MORR MUSIC - Forced Exposure

$16.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 10/7/2022

Japanese indie-pop duo Tenniscoats recorded Papa's Ear in 2012 (MORR 184CD/LP) and Tan-Tan Therapy in 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. 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 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 arbor, 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. It's a conversational, tender and, at times, fragile music that can only be created out of mutual trust and kindness. 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 Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom (1974). LP version marks the first time this release has appeared on vinyl; includes printed inner sleeves, obi, and download code.

$25.00 PREORDER RELEASE DATE: 10/7/2022

LP version. Includes printed inner sleeve, obi, and download code. Japanese indie-pop duo Tenniscoats recorded Papa's Ear in 2012 (MORR 184CD/LP) and Tan-Tan Therapy in 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. 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 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 arbor, 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. It's a conversational, tender and, at times, fragile music that can only be created out of mutual trust and kindness. 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 Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom (1974).

$15.50 IN STOCK

Minru is the project of Caroline Blomqvist, a Swedish musician based in Berlin. Woven from light and shadow, the interplay of her folk and indie-rock blend appears from a personal space of finding life after death. On her debut album Liminality she paints melody in soft tones, whispering secrets to navigate feelings of loss. Built around winding layers of acoustic guitar, piano, and strings, Minru is a surprisingly uplifting and stirring testament to Blomqvist's own suffering from the passing of someone close to her. Returning to Berlin from Sweden feelings of grief, confusion, and pain travelled with her, and these emotions prompted the journey both of and within the album, heard as a dreamlike actualization of wandering lost between them. Defined as "the threshold separating one space from another," Liminality moves between feeling the ground beneath your feet fall away, fighting through the darkness and the doubt, and the emerging shades of hope and light as you painstakingly make peace with mortality and find yourself as a person again. Flourishing from a preferred position of solitude, Liminality sees Blomqvist's vision radiate with intensity from her home-based studio in Neukölln -- a small, two-room apartment with squeaky old wooden floors. Capturing the intimacy of the space, she recorded vocals and synth on gear partly borrowed from friends, and the songs flow with a stream of consciousness as feelings become entwined with melody. Time-restraint drew the process to a natural close, preventing Blomqvist from losing herself to experimentation. Finished and self-produced at a Berlin-Lichtenberg recording studio alongside musical friends (Povel Widestrand, Tobias Blessing, Sunniva Lilian Shaw Of-Tordarroch, Marlene Becher, and Liv Solveig Wagner), the result is beautifully detailed and rich like the folk of her Swedish roots. First picking up a guitar as a kid and becoming obsessed with it, she would skip school to spend extra hours mastering the instrument, grappling to perfect the "Stairway to Heaven" intro. After attending music high school in Gothenburg and playing in bands during her teens, Blomqvist later moved to Germany. She performed with Tuvaband, Adna, and Tara Nome Doyle and played in Berlin venues Loophole and Schokoladen. With the passing of time, she felt a growing urge to find an outlet for her own songs; Minru was the answer along with her first Yearnings EP. Now writing whenever she returns to Sweden, within the calm and stillness of her family's mountainside cabin, her skillfully constructed arrangements summon the comforting atmosphere of home. Liminality is the kind of record that rewards attention. Give this album your time, it will give you its soul.

$25.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes printed inner sleeve and download code. Minru is the project of Caroline Blomqvist, a Swedish musician based in Berlin. Woven from light and shadow, the interplay of her folk and indie-rock blend appears from a personal space of finding life after death. On her debut album Liminality she paints melody in soft tones, whispering secrets to navigate feelings of loss. Built around winding layers of acoustic guitar, piano, and strings, Minru is a surprisingly uplifting and stirring testament to Blomqvist's own suffering from the passing of someone close to her. Returning to Berlin from Sweden feelings of grief, confusion, and pain travelled with her, and these emotions prompted the journey both of and within the album, heard as a dreamlike actualization of wandering lost between them. Defined as "the threshold separating one space from another," Liminality moves between feeling the ground beneath your feet fall away, fighting through the darkness and the doubt, and the emerging shades of hope and light as you painstakingly make peace with mortality and find yourself as a person again. Flourishing from a preferred position of solitude, Liminality sees Blomqvist's vision radiate with intensity from her home-based studio in Neukölln -- a small, two-room apartment with squeaky old wooden floors. Capturing the intimacy of the space, she recorded vocals and synth on gear partly borrowed from friends, and the songs flow with a stream of consciousness as feelings become entwined with melody. Time-restraint drew the process to a natural close, preventing Blomqvist from losing herself to experimentation. Finished and self-produced at a Berlin-Lichtenberg recording studio alongside musical friends (Povel Widestrand, Tobias Blessing, Sunniva Lilian Shaw Of-Tordarroch, Marlene Becher, and Liv Solveig Wagner), the result is beautifully detailed and rich like the folk of her Swedish roots. First picking up a guitar as a kid and becoming obsessed with it, she would skip school to spend extra hours mastering the instrument, grappling to perfect the "Stairway to Heaven" intro. After attending music high school in Gothenburg and playing in bands during her teens, Blomqvist later moved to Germany. She performed with Tuvaband, Adna, and Tara Nome Doyle and played in Berlin venues Loophole and Schokoladen. With the passing of time, she felt a growing urge to find an outlet for her own songs; Minru was the answer along with her first Yearnings EP. Now writing whenever she returns to Sweden, within the calm and stillness of her family's mountainside cabin, her skillfully constructed arrangements summon the comforting atmosphere of home. Liminality is the kind of record that rewards attention. Give this album your time, it will give you its soul.

