Release Date:
CD, Digital - 10 Dec 2021
LP - 28 Jan 2022

Ⓟ & © 2021 KITCHEN. LABEL

Meitei’s 2020 album 'Kofū' was the bold bookend to an expedition, where sounds were first navigated and then subverted in 2018’s 'Kwaidan' and 2019’s 'Komachi'. 

All three albums were Meitei’s attempt at immersive storytelling, reimagining moments of Japanese history he felt were being washed away – not least by the unforgiving sands of time – through wistful compositions that stretched across ambient music, hauntology, and musique concrete.

When it came to finalizing 'Kofū', Meitei found he was left with over 60 fully realized tracks, bursting with ideas that fired in divergent, curious directions. Meitei was content with the 13 tracks he had selected. But when it came time to begin his next album, he found that it had been sitting in front of him all along.  He realized his work wasn’t over yet. 

Meitei sounds right at home celebrating the past he first reimagined in his previous work. The merriment is palpable in its first two tracks of 'Kofū II' – a loop of cheery whistling amidst the clanking of wood leads into strings, cricket sounds and flutes, all united in bustling harmony.

'Happyaku-yachō' is where it comes into focus. Pitch-shifted vocal samples roam around in the crowded sonic field. “My image of this music is that it expresses the vibrant mood of Edo's merchant culture,” says Meitei, “where old Japanese dwellings were densely packed together in a vast expanse of land.” The affair becomes bittersweet as the track leads into the desolate 'Kaworu', a compositional piece lifted from his 'Komachi' sessions – a final requiem to his late grandmother.

The album is bursting with spectral vignettes of wandering samurais, red lanterns, ninjas, puppet theatres, poets, even a vengeful assassin ('Shura Yukihime', known to Western audiences as ‘Lady Snowblood’). 

'Saryō' is as elegant and refined as you would expect. It induces stillness in its repetition, with each synth note a brushstroke. It was inspired by a Sengoku-era tea house he once visited, designed by national icon Sen no Rikyū. Meitei tied it to the reaction he felt while poring over the ink paintings in his grandmother’s house. “The decayed earthen walls and faded tatami mats gave me an emotional impression,” he says. “And the cosmic flow of time drifting in the small room. I decided to put my impression of this into music.”

In 'Akira Kurosawa', an appropriately thunderous track, Meitei finds deep resonance in his vast filmography, which drew equally from Japan’s rich heritage and troubled circumstances post-WWII. 

'Kofū II' is not a leftovers album, nor is it a straightforward companion piece. In this album, Meitei has his biggest reckoning with the Japanese identity yet. Over the years, he has attempted to peel back what he believes has defined Japan and its people. After seeking answers with three full-length albums, his fourth poses more questions. 

If his first three albums inspired a sense of longing – or, perhaps inevitably, fed an irreparable nostalgia doomed to history – Kofū II compels us to reassess our relationship with the past.  

By constantly looking back, are we ever afforded a clearer present? After capturing the “lost Japanese mood”, where does that leave its country in the modern world? Meitei offers no immediate answers with 'Kofū II'. It forces you to sit with its disparate moods, to meditate amidst the textured fragments. 

'Kofū II' will be released in 180g LP, CD and digital format on December 10, 2021 (LP expected to land January 28, 2022) via KITCHEN. LABEL. Both LP and CD format are presented in a debossed sleeve with obi strip and include a 16-page insert with words in Japanese and English from Meitei, printed on premium paper stock with design by KITCHEN. LABEL founder Ricks Ang, and is mastered by Chihei Hatakeyama in Tokyo, Japan.

