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“As I sit here
Waiting and wanting
Surrounded by the ambient blur of the city lights
Waiting at a stop sign
Wanting to go beyond.”


It is exactly this longing to go beyond, beyond the solitary musical journey, that brought these two very gifted artists from Kyoto to cross each other’s’ paths. Marihiko Hara and Masumi Muranaka (Polar M), the 2 seasoned musicians from Kyoto, after 10 years of admiring each other works, decided to take on a voyage together, and sailed beyond the charted territories of their music. And thus, the beautiful result from this wonderful voyage - a special collaboration album entitled “Beyond”, was born.

In this album, both artists went beyond their own borders, over their perceived views, across existing ideas and ways of thinking, to allow their emotions to flow freely in the music making process. As a result, Marihiko, with his gorgeous piano touches, and Masumi, with his heart-felt guitars, jointly crafted the 10 delicate, and breath-takingly beautiful music pieces.

Traces of elegant post-classical, sweet-sounding folktronica, dreamy ambient, and even blue-ish jazz, can be found in this sound-rich album, with all elements masterfully blended together to create an exquisite music listening experience. Piano melodies that drifted in like fireflies at night, layers of guitars that painted the backdrop soundscapes, drips of tiny electronics, spaces between the notes…. The exquisiteness in music that created by Marihiko and Masumi’s wonderful talents are simply beyond words.

Mia Cabalfin, the renowned contemporary dancer from Philippines, who befriended the artists when they composed the music for her residency performance in Kyoto in 2012, lent her beautiful voice in spoken words for 3 amazing tracks. The album is mastered by Tokyo’s renowned musician and sound engineer, Chihei Hatakeyama, and features photos by prominent Japanese photographer Marisa Shimamoto, and designs by Itsuka Sato of sonihouse.

http://www.mu-nest.com/release-info.php?f=mnc014

Dream Bird / Marihiko Hara & Polar M

Sea Side

Short Movie "ORANGE" closing theme

The Young Gypsy's Romance

The Young Gypsy's Romance - Aleko - No.12 - Sergei Rachmaninoff

Taken from the album 'niji', to be released worldwide on December 24, 2015 on Kitchen. Label

Order on 3CD here: 
www.kitchen-label.com/ki017-ironomi-niji/

Tracklist: 
1-1 風草 (Feat. 沢田穣治)
1-2 茜空 (Feat.今西玲子)
1-3 水藻 (Feat. hofli)
1-4 紫陽花 (Feat. ASPIDISTRAFLY) 
2-1 光旅 (Feat. haruka nakamura) 
2-2 舟月 (Feat. ARAKI Shin)
2-3 睡蓮 (Feat. Rie Nemoto) 
2-4 楓 (Feat. Coupie)
3-1 朝靄 (Feat. 中島ノブユキ) 
3-2 碧空 (Feat. 内田輝)
3-3 箒星 (Feat. 沢田穣治)
3-4 日向 (Feat. haruka nakamura)

Following 2010’s release of the Kitchen. Label classic “sketch”, ironomi returns with their long awaited seventh album, a 3CD 164 minutes collection entitled ‘niji’ (English Translation: Rainbow). Joining pianist Junya Yanagidaira and programmer Yu Isobe are a stellar line-up of their most loved collaborators and contemporaries. In ‘niji’, the record is marked by the same tranquility and fleetingness of their sound but also offers a slight departure from the traditions of ironomi’s previous recordings with the addition of other instruments (Saxophone, Contrabass, Koto, Violins etc) contributed by the guest musicians on each of the 12 tracks - Featuring Nobuyuki Nakajima, Jyoji Sawada (Choro Club) as well as members of the Kitchen. Label family ASPIDISTRAFLY, haruka nakamura, ARAKI Shin, Akira Uchida, Rie Nemoto among many others.

ironomi has a sound which is almost enigmatic to describe. One could listen to their albums on an ambient level and just let the music flow through. Or one could listen closer and find a detail in the sound that is intricate and palatable. ironomi’s impressionistic ripples of piano fragments generate the cumulative feel of a gently flowing river or the shifting play of light through the leaves of trees. ironomi is like nature, a sound of nature that has existed from the beginning and free from any judgement.

The duo’s music is distinctively less about conventional compositional structure than it is about the creating and sustain of mood. For each of the recordings in ‘niji’, improvised sessions were recorded and the best takes were kept intact with very minimal post production. The works showcase ironomi’s capacity to construct compelling music in real-time, their melodic-harmonic imagination as an improviser and ability to consistently find and shape new forms with each of their collaborators also sharing the same strong sense for the dialectics of sound and silence. A wishful charm imbues this entire recording of pieces which, though not written together, seem to have been predestined for each other in this album.

