only.

Artist:	ICHIYANAGI/AKIKO SAMUKAWA/TOMOMI ADACHI, TOSHI
Title:	Experimental Music of Japan: Live Document 'Hommage...'
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	OPX 001CD

"...For Space." The first release in Omega Point's series, Experimental Music of Japan. This is the live recording of the music performance held at the installation exhibition of Chiharu Shiota in the gallery of Kanagawa Kenmin Hall in Yokohama, Japan in October 2007. The performance was defined as "art complex" by Toshi Ichiyanagi from a musical standpoint, and the content consists of live computer improvisation as well as some acoustic, programmed pieces performed on piano by Akiko Samukawa, Toshi Ichiyanagi, and computer electronics by Tomomi Adachi to create the interpenetration of temporal and spacial situation in the gallery space. Housed in a specially-designed cardboard paper gatefold sleeve, including newly-written liner notes in Japanese & English by Toshi Ichiyanagi himself, as well as many photographs of the exhibition and performance. Limited edition of 1,000 copies.

Artist:	SUZUKI, HARUYUKI
Title:	Experimental Music of Japan Vol. 2: Electronic Works Vol. 1
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	OPX 002CD

This is the second release in Edition Omega Point's Experimental Music of Japan series, featuring the work of Tokyo composer Haruyuki Suzuki (b. 1962). This CD includes four of Suzuki's electronic works -- the oldest piece, "Concret II," was composed in 1985, and is an experiment in sound and noise. The triptych "Go And Back" series composed in 1996, are like versions of the same screenprinting, but made in different colors. While the MIDI data that comprises the structure of the pieces is the same, the varying sound materials used to augment the versions are different. Influenced by Luc Ferrari, Suzuki began composing electronic music using CD-J players in 2005, and "Circuit II," composed in 2006, uses two CD-J players. "Bustling For Luc," composed in 2007 was also inspired by Ferrari, and heavily influenced by the work of American experimental musicians, most particularly James Tenney. The only sounds used here are systematically transformed tidbits of environmental sound recordings of the busy quarters of Tokyo. Haruyuki Suzuki is a mostly self-taught composer. He helped establish the composer's group Tempus Novum in 1991, along with, among others, Hiroyuki Yamamoto, Yoshifumi Tanaka and Hiroshi Yokoshima. He has collaborated with visual and film artists, and has organized lectures and concerts by James Tenney (2001) and Luc Ferrari (2002/2003). Housed in a specially-designed cardboard paper gatefold sleeve, with newly-written liner notes in Japanese & English by Haruyuki Suzuki himself. Limited edition of 300 copies.

Artist:	ADACHI, TOMOMI
Title:	Experimental Music of Japan Vol. 3
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	OPX 003CD

...Early Works & Live 1994-1996. This is the third release in Edition Omega Point's Experimental Music of Japan series, featuring the work of Japanese performer/composer Tomomi Adachi. Known for his versatile style, he has performed solo improvisations with voice, computer, sensor systems and self-made instruments, and also is active in the field of theater music, installation and video. This is a collection of his early recordings, just after starting his career in 1994. Almost all tracks were performed as improvisations without any overdubbings or edits. Tracks 1-7 are recordings of a performance at a private Mount Akagi venue. Track 6 is based on the first example of Japanese sound poetry published in Japanese Dadaist magazine MAVO, written by Futurist painter Hide Kinoshita in 1924. Track 7 is a reading from a newspaper, tracks 8-11 are from Adachi's first tape release in 1994, and tracks 12-15 are from his second released tape in 1995. Tomomi Adachi has presented his works in various venues in Japan, the United States and Europe, including the Centre Pompidou (Paris), STEIM (Amsterdam) and Experimental Intermedia (NY). He directed the Japanese premiere of John Cage's Europera 5 in 2007, and as the only Japanese performer of sound poetry, he performed Kurt Schwitters' Ursonate for its Japanese premiere in 1996. Housed in a specially-designed cardboard paper gatefold sleeve, including newly-written liner notes in Japanese & English by Tomomi Adachi. Limited edition of 300 copies.