Kofū II

Meitei - 八百八町 / Happyaku-yachō (Kofū II, 2021)

Release Date:
26 Nov 2021

Ⓟ & © 2021 KITCHEN. LABEL

Ahead of the release of ASPIDISTRAFLY’s long-awaited new album, their 2011 fan-favourite second album 'A Little Fable' will be reissued on vinyl for the first time. “With a hushed wispy voice in the spirit of Vashti Bunyan, ASPIDISTRAFLY have more in common with ambient composers like Max Richter — and, along the way, have found their own leaf-covered path.” wrote NPR Music upon its original release. Now marking the 10th year anniversary of the album, 'A Little Fable' is still being discovered by a new generation of listeners and has found itself a predecessor of the Cottagecore aesthetic with cult classics 'Landscape With A Fairy', 'Homeward Waltz', 'Countless White Moons' and 'Gensei'. 

ASPIDISTRAFLY, which consists of Singapore-based singer-songwriter April Lee and producer Ricks Ang (also the founder of KITCHEN. LABEL), embarked on the recording of the album in the autumn of 2010 in Tokyo. Fascinated by the patina of time and themes of folklore, 'A Little Fable' narrates a surrealist procession of tales - twelve compositions simmering one into the other lyrically and picturesquely. The album sees the duo play a flickeringly filmic mixture of ambient folk with gossamer-like vocal harmonies and guitar-based drone wrapped in a delicate lo-fi haziness, featuring collaborators haruka nakamura, Akira Kosemura, Kyo Ichinose, Seigen Tokuzawa, ironomi’s Junya Yanagidaira, Janis Crunch and more. 

The vinyl edition will be released on November 26, 2021 via KITCHEN. LABEL. Remastered by Brandenburg Mastering in the Netherlands, the reissue is presented in a die-cut jacket with an artworked inner sleeve and a 4-page insert, printed on premium paper stock with artwork faithful to the original design.

A Little Fable

ASPIDISTRAFLY - Landscape With A Fairy (A Little Fable - LP Edition, 2021)

HIMOROGI is the tenth album by ironomi. Divining Japanese mythology and its relationship with nature, the new album is an aural pastorale that fosters deeper territory in the realm of spiritual searching through dreamy, drifting piano, 17-string koto (jūshichi-gensō) and new form electronic processing. 

ironomi’s desire to commune with mother Earth and its season’s colors has always served as a continual inspiration for their music. In HIMOROGI, the duo delves into a more spiritual focus in their journey towards musical impressionism. Japanese culture has long held the idea that heavenly spirits live in many elements of the natural world, such as mountains, rocks, trees, and the sea. The album title comes from the Japanese word Himorogi (神籬), which in Shinto terminology is translated as "divine fence," which refers to sacred areas that a celestial spirit enters.

Six songs were created in chronological order, ama-saki (Bloom in the Sky), yume-asobi (Playing in Dream), sakura-ame (Cherry Blossom Rain), hibiki-sora (Echoing Sky), ama-yadori (Rain Shelter), chumu (Abstract Nil Space). On each, they move organically in the nature they were recorded, as rain connects the sky with the Earth, giving life to it with blossoming flowers. Once the hues of autumn bid their farewell, another life cycle begins. Rather than arriving at a state of tranquility, the idea is to reach a state of ‘nothingness’ as suggested in the zazen-inspired chumu. 

Junya Yanagidaira’s sublime, elegant phrasing of subtle polyphony and melodic piano lines fall like rain through a picturesque blue horizon over calming koto sways by multi-instrumentalist Yu Isobe. Flashes of sunlight momentarily refract through the water’s surface in the form of bright starlit keyboards, at times weaving child-like melodies of enchantment. The lightest touch of koto strings seems to hover and balance the murmur of a garden stream. It beckons you closer as the gentle caress of the music awakens your inner senses. HIMOROGI will remain timeless because the duo created music that absconded with time and place with their endless visions of beauty. 

ironomi releases HIMOROGI on 24 February 2023 via KITCHEN. LABEL. Available on clear vinyl LP, CD and digital formats, with artwork by Japanese photographer Kisei Kobayashi and design by KITCHEN. LABEL founder Ricks Ang. Katsunori Fukuoka mastered this record at Flysound in Japan.