$15.50 IN STOCK

Music for Shared Rooms is B. Fleischmann's eleventh solo album and his first since 2018. It is also not an album, or at least not in the conventional sense of the word. These 16 instrumental pieces provide a kaleidoscopic glimpse of a forward-thinking musician at home in many different musical worlds, including experimental and abstract music, pop, and more classically-minded compositional forms. These pieces were culled from an archive of roughly 600 compositions for theatre pieces and films written throughout the past twelve years. The Österreichischer Filmpreis-awarded composer, however, aimed for more than simply documenting his extensive work in and with different media. To do so, he edited and re-mixed the individual recordings for this release, taking them out of their contexts and reworking them for an audience who can experience them in a different setting. Music for Shared Rooms makes it possible for its listeners to engage with the sounds and to fill the spaces they open up with their own imagination. Roughly speaking, music for theater or film can serve two functions: it either takes the lead, or underscores what is happening on stage or screen. The marvelous thing about these pieces is that they manage to do both. Fleischmann's work as a prolific producer has always drawn on contrasts, at times combining pop sentiment with rigid experimentation, the seemingly naive with the intricate and complex. This approach also marks the tracks collected here: bringing together acoustic elements and electronic sounds, at times working with conventional structures but always de- and re-contextualizing them, Fleischmann constructs a vivid dramaturgy out of discrete singular compositions, letting them interact across the record. A dramaturgical interconnectedness of varied musical materials is the thread that runs through Music for Shared Rooms. The differences between the pieces may be striking, but the progression from one to the other is subtle. It goes on like this through different moods and tempos. All these pieces create distinct situations through the juxtaposition of diverse musical elements, but are also bound together by a single vision. Writing music for theatre pieces or film requires a composer and his pieces to engage with people and their movements in space, which is exactly what Fleischmann offers on this record.

$33.00 IN STOCK

Double LP version. Includes printed inners and download code; edition of 500. Music for Shared Rooms is B. Fleischmann's eleventh solo album and his first since 2018. It is also not an album, or at least not in the conventional sense of the word. These 16 instrumental pieces provide a kaleidoscopic glimpse of a forward-thinking musician at home in many different musical worlds, including experimental and abstract music, pop, and more classically-minded compositional forms. These pieces were culled from an archive of roughly 600 compositions for theatre pieces and films written throughout the past twelve years. The Österreichischer Filmpreis-awarded composer, however, aimed for more than simply documenting his extensive work in and with different media. To do so, he edited and re-mixed the individual recordings for this release, taking them out of their contexts and reworking them for an audience who can experience them in a different setting. Music for Shared Rooms makes it possible for its listeners to engage with the sounds and to fill the spaces they open up with their own imagination. Roughly speaking, music for theater or film can serve two functions: it either takes the lead, or underscores what is happening on stage or screen. The marvelous thing about these pieces is that they manage to do both. Fleischmann's work as a prolific producer has always drawn on contrasts, at times combining pop sentiment with rigid experimentation, the seemingly naive with the intricate and complex. This approach also marks the tracks collected here: bringing together acoustic elements and electronic sounds, at times working with conventional structures but always de- and re-contextualizing them, Fleischmann constructs a vivid dramaturgy out of discrete singular compositions, letting them interact across the record. A dramaturgical interconnectedness of varied musical materials is the thread that runs through Music for Shared Rooms. The differences between the pieces may be striking, but the progression from one to the other is subtle. It goes on like this through different moods and tempos. All these pieces create distinct situations through the juxtaposition of diverse musical elements, but are also bound together by a single vision. Writing music for theatre pieces or film requires a composer and his pieces to engage with people and their movements in space, which is exactly what Fleischmann offers on this record.

$16.00 IN STOCK

In 2012, 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 particularly productive time for Tenniscoats; during the late '00s and early '10s, they would also collaborate with Jad Fair, The Pastels, Secai, and Pastacas. The second album from this expanded line-up of Tenniscoats, you can hear the musicians are immediately comfortable in each other's presence. Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats bring their magical, gentle folk-pop sensibility, and their winning way with straightforward, yet lush melodies. Johan Berthling, along with fellow Tape member Tomas Hallonsten, plus guests Fredrik Ljungkvist, Lars Skoglund, Andreas Söderstrom, and Andreas Werlin, all generous and creative presences in the Swedish jazz underground, shades in the songs with endlessly inventive arrangements, highlighting the warmth and curiosity at the core of the Tenniscoats' aesthetic. Papa's Ear includes some of Tenniscoats' most memorable songs. "Papaya" is a lustrous dreamland of a song, with the Swedish musicians singing "pa-pa-ya" as an enchanted tattoo, while Saya's piano and melodica clank and huff out, further expanding the song's horizon. It's followed by the spindly and mysterious "Sappolondon", where drums and double-bass shuffle and pulse under weeping accordion and bittersweet clarinet. It reminds a little of the wild kindness of Movietone, or the regal charm of Carla Bley's compositions. Elsewhere, you can hear Tape and their friends embracing the freedom offered by the songs of Tenniscoats: see, for example, the glistening electronics in "På floden", like a keyboard conducting a music box on a distant planet; or the descending phrase for winds on "Sabaku", dovetailing beautifully into a creek of moon-lit texturology. Includes two extra tracks, drawn from the 2008 Tenniscoats/Tape split single, also released by Häpna., "Lutie Lutie" is a sweet delight, driven by a clacking drum machine, the Tenniscoats duo joined by Hallonsten on glockenspiel and synthesizer, and special guest, Japanese indie-pop legend Kazumi Nikaido, as choir. "Come Maddalena" rounds off the set, a brooding cover of an Ennio Morricone tune, the music by Tape, the vocals by Tenniscoats and Nikaido. Open-hearted and full of puckish spirit, Papa's Ear is an album of great tenderness and warm friendship.

