Improvised Music from Japan

(Improvised Music from Japan, IMJ-306/7)
Purchase price in Japan: 2,500 yen (2,625 yen with tax)
(Outside Japan, prices vary.)

• Bilingual English-Japanese
• 128 pages; 21cm (H) x 15cm (W)
• 2 CDs included (all but one track previously unreleased)

The 2005 edition of the annual Japanese-English magazine Improvised Music from Japan is devoted entirely to recent albums. Over 350 releases (with a cover photo for each) are presented. The albums, mainly from 2004-2005, span a wide range of styles--improv, onkyo, noise, electronics, contemporary classical, free jazz, avant-rock, and more. While contributions from music critics are numerous, this is not just a collection of reviews. Musicians write about their own and other artists' works, label owners about their labels . . . The articles' styles and points of view are as diverse as the albums they present. IMJ 2005 also includes 2 CDs with a total of 21 tracks--by PsysEx, Jio Shimizu, Tetsuya Umeda, mills, sim, Toshihiro Koike, Shuichi Ohori, Chihiro Wada, Toshiya Tsunoda, Kiyoshi Mizutani, VOIMA, Bunsho Nishikawa and Tim Olive, m/s (Minoru Sato), Yasuo Totsuka, Diver, Mitsuhiro Yoshimura, Tomomi Adachi, The Cinngirls, aspects, Yui Kimijima, and Merzbow.

Disc 1

1. PsysEx - #460 (4:41)
   First released on Polyrhythm_system Exclusive Message 2 (Ryoondo-tea, DES 024)
   
   
2. Jio Shimizu - One Million Dots (6:55)
   
   
3. Tetsuya Umeda - Error Piano (10:28)
   Yasuhisa Mizutani: piano
   Tetsuya Umeda: loitering around the piano, carrying a portable radio
   
   
4. mills - Day (3:10)
   aen: computer, mixer
   bike boy: Stick
   INOnation: guitar
   Recorded live at Metro, Kyoto, 2003
   Reprocessed by aen, September 2005
   
   
5. sim - UNT (6:10)
   Teruyuki Oshima: guitar, computer
   Yoshio Otani: electronics
   Masahiro Uemura: drums
   Recorded live by Hayato Aoki at Grapefruit Moon, March 15, 2005
   
   
6. Toshihiro Koike - 6pm_33�Ž (6:42)
   Toshihiro Koike: trombone
   Recorded in 2005
   
   
7. Shuichi Ohori - They Shoot the Blame (6:08)
   Shuichi Ohori: keyboard, MD, laptop
   Recorded at Curtain of Cards Studio, November 2004
   
   
8. Chihiro Wada - Hikoboshi (5:31)
   Chihiro Wada: vocal, ukulele, drums
   Recorded by Yuichi Kishino at Ace Studio, July 2005
   
   
9. Toshiya Tsunoda - Three Stationary Waves from My Living Room (6:38)
   Recorded in October 2000 using a piezo microphone and a portable DAT
   No editing
   
   
10. Kiyoshi Mizutani - Jamokamo Festival (8:22)
    Recorded in Namamugi, Yokohama, using a microphone (AT822) and a DAT (TCD-D7), June 5, 2005
    Mixed on June 11, 2005

Mastered by Toshimaru Nakamura, August 29, 2005

Disc 2

1. VOIMA - unsettledfrm (6:57)
   Yasufumi Suzuki: VAIO
   Tetsuro Yasunaga: Powerbook
   Recorded in August 2005
   
   
2. Bunsho Nishikawa/Tim Olive -- Ushitsuki (4:31)
   Recorded by Bunsho Nishikawa at Bridge, Osaka, June 2005
   
   
3. m/s (Minoru Satoh) - Linear Manifold (Multiple Version) (5:53)
   Recorded in 1994
   
   
4. Yasuo Totsuka - Mame (4:46)
   Recorded on July 17, 2005
   
   
5. Diver - "Hypogeous Sound 02" Concert (Short Version) (6:42)
   Kenichi Matsumoto: sax
   Natsuki Tamura: trumpet
   Daisuke Takaoka: tuba
   Recorded live by Hisashi Terauchi at Oya Stone Museum, Utsunomiya, April 29, 2004
   
   
6. Mitsuhiro Yoshimura - Ears Ring (5:53)
   Mitsuhiro Yoshimura: microphone feedback
   Recorded by Mitsuhiro Yoshimura directly onto PC, May 2005
   
   
7. Tomomi Adachi - mhoi (8:00)
   Tomomi Adachi: tomoring, voice, computer
   Recorded in June 2005
   
   
8. The Cinngirls, aka The Cinnamon Girls, aka Cinnamon -- "Suicide" Orca remix (1:43)
   Kanoko: vocals
   DJ Radial Axis: acoustic guitar
   Remixed by Jonathan Segel at Magnetic Satellite Studio, Oakland, CA
   The Cinngirls appear courtesy of Lewis Recordings
   "Suicide" lyrics and music (c) 2004 Brett Larner (SOCAN)
   
   
9. aspects - & aspects & 2/3 (extract) (7:33)
   Takuji Kawai: composition, keyboard-harmonica
   Michio Karimata: flute
   Nobuhiro Nakane: trombone
   Neko Kaneko: trombone
   Michito Arinaga: tuba
   Recorded at the rehearsal on April 14, 2005, for the concert "& aspects & vol. 2/3," Tokyo, April 17, 2005
   
   
10. Yui Kimijima - Today (7:06)
    Recorded by Yuta Inoue at Kimijima's Studio, Izu, May 2005
    
    
11. Merzbow - Excerpt from Death of 250,000 Chickens (7:03)
    Music by Masami Akita
    Recorded and mixed in his bedroom, Tokyo, May 2005

Mastered by Toshimaru Nakamura, August 30, 2005

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