ironomi - 桜雨 (himorogi, 2023)

ironomi - 天咲 (himorogi, 2023)

From the album "A LITTLE FABLE" (KI-007, KITCHEN. LABEL)

Available via KITCHEN. LABEL 
http://www.kitchen-label.com/catalogue/ki007-aspidistrafly-a-little-fable

Available on iTunes 
http://smarturl.it/alittlefable-itunes

ASPIDISTRAFLY - GENSEI (A LITTLE FABLE, 2011)

"prayer" and "insincere love" both tracks from the album "12 & 1 SONG" (KI-008R, KITCHEN. LABEL)

Available via KITCHEN. LABEL 
http://www.kitchen-label.com/ki008r-reissue-janis-crunch-haruka-nakamura-12-1-song

Available on iTunes 
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/12-1-song/id643452001?uo=4

Janis Cruch & haruka nakamura - prayer, insincere love (12 & 1 SONG, 2011)

Meitei's "Heiwa": A Musical Exploration of Hiroshima's Non-Verbal Realm

Meitei, an acclaimed artist from Hiroshima Prefecture, unveils his latest composition, "Heiwa." Inspired by his upbringing and the profound impact of peace education, Meitei takes listeners on a captivating sonic journey through the history and emotions of Hiroshima.

Timed to coincide with the anniversary of the devastating atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, “Heiwa" is an unconventional composition, depicting the tragedy and resilience of Hiroshima's people. Meitei's music transcends language and symbolism, capturing the intangible aspects of his experiences. The result is an ambient soundscape that embodies his personal understanding of Hiroshima's non-verbal realm.

Unlike traditional peace-themed music prevalent in Hiroshima, Meitei offers a unique perspective on the city from his own vantage point. While recognizing the importance of preserving musical qualities and history, he ventures into the internal realms of the human senses. Through his music, Meitei conveys unspoken emotions and the sensory value of objects, redefining his interpretation of "ambient". Meitei's approach to “Heiwa” embraces individual expression and serves as a powerful conduit for his personal longing for peace while graphically representing the scars inflicted upon Hiroshima.

Within this composition, listeners will encounter a melancholic tone reminiscent of the ashen atmosphere that once permeated the city. Meitei skillfully infuses a tangible materiality into the melodic lines, symbolizing the lingering scent of a city scorched and burned. These elements amalgamate into a captivating auditory experience that carries an unmistakable sense of presence. By intertwining historical awareness and personal interpretation, Meitei invites listeners to explore the non-verbal realms of human emotion and sensory perception.

"Heiwa" is available for streaming on major platforms on 6 August, 2023. The track is the first single of Meitei's upcoming album, "Kofū III," slated for release in Autumn 2023 via KITCHEN. LABEL.

Meitei - Heiwa

Hailing from Hiroshima, Meitei, unveils the final chapter of his transformative Kofū trilogy. “Kofū III” marks the apex of a musical journey that began in 2020, unraveling an introspective exploration of the artist's psyche while delving deep into the essence of Japanese culture. This latest release invites listeners into the innermost sanctums of Meitei's existence — a passage filled with serenity, self-discovery, and the triumphant conquest of personal demons.

Meitei's journey has been deeply intertwined with his surroundings. His move from bustling Kyoto to the tranquil rural town of Onomichi in Hiroshima wasn't just a change of location but a profound shift in his life. Navigating through the ebbs and flows of mental well-being, Meitei found solace in the quiet, low-key energy of Onomichi, where he began creating his distinctive brand of "ambient" music dedicated to resurrecting ‘lost Japanese moods’.

"Kofū III" is not just a collection of songs; it's a window into Meitei's mind, where he reflects on ‘the Japanese mental landscape,’ as experienced during the period of his return to his hometown. This album stands as a testament to Meitei's evolution, from his tentative inner quest to a state of deep healing.