Artist:	AGENCEMENT
Title:	Experimental Music of Japan Vol. 4: Early Works 1983-1986
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	OPX 004CD

"At first, Agencement was started as an anonymous tape music project in 1985. It started from an indie movement that had occurred in inverse proportion to the calm situation of Japan's mid-'80s domestic improvised music scene. As for activity of violin performances that I started from the influence of European improvised music after it is related to the edit of underground music magazine named Avant-Garde that Kanazawa University students issued from 1976 until 1979, several years have passed from beginning. I played the violin in various places at that time, for instance, I have participated at the '2nd Ten Minutes Solo Improvisation Festival' (1982) at Kyoto Seika University, and I sometimes performed violin + live electronics solo at Merzbau cafe, etc. I was gradually editing them with multi-track though the magnetic tapes that recorded live performances. Such a work style originates from the drawing works which I started producing when I was a teen. The work of my 1st LP was made by using a cheap analog multi-track tape recorder and took 1 year. The flow of such time has not basically changed in the studio work of me digitalized now too. In 1986, I was able to come in contact with artists such as Merzbow, Toukaseibunshi, 10T and others through compilation cassette releases, etc. Masami Akita who had contact for several years recommended it though I did not think that I make LP of myself at first." --Hideaki Shimada
Hideaki Shimada was born in 1962 in Kanazawa and began work with violin solo improvisation in 1980. He started tape music project Agencement in 1985, where he creates multi-layered violin improvisation and records them on magnetic tape. He has performed live in the noise music scene since the early '90s. In 2000-2003, he collaborated with Kiyoharu Kuwayama (Lethe) and Kiyoshi Mizutani in "Lethe Voice Festival" in Nagoya. In recent years he has improvised with Katsuyoshi Kou, Mori-shige, and also a sound event curated by Toshi Ichiyanagi in 2009. Housed in a cardboard paper gatefold sleeve with artwork by the artist. Includes newly-written liner notes in Japanese & English. Limited edition of 500 copies.

Artist:	ISHIGAMI, KAZUYA
Title:	Experimental Music of Japan Vol. 5: Hosshin no Kizashi
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	OPX 005CD

Subtitled: Acousmatic Electronic Works. This is the fifth volume in Edition Omega Point's Experimental Music Of Japan series. Sound performer, composer and sound engineer Kazuya Ishigami was born in 1972, in Osaka. He graduated from Osaka University Of Arts in 1994. He composed his pieces for INA-GRM in August 1997. His Radiophonic work "Sonic Escapism," "2nd 49" and "Whisper Of Sound God" were broadcast from Deutschlandradio in 2005-2008. Ishigami studied at music academies in Japan and France, and since 1997, has also acted as a noise/improvisation unit Billy? and Daruin. This CD consists of two recent works of "Acousmatic Electronic Music." Works in this style may be more challenging for electronic music fans because they are so academic, but Ishigami's sound is exciting and cool. "Hosshin no Kizashi" is a work based on the theme of prayer by priests in the Buddhist temple of Senkoji (in Osaka). Hosshin means "departure bodhi mind." "Hosshin no Kizashi" means there is still a hesitation. "Otokamui no Sasayaki" (trans. "Whisper of sound god"); "Oto" means "sound" in Japanese. "Kamui" means "god" in Ainu. Housed in a cardboard paper sleeve. Including newly-written liner notes in Japanese & English by the artist. Limited edition of 500 copies only.

