Some DJ mixes were moved to the Mixcloud.
https://www.mixcloud.com/KaoruInoue/

MiXes

Fourth episode of the monthly Angis Music Show for Universal Rhythms Radio with special guest from Tokyo, Kaoru Inoue aka Chari Chari (@kaoru324).

Samuele Pagliai(start - 56:22)
Kaoru Inoue(56:23 - end)

Universal Rhythms | Angis Music Show w/ Samuele Pagliai & Kaoru Inoue - June 4th, 2021

Kaoru Inoue is one of our first and most loyal supporters. But most of all he's a fantastic dj and producer. He runs the always fresh Seeds and Ground label and produces under the moniker Chari Chari. We are very happy to have him on board. His selection spans an arc from heavy percussions to soundcapes and back.
More about Kaoru -  https://soundcloud.com/kaoru324

LOODcast 45 ~ Kaoru Inoue

It's a great pleasure to welcome Japanese electronic music stronghold Kaoru Inoue (@kaoru324), also known as Chari Chari and founder of the Seeds And Ground label, to the mix series. Interview (excerpt) down below.

www.musicfrommemory.com

MFM: Welcome on board of the series Kaoru. You're from Japan and are living in Tokyo. Do you find Tokyo, and Japan as whole, a positive place to be at as an artist?

KI: Tokyo is a fascinating city, full of crazy stimuli and exciting noise, but I don’t need it anymore as the years go by, especially after the pandemic. So now I feel like an outsider loving Tokyo and living a quiet life in its suburbs. I think it’s a positive place for artists in the sense that it’s still rich in nature and food, and the population is decreasing, despite having experienced the high economic growth and the high information society, but what we learned again after the pandemic is that government protection policies are fragile. 

MFM: Your musical output as a producer is quite large and rather versatile, from acoustic guitar sessions to more new age like soundscapes to broken beat and deep house. Where does this versatility come from? 

KI: I think it's because I've been deeply committed to music since my teens. From YMO to post-punk, ethnic, rare groove to deep house, I was already looking for and listening to music like a researcher from a young age. So I started DJing naturally as a way to mix and share my records, and my outputs could be a fusion of them. However, so to speak, I’ve been most influenced by the contextuality of House music, and when looking at everything from a bird’s eye view, I can say that my main interest is, in a word, in “Minimalism”.

MFM: Your music -regardless which moniker you use- sounds extremely organic, very earthly but also mystical and sacred. As if it was recorded far deep in nature amongst some indigenous tribe's ritual. Where does this signature sound come from, what are its origins?

KI: My early tunes were strongly influenced by the atmosphere of Bali & Java in Indonesia, where I used to visit in my twenties, and I think it still remains somewhere in me. I also have a cultural anthropological interest in folk or tribal music from all over the world, and I even am influenced by ecological ideas. (In recent years, I’ve been more into traditional & contemporary music from my own country than ever before.) I think that’s why it is.

MFM: Hence your own label's name Seeds And Ground too probably? 

KI: Indeed, and it’s a metaphor for sex and creation.

MFM: How about the instruments? There's guitar, lots and lots of percussion, marimba, field recordings, plenty chords too... Are you a trained musician and do you record all these parts yourself (with the real instruments)? 

KI: I had learnt to play piano as a child and taught myself to play guitar from the age of 13. However, after encountering DJ culture in my early twenties, I quit a band and didn’t play an instrument for a while. So I know a little more about harmony, chords and so on than the average DJ. I’ve also started to play the guitar again a little bit in a few projects since I started producing electronic music, but only in a very specific way. I’ve also recorded with many different musicians so far.

MFM: So, what can you tell about the mix you've made? Did you record it with a certain vibe or theme or purpose in mind?

KI: It’s a rethinking of “New Age”ish or “Obscure”ish music, past and present. Some Japanese music from the 80s and 90s has also been included with respect to Eiji & Norio who compiled “Heisei No Oto”. And two of my recent tracks as Chari Chari are also included.

MFM: By the way, by the look of your shirt you're a Jodorowsky fan? :)

KI: I look up to Jodorowsky as my mentor, especially after reading his autobiography. I got this shirt as a return from the Endless Poetry crowdfunding campaign.

MFM Mix 034: Kaoru Inoue

Live DJ mix at DOMMUNE - a live streaming station in Tokyo / this show was broadcast from Nerima Art Museum - for a special program celebrating the release of the concept album "Dedicated to the Island" by Kaoru Inoue.
https://www.dommune.com/streamings/2023/100901/

屋久島ベースの旅雑誌「Saunter Magazine」のために作られた、屋久島をテーマにしたオリジナル・アルバム「Dedicated to the Island」発売を記念してDOMMUNEにてストリーミング配信（練馬区立美術館より）された番組でのDJミックス。