"Kofū” and its precursor, "Kwaidan,” germinated in the solitude of Onomichi, embodying the mysterious, vanishing essence of Japan that Meitei unearthed in the shadows of his hometown. With "Kofū III," this exploration reaches its zenith, weaving musical landscapes that transcend temporal bounds. Each track vividly paints bygone eras and vignettes, all while drawing on the rich tapestry of Japanese literature and mindscapes.

Meitei introduces listeners to the tranquil Hiroshima countryside in 'Reimei,' while 'Hiroshima' reflects upon the city's transformation. It explores Meitei's intricate relationship with the city and contemplates the ever-changing visage of contemporary Japanese progress.

Within the sonic fabric of "Kofū III," "Shisei" brings listeners to Japan's past, when tattoos bore the name "Shisei." Fueled by Junichiro Tanizaki's "Shisei" narratives, the song paints a sensual tale of a tattooed man adorning a woman with a spider tattoo.

Meitei's authenticity shines through in "Kofū III," where complex emotions metamorphose into a kaleidoscopic fusion of lo-fi bliss. In "Yume-jūya," Meitei recounts a peculiar dream and the lingering anxiety it left behind. Also, inspired by the famous Japanese writer Soseki Natsume's "Yume-jūya," Meitei's interpretation offers his own perspective on this comical and bizarre tale.

"Edogawa Ranpo" stands as a mind-bending loop track that pays homage to the genius of the lesser-known Japanese author Edogawa Ranpo, a pioneer of the mysterious and bizarre. This experimental piece melds folklore, electronic rapture, and distortion, echoing Meitei's fascination with Ranpo's work since his elementary school days.

At the core of "Kofū III" lies "Heiwa," originally titled "1945," encapsulating Meitei's profound reflection on peace education in his hometown and the weighty significance of acknowledging historical tragedies. Its renaming as "Peace" symbolizes his personal odyssey towards understanding and reconciliation.

As Meitei concludes his Kofū trilogy, global listeners are invited to embark on this voyage to unearth the hidden treasures of Japanese culture and the depths of the human soul. "Kofū III" is a meditation on the intangible threads that bind us to our past - a portal to Japan's veiled history, capturing the essence of Japan's elusive spirit through the enigmatic landscapes of Meitei's inner terrains.

"Kofū III" is slated for release on December 1, 2023, in 180g LP, CD, and digital formats via KITCHEN. LABEL. Both LP and CD format are presented in a debossed sleeve with obi strip and include an accompanying 32-page booklet. This album is mastered by Chihei Hatakeyama in Tokyo, Japan.

Meitei - Yume-jūya (Kofū III, 2023)

More information http://www.kitchen-label.com/catalogue/ki005

ironomi - 時色 (sketch, 2010)

In the final month of 2024, Meitei arrived in Beppu, a city long steeped in vapor, myth, and mineral memory, invited to create Onsen (hot spring) music commemorating the city’s 100th anniversary through sound. Known for his Lost Japan (Shitsu-nihon) works, which weave together vanished eras with the ambient residue of the past, Meitei took residence in the warehouse of Yamada Bessou, a century-old inn perched near the bay.

Over two weeks, Meitei listened to steam, stone, and history. The resulting work, Sen’nyū, traces the spirit of onsen culture. Like water seeking its path, the music unfolded with natural inevitability, shaped by Meitei’s synesthetic sensibility and deep reverence for place. Equipped with a microphone, he ventured into Beppu’s famed sites: Takegawara Onsen, Bouzu Jigoku, Hebin-yu, and the private baths of Yamada Bessou — capturing bubbling earth, hissing vents, wind over bamboo, and the voices of regular visitors. These field recordings became the bones of the composition, an attempt to sonify even the rising mist and subtle temperature shifts felt on the skin.