$34.00 IN STOCK

Double LP version. First time on vinyl. Includes printed inner sleeves, obi, and download code. In 2012, 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 particularly productive time for Tenniscoats; during the late '00s and early '10s, they would also collaborate with Jad Fair, The Pastels, Secai, and Pastacas. The second album from this expanded line-up of Tenniscoats, you can hear the musicians are immediately comfortable in each other's presence. Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats bring their magical, gentle folk-pop sensibility, and their winning way with straightforward, yet lush melodies. Johan Berthling, along with fellow Tape member Tomas Hallonsten, plus guests Fredrik Ljungkvist, Lars Skoglund, Andreas Söderstrom, and Andreas Werlin, all generous and creative presences in the Swedish jazz underground, shades in the songs with endlessly inventive arrangements, highlighting the warmth and curiosity at the core of the Tenniscoats' aesthetic. Papa's Ear includes some of Tenniscoats' most memorable songs. "Papaya" is a lustrous dreamland of a song, with the Swedish musicians singing "pa-pa-ya" as an enchanted tattoo, while Saya's piano and melodica clank and huff out, further expanding the song's horizon. It's followed by the spindly and mysterious "Sappolondon", where drums and double-bass shuffle and pulse under weeping accordion and bittersweet clarinet. It reminds a little of the wild kindness of Movietone, or the regal charm of Carla Bley's compositions. Elsewhere, you can hear Tape and their friends embracing the freedom offered by the songs of Tenniscoats: see, for example, the glistening electronics in "På floden", like a keyboard conducting a music box on a distant planet; or the descending phrase for winds on "Sabaku", dovetailing beautifully into a creek of moon-lit texturology. Includes two extra tracks, drawn from the 2008 Tenniscoats/Tape split single, also released by Häpna., "Lutie Lutie" is a sweet delight, driven by a clacking drum machine, the Tenniscoats duo joined by Hallonsten on glockenspiel and synthesizer, and special guest, Japanese indie-pop legend Kazumi Nikaido, as choir. "Come Maddalena" rounds off the set, a brooding cover of an Ennio Morricone tune, the music by Tape, the vocals by Tenniscoats and Nikaido. Open-hearted and full of puckish spirit, Papa's Ear is an album of great tenderness and warm friendship.

$37.50 NOT IN STOCK

Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve with printed inner sleeves; includes three bonus tracks; 28-page booklet; includes download code; edition of 500. Following in the footsteps of the pathbreaking Minna Miteru (MORR 168CD/LP, 2020) compilation of Japanese indie music, Morr Music and Alien Transistor have again joined forces to release The Fruit Of Errata, a compilation introducing the world to the intimate DIY pop of yumbo. Led by songwriter, pianist, and occasional vocalist Koji Shibuya, the Japanese band has released four albums since forming in 1998. This compilation draws from those albums, and some ancillary releases, to uncover a biographical narrative of yumbo, showing how Shibuya's songwriting, and the group's limber, sensitive playing, has developed over the decades. It also places them squarely within a tradition of home-spun but ambitious Japanese pop that takes in Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Tenniscoats, Nagisa Ni Te, Yuzo Iwata, Kazumi Nikaido, and more. There's the playful seriousness of Maher Shalal Hash Baz's Tori Kudo here, but also the flexibility of freely improvised music. You can also hear Shibuya's fondness for Mayo Thompson and The Red Crayola in both the idiosyncrasies of the writing and the egalitarian looseness of the playing. The great achievement of yumbo and Shibuya, though, is translating all of this into beautiful, unpredictable pop songs. There's a gorgeous soul-inflected lilt to "A House"; the swaying brass on "Storm"; the nakedness of "The Sweetest Mass" slightly reminiscent of Carla Bley's more pop-focused writing. Throughout, Shibuya renders pop a deeply personal experience; you can hear musings here on friendship, family, intimacy, the complexity of relationships, mortality, and imbalances of power. These musings are also shadowed by real-life events: the effects and impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 are captured in songs like "Umbrella People" from Onibi. Throughout the performances on The Fruit Of Errata, Shibuya and the group play with tenderness; they also often draw on other players to flesh out the music even further, two such guests being the aforementioned Tori Kudo (on "Umbrella People") and Olympia, Washington's LAKE (on "The Devil Song"). Community-minded and generous in approach, the writing of Shibuya and the music of yumbo is never less than lovely, and The Fruit Of Errata is a welcome introduction to their world. Open and gentle, confident and generous, these pop songs are filled with charm and spirit.

$28.50 IN STOCK

Odd Nosdam and Rayon (Markus Acher of The Notwist) team up for this beat-driven psychedelic pop EP. Long-time musical pen pals and partners David Madson (aka Odd Nosdam) and Markus Acher (aka Rayon) re-establish the connection between Weilheim, Germany and Berkeley, California for the first time since 2011, when US alt hip-hop innovators Themselves and German indie electrifiers The Notwist teamed up to form 13 & God. Nosdam and Rayon return with a heavy-hitting collaborative EP From Nowhere to North. Based on a shared love for "obscure albums and '60s/70s melancholy psychedelia," they started working remotely in 2017, ultimately deciding to release four collaborative tracks that feature Madson's beats, samples, and production, with Acher adding vocals, guitars, more samples, and various instrumental layers. Psychedelic pop melodies sail over steady beats on the opener "From Nowhere to North" -- a track that perfectly sets the tone for the whole EP. Elsewhere, fuzzy lights over the "Desert" and more reassuring beatscapes serve as compass to stay the course, while "Bow and Arrow" feels fairly mesmerizing: fast-moving layers, moving up and down, floating over the Atlantic, northward bound. Closing out the EP is "Colours / Heavy Load", an epic ten-minute finale: after the raw and gritty lo-fi acoustic intro, the first part comes with a grainy guitar tune that soon leads to a vast plateau; once up there, things feel surprisingly serene and soothing -- like the last warm rays of October light slowly fading as we move further north. Both huge fans of Bristol's late '90s DIY/post-rock scene (e.g. Flying Saucer Attack, Crescent, Third Eye Foundation, Movietone), Odd Nosdam & Rayon are happy to present their new EP with an artwork created by Movietone's Kate Wright. 45rpm; includes printed inner sleeve and download code; edition of 500.

