https://mikeparadinas.bandcamp.com/album/secret-garden

In Spring 2021, Mike Paradinas (µ-Ziq and the owner of Planet Mu) spoke to long time friend and past label signing Hannah Davidson (Mrs Jynx) about the therapeutic power of writing music when times are tough. Both had recently been dealing with the loss of a parent due to cancer, and fresh from writing Scurlage, Paradinas suggested a collaboration.

“I’ve always thought Hannah’s melodic sensibilities chime well with my own," says Paradinas, "and I've wanted to collaborate with her for a long time, since [her 2010 album] 'Shark Carousel' in fact, because she'd written some melodies that I wish I had.”

In a matter of weeks the two collaborated online, sending stems back and forth, each encouraging the other and fitting perfectly together. 

“After about ten days we had ten tracks we were happy with." adds Davidson, "It was exciting to hear what Mike would do with the stems I sent, and equally exciting to see what he thought of my additions to his stems.”

Overall the result is an opus of deeply personal moments of grief, depicted in a feeling of serene, misty tranquility that makes it easy to get lost in. Davidson and Paradinas settled on the title 'Secret Garden' due to the melodic vista which unexpectedly opened up before them on the final track. The album truly is a melodic exploration that is so often missed in this genre. 

There are twists and turns in mood, from the pastoral loveliness of 'Jynxiq' and 'Unheard Melodies' which fall away to the dubby beats of 'Hi Jynx'; the sadness of 'Loss' leading into the beatless forlorn 'The Ballad of Darth Vader. The album ups the pace with the muffled kicks and warm atmosphere of 'Afternoon Sunshine', which sets the tone for the happier mood of the second half. This all leads up to the album's denoeument in final track 'Secret Garden' whose naïve meandering synth melodies, orchestral accompaniment and glockenspiel end the album in happy resolution.

µ-Ziq & Mrs Jynx - The Secret Garden

Salutations

Arcoíris

春を待つカレーライス

Marking the 5th year anniversary of his seminal debut album, Hiroshima-based artist Meitei announces his Kwaidan Anniversary Japan Tour beginning from 22nd July in Tokyo, with more dates to be added. This is the first time the ghostly masterpieces from Kwaidan are being played live in a thematic-specific show. 

A collaboration between 2 Singaporean labels – KITCHEN. LABEL (Kofu I & II) Evening Chants (Kwaidan), the anniversary also sees the highly anticipated special 5th Anniversary Edition of Kwaidan with 2 unreleased bonus tracks. This will come in the long out-of-print vinyl format, with obi strip, 8-panel insert, new colour variant and the first ever CD version. 

In 2018, Meitei shook the ambient world with the release of his debut album “Kwaidan”, a transposition of Japanese folklore into intricate compositions, capturing what he would coin as the “lost Japanese mood”. The album almost instantly received critical acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork, where it was included in their Best Experimental Albums of 2018, Bandcamp, calling it “different than some of the ambient music that has been coming from Japan in recent years”, The Wire and more. Outside of press, he has also received nods from the likes of Rosalía and has collaborated with contemporaries Anthony Naples, DJ Python, Tourist, Chitose Hajime and more. 
Cementing his name in the ambient and experimental world, Meitei has since continued to cultivate devoted fans globally, with monumental follow-up albums as part of his unique musical canon – Komachi, Kofu I and Kofu II, showcasing his immense musicianship in building a unique sonic world of his own. 

Mastered by Taylor Deupree, Kwaidan’s 5th Anniversary Edition will be released with 2 bonus tracks on a smoke haze variant LP, CD and digital formats, released via KITCHEN. LABEL and Evening Chants.

Meitei - Sankai (Kwaidan, 2023)

empty grids

Despite his status as a key figure in the history of Japanese ambient music, Hiroshi Yoshimura's music remains tragically under-known outside of his home country. Empire of Signs – a new imprint co-helmed by Maxwell August Croy and Spencer Doran – is proud to reissue Yoshimura's debut Music for Nine Postcards for the first time outside Japan in collaboration with Hiroshi's widow Yoko Yoshimura, with more fully licensed reissues of Hiroshi's work to follow in the future.