Sen’nyū unfolds as a single, continuous piece. Meitei’s score moves like fog through sulfur and stone, traversing the veiled madness of Bouzu Jigoku, the spectral hum of Yamada Bessou’s inner bath, and the voices and atmosphere of Takegawara Onsen. At its heart is a gesture of quiet reverence — for water’s patience, for the land’s memory, and for the hands that have bathed here across generations.

Meitei has always expressed his own views on things and events that are self-evident to the Japanese people but are now perceived as subtle impressions. On this occasion, however, he does not create music based on his own unique themes of Japan. Instead, he launches music into the world that has been created in actual places of Japan, music that can be felt with the hands.

During the project, Meitei also conceived a two-day public sound installation at Takegawara Onsen, culminating in a live performance on the final day. Bathers immersed themselves in hot spring water while listening to the piece through speakers embedded inside the bathhouse — a ritual fusion of body, place, and sound.

The album marks Meitei’s first work centered entirely on onsen, and also introduces a new phase of his Lost Japan project under the title “失日本百景” (One Hundred Lost Views of Japan) — a series focused on existing places of longing, still breathing within contemporary Japan. Alongside the album, Meitei will release his first-ever photo book, a visual documentation of this journey. A new layer is added to the world he has built through sound alone until now.

Sen’nyū continues Meitei’s devotion to Japan as subject, while opening new terrain: both ritual and remembrance, an immersion into the mineral soul of Beppu.

The album will be released on 25 July 2025 on 180g LP and CD, with mastering by Stephan Mathieu.


Sen'nyū - Yon-no-yu

Sen'nyū - Ichi-no-yu

Sen'nyū - Go-no-yu

KITCHEN. LABEL is proud to present Jewels, the debut album from Tokyo-based composer Ryuuta Takaki, emerging from a new chapter in the city’s alternative wave. His music opens realms of mysticism, memory, and imagination, unfolding like radiant mosaics that echo symbolic traditions, Eastern esotericism, and a neo-Orientalist dreamworld. Takaki shapes music that moves between sacred stillness and ornate intensity. Though his creative path once passed through experimental hip hop and electronica, he has since dissolved into a borderless language that feels timeless and unbound. Jewels stands as ambient music presented not just as sound, but as an object of weight, mystery, and sensuality.

Jewels draws its initial spark from the perfumed visions of Symbolist painter Gustave Moreau and the Kegon (Huayan) cosmology, which sees the universe as a vast net of interrelations where radiant jewels shimmer at every intersection. Takaki translates this philosophy into music, building a work that reveals how the smallest resonance can reflect the entire whole.

It begins with “Chrysalis”, a fragile awakening where tones drift like wings opening in first light, before spiraling into the kaleidoscopic “Funnel and Infinite Reflections.” “Kegon” follows as a conceptual anchor, a meditation on fractal harmony where tones layer into infinite patterns that echo the Buddhist vision of interconnectedness. The title track, “Jewels,” shimmers with solemn clarity, glinting and fading like starlight across water. Later, in “Sunken Cathedral,” Takaki submerges the listener into an aquatic reverie where sacred and profane dissolve into one. “Gilded Veins” pulses with lustrous textures, like living currents coursing through stone, before the closing “Celestial Tuning” offers a shimmering epilogue, as if suspended over valleys of drifting clouds, opening onto a horizon of distant citadels.

Beyond its unfolding narrative arc, musically, Takaki’s work at moments suggests the dreamlike, kaleidoscopic qualities of Susumu Yokota meeting a Narada-esque new age landscape. Conceptually, his exploration resonates with Jon Hassell’s “Fourth World” vision, dissolving cultural boundaries of East and West into a single continuum, though always expressed through his own intimate and ornamental language.

Jewels reveals itself as a cosmology in miniature: a living network of harmonies, reflection, and becoming. In Takaki’s vision, every sound becomes a jewel — radiant, infinite, and alive — turning the album into a mandala of sound where resonance and reflection unfold without end.
The album will be released on 24 October on Compact Disc and digital formats, with mastering by Chihei Hatakeyama.