$16.00 IN STOCK

After a hiatus of 12 years -- Seabear's most "recent" LP dates back to 2010 -- the much-loved Icelandic collective presents In Another Life, a mesmerizing collection of songs, oscillating between indie pop and classic singer-songwriter material. Sometimes, a long break is all it takes. Seabear, the band featuring the talents of Guðbjörg Hlín Guðmundsdóttir, Halldór Ragnarsson, Kjartan Bragi Bjarnason, Örn Ingi Ágústsson, Sindri Már Sigfússon (aka Sin Fang), and Sóley Stefánsdóttir (aka Sóley), did exactly that. Producing an album takes up a lot of energy. "We had all focused on other projects," Kjartan Bragi explains. "Solo careers, playing with other projects, other forms of art, working 'normal' jobs to make a living etc. It's nice to finally come together again with old friends and make music." During the break, music has been an integral part of the members' daily lives. Sóley started a remarkable solo career, as did Sindri, under the name of Sin Fang, while Guðbjörg worked with Sigur Rós. However, all this was made possible by the disarming folk music of their 2007 debut LP The Ghost That Carried Us Away (MORR 076CD, 2007). "We stayed in touch all along," adds Sindri. "During dinners etc. one question came up again and again: What would Seabear sound like today?" Now, in 2022, the band is ready to set a mark in the musical landscape once again -- with 11 new songs coming straight from the heart, aimed at all who value emotions, the warmth and intimacy of songwriting, big yet subtle soundscapes, capturing the smallest tones and feelings. The songs on In Another Life sound and come across like a musical diary of sorts. A diary found by accident, split across 11 records, without any further info and all details scratched out. There is just the music to speak for itself. Even if you are familiar with Seabear's previous music: the opener "Parade" will make you wonder who came up with this wonderful tune, full of assuring harmonies, delicate melodies and compositional surprises. Seabear once more are delivering the perfect soundtrack for all kinds of emotional states. With driving yet subtle drums, intimate, yet fleeting vocals and lyrics, an orchestral sense of production, emphasizing small details rather than counting on the big "studio bang". In Another Life indeed feels like the start of a new chapter. Full of hope. And hopefully, all Seabear fans won't have to wait as long anymore in the future.

$28.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes inner sleeve and download code. After a hiatus of 12 years -- Seabear's most "recent" LP dates back to 2010 -- the much-loved Icelandic collective presents In Another Life, a mesmerizing collection of songs, oscillating between indie pop and classic singer-songwriter material. Sometimes, a long break is all it takes. Seabear, the band featuring the talents of Guðbjörg Hlín Guðmundsdóttir, Halldór Ragnarsson, Kjartan Bragi Bjarnason, Örn Ingi Ágústsson, Sindri Már Sigfússon (aka Sin Fang), and Sóley Stefánsdóttir (aka Sóley), did exactly that. Producing an album takes up a lot of energy. "We had all focused on other projects," Kjartan Bragi explains. "Solo careers, playing with other projects, other forms of art, working 'normal' jobs to make a living etc. It's nice to finally come together again with old friends and make music." During the break, music has been an integral part of the members' daily lives. Sóley started a remarkable solo career, as did Sindri, under the name of Sin Fang, while Guðbjörg worked with Sigur Rós. However, all this was made possible by the disarming folk music of their 2007 debut LP The Ghost That Carried Us Away (MORR 076CD, 2007). "We stayed in touch all along," adds Sindri. "During dinners etc. one question came up again and again: What would Seabear sound like today?" Now, in 2022, the band is ready to set a mark in the musical landscape once again -- with 11 new songs coming straight from the heart, aimed at all who value emotions, the warmth and intimacy of songwriting, big yet subtle soundscapes, capturing the smallest tones and feelings. The songs on In Another Life sound and come across like a musical diary of sorts. A diary found by accident, split across 11 records, without any further info and all details scratched out. There is just the music to speak for itself. Even if you are familiar with Seabear's previous music: the opener "Parade" will make you wonder who came up with this wonderful tune, full of assuring harmonies, delicate melodies and compositional surprises. Seabear once more are delivering the perfect soundtrack for all kinds of emotional states. With driving yet subtle drums, intimate, yet fleeting vocals and lyrics, an orchestral sense of production, emphasizing small details rather than counting on the big "studio bang". In Another Life indeed feels like the start of a new chapter. Full of hope. And hopefully, all Seabear fans won't have to wait as long anymore in the future.

$30.50 IN STOCK

Some people say it's the hope that kills you, but statistically dreams are responsible for a lot more casualties. The second album from the Icelandic supergroup of Sin Fang, Sóley and Örvar Smaragson not only acknowledges this but celebrates it. To dream is to slowly digest oneself from the inside. In January 2021 the team was reunited and have since then been writing, recording and releasing a new song every last Friday of each month, much like they did in 2018. Dream Is Murder is the result a collection of all 12 songs on one album. Sin Fang, Sóley and Örvar are all established performers, composers and producers in their own right, but their Team Dreams project is so much more than a sum of it's parts. Even though each of their individual fingerprints can be found all over the album, the result has a distinctive sound of it's own. The first three songs on the album display the diverse nature of the project, "Imaginary Love" is a catchy pop tune, "Calling For Your Touch" a sprawling cinematic ballad with hints of both Top Gun and Twin Peaks, then there is "Shame" a gut wrenching tragedy of being born into decay. "Where The Maps Run" was specially recorded for Amnesty International in Iceland and given as a part of Amnesty's 60 year anniversary. Artwork for each of the songs was conjured up by the one and only Ingibjörg Birgisdóttir and is as much a part of the whole as the music. Each song was accompanied by a resin sculpture with leftovers from dreams and daily life cast and preserved in with in it. The music takes up three sides of the double-LP and the fourth and final side holds an exquisite etching by Ingibjörg, depicting the artifacts within.