The latest album is highlighted by almost 40 minutes worth of music recorded together with haruka nakamura on classical guitar, whom he had spent his early formative years touring and collaborating with the duo on numerous occasions. In the collaboration with April Lee and Ricks Ang of ASPIDISTRAFLY, voices are striving to be heard and a song was unexpectedly born from the improvisational session. The result is perhaps the most strongly lyrical piece of ironomi’s releases to date.

“niji” is available on 3CD and digital formats on 24th December 2015. The physical CD copy comes in a customised letter-pressed folio. The cover is designed with a unique holographic foil which cause a refraction that creates constantly changing light reflections and prismatic colors. All linking back to the symbolic representation of the miraculous hues of ironomi’s sound world, trapping the listeners in a peaceful space of pure sound and sonic allusions.

Released & distributed by Kitchen. Label
Ⓟ & © 2015 Kitchen. Label

MORE INFO:
www.kitchen-label.com

ironomi - 光旅 (Feat. haruka nakamura) (niji, 2015) - preview

Junya Nishimura × no11room

piano & photo : Junya Nishimura（jun)
https://soundcloud.com/junj6
guitar：no11room

春の庭、記憶の彼方 〜 remember spring garden 〜 Junya Nishimura × no11room

Shunichiro Fujimoto “Rejoice”

I wake up in the morning, and place the score on the stand.
I open the keyboard lid and practice as always.
As soon as my fingers feel right, I take a deep breath and place my fingers on the keys once again.
Just as the musicians did in the old days.
Composing music starts every morning in this simple way.
Connecting to the piano.
Everyday repeats itself.
Playing until you find the perfect chord and scale.
The score which was made through many inspirations and revisions, reveals the time with the piano.
Traditionally made music that no one has heard.
The main theme of this album is “forfeiture”.
Rising up from a loss and moving towards accepting the present state.
What is here is not the past, but something for the present, rejoice.
The sound of the wood creaking and the sound of the player breathing.
The gentle sound of the piano strings resonating with each other.
It is almost as if it were midnight, creating a calm world of shadows.
45 minutes of a tranquil midnight.
Enjoy the music.

This song is LIVE version.

more detail
www.cotelabo.com/discography/


No need to reach, it’s there / Fujimoto Shunichiro

潮音 〜 shione

A raw acoustic piano recording of "temporal" 《浮》for my new album to be released under Kitchen. Label next year. This track is just the piano recording and does not represent the completed track. It will also feature Natalie Soh on violin...

Inspired by the photography of light by Foo Aiwei

PHOTO: Foo Aiwei

temporal [raw piano recording]

Taken from the album 'MURMURATIONS' by sonicbrat. Released worldwide on 24 November, 2016 on KITCHEN. LABEL.

Following 2013’s release of the album “Stranger to my room” on KITCHEN. LABEL, the Singapore-based composer returns with his long awaited follow-up album “MURMURATIONS”. “MURMURATIONS” depicts a quiet longing for beauty so distant, one can only see with eyes closed, like a lost wayfarer set out in search of questions without answers. It is constantly transiting and transitioning, suspended in a liminal state.

Drawing inspiration from the natural phenomenon of migratory birds to reflect on one’s own displacing nature in life and estrangement from nature itself, “MURMURATIONS” paints the chimerical journey of an imaginary starling, charting its flight through fabricated landscapes as it inevitably transits in the passage of time.

The album features a series of intimate and introspective compositions recorded entirely on the acoustic piano, employing various miking techniques to extract innate mechanical sounds, wood tensions, natural vibrations on piano soundboard and strings, and using them as the only source of the compositions’ sonic palette.

Tracklist:
1. MURMURATIONS I
2. MURMURATIONS II 
3. MURMURATIONS III 
4. MURMURATIONS IV 
5. MURMURATIONS V 
6. MURMURATIONS VI 
7. MURMURATIONS VII 
8. MURMURATIONS VII 
9. MURMURATIONS IX
niǎo (Bonus Download Track)

Released by KITCHEN. LABEL
Ⓟ & © 2016 KITCHEN. LABEL

MORE INFO:
www.kitchen-label.com

sonicbrat - MURMURATIONS III (MURMURATIONS, 2016)

古民家宿るうふ-時を超える宿-
https://vimeo.com/454738716

music for branded movie 古民家宿るうふ-時を超える宿-

we,cote labo Japanese music label. 
our concept are "If artist make the song for a quiet midnight" with naive and quiet melody artists delicately presents the calm mid-night, 
and then "quiet night" would surrounds and lull the audience.

No need to reach, it’s there / Fujimoto Shunichiro

cote labo

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