Ryuuta Takaki - Kegon (Jewels)

Ryuuta Takaki - Interflow (Jewels)

Ryuuta Takaki - Chrysalis (Jewels)

Ryuuta Takaki - Funnel and Infinite Reflections (Jewels)

Ryuuta Takaki - Celestial Tuning (Jewels)

Ryuuta Takaki - Nacre (Jewels)

Ryuuta Takaki - Jewels (Jewels)

Ryuuta Takaki - Gilded Veins (Jewels)

Ryuuta Takaki - Sunken Cathedral (Jewels)

A record for an overconnected world, On Solitude by Hiroshi Ebina captures the quiet hum of disconnection, the pulse of digital fatigue, and the grace of stillness rediscovered. Across drifting rhythms and vaporous synths, he traces a new emotional landscape between ambient reflection, dream-techno clarity, and what he calls post-digital minimalism.

Ebina’s third album for KITCHEN. LABEL unfolds as a quiet rebellion against hyperconnectivity, reflecting on being unseen not as isolation but renewal, a way of hearing oneself again in a world that never stops speaking. The work finds kindred spirit in Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, its rhythm shaped by the poetry of routine and the lightness of repetition. With On Solitude, Ebina invites listeners to pause and observe how their mind and heart respond to sound, rediscovering parts of themselves that everyday life leaves unheard. Each piece becomes an inner dialogue, an intimate encounter with memory, emotion, and thought, accessible only in stillness.

Musically, On Solitude expands beyond his earlier works into a more textured field of motion and tone, somewhere between the slow cadences of post-classical composition, the warm circuitry of dream-pop, and the luminous bloom of soft techno. “The Village in the Sky,” featuring Hinako Omori, one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary electronic music, opens the album in a breath of quiet radiance. “Your Mind Is Like the Ocean” unfolds with tides of resonant synths and low-end drift, evoking turbulence and calm in the same gesture. “Saudade da Memória Perdida” layers fragile music boxes like fading childhood echoes, while “One Step Closer to Awareness” pulses with hypnotic clarity, a moment of awakening disguised as rhythm.

The record’s latter half dissolves language altogether. “Transience / Permanence” and “Quiescence” suspend time in spectral piano tones, while “Hokokuji Bamboo Forest” filters environmental sound into a delicate ecology of tone and wind. The closing track, “A Silent Room,” features marucoporoporo, a rising artist shaping Japan’s new ambient generation, whose gentle vocals lend a human warmth to the stillness, like the trace of breath in a quiet morning.

On Solitude will be released on 20 February 2026 in limited-edition grey vinyl, CD, and digital formats. Mastered by Joseph Branciforte at Greyfade Studio, New York. Featuring artwork by Chizuru Masumura, an established Japanese painter whose works have been exhibited widely across Japan.


01 The Village in the Sky (feat. Hinako Omori)

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

ironomi - 紫陽花 (Feat. ASPIDISTRAFLY) (niji, 2015) - preview

For Piano Day 2016.

Ⓟ & © 2016 Kitchen. Label

MORE INFO:
www.kitchen-label.com

sonicbrat - air (Piano Day 28.03.16)

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)

From the album "12 & 1 SONG" (KI-008, KITCHEN. LABEL)

Available via KITCHEN. LABEL 
http://www.kitchen-label.com/catalogue/ki008-janis-crunch-and-haruka-nakamura-12-and-1-song

Janis Crunch & haruka nakamura - SOLITUDE (12 & 1 SONG, 2011)

From the album "A LITTLE FABLE" (KI-007, KITCHEN. LABEL)

Available via KITCHEN. LABEL 
http://www.kitchen-label.com/catalogue/ki007-aspidistrafly-a-little-fable

ASPIDISTRAFLY - LANDSCAPE WITH A FAIRY (A LITTLE FABLE, 2011)