$21.50 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes download code. Jimmy Tamborello returns with a collection of ten pop-infused vocal hymns -- simultaneously perfect dancefloor fillers and lullabies. Away is the second of two Dntel albums to be released in 2021 by Morr Music in collaboration with Les Albums Claus. While The Seas Trees See (MORR 178CD/LP) showcased Tamborello's more intricate and quiet side, Away embraces his love for pop music. A genre which like no other has been resonating the advancements of technology from the very beginning. Songwriting was sequenced and computerized on such a large scale that it would change the sonic aesthetics of the charts forever. Dntel is a musician who changed pop music forever -- and still works in this never-ending labor of love, both effortless and highly focused, constantly tweaking the universe of our musical perception. Whether beatless or uncompromisingly embracing the limelight of collective ecstasy with one of his most remembered tunes "(This Is) The Dream Of Evan And Chan", his almost forgotten anthem "Don't Get Your Hopes Up" or his work as James Figurine. Away features ten of these extravaganzas -- uniting his audience once more in hope and future-bound optimism. "I grew up with '80s techno-pop -- these influences always come through in my music," Jimmy writes from Los Angeles. For this album, though, "I was thinking more of '80s indie pop or labels like 4AD. It is a mix of those influences along with trying to figure out what elements of my own discography I still connect with. I wanted it to reflect old Dntel records as well as the techno-pop band Figurine I used to be in. I have always considered my music basically being techno-pop, but not referring to pop as popular music -- I just like pretty melodies. But with the Dntel moniker, I never had the ambition to produce music for a really big audience." It is exactly that looseness in approaching music which makes Tamborello's style of composing so unique. On Away he combines a healthy dose of distortion with the most-sticking melodies, vocals and bitter-sweet lyrics he ever came up with --performing all vocals himself, with the help of technology. On Away, Jimmy Tamborello finds the perfect way of marrying his unique musical personality with both the demands and possibilities of pop music.

$15.50 IN STOCK

Jimmy Tamborello returns with a collection of ten pop-infused vocal hymns -- simultaneously perfect dancefloor fillers and lullabies. Away is the second of two Dntel albums to be released in 2021 by Morr Music in collaboration with Les Albums Claus. While The Seas Trees See (MORR 178CD/LP) showcased Tamborello's more intricate and quiet side, Away embraces his love for pop music. A genre which like no other has been resonating the advancements of technology from the very beginning. Songwriting was sequenced and computerized on such a large scale that it would change the sonic aesthetics of the charts forever. Dntel is a musician who changed pop music forever -- and still works in this never-ending labor of love, both effortless and highly focused, constantly tweaking the universe of our musical perception. Whether beatless or uncompromisingly embracing the limelight of collective ecstasy with one of his most remembered tunes "(This Is) The Dream Of Evan And Chan", his almost forgotten anthem "Don't Get Your Hopes Up" or his work as James Figurine. Away features ten of these extravaganzas -- uniting his audience once more in hope and future-bound optimism. "I grew up with '80s techno-pop -- these influences always come through in my music," Jimmy writes from Los Angeles. For this album, though, "I was thinking more of '80s indie pop or labels like 4AD. It is a mix of those influences along with trying to figure out what elements of my own discography I still connect with. I wanted it to reflect old Dntel records as well as the techno-pop band Figurine I used to be in. I have always considered my music basically being techno-pop, but not referring to pop as popular music -- I just like pretty melodies. But with the Dntel moniker, I never had the ambition to produce music for a really big audience." It is exactly that looseness in approaching music which makes Tamborello's style of composing so unique. On Away he combines a healthy dose of distortion with the most-sticking melodies, vocals and bitter-sweet lyrics he ever came up with --performing all vocals himself, with the help of technology. On Away, Jimmy Tamborello finds the perfect way of marrying his unique musical personality with both the demands and possibilities of pop music. Includes download code.

$17.50 IN STOCK

Following in the footsteps of the pathbreaking Minna Miteru (MORR 168CD/LP, 2020) compilation of Japanese indie music, Morr Music and Alien Transistor have again joined forces to release The Fruit Of Errata, a compilation introducing the world to the intimate DIY pop of yumbo. Led by songwriter, pianist, and occasional vocalist Koji Shibuya, the Japanese band has released four albums since forming in 1998. This compilation draws from those albums, and some ancillary releases, to uncover a biographical narrative of yumbo, showing how Shibuya's songwriting, and the group's limber, sensitive playing, has developed over the decades. It also places them squarely within a tradition of home-spun but ambitious Japanese pop that takes in Maher Shalal Hash Baz, Tenniscoats, Nagisa Ni Te, Yuzo Iwata, Kazumi Nikaido, and more. There's the playful seriousness of Maher Shalal Hash Baz's Tori Kudo here, but also the flexibility of freely improvised music. You can also hear Shibuya's fondness for Mayo Thompson and The Red Crayola in both the idiosyncrasies of the writing and the egalitarian looseness of the playing. The great achievement of yumbo and Shibuya, though, is translating all of this into beautiful, unpredictable pop songs. There's a gorgeous soul-inflected lilt to "A House"; the swaying brass on "Storm"; the nakedness of "The Sweetest Mass" slightly reminiscent of Carla Bley's more pop-focused writing. Throughout, Shibuya renders pop a deeply personal experience; you can hear musings here on friendship, family, intimacy, the complexity of relationships, mortality, and imbalances of power. These musings are also shadowed by real-life events: the effects and impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 are captured in songs like "Umbrella People" from Onibi. Throughout the performances on The Fruit Of Errata, Shibuya and the group play with tenderness; they also often draw on other players to flesh out the music even further, two such guests being the aforementioned Tori Kudo (on "Umbrella People") and Olympia, Washington's LAKE (on "The Devil Song"). Community-minded and generous in approach, the writing of Shibuya and the music of yumbo is never less than lovely, and The Fruit Of Errata is a welcome introduction to their world. Open and gentle, confident and generous, these pop songs are filled with charm and spirit. CD version comes with 28-page booklet; edition of 500.