Artist:	ITO, ATSUHIRO
Title:	Experimental Music of Japan Vol. 6: R.G.B./Pre OPTRON 1999
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	OPX 006CD

This CD is a remastered reissue of a very limited CD-R released by Omega Point in 1999. This is the sixth volume in Edition Omega Point's Experimental Music Of Japan series. Atsuhiro Ito was born in 1965. He launched his career as a visual artist in the late '80s, and in '98 began presenting sound performances at art exhibitions. Ito made use of fluorescent lighting (which is also an element of his art installations) in the creation of an original musical device called the Optron. In addition, Ito is active in a number of musical units. One of these is Optrum, the explosively loud "extreme optical noise-core band" consisting of Ito and drummer Yoichiro Shin, and another is free jazz trio Kazuo Imai Trio with Kazuo Imai, a guitarist who is also a member of Marginal Consort, and Manabu Suzuki (electronics). He published his own label Gotobai Recordings in 2009. "My homemade instrument is called the Optron -- it outputs flicker-noise of fluorescent lamps as sound directly. In the early years of its conception, it was not only uncontrollable and unstable, but also the sound was so barbaric. However, I had no intention of controlling the system and performing it as music. I recorded the electric 'phenomenon' by flicker of fluorescent lamp innocently. I first named the Optron sound system when I performed a live show after the release of the CD-R. The sound materials of this CD-R were not recorded as noise-performances, but rather, they would be called recordings of phenomenon as effect from experimental works, and an extension of my installation works. This 'fluorescent performance' had not gotten a good reputation from my acquaintances in those days. However, I was interested in the lights and sounds simply, and it is not too much to say that it's only a feeling of 'wow, it's so exciting!'" --Atsuhiro Ito; Housed in a cardboard paper gatefold sleeve with newly-written liner notes in Japanese & English by the artist himself. Limited edition of 400 copies only.

Artist:	UEHARA, KAZUO
Title:	Experimental Music of Japan Vol. 8: Assemblage
Label:	EDITION OMEGA POINT (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$25.00
Catalog #:	OPX 008CD

This is the eighth volume in Edition Omega Point's Experimental Music Of Japan series. Japanese composer and synthesizer artist Kazuo Uehara was born in Osaka in 1949. He studied composition in Tokyo and in New York and is a Professor of Music at the Osaka University of Arts, teaching composition, experimental music and also multi-media performance. His music has been performed in France, Germany, the U.S., and other countries and he has also performed his interactive live music and multi-media pieces at major festivals in Sweden, Bulgaria, Russia, France, Poland, Brazil, China, Korea and other countries. He was the main prize-winner at the Bourge International electroacoustic music competition in 1983. In 1990, he was awarded a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. He has been producing the International Festival for Contemporary Music in Japan since the 1980s. "'Assemblage' is a word from the domain of modern art. This is one of the techniques in the expression of art. The word means 'mixture,' originally. I decided that assemblage would be the concept of this CD. A collage by Picasso is similar example. Dadaism is also another similar example. I try to express new directions in music by using the assemblage technique. 'Music Collage Re-Mix Version' is based on the live recording of a performance from Brazil in 1989 -- a collaboration with a Brazilian dancer and her voice. 'Pont De l'Alma De Paris' was a piece composed at INA-GRM, which is well-known as the place where musique concrète was created by Pierre Schaeffer. The title of this piece 'Pont De l'Alma' is the name of the metro station in Paris. I tried to express the harmony between traditional images and contemporary images of Paris. 'OTO Mandala 2' -- usually a mandala is created as a visual image but in this piece I tried to create a mandala image by using sound with bandoneon by Miho Kurosawa. 'Sound Work 1' is the first piece I composed by using a personal computer. I used NEC PC 8-bit which came out in the beginning of the 1980s. I tried to create very simple synthesized sounds. 'Forest Of Gombe' is a piece on the subject of nature from a chimpanzee's forest in Africa. 'Assemblage 2004' was composed using the assemblage technique using various sounds, noises from nature and instruments like piano and biwa. 'Meteora Version 1.0' is the name of a strange rock from the northern part of Greece. 'Meteora 1' is created as acousmatic music." Housed in a cardboard paper sleeve. Including newly-written liner notes in Japanese & English by the artist. Limited edition of 400 copies only.

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