From the upcoming album "A LITTLE FABLE" (KI-007, KITCHEN. LABEL)

Available via KITCHEN. LABEL
http://www.kitchen-label.com/catalogue/ki007-aspidistrafly-a-little-fable 

ASPIDISTRAFLY - HOMEWARD WALTZ (A LITTLE FABLE, 2011)

ASPIDISTRAFLY - GENSEI feat. Janis Crunch (A LITTLE FABLE, 2011)

It began with ‘Kwaidan’, a simmering study on the lost art of Japanese ghost story-telling. Then there was‘Komachi’, baptized in the earthly winds and static that define its comforting sonics.

On ‘Kofū’, Meitei masterfully closes his trilogy of lost Japanese moods with an engaging interrogation of artforms and aesthetics as a provocation — or, as fashioned in the album’s subtitle, a “satire of old Japanese aesthetics”. Each entry’s distinct flavour hasearned Meitei acclaim for conjuring a bygone culture through his transportive form of ambient music. ‘Kofū’ arrives as a deconstruction of this approach. His first release with KITCHEN. LABEL, Meitei has quietly defied expectations set by his previous two albums, while continuing to challenge modern notions of Japanese sounds.

Once again, Meitei resumes his focus on a Japan that has long ceased to be. This time, ‘Kofū’ is deliberately playful in bridging a sensibility that connects this imagined past to the present. Fractured piano chords are the first to greet you on ‘Kintsugi’ before they make way for a spectral elegance that parades the haunted mask of Kwaidan on ‘Man'yō’. 

But like an ambient soothsayer schooled in the art of the 808s, Meitei quickly drives ‘Kofū’ with propulsion on ‘Oiran I’, which shares a sibling in Side B track ‘Oiran II’. On both songs, he builds tension served up by flickering hip-hop rhythms — achieved by carefully processing old drum and metal sounds — with a subversive spirit unforeseen in any of his work thus far.

Dissecting vocal recordings to the point of incomprehensibility, Meitei aims for something stirring beyond- words — not unlike J Dilla and his mountain of cut-up soul samples, or The Caretaker with decaying 78s. He abides by a principle attributed to the master Hayao Miyazaki: “Beyond logic speaks of human nature”.

‘Kofū’ allows full immersion into fragments of the past without the trappings of nostalgia. The tracklist is denoted by prominent (and unseen) figures of this history. Tracks ‘Sadayakko’ and ‘Otojirō’ are named after renowned entertainers from the Meiji era, while ‘Nyōbō’ is dedicated to a long-suffering line of working class women within a patriarchal Japanese society. The sounds of ‘Oiran’, sharing the name of the title bestowed upon courtesans, were sparked after learning about the treatment of red light district workers within this era. It paints a grim picture of baidoku (also known as syphilis) and its ravage spread.

These stories cloud the overall mood of ‘Kofū’, but Meitei takes a Mizoguchi-like approach to mould that unimaginable pain with tenderness. ‘Oiran 1’’s hidden subtitle is Hana, and ‘Oiran II’ is Shiokaze. As Meitei explains, “Hana means gorgeous and glorious. Shiokaze is the sea breeze — for her life.” Tracks like ‘Urameshi-ya’ and ‘Gen'ei’ provide a meditative space amidst the turbulence, while ‘Shōnen’ takes a turn for the cinematic. The eight-minute odyssey is engulfed by shadowy voice loops, mixed best for a headphone experience in a solitary setting.

Meitei bids farewell to an expedition first sparked by a passion for a long-forgotten cultural past. ‘Kofū’ is a definitive conclusion with an open invitation to listeners from Japan and beyond — encouraging continued appreciation of this sacred part of history, wholly untethered from the world at large.

‘Kofū’ will be released on LP, CD and across all digital formats via KITCHEN. LABEL. Chihei Hatakeyama mastered this recording in Tokyo, Japan.