$15.50 IN STOCK

New album by Jimmy Tamborello aka Dntel aka James Figurine aka one half of The Postal Service. Hailing from Los Angeles, Jimmy Tamborello has been a key figure in refining what today is considered electronica for over 20 years. The Seas Trees See is the first of two Dntel albums to be released in 2021 by Morr Music in collaboration with Les Albums Claus: a free-floating and rather loose stroke of musical genius, giving ambience a whole new meaningful context. It combines crackles and hiss with deep, yet modest, synths and poignant, yet elegant, vocals and lyrics. Away, its counterpart album, will follow later in 2021. It will showcase Dntel's unapologetic love for pop music from a long-gone era, presenting yet another aspect of his multi-faceted personality. Dntel has always covered many musical grounds -- from the pop-infused hits on Life Is Full Of Possibilities (2001) to his much more abstract works on Aimlessness (2012), Human Voice (2014), and his electronics for The Postal Service. Whatever his style -- Tamborello has retained his very own musical voice. When it comes to producing music, it can be a good idea to get away from the studio and find a more relaxed environment. Inspiration does not necessarily require huge bass bins. Fewer pieces of gear make it easier to really focus on ideas first and let them be. After recording Hate In My Heart (LAC 013LP) -- his most recent album, released in 2018 -- this way, Tamborello continued working in that fashion, mainly jamming and getting ideas together for upcoming live shows. One of the first results of this creative process was the opening track of The Seas Trees See -- a cover version of "The Lilac and the Apple", originally recorded by Californian folk singer Kate Wolf in 1977. Tamborello turns the acapella song into a vocoder-like extravaganza. Working with the original recording, the track perfectly sets the tone for what The Seas Trees See turns out to be a quiet yet mesmerizing journey through sound and emotion, bringing together his very own sound design, disguised samples and an incredible feel for moods and atmospheres. Despite its perfect and gentle flow, it is worth digging deeper, to surrender oneself to all the painstakingly placed details. Whether the beautiful and haunting piano work on "Movie Tears" or the almost sidechained-sounding "Yoga App" --every aspect of this album has been beautifully crafted. Small things add up to something great, diverse and riveting. The subtlety of his latest endeavor is fascinating. It opens up a new world, in which small musical sketches mean at least as much as perfectly produced pop anthems.

$21.00 IN STOCK

LP version. Includes download code. New album by Jimmy Tamborello aka Dntel aka James Figurine aka one half of The Postal Service. Hailing from Los Angeles, Jimmy Tamborello has been a key figure in refining what today is considered electronica for over 20 years. The Seas Trees See is the first of two Dntel albums to be released in 2021 by Morr Music in collaboration with Les Albums Claus: a free-floating and rather loose stroke of musical genius, giving ambience a whole new meaningful context. It combines crackles and hiss with deep, yet modest, synths and poignant, yet elegant, vocals and lyrics. Away, its counterpart album, will follow later in 2021. It will showcase Dntel's unapologetic love for pop music from a long-gone era, presenting yet another aspect of his multi-faceted personality. Dntel has always covered many musical grounds -- from the pop-infused hits on Life Is Full Of Possibilities (2001) to his much more abstract works on Aimlessness (2012), Human Voice (2014), and his electronics for The Postal Service. Whatever his style -- Tamborello has retained his very own musical voice. When it comes to producing music, it can be a good idea to get away from the studio and find a more relaxed environment. Inspiration does not necessarily require huge bass bins. Fewer pieces of gear make it easier to really focus on ideas first and let them be. After recording Hate In My Heart (LAC 013LP) -- his most recent album, released in 2018 -- this way, Tamborello continued working in that fashion, mainly jamming and getting ideas together for upcoming live shows. One of the first results of this creative process was the opening track of The Seas Trees See -- a cover version of "The Lilac and the Apple", originally recorded by Californian folk singer Kate Wolf in 1977. Tamborello turns the acapella song into a vocoder-like extravaganza. Working with the original recording, the track perfectly sets the tone for what The Seas Trees See turns out to be a quiet yet mesmerizing journey through sound and emotion, bringing together his very own sound design, disguised samples and an incredible feel for moods and atmospheres. Despite its perfect and gentle flow, it is worth digging deeper, to surrender oneself to all the painstakingly placed details. Whether the beautiful and haunting piano work on "Movie Tears" or the almost sidechained-sounding "Yoga App" --every aspect of this album has been beautifully crafted. Small things add up to something great, diverse and riveting. The subtlety of his latest endeavor is fascinating. It opens up a new world, in which small musical sketches mean at least as much as perfectly produced pop anthems.

$32.00 IN STOCK

Double LP version. Three-sided vinyl; includes printed inners and download code. 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. It's been seven years since The Notwist's last album, Close To The Glass (2014), 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 organize the Minna Miteru compilation of Japanese indie pop (MORR 168CD/LP), and 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. The album's lead single, "Ship", sees the group joined by Saya of Japanese pop duo Tenniscoats, her disarmingly hymnal voice sighing over a propulsive, krautrocking beat. American multi-instrumentalist Ben LaMar Gay sings on "Oh Sweet Fire", also contributing "a love lyric for these times". American jazz clarinetist 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. Vertigo Days sits together as one long, flowing suite, the album conceptualized as a whole entity. 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. 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. Vertigo Days is an album that is brimming with life, with enthusiasm and love for music and for community, all wide-eyed and dreaming.