Track ID
01. Kaoru Inoue - Nagareru
02. Kaoru Inoue - Tobitatsu
03. Kaoru Inoue - Mushikiki
04. Kaoru Inoue - The Basement Duet
05. CV & JAV - Stone Circle
06. Final Drop - Mimyo
07. Final Drop - Space Time Polyrhythm
08. Final Drop - Unsui-Kyo
09. Final Drop - A Thousand Years Old Three Dub
10. Kaoru Inoue - Hoshifuru
11. Kaoru Inoue - Tengaku ~ Kodama
12. Chari Chari - Of Mystic Dreams (Unreleased Drum Track)
13. Ryuichi Sakamoto - The 'Dreaming'
14. Petre Inspirescu - Lumiere
15. Patryk Zakrocki - Martian Landscapes
16. Petre Inspirescu - delir 1
17. D.K. - Echo Chamber
18. Steve Reich - Eight Lines (Howie B Remix)
19. Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan - Palace III

Live mix at Dommune 09.Oct.2023

#46
- Autumn envelops -
by Kaoru Inoue @kaoru324

In mid-September in 2025, a new facility opened in Tokyo, and I was commissioned to create the background music for several common areas on one of its floors. It was the largest music production project I’ve taken on so far. One of the spaces is equipped with an immersive audio system, where multi-track sound files were installed to work with a custom acoustic design and a multi-channel speaker setup.
I dedicated roughly the first half of 2025 to this project. Although the process had its challenges, it became an invaluable experience—offering me a rare opportunity to reconsider, in my own way, how environmental and ambient music can function in contemporary and public spaces. This mix is built around tracks I referenced during the production period, along with other pieces I explored in the process.

先日9月中旬にオープンした都内某施設の一部フロアの共用部分数カ所で流れるBGMを制作した。音楽制作の仕事でここまで大型のものを受けたのは初めてで、さらにそのうちの1カ所はいわゆるイマーシブ・オーディオのシステムが入っており、独自の音響設計に従って配置されたマルチ・チャンネル・スピーカーに対応するようマルチ・トラックの音源がインストールされている。
2025年、今年前半の約半年をこの制作に捧げたわけだが、困難な行程も得難い体験となり、また環境音楽やアンビエント・ミュージックについて現代的・公共空間的に（自分なりに）再考する又と無い機会となった。今回のミックスはこの制作期間に参照した楽曲と、それに伴い掘っていた曲達を軸に構成した。

- Track list -
01. Ruth Happel - Echo Pond
02. Gunther Pohl & Clifford Lantaff - Jolivet: Alla Rustica
03. Bernard Fort - Kenya: Masai mara, de nuit au mois d'août
04. Francesco Messina - Untitled
05. Peter Mumme - Eucalypt
06. David Bowie - Moss Garden
07. Harold Budd & Hector Zazou - And Then She Stepped Aside
08. Mette Henriette - Drifting
09. Jakob Bro - Mar del plata
10. Salamanda - Melting Hazard
11. Pauline Anna Strom - Small Reptiles on the Forest Floor
12. Kaoru Inoue - Mizukumi [Minotaur Inst. Edition]
13. 向後隆 - 水礼拝
14. Josiah Steinbrick - Full Bloom
15. Michael Torke - Bloom 1, Night
16. Uakti - Xentitemento Mu Puli (My Little Bird In Foreign Lands)
17. Lou Harrison - Fugue For Percussion
18. Ryo - Thai Stalk
19. Asa Tone & Ariel Karma - 28°35'S 153°22'E
20. Macie Stewart - What Fills You Up Won't Leave an Empty Cup
21. Terry Plumeri - Water Garden
22. Solange - Things I Imagined

- Selector -
Kaoru Inoue @kaoru324

Kaoru Inoue is a DJ and musician. After gaining experience as a guitarist in a band, he immersed himself in DJ culture following the rise of Acid Jazz in 1989. In 1994, he released his first track under the name Chari Chari. Since then, he has released and remixed music under his own name and various aliases on labels both in Japan and abroad.

As a DJ, he has performed at venues ranging from small clubs to large outdoor rave parties and beyond. In recent years, his DJ style—seamlessly connecting diverse sounds such as dance music, jazz, ambient, Balearic, and experimental—has earned widespread acclaim for its unique sense of aesthetics.


井上薫・DJ／音楽家。ギタリストとしてのバンド経験を経て89年Acid Jazzの洗礼と共にDJカルチャーに没入。94年にChari Chari名義で初の楽曲をリリース。以降、本名やその他様々な名義での楽曲リリース、リミックスを国内外のレーベルで手がけ、大小問わずクラブ、屋外レイヴ・パーティー、またその他様々な場でDJとして活動を続けてきた。近年はダンス・ミュージックに限らずジャズ、アンビエント、バレアリック、エクスペリメンタルなど様々な音楽を独自の審美眼で繋いでいくDJスタイルが好評を博している。
http://soundcloud.com/kaoru324
https://seedsandground.bandcamp.com
http://www.seedsandground.com

- Artwork -
www.instagram.com/loid0001/

#46 - Autumn envelops - by Kaoru Inoue

https://linktr.ee/kaoruinoue
DJ/Composer/Musician based in Tokyo
also known as "Chari Chari"
running a label "Seeds And Ground"