Working initially as a conceptual artist, the musical side of Yoshimura's artistic practice came to prominence in the post-Fluxus scene of late 1970s Tokyo alongside Akio Suzuki and Takehisa Kosugi, taking many subsequent turns within Japan’s bubble economy afterward. His sound works took on many forms - commissioned fashion runway scores, soundtracking perfume, soundscapes for pre-fab houses, train station sound design - all existing not as side work but as logical extensions of his philosophy of sound. His work strived for serenity as an ideal, and this approach can be felt strongly on Music for Nine Postcards.

Home recorded on a minimal setup of keyboard and Fender Rhodes, Music for Nine Postcards was Yoshimura’s first concrete collection of music, initially a demo recording given to the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art to be played within the building's architecture. This was not mere background music in the prior Japanese “BGM” sense of the word, but “environmental” music, the literal translation of the Japanese term kankyō ongaku [環境音楽] given to Brian Eno’s “ambient” music when it arrived in late 70's Japan. Yoshimura, along with his musical co-traveler Satoshi Ashikawa, searched for a new dialog between sound and space, a new way of listening: sound not as an absolute, but as something that interlocks with a physical environment and shifts the listener’s experience within it. Erik Satie's furniture music, R. Murray Schafer's concept of the soundscape and Eno’s ambience all greatly informed their work,  but the specific form of tranquil stasis presented on releases like Nine Postcards is still difficult to place within a specific tradition, remaining elusive and idiosyncratic despite the economy of it's construction. This record offers the perfect introduction to Hiroshi's unique and beautiful worldview: it's one that can be listened to - and lived in - endlessly.

Music for Nine Post Cards

Hiroshi Yoshimura (吉村弘) - "Water Copy" from Music for Nine Post Cards (EOS01) OUT 11/17/2017

Music composed and produced by Caterina Barbieri between September 2015 and January 2016. Mixed at Elektronmusikstudion in
Stockholm (SE). Composed with an ER-101 Indexed Quad 
Sequencer and a Verbos Harmonic Oscillator. 
Images by Giovanni Brunetto 
Photography by Angelo Jaroszuk Bogasz 
Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi 
First edition pressing of 500 double LPs packaged in a gatefold jacket. An edition of 200 sets on transparent blue vinyl is available for Important mailorder customers: http://importantrecords.com/imprec/imprec449
Bandcamp: https://caterinabarbieri.bandcamp.com/album/patterns-of-consciousness
"...has an imperial, exacting beauty." (The Wire)
“…few albums have hit us as hard as Caterina Barbieri’s 70-minute opus, Patterns Of Consciousness. On her debut full-length, Barbieri commands tsunami-height waves of arpeggiated analog synths." (Fact Mag)
"Patterns Of Consciousness finds Caterina Barbieri at her best, elegantly moving between melodically pleasant yet twisted sequences and comforting, reassuring sonic spaces. Every piece, while given a singular identity, is part of the bigger picture: a work of art that will push you, pull you, and then eventually leave you with your back against the wall once you get to the last track. " Alessandro Cortini (Nine Inch Nails)

SOTRS

Taken from 'Suso Saiz - Nothing Is Objective'(MFM040)
Buy Vinyl: https://www.musicfrommemory.com/
Buy Digital: https://music-from-memory.bandcamp.com/
© 2019 Music From Memory

C4 - Suso Saiz - Healthy Digestion (3:05)

Rei Harakami - Come Here Go There

The duo transform Squarepusher’s jazzy clash of beats and instrumentation that is ‘Iambic 9 Poetry’ into a propulsive new track decorated with curling cello and melodic piano.

Clap (Instrumental)

Cornelius

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