$15.50 IN STOCK

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. It's been seven years since The Notwist's last album, Close To The Glass (2014), 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 organize the Minna Miteru compilation of Japanese indie pop (MORR 168CD/LP), and 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. The album's lead single, "Ship", sees the group joined by Saya of Japanese pop duo Tenniscoats, her disarmingly hymnal voice sighing over a propulsive, krautrocking beat. American multi-instrumentalist Ben LaMar Gay sings on "Oh Sweet Fire", also contributing "a love lyric for these times". American jazz clarinetist 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. Vertigo Days sits together as one long, flowing suite, the album conceptualized as a whole entity. 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. 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. Vertigo Days is an album that is brimming with life, with enthusiasm and love for music and for community, all wide-eyed and dreaming.

$37.50 IN STOCK

Double-LP version. Gatefold sleeve; includes printed inner sleeves and download code; edition of 500. There Is A Sound is a compilation of blissed-out psych-folk songs by Andersens, a Japanese independent pop group who were led by Tsuby, aka Kiyokazu Onozaki, and were active throughout the '00s. A lovely set of intimate revelations, with some widescreen, bold pop moments, dreamy guitars meeting brass, electronics and sitar, it's really the first time listeners outside of Japan have had the chance to take in the full spread of Andersens and their gentle pop songs. Released on the heels Morr Music's Minna Miteru compilation of Japanese indie pop (MORR 168CD/LP), There Is A Sound is the first in a series of artist compilations that dig deeper into Japan's musical underground. Co-compiled by Tsuby and Markus Acher (The Notwist, Spirit Fest), the collection sheds much-needed light on a unique songwriter, one part of a vital and energetic scene that is largely unrepresented outside of Japan. Tsuby is a naturally gifted songwriter, his melodic sensibility draws equally from predecessors like Syd Barrett and The Beatles, and peers like Tenniscoats and Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Indeed, groups like Maher Shalal Hash Baz, and Tenniscoats precursors Puka Puka Brians were very important to Tsuby. Inviting Puka Puka Brians to play at his very first gig, Tsuby quickly found himself to be part of a scene of like-minded souls, where expression and experiment was paramount, within the framework of gorgeous, fragile pop melodies. That being said, Andersens music is also fiercely individual, an expression of Tsuby's quietly questing personality. You can hear it on the playful groove that marks out "The Light It Turns To Rain...", through the rolling country-folk vibe of "Atom/Spirit", the spiraling pop-psychedelia and playful electronics and sitar of "Empty Love", to the breathy glitches of "Swan". Throughout, Tsuby takes risks with his songs, looking at them sideways, finding new angles on arrangement and embellishment, while staying true to his core sensibility. There Is A Sound draws from Andersens' four albums: Between Static & Fire (2003); Prepared Landscape (2004); Gzi Gzi Gzeo (2007), and Musiquestions (2008). One song, "Dodesukaden", reaches further back, to their debut CD-R, A Rooftop In "S" Thunderstorm Row Missing The Point (2002). Presented this way, the gentle developments in Andersens music become clear -- a folksier touch here, some electronics or wind instruments there, perhaps the influence of chindon'ya in the brass arrangements.

$17.50 IN STOCK

There Is A Sound is a compilation of blissed-out psych-folk songs by Andersens, a Japanese independent pop group who were led by Tsuby, aka Kiyokazu Onozaki, and were active throughout the '00s. A lovely set of intimate revelations, with some widescreen, bold pop moments, dreamy guitars meeting brass, electronics and sitar, it's really the first time listeners outside of Japan have had the chance to take in the full spread of Andersens and their gentle pop songs. Released on the heels Morr Music's Minna Miteru compilation of Japanese indie pop (MORR 168CD/LP), There Is A Sound is the first in a series of artist compilations that dig deeper into Japan's musical underground. Co-compiled by Tsuby and Markus Acher (The Notwist, Spirit Fest), the collection sheds much-needed light on a unique songwriter, one part of a vital and energetic scene that is largely unrepresented outside of Japan. Tsuby is a naturally gifted songwriter, his melodic sensibility draws equally from predecessors like Syd Barrett and The Beatles, and peers like Tenniscoats and Maher Shalal Hash Baz. Indeed, groups like Maher Shalal Hash Baz, and Tenniscoats precursors Puka Puka Brians were very important to Tsuby. Inviting Puka Puka Brians to play at his very first gig, Tsuby quickly found himself to be part of a scene of like-minded souls, where expression and experiment was paramount, within the framework of gorgeous, fragile pop melodies. That being said, Andersens music is also fiercely individual, an expression of Tsuby's quietly questing personality. You can hear it on the playful groove that marks out "The Light It Turns To Rain...", through the rolling country-folk vibe of "Atom/Spirit", the spiraling pop-psychedelia and playful electronics and sitar of "Empty Love", to the breathy glitches of "Swan". Throughout, Tsuby takes risks with his songs, looking at them sideways, finding new angles on arrangement and embellishment, while staying true to his core sensibility. There Is A Sound draws from Andersens' four albums: Between Static & Fire (2003); Prepared Landscape (2004); Gzi Gzi Gzeo (2007), and Musiquestions (2008). One song, "Dodesukaden", reaches further back, to their debut CD-R, A Rooftop In "S" Thunderstorm Row Missing The Point (2002). Presented this way, the gentle developments in Andersens music become clear -- a folksier touch here, some electronics or wind instruments there, perhaps the influence of chindon'ya in the brass arrangements. CD version includes 24-page booklet; edition of 500.