Release Date:
CD, Digital - 25 Sep 2020
LP - 30 Oct 2020

Ⓟ & © 2020 KITCHEN. LABEL

Meitei - Man'yō (Kofū, 2020)

Meitei - Sadayakko (Kofū, 2020)

Meitei - Oiran II (Kofū, 2020)

Meitei - Shōnen (Kofū, 2020)

Since 2017, Berkely-born and Kyoto-based singer-songwriter LUCA has collaborated with Ryuichi Sakamoto and, more recently, partnered with haruka nakamura in several projects. The duo LUCA & haruka nakamura, known to their Japanese listeners as arca, presents their first album together entitled 'The World' - a heart-centering folk elegy and hazy lyrical path towards oneness with the self and the world. 

Recorded at Studio Camel House in Yamanashi by their contemporary Gen Tanabe, the same romanticism remains at the heart of LUCA & haruka nakamura's work. haruka nakamura composes most tracks and plays all instruments (piano, acoustic guitar, synthesizer, harmonium) with tasteful restrain in creating an unvarnished intimate atmosphere. His unique ability to tune into our deepest feelings through his compositions is mirrored through LUCA's words and tender vocals. LUCA primarily sings the songs. For the first time, haruka nakamura introduces his vocals to his sound world as the duo sometimes swap lead vocal duties or join in casual harmonies. 

In the album opener 'Funade', the song traverse through the liminal realm between happy and sad, reflecting on departures and new beginnings. 'SUN DANCE,' an unfinished track between the legendary Japanese producer Nujabes and haruka nakamura which was rearranged for the album, reaches the early peaks of sublime grace and joyful tranquility along with 'ray' and 'one day.' The opening tracks conjure up a sun-filled open sky before turning gray in the hauntingly beautiful 'Astraia' and the melancholic poeticism of 'Hachiboshi,' both songs a quietly distinct heir of Baier, Bunyan, and Dalton's fragile folk. 

With a centered reflective continuity maintained, the middle of the album wanders off into cosmic territories in the hymn-like ambient reverie 'STARDUST' and the celestial synthesis of 'LUNE.' The bittersweet arpeggio-driven ballad 'Umibe no Leon' rides on sounds of the lightest waves' ripples, a vintage haruka nakamura composition in the purest sense, evoking an overwhelming feeling of renewal. The duo closes the album with ‘Sekai’ and 'Assirera;’ capturing all the mystery and awe of the world in melodies. 'The World' speaks to the wanderlust in all of us. 

LUCA & haruka nakamura's 'The World' is available on October 30th, 2020, on CD and digital formats. A limited vinyl release will be available on 4th December. Marking haruka nakamura's sixth release on KITCHEN. LABEL, the album is designed by the artist's long-time collaborators Ricks Ang and April Lee, featuring the artworks by Japanese painter Hayato Kumagai.

世界

LUCA & haruka nakamura (arca) - 八星 (世界, 2020) - preview

haruka nakamura - twilight feat. April Lee (twilight, 2010)

ironomi - 空色 (sketch, 2010)

From the album "Stranger to my room", Kitchen. Label (KI-013, 25th July 2013) 

▶ Preorder (World): http://www.kitchen-label.com/catalogue/ki013-sonicbrat-stranger-to-my-room
▶ Preorder (Japan): http://www.inpartmaint.com/shop/sonicbrat-stranger-to-my-room/
▶ iTunes: Available 25th July 2013

Release Info (ENG): http://www.kitchen-label.com/catalogue/ki013-sonicbrat-stranger-to-my-room
Release Info (JP): http://www.inpartmaint.com/shop/sonicbrat-stranger-to-my-room/

Ⓟ & © 2013 Kitchen. Label 
Released by Kitchen. Label 
Distributed in Japan by p*dis / Inpartmaint Inc.

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sonicbrat - Caesura (Stranger to my room, 2013)

By deathly pale light, silent is the night 🪡

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