$19.50 IN STOCK

After six years, The Notwist return with three new tracks on Morr Music. It's both an exposition of the band's musical variety and a prospect on a forthcoming album. Six years have passed since The Notwist released their last regular studio album, but that doesn't mean that the members of this outstanding band have been idle in the meantime. There have been side projects, movie scoring, and other activities, like programming four editions of Alien Disko, a festival taking place in Munich, Germany. One of that event's regular guests was the Japanese duo Tenniscoats -- and a lovely side effect from that was an evolving friendship between the two bands. It lead to various collaborations: most recently in a new album by international band -- Spirit Fest (featuring Tenniscoats singer Saya and The Notwist's Markus and Cico) and a deep digging compilation of Japanese indie music called Minna Miteru (MORR 168CD/LP). The title track of this new EP is another step in this collaboration -- and a first step to an upcoming album by The Notwist -- as it features Saya, who lends her voice to the percussive song. It is built around a slightly detuned synth line, which is contrasted by more pragmatic guitar work. "It neither sounds like The Notwist, Tenniscoats, nor Spirit Fest", tells Markus Acher. "Just like Saya is saying in the lyrics: 'I want to go outside, I want to meet people', 'Ship' is another chapter in what The Notwist always tries to do: redefining itself, exploring something new, integrating different styles of music and collaborating with musicians they admire." The second song "Loose Ends" is, in contrast, more classic Notwist material. A gently expanding ballad, this time featuring the distinctive voice of Markus Acher. The song came out of recording sessions for the soundtrack for One Of These Days, a movie by Bastian Günther. The EP then closes with "Avalanche" a carefully optimistic instrumental. With its variety of styles, "Ship" also serves as an outlook on an upcoming album, which will be influenced by the band's experiences from their detailed work of creating sounds and moods for film soundtracks, and it will include more collaborations with international guest musicians. Three exclusive tracks; 10"; includes download code; edition of 1000.

$37.50 IN STOCK

Double LP version. Gatefold sleeve; includes printed inner sleeves and download code. "With Mirage Mirage, avant-pop quintet Spirit Fest gifts their listeners with their richest, deepest record to date. It's no surprise when you consider the group's membership: Saya and Ueno, aka the duo Tenniscoats; Markus Acher, best known as singer of The Notwist; Mat Fowler, who plays with Jam Money and Bons; and Cico Beck, who's making music with Joasinho, Aloa Input, and The Notwist. If that feels like a heavyweight line-up, that's because it is -- yet the overarching mood of Spirit Fest is one of lightness and joy, of experiment and pure pop pleasure. Sessions for the album were split between the Tenniscoats' Tokyo home studio in November 2018, and a small apartment studio in Munich in June 2019. Saya, Ueno and Markus pitched in songs, but sometimes, as with 'Fish With Arms', beguiling moments grew from group improvisations, often kicked off by Cico and Mat. All members stretched their instrumental limbs, too . . . There's a sincere, child-like generosity to the music, and a playfulness with an everyday surrealism you can hear in some of the experimental interjections across the album. Its final sound is the rolling click-clacking of a bicycle wheel. The bike was key to one of Mat's explorations of the Tenniscoats' Tokyo neighborhood . . . Stumbling across art amongst the everyday; that's also core to Spirit Fest . . . There's more here than just avant-pop: see the pronounced folksy lilt to 'The Snow Falls On Everyone'; or 'Mohikone', a gorgeous instrumental, droplets of piano pattering amongst a plangent acoustic guitar. The seven-minute 'Zenbu Honto (Every Thing Is Everything)' is a spiraling psychedelic pop mantra, with field recordings and slithering electronics tracing a path under the scrub-growth of guitar, piano, and drums. There are guest appearances from Micha Acher (The Notwist, Tied & Tickled Trio) on trumpet, and Aiko Okamoto, who takes part in the choral rounds of the album's closing tune, 'Saigo Song'. Whichever way you approach it, though, the guiding force of Spirit Fest is friendship and collaboration, giving life to collective dreaming..." --Jon Dale

$37.50 IN STOCK

Repressed; double LP version. Gatefold sleeve with printed inner sleeves and 32-page booklet; Includes download code; edition of 500. In collaboration with Markus Acher's Alien Transistor label, Morr Music presents a collection of hard-to-find Japanese independent music, compiled by Saya, who plays with Ueno Takashi in the iconic duo Tenniscoats. They are part of a current music scene, which is little known outside of Japan. Minna Miteru focuses on that very scene: the featured bands and musicians share a certain idea of DIY, and are also connected through frequent collaborations and mutual appreciation.

The following notes were written by Markus Acher, who also plays with Saya & Ueno in the band Spirit Fest: "In 2018 I was sitting in the Tenniscoats' kitchen with beer and music, looking at Ueno's wonderful risograph songbook 'Minna Miteru' (Everybody Watch) which collects the lyrics and chords of their friends' songs alongside his own illustrations, when Saya suggested putting together a compilation of these and other songs for our label. I couldn't have been happier, this sounded like a dream to me . . . here is Minna Miteru, a compilation of recent Japanese indie-music. And I'm very happy about it, because although there have been many great reissues of '70s and '80s Japanese music recently, most contemporary Japanese independent bands and artists are hardly known outside of Japan and so it's hard to find their music. And I couldn't think of a better guide to this special scene than Saya, whose love, dedication, and personal selections have made this such a unique and beautiful compilation. You'll hear some of the Tenniscoats' closest friends and collaborators (Eddie Marcon, Yumbo, Yuko Ikema), but also artists they are fans of, like the legendary Jun Konagaya (aka Grim) and many befriended bands that form a scene of uncategorizable outsiders in pop, like the one-man-orchestra Ichi, the trumpet-trumpet-organ-trio Popo, the mysterious psychedelic songwriter Aritomo, and the pianist/electronic musician, Ytamo. So many beautiful surprises: melodicas, electronics, folk-songs, brass bands, sound-experiments and melodies, melodies, melodies... Every song a treasure, exploding with ideas, and me personally, I could listen to the Tenniscoats and Yumbo collaboration and Zayaendo's 'Hiyodori' forever on repeat." Also features Takashi Hattori, namaeganai, Takako Minekawa ＆ Dustin Wong, Alpha, Vagamoron, Kasumi Trio, Go Hirano, Satoko Shibata, Tomoaki Saito + Tenco Matsuri, Cacoy, Andersens, Jiro Imai, Urichipangoon, Jun Konagaya, Nikasoup & Sayasource, Borzoi, and 2B.